Let’s face it, parents, caregivers, teachers and guardians have all been navigating this difficult time with the Coronavirus pandemic. The truth is this: none of us know for sure what exactly we are supposed to do. Finding the fulcrum between working so you can feed your family to keeping your family safe from the spread of COVID-19 has been a difficult task. So, to make it easier to decide, here are some considerations we at LHS have taken, and some we have encouraged our parents to take as well:
Consider the Risks and Benefits of Sending Your Child To School or Daycare
Because of the COVID-19 public health emergency, instructional formats such as class size, setting, and daily schedules look drastically different than in past years. There are risks and benefits, pros and cons, to these different educational formats. For example, in-person instruction may offer easier access to school services, improved educational efficacy, more opportunities for social interaction and return to work for some parents and caregivers. At the same time, it also has a higher risk of COVID-19 exposure for your child, and ultimately, your family than virtual instruction.
Families will differ in their choice of instructional formats based on many factors:
- is the student or any members of the household at an increased risk of severe illness?
- What are the student’s academic needs?
- What is the level of COVID-19 spread in the community?
- What available school transportation options are available and are they safe?
- What is the school’s ability to execute recommended guidelines?
- What are the social-emotional wellbeing and needs of each student?
- What are the family’s situation and needs?
As you are making decisions about your child(ren) returning to school, it is important to consider the full spectrum of risks involved in both in-person and virtual learning options.
Your child’s school has a ton of influence on a child’s health and well – physical, mental and emotional. The in-person school environment not only provides educational instruction, but supports a child’s social and emotional skills, safety, speech, mental health, reliable nutrition, and opportunities for physical activity.
Does Your Child Have an Increased Risk of Serious Harm from COVID-19?
For children at an increased health risk, parents and caregivers may need to take additional precautions with regard to school re-entry. There are more COVID-19 cases reported among children with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as those with certain underlying medical conditions are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. Severe illness means that they may require hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe.
Review Your School’s Plans to Reduce Risk
Review your local school’s or school district’s plans so you can better understand the steps they are taking to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and support educational goals.
Schools can implement strategies across 4 key areas to reduce the spread of COVID-19:
- Promoting positive behaviors that reduce the spread of germs and bacteria (e.g., social distancing, washing hands and wearing cloth face coverings).
- Maintaining healthy learning environments (e.g., ensuring proper ventilation, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces regularly).
- Maintaining healthy operations within classrooms and at meal/playtimes (e.g., staggering schedules, keeping students in small groups, observing social distancing measures).
- Preparing for when someone gets sick and having a contingency plan in place for if/when it happens.
This partial lockdown has impacted Malaysia in many ways – economically, mentally, fiscally, and emotionally. As such, we wanted to send an announcement to stay strong! This has not been an easy year for anyone, but as a country we are resilient.
If there is anything this year has taught us, it has been that this interruption in our busy non-stop schedules has given us the time to stop and consider not only our own well-being, but the well-being of others including our children. Every action we take has to be considered: we have moved from a win-lose type of mentality to a win-win mentality, and while many of us have suffered professionally, lost loved ones, and have had to pivot hard to make ends meet, a new compassion for everyone was birthed.
Stay safe Malaysia and stay strong and healthy! Let’s start embodying this with our schools!
About Little Human Scholars Schools in PJ
Little Human Scholars is an all-in-one childcare solution. It is a preschool, playschool, kindergarten, nursery and full-day daycare centre (with extended hours) located in the heart of PJ.
In fact, the location is one of the things which makes Little Human Scholars so sought after – it is conveniently nestled near Jalan Gasing, University hospital, PJ Old town, PJ New town, Jaya One, Jaya33, and the PJ IT Mall.
The best part is LHS school in PJ has premiere services many other schools in PJ don’t offer such as full-day daycare with extended hours, CCTV access for parents, and a nifty little phone app which provides parents with automatic updates on their child’s development, behaviour and health checks.
With full-time guards always present at each of their locations, access to CCTV (which is in every room except the office, bathroom and kitchen areas), and very strict pick-up and drop-off rules, Little Human Scholars treats every child who walks into its hallways as one of their own children!
This place has it all: location, safety, health, IGSCE curriculum and play-based learning. What more could you ask for? Did I mention they also have transportation services and offer meal plans for students? It doesn’t get any better than that.
If you are interested in a tour of one of our centres (that’s right, there’s more than one), all you need to do is fill out the form here or call +6017-7303-025 and an LHS administrative staff will get back with you shortly!
Cheers,