18 June 2020

Dear Parents and Students,

From the resumption of classes on May 27 onwards, teaching has remained normal. We thank God for his love and grace to safeguard the school. Starting from June 22, S.5 students start their exams, while S.1 to S.4 start theirs on June 26. I hope parents will supervise their daughters’ revision at home to ensure they make good use of their time to prepare for the coming examination period, keep high standards and study hard to achieve good results.
   
The school always treasures feedback from stakeholders, helping us to move forward and strive for excellence. We would like to thank parents for completing the end-of-year school survey, for which we received 603 replies, representing a 100% response rate. We were delighted that regarding the major concerns of the school this year the responses were positive. The main findings are as follows:

  • The school provides ample life-planning activities for my daughter to better understand herself. My daughter is able to set goals for the future. (parents of S1-S3 students only)

*3.10

  • My daughter can better understand herself, her goals and career planning by attending different life planning programmes. (parents of S4-S5 students only)

*2.93

  • Through different lessons and activities, my daughter has strengthened the development of our country.

2.72

  • Through different lessons and activities, my daughter has increased her sense of national identity.

2.65

  • Through different lessons and activities, my daughter understands more about the Basic Law. (parents of S1-S3 students only)

2.86

  • Through STREAM projects, my daughter has developed self-regulated learning. (parents of S1 students only)

*3.11

  • Through STREAM projects, my daughter has developed her creativity. (parents of S1 students only)

*3.10

  • Through STREAM projects, my daughter has improved her problem solving skills. (parents of S1 students only)

*3.08

  • Through the predicted grades of S5 students, my daughter better understands her strengths and areas for improvement in her studies. (parents of S5 students only)

*3.02

  • Through online learning platforms, my daughter has strengthened her self-regulated learning. (parents of S4-S5 students only)

2.80

  • The project “Trust the magic of new beginnings” has assisted my daughter in pursuing her dreams.

2.59

  • Through choral speaking, drama, debate, the EAC, Toastmasters and hospitality to different people from around the world, my daughter has been able to build her confidence in speaking English.

*2.95

  • The Chinese culture related projects have aroused my daughter’s interest in learning Chinese history and culture.

2.72

  • The integrated sports & arts training in the Junior Form curriculum has developed my daughter’s potential in different areas.

*2.94

  • The spring cleaning and weekly cleaning strengthens my daughter’s sense of responsibility in keeping the learning environment clean.

*2.99

  • The online teaching and timetable arrangement during the COVID-19 outbreak is suitable. (1 lesson for each subject per week, 2 lessons per day from Mon to Fri, each lesson is around 1 to 1.5 hours)

*2.91

  • During the COVID-19 outbreak, my daughter engaged actively in online teaching activities.

*3.13

  • The workload of the homework during the COVID-19 outbreak is suitable for my daughter to complete.

2.77

  • I agree that my daughter takes her homework seriously during the class suspension period.

*3.06

  • I agree that my daughter fully utilizes her time during the class suspension period.

2.81

  • I agree that the school’s latest information provided every week during the class suspension period helps me to understand the new measures of the school and how to support my daughter to learn at home.

*3.07

Strongly agree: 2.90 to 4      Agree: 2.50 to 2.90                Do not agree: 1 to 2.50

Parents also wrote comments showing their deeply felt support for the school. Some of them are below.

(1)   Appreciation of the school as a whole. (more than 84 parents with similar opinions)
For example:

  • I think that this school year, not only the school has had to face new challenges, but the entire society has had to face unexpected changes. Therefore, I think the school has handled the whole situation properly, especially when providing updated information. I hope everyone can learn to think positively during the fight against the epidemic and be able face all kinds of difficulties.
  • I appreciate Principal Cheung very much. She is full of love and energy in every parent's letter. Through prayer and encouragement, it makes people experience God's presence, of which we are really grateful! In addition, I also appreciate the teachers’ care for students, teaching and dedication.
  • On days when the social environment has changed rapidly, I feel that the school has responded in a timely manner, and has made suitable arrangements for the students' various needs.
  • I appreciate the school's methods and attitude in the way that it handles situations, decides on contingency measures and does so in an efficient manner. At the same time, it carefully considers the safety of students and takes good care of the physical and mental health of our girls.
  • I appreciate that my daughter has a sense of belonging to the school. No matter who asks, she is proud and confident to say that she is studying at Pooi To Middle School

