Dear AISB Community,
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Today’s update will address some of the questions we have received from you, your children and the faculty and staff. If you have further questions or issues you wish us to address please communicate these to us via email or a phone call.
Please note that there is no reason for you to stay home and avoid human contact during this period of time, even if you are a student in the Secondary School or the parent of a Secondary School student. Only if you have a confirmed case of H1N1 in your family are you instructed by the health authorities to stay quarantined in your home (your entire family) for seven (7) days.
Events Cancelled or Postponed
The following events scheduled between now and Sunday, November 15, are cancelled. The entire campus will be closed this weekend, including the playgrounds, to allow for thorough cleaning and disinfecting.
- SAT Exams – Saturday, November 7 – We are working with the College Board to reschedule the SAT exams. Once the new date is set you will be notified by AISB and you will also receive an email from the College Board informing you of the new date.
- Cabaret Rehearsals - Cancelled
- Music Club – Cancelled
- Elementary School Soccer Clinics scheduled for Nov. 7 – Cancelled
- Tennis Clinics scheduled for Nov. 7 - Cancelled
- After School Activities for Elementary School – Cancelled through Tuesday, Nov. 10
- All 2nd grade field trips scheduled for Nov. 9 – 12 – Cancelled
- Parenting Class with Melissa Cochrane scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 10 - Cancelled
What should secondary students be allowed to do or not due during this period?
There have been many good questions regarding this topic and the following guidelines should help in your discussions with your child.
- Study and homework is extremely important next week. You can help your child by reinforcing that next week is a school week and during the day they need to be studying, checking Moodle for class assignments, etc. Remind them that this is not a holiday and that their teachers are in school, teaching them online and available to answer questions and insure they continue to learn. In order to avoid extending the school year by a week in June or shortening upcoming holidays they need to be responsible students and do their work. When they return to school their teachers will be assessing whether or not their classes kept up with their work and continued to make progress in their studies.
- H1N1 is a flu and to avoid catching the flu you should take the normal precautions you would take every year during flu season. If you and your child are healthy and no one in your family has H1N1 then of course you do not have to stay home and never go out.
- Avoid large crowds as much as possible. You have to go to the grocery store, perhaps but going to a disco, a concert or even the cinema is probably not a good idea. Flu viruses love large crowds packed in small places so we recommend that you avoid these if you can.
- Can two or three friends get together? Yes, if they are all healthy there is no reason they can’t get together to study, watch a movie, etc.
- Wash your hands more often than usual with soap and water. This goes for all members of the family, not just students.
Will the Elementary School have to close?
There have still been no reported cases of H1N1 in the Elementary School so the Health Authorities have encouraged us to continue the Elementary School as scheduled. It is, of course a possibility so it would be prudent to think ahead in case we have reported cases among Elementary students and have to close the Elementary School, too. Have you made arrangements for child care? What books or materials would your child need to bring home from school? In the event of a school closure you will notified by email and will receive an SMS message. Make sure the Admissions Office has your current mobile phone number(s) and email address. Help us keep the communication lines open.
Student Study Materials
If your child does not have all of their books and course materials they will need to make arrangements to pick them up from the school. Please either pick up these materials yourself or have a driver do so on Monday.
Travel for AISB Students
Check back later for information and a final decision on whether our students can travel next week for the MUN and Speech and Debate Tournament.
Thank you all for your patience and understanding. If you have any questions, please email or call. To review previous updates, click on one of these links.
H1N1 Update November 5 - Partial School Closing
The Admin Team