Virtual School Guidelines

Dear Knightsbridge Community,

In response to our school being closed for safety measures against Coronavirus, effective this Monday, March 16, we will be using online platforms to deliver virtual school: GOOGLE Classroom for Primary and ManageBac and GOOGLE Classroom for Secondary. During our school closure, students can work anywhere (except school) with internet access and teachers will use GOOGLE Hangouts to facilitate online group conversations.

Following are some basic guidelines to ensure a cohesive transition to virtual learning:

• Primary Teachers will have a daily standing meeting with students from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to explain and review instructional activities.

• Secondary teachers will offer interactions with students to review, explain, and present new instructional material:

• • At least two live interactions per week for classes that meet 4 or more times per 6-day cycle

  • At least one live interaction per week for classes that meet 3 or fewer times per 6-day cycle.

• In addition to the live class interactions, students and parents can schedule an online meeting appointment during the regular workday.

• Secondary students will follow their regular 6-day class schedule and scheduled live interaction classes will take place during the regular class time.

• Work will be posted no later than 3:00 p.m. the day before on ManageBac for Secondary and GOOGLE Classroom for Primary.

Learning is authentic and can occur online or offline (e.g. reading, exercise, drawing, playing, constructing, writing, and etc. are perfectly acceptable virtual school day tasks that can be photographed, videoed or turned in upon return to school).

Our teachers will plan activities that relate as closely as possible to current class content or skills. The activities will reinforce existing understanding or introduce new content that will be continued to be covered in class. If your child does not complete the learning activities it will impact their learning and assessment.

With the exception of Early Childhood, parents should not be placed in the role of teaching; students should be able to independently carry out the tasks assigned by teachers including access to the material.

Teachers will continue to offer a rigorous program of learning and assessment by:

• providing a high level of detail for all learning experiences;

• specifying formative and summative assessments submission procedures (practice only, no submission; submission to Google Classroom or ManageBac;);

• continuing to assess via projects and exams (exams will be posted at a specific time with the expectation to complete within a certain time period).

Here is a helpful video for GOOGLE Classroom to assist you. For Primary students, please have your child show you that they are able to access their GOOGLE Classroom and contact your child’s teacher if they need assistance.

Additionally, I invite you to review the information provided by Ms. Yanisselly Norris, PYP Coordinator and Head of Primary, and Mr. Nelson Urrego, DP Coordinator and Head of Secondary.

Sincerely,

Mr. Morales

Dear Parents of Primary Students,

As part of our efforts to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, KSI Primary will provide virtual instruction for all our subjects on Monday, March 16th. The shift to remote teaching makes it possible to continue learning without the sustained face-to-face contact that is inherent in residential education.

• All teachers will be sending the lessons via Google classroom.

• Assignments should not be considered optional.

• If your child might need any assistance do not hesitate to contact the teacher for clarification.

• Early childhood will have one live session to connect with kids and parents this week.

Sincerely,

Ms. Yanisselly

Head of Primary

PYP Coordinator

y.norris@ksi-panama.com

Dear Parents of Secondary Students,

Many thanks for your understanding and support during this challenging and unprecedented situation. The safety, health, and well-being of our students and members of the KSI school community is a high priority. Our efforts to provide a high-quality educational service will continue and from March 16 the school will merge into a virtual-remote pedagogical model.

KSI staff have been trained in the use of technological resources to support the teaching and learning during this school closure period. Please be aware of the following changes and announcements:

• Second trimester exams have been canceled. Teachers will consider students’ accumulated second period grade as the exam score. As for DP seniors, their Mock scores will result in their exam grade.

• Teachers will communicate their activities and program remote interactive sessions with students via ManageBac and Google Calendar.

• Teachers have designed and will share “recovery opportunity” tasks for students who are failing. The completion of these tasks is compulsory and deadlines will be agreed with students.

• The reporting timeline has no changes for the second trimester. Report cards will be sent home by April 2.

• Parents can access each subject program following this link.

• Parents can access official IB guidelines for school closures following this link.

• Parents will have access to the detailed online activities planners following this link by March 16 evening.

• I will schedule a webinar on ManageBac for parents by Wednesday, March 18 at 7 PM for the Middle years (6, 7, 8) and Thursday, March 19 at 7 PM for High School (9, 10, 11,12). I’ll be sending more details this Monday, March 16.

• IBDP May 2020 examination session continues as scheduled.

• IBDP Arts exhibition has been canceled and we’ll merge it into a school-based model.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions. I am confident that with your support we’ll have a smooth transition into the third trimester.

Sincerely,

Mr. Nelson

Head of Secondary

IBDP Coordinator

n.urrego@ksi-panama.com