(2) Teachers care about students, teaching seriously, and arranging online teaching carefully during the suspension. (opinions from more than 56 parents)
For example:

  • I appreciate that the school used online teaching from the beginning of the suspension of classes. Many thanks to the principal and teachers for their dedication and hard work to make the best arrangements for students.
  • During the suspension of classes, teachers were very careful to teach students by providing online real-time courses for students at all levels to cater for the different needs of each student, which I really appreciate.
  • I appreciate that the class teachers showed care for and actively understood, encouraged and supported students during the suspension.
  • I want to thank the student support team for taking the initiative to understand the needs of different students and provide arrangements for the students after the suspension.

 

(3) During the suspension period, the school has made proper arrangements. (opinions from more than 42 parents)
For example:

  • The current anti-epidemic disease is really different from SARS. Thank you for your school’s support to students during this period (sending masks, lending iPads, online teaching...) The school also keeps parents updated every Monday for us to better understand the school’s arrangements. It shows a strong spirit of home-school cooperation, and I would like to thank the teachers and staff of the school for their hard work.
  • The school can quickly and properly arrange all the information during the suspension period to allow parents and students to know the various arrangements as early as possible. The class timetable is appropriate, and the teachers are devoted to teaching through the Internet. The online class is indeed difficult for students to absorb knowledge easily, but I would like to thank to the school, the principal and the teachers for their best efforts, and may the Lord bless your school greatly.
  • The implementation of online teaching is worthy of appreciation. I appreciate that teachers arranged and designed online learning courses during the epidemic seriously.
  • During this period of COVID19, online teaching can be arranged according to the schedule so that students can learn continuously. There are online tests so that things can continue as normal as possible and learning is not neglected. It is really good! Thank you for your efforts! Let's make it together!
  • During the epidemic, everyone worked hard! Although the teachers and students haven’t seen each other for 4 months, fortunately, online learning has accelerated the progress of the study. It is down to the teacher’s serious preparation for the lectures using new technology so that our daughters do not waste their time. I look forward to the students' returning to school and meeting with teachers and classmates.
  • I appreciate that the school used video software to teach online at the beginning of the suspension of classes. Many thanks to the principal and teachers for their dedication and hard work to make the best arrangements for students.

(4)    I would like to thank the school for preparing anti-epidemic packages, including masks, for parents at the beginning of the epidemic, when masks were lacking, (opinions from more than 15 parents)
For example:

  • The school prepared masks for the students during the epidemic, which is very touching.
  • I appreciate the school’s effort in sending masks to every student when everyone lacked masks. This caring act is really touching, and the teachers used the Internet to teach students promptly in the event of an epidemic. In this regard, we are particularly grateful to the school and teachers for the culture and love of students!
  • I want to thank the school for distributing masks at the beginning of the epidemic. I also want to thank the teachers for arranging and preparing online teaching for students during the suspension.
  • I would like to thank the school for sending masks to students at a time when it was the most difficult to buy them.
  • I really appreciate the love of the masks, and teaching enthusiastically!
  • Thank you for distributing masks for students when the masks were scarce.
  • During the shortage of anti-epidemic materials in the early stage of the epidemic, your school still provided masks for each student and provided learning equipment for students in need, which is very commendable!

Of course, there are also areas that are not perfect, including the increase in homework over the suspension period. Initially, students failed to cope with the amount of work given, however, the situation has improved since the beginning. As a result of the new challenges brought upon us by COVID19, schools have learned to constantly understand, observe, and learn the practices of other schools in order to achieve the most appropriate teaching methods and to solve problems. Of course, we wouldn’t have done it without the suggestion from parents and students, to whom I would like to say thank you. Because of their feedback, the school was able to keep up with the times. May we continue to cooperate and work hand in hand together to develop our school.

Regards,
Constance Cheung
Principal



“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.”
(Psalm 62:1)