As announced by Prime Minister Lee on 3 April, schools in Singapore will be closed from 8 April–4 May 2020. In line with the government, UWCSEA will commence full remote learning as follows:

Kindergarten to Grade 8

• Monday, 6 April: Teachers contact students and/or parents to ensure they have everything they need and are set up for remote learning
• Tuesday, 7 April: Full remote learning begins

Grades 9 and 11

• Monday, 6 April: Teachers contact students to ensure they have everything they need and are set up for remote learning
• Tuesday, 7 April: Full remote learning begins

Grade 10

• Wednesday, 8 April: Teachers contact students to ensure they have everything they need and are set up for remote learning
• Thursday, 9 April: Full remote learning begins

Grade 12

Further information to follow

During times of campus closure, we engage students in remote learning experiences that continue our learning programme, and allow them to interact with peers and teachers. This includes learning support and EAL teachers.

Remote learning continues to develop the knowledge, skills and understandings of the UWCSEA Concept-Based Curriculum.

Wherever possible, remote learning activities emphasise a blended approach, where students balance on-screen and off-screen tasks through independent and collaborative approaches.

The UWCSEA Remote Learning site is designed to help families understand the remote learning provision and to provide resources for parents to support their children.

The Boarding Houses will remain open throughout this period, and boarding students will be supported with remote learning in designated spaces on the campuses.

On 23 March, the International Baccalaureate announced that May 2020 examinations will no longer be held. Grade 12 families will have received further details directly from the High School and UAC teams. For additional information, please refer to:

• DOVER G12 FAQ after Cancellation of IB Exams
• EAST G12 FAQ after Cancellation of IB Exams
• IB COVID-19 (coronavirus) updates (including FAQs on Results, Examinations and fees, Coursework and deadline extensions, Recognition and universities and more) from the International Baccalaureate

If your child is observing a LoA, SHN or QO, please submit an isolation declaration for your child via the CIMS Family Portal immediately. To do so, please log in here and click ‘declare isolation order’ to access the form.

In deciding how to respond to the situation we are referring to the following:

• Directives and advisory from the Singapore Government, including the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the regulatory agency for international schools, the Committee for Private Education (CPE)
• Health advisory from our partner, International SOS

We are also working with our fellow international schools in Singapore and other schools in the UWC movement where appropriate.

In line with the Ministry of Education (MoE) announcement on 3 April, the UWCSEA campuses will be closed from Monday, 6 April and full remote learning will continue through Monday, 4 May. Please refer above for specific remote learning start dates by grade.

Yes. The College is following the expected protocols and will inform the entire school community if there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 among students, staff or parents.

An individual who has been in close contact with an infected person will be placed under a quarantine order (QO) by the Ministry of Health.

If anyone in a student’s household is placed on QO, parents are required to submit an isolation declaration via the CIMS Family Portal (click 'declare isolation order') and keep the child home from school. A student with a household member on QO will be placed on Leave of Absence (LoA) by MoH.

No. If anyone in a student’s household is being tested for COVID-19, please keep them home from school until confirmed test results are known.

As MOE has stated, there is no need for a student/staff to be placed on LoA if they are in contact with people on an LoA or SHN, but are not confirmed cases. Anyone who has close contact with someone on LoA or SHN should closely monitor their health, adopt good hygiene practices, and see a doctor immediately if unwell.

MOH Advisory for Individuals Sharing Residential Spaces with Persons Issued Stay-Home Notice (SHN) | Related FAQ from MOE

The College is following the Singapore government directives, which require that we have travel declarations for all students and household travel declarations from all staff members through 31 July 2020 as well as isolation declarations from any affected students or staff.

All families and staff are required to maintain up to date travel declarations as advised by email and available on the CIMS Family Portal. The student travel declaration is required by the Committee for Private Education for each student. The household travel declaration is required by the Ministry of Manpower for all staff members.

The College is required to have travel declarations from all students and staff through 31 July 2020 in accordance with the advisories and reporting requirements from the Committee for Private Education (CPE) for students and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for staff.

