Latest Update: Back to Campus Information

Dear Parents,

Most of you have heard the good news by now that we will be able to have a large proportion of our students back in school from Monday. Here is the latest schedule for the next few weeks:

Elementary and Middle School:

Monday, 09/21 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 4 and 5 - MS Grade 6 (B Day)
Tuesday, 09/22 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 2 and 3 – MS Grade 7 (A Day)
Wednesday 09/23 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 4 and 5 – MS Grade 7 (B Day)
Thursday, 09/24 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 2 and 3 – MS Grade 8 (A Day)
Friday, 09/25 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 4 and 5 – MS Grade 8 (B Day)
Monday, 10/05 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 2 and 3 – MS Grade 6 (A Day)
Tuesday, 10/06 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 4 and 5 – MS Grade 6 (B Day)
Wednesday, 10/07 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 2 and 3 – MS Grade 7 (A Day)
Thursday, 10/08 – PK, Kg, Grades 1, 4 and 5 – MS Grade 7 (B Day)

High School:

Thursday, 09/17 – Grade 10 (B Day)
Friday, 09/18 – Grade 11 (A Day)
Monday, 09/21 – Grades 11 and 12 (B Day)
Tuesday, 09/22 – Grades 11 and 12 (A Day)
Wednesday, 09/23 – Grades 11 and 12 (B Day)
Thursday, 09/24 – Grades 9 and 10 (A Day)
Friday, 09/25 – Grades 9 and 10  (B Day)
Monday, 10/05 – Grades 11 and 12 (A Day)
Tuesday, 10/06 – Grades 11 and 12 (B Day)
Wednesday, 10/07 – Grades 9 and 10 (A Day)
Thursday, 10/08 – Grades 9 and 10 (B Day)

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

Students Returning To Campus

Dear Parents,

With Korea returning today to a less intense level of physical distancing rules, Level 2.0, we will be able to welcome a large proportion of our students back to campus beginning Wednesday. Here is the new schedule from this Wednesday through Friday, September 25^th, the last day before the Chuseok holiday week:

Elementary School: Kindergarten, Grade One and Grades 4 and 5 on Wednesday Kindergarten, Grade One and Grades Two and Three on Thursday alternating with Grades 4 and 5 every other day through September 25. Kindergarten and Grade One will be here every day.

Middle School: Grade 8 Wednesday and Thursday, Grade 6 Friday and Monday, Grade 7, Tuesday and Wednesday, Grade 8 next Thursday and Friday.

High School: Grades 9 and 10 through Thursday (4 days), Grades 11 and 12 Friday through next Wednesday (4 days), Grades 9 and 10 Thursday and Friday of next week. After the Chuseok break, we will revert to two days in school, two days distance learning.

We will project the same system will be in place for after the Chuseok holiday period, beginning October 5^th :

ES: Kindergarten, Grade One every day with Grades 4 and 5 to begin the week.
MS: Grade 6 to begin the week for two days, followed by seventh and eighth.
HS: Grades 11 and 12 for two days to begin the week, followed by nine and ten.

Thanks, as always, for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

GMOE Requirements Under Level 2

Dear Parents,

The recent move to Level 2 due to the spike in coronavirus cases lately means that we are more restricted in the number of students we are able to bring to school everyday. We heard this morning that this level will be with us through at least September 11^th, when the government will reassess the situation.

During this period, we are allowed to bring in up to one-third of our Elementary students, one-third of our Middle School students and up to two-thirds of our High School students. The high school schedule will not change with 9 and 10 in for two days and 11 and 12 in for the next two days throughout this period.

For tomorrow, Tuesday, this would mean that all Kindergarten through Grade 2 students would be in school. All sixth grade students will also be in school, as will all 11^th and 12^th grade students.  Those children not in school will be taught via distance learning.

We expect another update from the GMOE tomorrow and as soon as we hear, I will inform you of the situation and which of our students we will expect to be in school for the remainder of the period through September 11^th.

I know this is disappointing news to everyone, but we are working today to make sure that our program of distance learning is ready for tomorrow and the next few weeks.

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

Opening of School – August 12, 2020

We are ready to welcome all new and returning students to the first day of classes, next Wednesday, August 12^th. This will be a half-day schedule with classes ending at 12 noon.

We will start the year with all elementary students coming to school every day, with two-thirds of the middle school students and half of the high school students, as was announced this past Monday. We are all set with the necessary precautions in place to ensure the health of our children.

Parents should make sure they are aware of the health precautions we are taking, which may be found on this webpage under “Health Services”.

We are eager to have our students back and will assess the partial opening after a few weeks, with the aim of bringing everyone back at the earliest time possible.

Let’s have a great start to the school year. I look forward to seeing all of yo back at SIS in the coming days.

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

Re-Opening of School August: 12

Dear Parents,

Recent modifications to the GMOE guidelines, indicating that two-thirds of our student body may attend face-to-face classes, have led to the following changes for SIS students regarding the start of the new term on Wednesday, August 12^th:

All Elementary School students will be invited and welcomed back to school every day for the foreseeable future.  Elementary students will be welcome on campus every day beginning next Wednesday. We do not expect distance learning for ES students. We are also expecting our Tuesday after-school programs (ASE) to proceed as usual.

