![\"Selection](\"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/Selection-1.jpg\")
<\/a>British International School Ljubljana staff ready to welcome back their students!<\/p><\/div>\n
We also have a first hand account from principal Paul Walton, <\/span>British International School, Ljubljana.\u00a0 <\/span><\/a>On Monday 18<\/span>th<\/span> May, they re-opened their premises, welcoming students back into the building.\u00a0\u00a0Paul shares with us the detailed procedures and measures taken to re-open an international school post lockdown:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFollowing a carefully planned \u2018staggered start\u2019 of cohorts and a <\/span>comprehensive reopening guide<\/span><\/a> shared through our school website, this was a very exciting time for the whole community.\u00a0 Leading the programme to integrate learners back to school has been a highly coordinated and synchronised challenge involving a range of stakeholders and a host of significant decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n Slovenia, having declared the end of the epidemic last week, is <\/span>reopening its borders<\/span><\/a> and slowly relaxing restrictions throughout the country.\u00a0 Following these measures, we organised an extensive list of advice, informative links and guidance for everyone to adhere to.\u00a0 With safety as our number one priority, the Senior Leadership Team coordinated the return of students with teachers transitioning from high-quality blended learning opportunities back into their familiar classroom timetables.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As part of the <\/span>Orbital Education Group<\/span><\/a>, we are able to collaborate with other school leaders, from Qatar to Shanghai, to share best practice, use their experiences, advice and support as we meticulously reconfigure our learning spaces and procedures to ensure a safe, successful and seamless move from using the popular blended learning environment to compliment further by adding a physical classroom setting for the students to enjoy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMoving back from online learning included a range of \u2018check-ins\u2019 with staff through emails, phone calls and apps to allow video conferencing to discuss wellbeing, working arrangements and to support our colleagues.\u00a0 Additionally, the school has offered a range of healthy eating tips, exercises, as well as virtual social events during this time to help our staff.<\/span><\/p>\n Our students have been busy this week and it\u2019s been fantastic to hear things such as \u201cIt’s good to socialise again\u201d, \u201cI\u2019ve missed my teacher and friends\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m so happy to be back, it\u2019s exciting to return\u201d.\u00a0 Being back in the school environment is essential for their wellbeing as this has given them opportunities to build relationships, play games with others and interact with each other.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTo ensure everyone\u2019s safety on site, a full review and assessment of the school was completed a week before the official re-opening. This includes a deep clean, room layouts reconfigured to meet health and safety expectations and wide-ranging hygiene provision for everyone.\u00a0 These measures were checked again over the weekend and prior to the arrival of our students.\u00a0 Our challenges included the physical change to the learning environment at school, as this now featured a range of visible measures for safety that could have potentially dampened the spirits of our younger students upon their return.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With parents and teachers modelling the correct cleansing of hands, physical distancing and wearing masks, this was a fantastic addition to embed prevention routines and share good practice across our community. \u00a0\u00a0We also planned accordingly to reduce larger gatherings e.g. assemblies, large group activities and events to ensure the safety of the students.\u00a0 There has been significant pastoral care, support and welfare offered to our students during this time of blended learning.\u00a0 Whilst retaining the best of online learning provision, the addition of their normal routines in the school compliments very well to facilitate opportunities to help, reassure and listen to them through this changeover.\u00a0 This is an incredible area of strength that we are especially proud of as a school due to the positive and respectful relationships between the staff and students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n British International School Ljubljana are excited to welcome back their juniors. The kids are happy to be back together and playing outside.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cOur first morning back began with teachers greeting the children as they arrived at school full of energy and liveliness.\u00a0 They were extremely happy to be back to see their teachers and were visibly excited to greet their peers after the past couple of months apart.<\/span><\/p>\n The students then moved into classrooms and followed the guidance for the number of students in the room, desk spacing, and cough and hand hygiene to ensure that everyone was as safe as possible.\u00a0 The attitude of the students was exemplary as they harmoniously accommodated the new changes with hygiene and distancing in a calm and composed manner.\u00a0 Once lessons started, it was very much back to \u2018normal\u2019 with everybody enjoying a rich variety of learning experiences and stimulating interactions with all those around them.<\/span><\/p>\n Photographs of the lessons during the day captured the positive mood amongst the students as they enjoyed being back in their classrooms, out exercising with our PE team and even participating in some outdoor learning in our Woodland area on site.\u00a0 The late-afternoon sunshine was out overlooking our students during their activities, bringing to an end a perfect first day back to school for everyone involved.<\/span><\/p>\n As the students left, I felt a huge pride in working with such a dedicated and committed team of staff who have gone above and beyond expectations during this unprecedented time. \u00a0\u00a0We look forward to a successful term ahead with a warm optimism and pleasure of working with our students again at school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n British School Netherlands re-opened their younger years classes on the 11th of may.<\/p><\/div>\n Thanks so much to Paul for the detailed account of what it takes to re-open an international school. It\u2019s clear that substantial precaution has been taken while still creating a supportive learning environment and celebrating the return for students, teachers and parents. It\u2019s great to see the community and strength observed in international schools during this challenging time. Karren van Zoest, Headteacher at BSN, further adds to Paul Walton\u2019s sentiment well: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Schools are the very embodiment of people being together and yet we have managed to be together \u2013 apart.\u00a0 As we now begin the journey towards being together once again, I know that we do so with an even stronger one-school bond.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n More schools continue to reopen around the world. While we are coming to terms with social distancing becoming the \u2018new normal\u2019, what does it really take when re-opening international schools? We are seeing more schools in Europe begin to re-open. Schools are prioritising health and safety precautions and student and staff wellbeing.\u00a0 Beyond this, they… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":9158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[854],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-august-de-richelieu-4261252.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Krhd-24D","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7975"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13664,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7975\/revisions\/13664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}It takes a team and a strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
Check-ins & support for all involved.<\/span><\/h2>\n
A rigorous health & safety protocol.<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Selection](\"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/Selection-2.jpg\")
<\/a>Being reunited at last!\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"AP\"](\"https:\/\/www.teacherhorizons.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/AP.png\")
<\/a>Are you a teacher who has recently transitioned back to school? We would love to hear from you! Please reach out to us at <\/span>editor@teacherhorizons.com<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
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