A Letter to parents – Online class – Strategic Approach 2020-2021

Dear Balsam Parents and Guardians,

We hope you are safe and healthy as you read this letter. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we have been adjusting, like you, to the drastic changes in life during the last few months. We are extremely appreciative of our students, parents, teachers, staff and administrators for their positivity, flexibility and resilience during these trying times. Balsam Family welcomes you to the academic year 2020-21 with renewed zeal to face unprecedented challenges. Due to closure of schools, the teaching-learning process has witnessed paradigm shift: E- LEARNING.

E-learning doesn’t simply happen. It requires careful planning and implementation. Some parents may be little unsure of e-learning. We were too. The relentless effort of every Balsam employee, to adapt to the emerging demands, has created confidence and we are absolutely convinced that academic year 2020-21 will be the BEST year. Trust us. We have explored every possibility and chosen the best. We believe that combination of parental support, self-paced learning through pre-recorded videos, interaction with parents, live online sessions, and project based assignments make our children truly the 21st century learners. We have solid plans in place to engage children fruitfully until the day they will walk into their classes.

All members of Scholastic and CoScholastic teams have prepared meticulous plans for our children to emerge as problem solvers. We are sure that you agree with the fact that, parenting also has witnessed a paradigm shift. We extend our support to listen to your concerns and address them to the best possible extent. We thank parents who have supported us financially despite challenges, who have cooperated in at-home learning, and have patiently worked through online mode of learning.

Teachers have addressed following concerns that could arise in an online session:

1. engage every child in learning
2. provide combination of learning materials to cater to students with different learning styles
3. plan to adopt differentiated teaching
4. plan to evaluate learning after every concept
5. allow group-wise interactions

provide clarity about assignment submission, links and due dates We request you to assist your child in following teacher instructions to make online learning fun and fruitful. Any observation or a query or any concern, please write/text to the respective Level Monitor or the Home Room Teacher.

We will resume digital learning as mentioned below:

1. Grade 9 and 10 – from 11th June 2020
2. Kinder to Grade 8 – from 18th June 2020 Please read Annexure 1 to get a detailed information about our academic plan for the months of June.

We understand that many of us need guidance to access digital learning. Please refer to the video tutorials that our ICT team will be sharing with you in the upcoming week. Time Table for Online Sessions will be shared soon. We look forward to the innovative solutions to breakthrough all challenges and become role models to our children.

We request all parents to support us in this new educational approach. Learning Materials will be issued by the vendor from the first week of June at their work place which is behind the school building. You will receive information regarding the slots and roll numbers on the class WhatsApp group shortly. We shall keep you updated of further developments regarding reopening of schools based on the notifications we shall receive from the government.

Let us ensure that the students are safe and engaged meaningfully. We would like to thank you parents for your continued support. Your words of appreciation have helped our staff motivated during these challenging times. We look forward to more fruitful interactions and feedback from you.

Regards, Team Balsam