No. A LoA or SHN does not impact on your Student Pass. Please be sure you have logged your child's isolation order in the CIMS Family Portal under 'declare isolation order' and informed the school office so that their teachers can provide support via the online learning platforms.

Please refer to MoH advisories and guidelines for people who are living with those on an LoA, SHN or QO.

During the campus closure period of 6 April–4 May, all school trips, events and activities are cancelled.

Please refer to the Status of Upcoming Events page for further information when campus reopens.

The decision to cancel trips until the end of June was not taken lightly and we were keenly aware of the impact on our student community. The factors taken into account included:

• MoH and MoE guidelines on precautionary measures all Foreign System Schools should be putting in place to keep our communities healthy
• The travel restrictions being put in place by both Singapore and other countries and their unpredictability. We cannot afford to have a student or staff member fall ill while on a trip, or be prevented from returning to Singapore.
• The importance of all students being able to participate in the trips, acknowledging that currently our Chinese passport-holding community in particular is subject to extreme restrictions on their ability to move between countries. It's possible that other passports will fall under these same restrictions in coming weeks and months.
• The fact that there is no natural 'pause point' for trips at UWCSEA; the end of term leads into the Grade 9 trips over the April break which lead into Grades 6 and 7 trips on Dover in April, which leads on to Project Week for East Campus and then the trips taking place after school ends in June.
• Our keen sense that if we provide clarity on trips now, with no exceptions, families can plan and the College can prepare alternative solutions to retain the valuable learning for students.

Since 18 March 2020, the Singapore Government has advised residents to defer all travel abroad.

Evidence indicates that people with underlying medical conditions, elderly people and those with compromised immune systems may be at higher risk for severe illness. For any infectious disease (SARS, MERS, nCoV, seasonal influenza), it is safe to assume that pregnant women and immune-compromised people are at a higher risk than others in the population as with any infectious disease. The precautions remain the same and these are the most important:

Avoid direct contact with animals (live or dead) and their environment. Do not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with droppings.

• Keep some distance from people who are obviously sick.
• Maintain good personal hygiene. Wash your hands frequently. Carry hand sanitiser for use when soap and water are not readily available. Avoid touching your face.
• Ensure food, including eggs, is thoroughly cooked.
• Do not travel if you are sick. Note that some locations have implemented screening, and travellers may face quarantine and testing.

For those pregnant women and immune-compromised people who wish to have an extra layer of protection to avoid a serious condition, they can also do the following:

• Wear a surgical mask (both to avoid infection from others and also to avoid touching their own face)
• Self-monitor their temperature every day so that they can monitor any change early on

The Finance team are processing daily batches to work through the significant number of refunds due for cancelled trips and events as quickly as possible. Please watch your credit card statements to confirm. For refunds of payments made via PayNow, you will be contacted to confirm your preferred refund method (PayNow or bank transfer). Thank you for your support and patience.

The measures put in place by the College are in line with the DORSCON orange level measures outlined by the government. Please refer to our Policies and Procedures and Status of Upcoming Events pages to keep up with the latest measures from the College as well as the status of any particular event.

To help to safeguard our community and to ensure business continuity as part of our response to COVID-19, we have been reducing the number of visitors to our campuses since early February. These measures have gradually been extended, and since 18 March 2020 we are not able to offer campus tours or school visits for prospective families.

We understand that families considering accepting an offered place may be disappointed at not being able to make a final visit prior to making a decision, and we'd like to thank you for your understanding that we're not able to extend our campus visitor policy as we work as we seek to ensure our students can return to campus as soon as possible.

Please visit our Campus Tours page to explore our virtual tours and campus overview videos. There you can also fill in a form if you'd like us to contact you when campus tours re-open.

UWCSEA is liaising with all other international schools to respond to measures put in place by the Committee for Private Education (CPE). The CPE is satisfied that, even where they have small differences in interpretation of expectations, the measures taken by all the schools are enough to support the government's work to ensure the health and safety of everyone in Singapore.