Dear SSIS Parents,
Thank you to all the parents who have joined me these past Fridays for “Conversation with Head of School.” Your perspectives and questions have helped to shape our understanding of your child’s experience of Virtual School. It has also allowed us to improve how we meet your families’ needs.
As we wait for information from the Department of Education and Training (DOET) about the timeline for possible school reopenings in Ho Chi Minh City, I want to assure you that we will work to provide the highest quality of learning and support possible, whether your child attends school physically or virtually once we are allowed to open. For those families unable to return to Vietnam yet, we will continue to support your children in Virtual School for as long as that need remains.
Thank you to the many parents who completed the Reopening Opinion Survey. Your responses will help us to have a clear understanding of how to best support our families.
Virtual School Survey Results
Below you will find the results of the Virtual School survey that we sent out on September 15. We will continue to conduct these surveys for as long as students are attending school virtually. The responses offer essential insights into your children’s experience and help us ensure that we are providing your children with the best possible learning experience.
Overall Satisfaction with Virtual School
Communication During Virtual School
Interaction During Virtual School
Enhancements Based on Parent Feedback
Increasing interactions between students in ES – while we are happy to see an increase in middle and high school in most areas, a few elementary school parents noted a desire for more interaction among students. This has been addressed in our elementary leadership team meetings, and our ES teachers have worked on increasing student-to-student interactions.
Increasing the amount of physical activity – some parents have again asked for more physical activities for their children. We are happy to share that the SSIS Virtual Athletics Season for grades 4 – 12 began this week. The season includes HS Table Tennis, HS Volleyball, HS/MS Swim Team, MS Basketball, and ES Soccer. A Saturday session focused on Active Recovery is also offered to students in grades 4 – 12. So far, almost 100 students have already signed up to participate. Please encourage your children to participate. Also, we hope that our students will also take the opportunity to be physically active outdoors, as restrictions ease.
More opportunities for students to meet outside of class – the opportunities to meet outside of the classroom continue to grow. We have almost 300 students signed up for HS Clubs that meet weekly. The MS Meet-Ups are still being held on Wednesdays. Participation varies, and we encourage you to remind your MS children about this opportunity. In addition, our Activities Department is working on compiling an online “Bulletin Board” to share information about external providers offering virtual activities. More information will follow.
Expectations for teachers’ response times to parent emails – some parents have asked us how long the response time from teachers should be. I’d like to clarify so that you know our commitment as a school and what you should expect as a parent. Our teachers are dedicated to making themselves available to your children and work hard to respond promptly to all of their students. Parents can expect to hear back from their children’s teachers within two working days.
Thank you for your continued collaboration and for providing us with the essential insights that allow us to ensure your children have the highest-quality learning experience possible. Have a healthy, happy, and safe weekend!
All good wishes,
Dr. Catriona Moran
Head of School
