SCHOOL UPDATE

Dear parents,

We hope that you and your families are safe in these trying times. Please see below update regarding our activities.

i. It is too early for us to know or estimate the total duration of the school closure. Please note that this measure has been mandated by the Greek government and applies to all schools in Greece, both public and private. We do not have any control over these decisions, and we continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Education to ensure that we are aligned with the most up-to-date government policies during these extenuating circumstances.

ii. We have taken adequate measures to ensure minimal disruption to our students by being one of the first schools in Greece to roll out the online learning classroom. We have continued to deliver our learning program online through Microsoft’s Teams platform, combining both synchronous (face-to-face) and asynchronous (out of classroom) learning practices since the first days of school closures (Friday, March 13). Our online classes were initially being delivered for 4-6 hours per day during the first weeks of school closures. Since March 23rd, we have scaled these up to full 8-hour days, consistent with our regular learning program, and we have been tracking student participation. The online learning program is being delivered to the majority of our students (for grades 5-12). Due to the inherent challenges in delivering online learning to our younger students, we shifted the focus of our learning program for grades 1-4 towards asynchronous activities (such as PowerPoint presentations, out of classroom assignments and coursework). We already expanded our activities for those grades, from March 26 onwards, by complementing asynchronous offline learning with synchronous online learning between 2-3 times per week through Microsoft’s Teams platform.Now we introduce through Teams the teaching of Moderrn Greek as well as the foreign languages within a fortnight.

For students at Melina’s 4 (Kindergarten and PreK ) .We agreed with the Kindergarten teachers that will make face time calls 3x per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). The Greek teachers will make face time calls 2x week (Tuesdays and Thursdays).The students will be contacted in small groups or individually according to the individual needs. Parents will be able to ask questions regarding the assignments and any other assistance they require. For the students it will be nice to see their teachers and they can show the work they have been doing. Please note that based on the current international academic literature as well as based on our teachers’ practical experience, the preparatory work required for online learning classes is significantly higher compared to traditional face-to-face learning. Specifically, preparing for one hour of online learning classes requires three to four times the level of effort and time in terms of preparatory work by the teachers compared to the level of effort required for face-to-face learning. The delivery is more intensive, and the use of technology requires discipline by both the teacher and the students.

iii. Lastly, we would like to assure you that we are doing our best to continue delivering our learning program with the same passion, diligence, commitment and professionalism that we have exhibited to date. We are aiming to alleviate some of the pressure stemming from this crisis for both our students and parents by continuing our activities and we are pleased to see the vast majority of parents supporting us in this effort.

Best regards,

Spiros Molfetas

Director
On behalf of the Steering Committee