Message from the principal - September 2021

Dear parents of APSW,

May the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you always!

First, I would like to welcome you all on behalf of our teachers, for returning to our campus in this new academic year. Undoubtedly, parents must have plenty of concerns on how your child is adapting in this new school year but since we work closely with our parents, I hope our children will have a happy and meaningful school year.

Stepping into the month of August, all of our teachers have already returned to school, attended all the required meetings to discuss the work for this new semester, also completed either the Covid vaccination or related testing in accordance with the latest Education Bureau epidemic prevention guidelines, providing the best and safest learning environment for our children. Last year, we have installed transparent dividers on students’ desks as precautionary measures, allowing children to take off their masks and have snacks in a safe environment during recess. However, considering the epidemic situation in Hong Kong which have been brought down to a securer level, we have decided to no longer use them, they impacted on teachers teaching and children’s ability to view. Additionally, the research conducted by European and American experts, have pointed out that these transparent dividers may not help in preventing the transmission of virus, it may impede indoor ventilation instead. Under certain circumstances, transparent dividers may as well cause indoor accumulations of virus particles. The study also proven that with improved ventilation, installation of high efficiency filters (HEPA) air purifiers, as well as always having our masks on, can help reduce the spread of virus.

 Instead, we will continue to arrange seats in single rows facing the front this year. In addition, the epidemic prevention guidelines given to schools by the Centre for Health Protection suggested that we should avoid any activities such as lunch break or snack time which require children to take off their masks to minimise the risk. Thus, considering the necessity children will need to eat and drink in school, we strongly encourage parents to prepare a face shield or foldable divider for your children to bring back to school and use it during recess. Please clean and disinfectant it daily. The school has also drawn up some suggestions regarding the tips on epidemic prevention, please read through it carefully. Furthermore, we will teach our students the proper way to eat and drink in recess, together with other relevant precautions that they need to bear in mind during the first week of school.

 On the other hand, due to the epidemic, all of us could only stay in Hong Kong during the summer holiday. Fortunately, the pandemic in Hong Kong has eased, we were able to participate in extracurricular activities and spend time with our family and friends. Even though we were unable to travel, we were able to witness all the competitions between athletes from different countries in this World Sport Event which only happens once every four years - The Tokyo Olympics on TV.

In addition to the outstanding achievements of the Hong Kong athletes, I believe parents and children were both excited and touched at the moment of them winning.   Perhaps everyone may just focus on those who have won the medals but we hope our children can look beyond what success is. We shouldn’t just consider success as winning the medals, we should instead appreciate the hard work these athletes have put into the game. Yet some of them may have failed to win any medals but they were capable of making breakthroughs and making themselves into better athletes. We hope our children can learn from the Sportsmanship of the Olympics, work hard for their goals. Just like how we teach our children at school, ‘Go Beyond Yourself, Do your Best and Be the Best of You!’, allow them to experience the joy of success, learn to accept any failure throughout the process and build up the foundation for success as the ultimate goal.

This is the first year of us beginning our new 3 year annual school plan, based on the theme “Cultivate Innovative creativity and problem-solving abilities, Serve the Community, Step towards our 25^th Anniversary.” At the start of this new school year, our mood is inevitably affected by the epidemic and the diverse modes of schooling. Yet by relying on God and us working together, we are able to conquer any challenges and difficulties ahead. Due to the epidemic of Covid-19, we have made numerous of decisions. Upon every decision-making, we have been asking ourselves: "Should we or should we not? Why should we or why shouldn't we do it?” These "whys" are very important to our policy-making. We are truly thankful to the members of the IMC, chairperson of the PTA, parent committee members and all parents for their support and assistance, it had enabled us to understand the concerns and needs of each parent. Your invaluable feedback has helped us better our policies. May we continue to work together and strive for the wellbeing of our children during this difficult time.

May I wish everyone good health, not just the body but your mind, spirit and for families to be filled with joy and happiness. I look forward to meeting all of you on campus soon.

 

Mr. Lee Tak Hang

School Principal