24th August, 2021
Academic Year 2021 – 2022
Dear Parents,
With the new academic year about to start, I wanted to share with you some important information regarding the procedures we will be following that will allow the safe return of students to campus. These have been put in place in conjunction with the information we have received from the Ministry of Education (MOE).
Start of the Academic Year. As is tradition, we will be operating a staggered return of students to campus. This will operate as follows:
- Wednesday 1st September
- In Primary we will welcome students in KG and Year 6 back to school.
- In Secondary, students in Years 7, 10 and 12 should attend school.
- Thursday 2nd September
- In Primary, students in Years 1 & 2 should return to school
- In Secondary, students in Years 11 and 13 should return to school.
- Sunday 5th September
- In Primary, students in Years 3, 4 & 5 will return to school.
- In Secondary, students in Years 8 and 9 will return to school.
By staggering the students’ return, it will allow us to help with their re-orientation, as we are acutely aware that many of them will not have been on campus or in a formal classroom setting for more than a year. In addition, it will allow us to explain the necessary health and safety procedures.
Health and Safety: In line with recommendations from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the MOE, we will continue to exercise best practice in terms of health and safety. In addition, and for the school to satisfy the MOE requirements regarding student vaccinations, we would kindly request that parents of students aged 12 years and older forward proof of vaccination to the following members of staff:
Years 7 to 11 Ms. Zahida PA to the Head of Secondary zahedaz@sultansschool.edu.om
Years 12 & 13 Ms. Leen PA to the IBDP Coordinator leenb@sultansschool.edu.om
The School Day. It is our intention to return to our pre-COVID timetable in that the school day will begin at 7:45am and will finish at 2:45pm. Some IB classes will run until 3:30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. At present there are no plans to offer ECAs (Extra Curricular Activities) and therefore it is expected that students will leave campus within 15 minutes of lessons finishing. This will allow our cleaning staff to sterilize all teaching areas in preparation for the following day.
Drop Off and Pick Up. As we did when operating the hybrid programme, we will be taking the temperature of all students upon arrival. Students should not leave the vehicles until they are instructed to do so by a member of staff. It should also be noted that, except for KG, there will be no parking allowed in the mornings.
In the afternoons, parking will be allowed in the designated areas, but drivers, maids and parents will not be allowed to leave their vehicles and enter the main school area. At the end of the day, our Primary students will be escorted to the parking areas by a member of staff.
E-Learning. It is our hope that the majority of our students will return to campus, but we also appreciate that some parents may still be a little reluctant, at present, to send their children to school. For those students we will continue to stream live lessons via Teams and the resources will be uploaded into Firefly.
School Lunches. Until further notice the school will not be providing lunches and therefore students are requested to bring a packed lunch with them each day. As per MOE guidelines, lunch will be taken in the classroom. In addition to lunch, students should bring a snack for break time.
In the coming days, Mr Darren (Head of Primary) and Mr Paul (Head of Secondary) will be sending more information about the start of the year. If you have any questions concerning the start of the academic year, please do not hesitate to contact the school.
Dr. Glenn Canterford
Principal
