What Will Learning Look Like At Raha

What will learning look like at Raha in Term 1?

9th August, 2020 Dear Parents,

We are delighted to be re-opening our school for the new academic year. It seems a long time since we have been able to see our students’ smiling faces and we have certainly missed them. However, we are aware that there will be concerns as to what learning in the classroom looks like and what precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of our students during this extended pandemic period.

Please see details of educational approaches below for Gardens Campus and Khalifa City Campus. On both sites we will be offering the opportunity for on-site learning, and continuous (distance) learning for those who do not yet feel comfortable returning to the school environment. Extreme efforts have been made to ensure that our students are protected and that our physical environment meets the safety regulations outlined by ADEK. Below is a breakdown of what learning will look like at Raha.

Raha International School Gardens Campus: Early Years 1 & Early Years 2 What will a return to teaching and learning in the classroom look like?

Each classroom will be divided by a partition, with groups of 10 children in a safety bubble. Teachers and Learning Assistants will be designated to these classrooms to ensure that each child has access to an adult while at school. Bathrooms will be designated to these bubbles, and children will remain in these bubbles for the day.

Teaching and learning will continue to take place with our focus on inquiry continuing through play-based learning. Snacks and lunch will be eaten in the classroom and the children will have access to the playground where they will play in their bubbles.

What will continuous learning from home look like?

For those in our EY community that decide not to return to school for face-to-face learning, we will be offering a continuous home learning option which will be delivered through Seesaw, our online platform. Students will have access to lessons, activities, recordings and interactions that are linked to their grade’s outcomes. These will be led by a designated teacher and will be planned for and aligned with the face-to face lessons at school. Continuous Learning will begin after our orientation week on Sunday the 6th of September.

Grade 1 What will a return to teaching and learning in the classroom look like?

Children will be seated at designated workstations, making sure that each child is separated by 1.5 meters, as per ADEK guidelines. Teaching and learning will be continued by both a teacher and a Learning Assistant. We will continue to encourage students to inquire and build on their learning through discussions and interactions. Snacks and lunch will be eaten in the classroom and the children will have access to the playground where they will play in their groups. We will continue to use Seesaw as the child’s learning portfolio and Grade 1 students are encouraged to bring their own iPad with a set of headphones.

What will continuous learning from home look like?

For those in our EY community that decide not to return to school for face-to-face learning, we will be offering a continuous home learning option which will be delivered through Seesaw, our online platform. Students will have access to lessons, activities, recordings and interactions that are linked to their grade’s outcomes. These will be led by a designated teacher and will be planned for and aligned with the face-to face lessons at school. Continuous Learning will begin after our orientation week on Sunday the 6th of September.

Primary What will a return to teaching and learning in the classroom look like?

The primary school is very fortunate that our classrooms are big enough to allow us to comfortably set up our rooms so that each student is 1.5 meters away from other students and the teacher. This means that we can keep all our classes together as one group with their homeroom teacher. Each class group will become its own unique bubble. They will stay in the classroom for all their lessons and will be seated at the same desk at all times.

We aim to keep a balanced weekly timetable for students so that they continue to receive the same coverage of subject content as they have done previously. Specialist teachers of Art, Music, Arabic and Islamic subjects will provide face to face lessons during the school week. These teachers will have face to face contact with a minimum number of classes. Their lessons will be supported by online material prepared by their teachers. As advised by ADEK Physical Education lesson will not be taking place as they normally would. The PE teachers will look at ways that they can utilise online teaching to engage students in physical activity.

Students will have their usual break times. These will be managed carefully so that each grade is separated from other grades. This will help contain our grade bubbles to limit the contact with other students. Students will not be able to climb the playground equipment or use PE equipment. Lunch will be eaten in the classrooms followed by their play time outside.

What will continuous learning from home look like?

As you will have read in this document parents will be given the choice to keep their child at home. Children who stay at home will be provided with an online learning programme similar to what was provided when school was closed. It is important to note that if we find that there are a higher number of students staying home, than expected, this could lead us to reorganise class grouping so that class sizes are balanced and that some teachers can be released to focus on delivering online learning. The reason for this is that it would be difficult for teachers to run both a classroom and deliver online learning at the same time. We really do hope that most of our students will return to school Online learning will continue to have a presence in the classroom with the use of SeeSaw as a place for the teachers to share resources and provide feedback on student learning.

