It was a sheer joy for staff to welcome back our students on Monday 17 August and we would like to express our appreciation to our parents and the community for their support in making this a reality.
Everyone at AIS recognises that it has been an anxious and unsettling time for everyone but the effort to work together to make our school a healthy and a safe environment is deeply appreciated. With the help and positive support of our parents and community we can continue to keep our children feeling safe, settled and learning.
Your comments regarding the efforts of getting the children back to school have been appreciated by staff. We are constantly reviewing and will adjust routines and practices to help improve new ways of working as situations arise. We thank you for your continued understanding, especially as we settle to new routines, and have had to limit visitors to school while physical distancing is in effect.
The Management Team has been meeting daily to review, monitor, and update routines and processes that have been put in place to minimise the risk of transmission of the coronavirus (COVID 19) in our school. We provide a general update below as we reflect on our first week of returning to the school since March. We continue to request help and support from our parents in talking through and embedding routines and expectations at home that reinforce what is expected in school.
Pre-Screening Checks – Annex A
The pre-checks you conduct at home are vitally important if we are to keep our school open. Thank you for returning the parental acknowledgment forms and your vigilance in undertaking these checks daily. We are in daily contact with the COVID Response Cell at JFC HQ so that we can coordinate our measures in keeping COVID 19 out of school. We remind all parents to follow the pre-screening protocol religiously and to keep national offices informed if your child is unwell.
Bus Transportation/Car Park
The Bus Transportation process has worked well around the COVID 19 staggered entry and exit protocols and adapting to the roadworks situation. Please be aware that Bus Passes for US Early dismissal on a Wednesday have different routes and numbers – use bus numbers 81-105.
We predicted congestion and this is assessed daily. The advice remains to use the bus transportation and if not possible, please be alert to the increased congestion at arrival and pick up times. The traffic situation around the school will continue to be an issue until the roadworks are completed. The Royal Marechaussee has been present every day to support the safety of our children and to monitor the Kiss & Ride Zone.
Kiss & Ride is not for parking. Please always follow proper and safe in traffic behaviour. See the map to our Extra Car park.
There is a waiting area established just inside the pedestrian gate to assist in managing the drop off and pick up of your child. You will need your ID card to access this area where a MOD Guard is on duty. National sections arrange their hand over arrangements with you. Please do remember to social distance.
AIS Car Park
Following our assessment of the staggering of student arrival and exit to school, we have had to adjust our car parking access times. The modified times are as follows until further notice:
- Morning Closed: 0820 hrs. – 0910 hrs.
- Afternoon Closed: 1450 hrs. – 1545 hrs.
- Wednesday Closed, US Early Release: 13.30hrs. – 1420 hrs.
Social Distancing and Reducing Contact
Our aim is to reduce the number of contacts between students and staff. We are working to achieve this by keeping groups separate and through maintaining distance between individuals. This is a continuous challenge to reinforce with young people.
How can parents help?
- Keep talking to your child to be more aware and practice keeping a distance of 1.5 m when moving around in a public space on school campus; that is inside and outside the school building as this reduces the chance of people infecting each other (refer to Annex D of further guidance).
- When visiting school and at drop off and pick up times a friendly reminder to follow the Dutch measures, maintaining social distancing measures at all times.
- Follow the Basic Rules for Everyone.
Mask Wearing
Students have coped well with the wearing of a face mask on transportation, in all public areas inside and outside the building, and when working inside/outside of their class/ bubble (depending on national requirements). We want to thank parents for their support in following this requirement and for helping their child to understand the importance of wearing their mask safely.
How can parents help?
- To remind their child of the importance of wearing their mask so that it covers the nose and face.
- To wear a clean mask daily.
- Anyone visiting the school to wear a mask immediately they enter our school campus. (Refer to Annex H, Parent Portal on our website).
Sodexo Lunches
Our catering provider, Sodexo has worked hard to continue to provide hot meal service to AIS students and families and arrangements and this is working well within the safety measures taken. Menus can be found on our website, on the Catering page.
All our protocols can be found on the parent portal on our website. Both AIS Board of Governors meet regularly to review the protocols in place. The Management Team remain flexible in their approach to maintain a safe and healthy environment in school. We will adapt and modify as we continue to conduct risk assessments on a daily basis. Thank you for working in partnership with us so positively to do this. We close, with a friendly reminder to maintain the current restrictions in place and keep well and safe.
AIS Directorate
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