On April 27, a clear spring day, campus life resumed as Pao School's Songjiang campus opened its gates once again to students, teachers and staff. Even though school has changed in some areas - everyone now wears masks and maintains social distancing in accordance with official requirements – the changes to campus life have not diminished anyone's appetite for learning. The excitement of the Pao School community to be back on campus was evident for all to see.
David Mansfield, Executive Headmaster of Pao School, welcomed Year nines and Year twelves back in the building for the first time since the beginning of the Chinese New Year. He commented “We’re all owing a great debt of thanks to the Shanghai government and the Chinese government for keeping Shanghai safe. Now it’s our job here in the school, as the children begin to come back, year group by year group, over the next three or four weeks, to make sure we keep the school as safe as we possibly can have it as well."
As the campus finally welcomes back its students, Pao School's epidemic prevention measures and procedures – which have been developed tirelessly over the past couple of months – are being carried out with diligence. After the first school bus of the day arrived, perfectly on time, the students disembarked and made sure to carefully maintain the required social distance. After that, they underwent a temperature check, verified their green health codes, and then made sure to disinfect their hands. Then, before class, teachers reiterated the importance of ensuring epidemic prevention during school. Everyone in the Pao School community is making sure to take the measures needed to maintain everyone’s safety and health, whether it is in the classroom, during co-curricular activities, whilst eating or during free time.
Pao School's carefully organized and well-planned approach to the resumption of campus life is bearing fruit. President Wu Zijian commented: "Our leadership has made comprehensive plans ahead of time. The necessary supplies [for epidemic prevention] have been prepared. In addition to our leadership team, our teaching team, General Service Department, Wellness Centre, security staff and maintenance team have all made great efforts on the school's behalf."
Mark Bishop, High School Principal and Head of the Songjiang campus, reflected on Songjiang's efforts in recent months: " Without a doubt the highlight has been the way that the whole of the High School community has pulled together. Staff who have been obviously in different places around the world at certain times have risen to the challenge superbly and have given some really high-quality teaching. But our students as well. They’ve not done online learning before but so many of them have worked incredibly hard. Our parents have been superbly supportive throughout the whole three months.”
As part of the protective measures, Pao School is paying careful attention to everyone's body temperature and has purchased advanced thermometers and equipment to ensure the most accurate readings. Kendra, Whole School Safeguarding Manager and Head of Health and Wellness, said that Pao School is taking additional measurements beyond what is required by the government.
Teachers also commented on the school's epidemic prevention work over the past few months:
Mr. Sanders, Deputy Principal of the High School, noted the children's happiness at being able to return to campus. " I think those relationships with teachers in some ways have become stronger because of that adversity and they really want to get back to their lessons, and their friends, and their classes."
Songjiang campus is a boarding school, and many teachers and their families live on campus. Zang Na, Director of Character Education of the High School commented: “From a safety point of view, I don't have any worries, everyone is safe to go back to school to work and study normally."
During the epidemic, Pao School teachers continued to develop new pedagogies. Ms. Le, Head of High School Chinese, shared her and her colleagues’ endeavours of trying new teaching methods to feed students' passion for learning with different types of software during remote instructions.
Now that classes have resumed in Songjiang, teachers are continuing to explore interactive teaching styles. Biology teacher Mark commented, "With my style of teaching, I like to have students actively learning, collaborating and sharing ideas. I think with the restrictions now, the social distancing measures, I am going to have to really adapt how I do things, so no more getting up around boards and doing things together; we are going to have to find new ways to do it."
Students are delighted to be back on campus at Songjiang and have reported that they feel secure with the meticulous epidemic prevention measures the school has put in place.
Meanwhile, Pao School is currently working dedicatedly to prepare the welcome back for students to the Primary School and Middle School.
Extended Reading
Pao School readies for return to campus
Pao School's thorough epidemic prevention work
The fruits of intellectual curiosity and taking the initiative
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