Secondary What will a return to teaching and learning in the classroom look like?

We are planning to run our full curriculum and timetable with students assigned to their specialist teachers albeit with a reduction in the amount of practical work that we will be able to do. Some units of work and assessment will be restructured accordingly.

Students will be grouped in their classes within year level cohorts by floor or building and specialist teachers will move to them. Students will have scheduled breaks within their cohort and will not mix with other grade levels.

Grade 12 mock exams will take place for all students on campus as scheduled in September.

What will continuous learning from home look like?

Students will be grouped in their regular classes via Microsoft Teams and ManageBac and will therefore receive access to the same resources as their colleagues on campus.

Students will be required to register for each lesson and follow their regular timetable remotely. We are not planning to stream live lessons but there will be sufficient instruction and feedback provided by teachers for students to progress. Teachers and students will continue to use many of the web resources and applications used last term to maintain opportunities for collaborative learning. At the end of the distance learning period, students will join the same classes with their colleagues and teachers on campus.

Grade 12 students will sit their mock exams on campus regardless of whether on or off campus learning is chosen.

Raha International School Khalifa City Campus: Early Years 1 and Early Years 2 What will a return to teaching and learning in the classroom look like?

Children will be in one classroom space which will be separated by a partition. On either side of the partition children will be grouped in class ‘bubbles’ with a maximum of 10 children. These bubbles will remain together each day. Each classroom space will have one teacher and one Learning Assistant. Our programme and environment will still be focussed on inquiry through play, direct teaching instruction and learning from each other.

Children will have break times during the day and will remain in their bubble of 10 for these breaks. Lunch will be eaten in class.

One parent will be allowed on-site to drop off and collect Early Years 1 and 2 children from a designated area outside the classroom. They will be required to go through a temperature scan. Staggered start and end times will be implemented across the school to ensure social distancing is adhered to during these times of heavy foot traffic.

What will Continuous Learning from home look like?

Our learning platform at Khalifa City Campus is called Toddle. Toddle is an intuitive, user friendly interface dedicated to the IB PYP framework. Students will access learning, post responses and receive feedback through a student portfolio.

Our Continuous Learning teachers will deliver a blend of asynchronous and synchronous online learning. This will include opportunities for independent work and project-based learning, some teacher-led or facilitated lessons, viewing of pre-recorded sessions or instruction, and opportunities to collaborate with other students.

Parents and children will have support from the Continuous Learning teacher in the first week of term to set up Toddle on their devices and become familiar with the features of this App and the learning portfolio.

Continuous Learning will begin after our on-site orientation week on Sunday 6th September.

Grade 1 – 3 What will a return to teaching and learning in the classroom look like?

Children will be in a class group with a homeroom teacher. Children will have a dedicated space to sit in to ensure 1.5m distancing is adhered to. Our programme will still focus on learning through inquiry. Children will be provided opportunities to discuss, question, create and be curious about their learning through engaging learning opportunities.

Specialist Art, Music, Arabic and Islamic teachers will come to the class to deliver lessons. Some of these lessons may have an online component.

Although face to face teaching will be our main method of delivering learning, all children will be required to bring an iPad to school daily as part of our BYOD programme. We suggest that students bring earphones, if possible.

Children will have break times during the day and will remain with their class for these breaks. Lunch will be eaten in class.

As per ADEK guidelines, Grade 1, 2 and 3 parents will not be allowed in school buildings.

We will have specific areas where parents can drop and collect children. We know it can be difficult for some children to say goodbye and our caring and experienced staff will be on hand to fully support children and parents at these times. More communication on logistics around this will come out to parents with our first week of school procedures.

What will Continuous Learning from home look like?

Our learning platform at Khalifa City Campus is called Toddle. Toddle is an intuitive, user friendly interface dedicated to the IB PYP framework. Students will access learning, post responses and receive feedback through a student portfolio.

Our Continuous Learning teachers will deliver a blend of asynchronous and synchronous online learning. This will include opportunities for independent work and project-based learning, some teacher-led or facilitated lessons, viewing of pre-recorded sessions or instruction, and opportunities to collaborate with other students.

Parents and children will have support from the Continuous Learning teacher in the first week of term to set up Toddle on their devices and become familiar with the features of this App and the learning portfolio.

Continuous Learning will begin after our on-site orientation week on Sunday 6th September.