1 September 2022

Dear Parents and Students,

Time flies and the summer vacation is now over.

As of August 20, the number of students who have completed the second dose of the vaccine for more than 14 days accounted for 90% of the total number of students in the school, and all directly employed teaching staff (including teaching and non-teaching staff) have met the requirements of the "vaccine passport". Therefore, our school has already met the requirements for full-day face-to-face classes. However, we have chosen to start with half-day face-to-face classes from September 5 to September 16 so that both teachers and students to have a chance to warm-up before preparing for full-day classes from September 19th to October 31st. We hope learning activities and extended experiences can gradually restart, allowing students to grow with whole-person development.

Due to the severe number of recent cases, the Education Bureau strengthened health measures on August 30. If schools intend to arrange full-day face-to-face classes for either the whole school or individual levels on or after November 1, at least 90% of students will need to have had three doses of the vaccine or more. The requirements have increased, but they are to protect the health of teachers and students. I hope that parents and students will have at least three doses of the vaccine before November. Additionally:

  1. Students recovered from COVID-19
    1. if a recovered student has received the first dose of the vaccine at least 14 days before the infection, she will be considered as having completed two doses of the vaccine. Such student should receive one more dose in order to meet the requirement of receiving three doses of the vaccine.
    2. for a student who has never received a COVID-19 vaccine, she can be vaccinated after 30 days from the date of the recovery. If a student has received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine before infection, she will be considered as having received three doses of the vaccine.
    3. for a student who has already taken two doses but is still within the time interval waiting to receive the third dose, she will be considered as meeting the third-dose requirement for the time being, but the student concerned must take the third dose within one week after she is eligible to do so.

 

(2) Those who have received two doses of the vaccine but have not yet received the third dose, can be considered that the three-dose requirement has been temporarily met, but the student must be vaccinated within one week from the day when the third dose of the vaccine is available.

I hope that everyone will work together to build a healthy campus for our Pooi To Family.

Our students have taken the rapid antigen test (RAT) two days before the start of the school year (i.e. August 30 and 31), and I would like to thank them for being incredibly cooperative at such short notice. Please be reminded that a RAT should be carried out every day. The RAT photo must be uploaded to eClass on school days and activity days, and should be taken for backup even during holidays. Please also be reminded that students with a fever, symptoms of a respiratory infection or a positive rapid antigen test ARE NOT ALLOWED to go to work/school.

The pandemic will not affect the celebration of Pooi To's 135th anniversary. Exciting activities will be held throughout the year to experience the Pooi To Family reaching a new milestone together, including: ‘Pooi To’s 135th Anniversary Arts in Action’, ‘Pooi To Music Evangelism’, ‘Alumni Open Day’, ‘Opening Ceremony of the School History Museum’ and ‘Chapel and the Mrs. Leung Wu Yin Kwan Health Education Centre’ to celebrate the anniversary.

Finally, the annual plan of the coming year includes:

  1. strengthening the school team's support and communication.
  2. improving teaching effectiveness, enhancing students' confidence in learning, and establishing an atmosphere of Chinese culture in the school.
  3. nurturing students to uphold positive values ​​and act in their lives.


Best regards,
Constance Cheung
Principal


“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
(Philippians 4:13)