Middle School students will attend face-to-face classes four out of every six days with 6^th and 7^th grade in school on August 12^th, grades 7 and 8 on the 13^th, and 6 and 8 on the 14^th. Students not on campus will be distance learning. Here is the schedule for the remainder of August:

High School students will come to school every two days, following their A/B schedule as described in an earlier letter from last week:

Please note that the school is taking all precautions as recommended by the KDC which include temperature checks as students enter the school, temperature checks prior to lunch, monitoring students for COVID symptoms, compulsory mask wearing, social distancing, acrylic classroom and cafeteria barriers between students. Parents will need to take the temperature of their child before the child leaves home and report that the temperature is below 37.5 and that their child has no COVID symptoms. The student must show this before boarding the bus or entering the school each day. More information about health precautions may be found on the school webpage: www.siskorea.org, under “Health Services”.

We expect our KAIAC sports teams in the high school to proceed as normal.

Please note that Monday, August 17^th will be a full and regular day of school. We will not be taking the holiday.

Please feel free to send me any questions or concerns you may have as we approach our first day.

We are looking forward to seeing our students back here again soon and are grateful for your patience during these unusual times.

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

Dear Members of the SIS Community,

We are all ready to welcome your children to school for the start of the 2020-2021 school year! It’s been a long time since we have had the joy of having your children here on the SIS campus.

While we prefer face-to-face learning always, we must follow the most up to date guidelines as have been determined by the Ministry of Education. Those guidelines allow us to have one-third of elementary, one-third of middle and two-thirds of high school students on campus on any given day. This is to allow for social distancing among students. The school will also require face masks to be worn by everyone in the school, will have temperature checks of all students during the course of the day, and will adhere to all other health and safety guidelines from the Ministry. The school policies with regard to COVID-19 may be found on the school website.

Here are our plans for the first few weeks of school. Please note, we anticipate that the MOE guidelines will change, hopefully to allow us more students than the current regulation. As soon as any change from the MOE reaches us, we will be able to add more students per day.

Elementary School

Group I:  Pre, JK, SK, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade - 65 students
Group II:  Pre, JK, SK, 1A, 3rd Grade - 70 students
Group III:  Pre, JK, SK, 4th Grade - 71 students
Group IV:  Pre, JK, SK, 1B, 5th Grade - 69 students

Week 1  8/12-8-14

0 Day Wednesday. 8/12 Group I. – Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd grades on campus .5 day (noon dismissal)    

A Day Thurs. 8/13 Group II Kindergarten, 1A, 3rd
B Day Fri. 8/14 Group III - Kindergarten, 4th

Week 2  8/17-8/21 

C Day Mon. 8/17 Group IV - Kindergarten, 1B,  5th 
D Day Tue. 8/18  Group I - Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd 
E Day Wed. 8/19 Group II - Kindergarten, 1A 3rd 
A Day, Thurs. 8/20 Group III - Kindergarten, 4th 
B Day Fri. 8/21 Group IV - Kindergarten, 1B, 5th 

Week 3  8/24-8/28 

C Day Mon. 8/24 Group I - Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd 
D Day Tue. 8/25 Group II - Kindergarten, 1A, 3rd 
E. Day Wed 8/26 Group III - Kindergarten, 4th 
A Day Thurs. 8/27 Group IV- Kindergarten, 1B, 5th 
B Day Friday 8/28 Group I - Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd 

Week 4 8/31-9/4 

C Day Group II - Kindergarten, 1A, 3rd 
D Day Group III - Kindergarten, 4th
E Day Group IV - Kindergarten, 1B, 5th 
A Day Group I – Kindergarten 1st, 2nd
B Day Group II - Kindergarten, 1A, 3rd

Middle School

Aug 12 - 6th graders on campus – early dismissal 12 noon
Aug 13 - 7th graders on campus 
Aug 14 - 8th graders on campus 
Aug 17 - start with 6th graders, 2 days (A/B) on campus followed by Grade 7 and then Grade 8 two days on campus and continue rotaion

High School

High school students will attend school in a two-day cycle.  Two days of on-campus classes followed by two days of virtual learning at home.  The ninth and tenth grade will attend school together on the same days and the eleventh and twelfth grade will also be in school together on the other days.

In addition, we are expecting a full KAIAC sports schedule to begin in the High School with the traditional fall sports of volleyball, cross-country, and tennis.

Please note that in order to have higher quality lunches, Foodist, our cafeteria company, has increased the lunch fees by 1000KW per meal. However, the school will pay this increase for every student. There will be no increase for parents.

Thanks to all of you for your understanding and cooperation during this initial period of the school year. We are expecting changes from the MOE that will allow us more students. As soon as that happens, we will bring it to your attention.

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

Dear Parents,

As we bid farewell to the 2019-2020 school year, we are beginning preparations for the start of school in August. We expect to be back to as near normal as possible with all teachers, new and returning all set for the first day, August 12^th. We will be thrilled to see all of our students back in their classrooms on that day!

It’s been a difficult few months for all of us, but through the tremendous effort of everyone, we have put the last few difficult months behind us as best we can and will look ahead with optimism.  I would like to thank our entire community for their grace and understanding during these times. We are fortunate that our teachers and students were well prepared for distance learning and even though all of us miss the one-to-one contact we are accustomed to with our students, there have been some cases in which a proportion of our students report that have thrived even more under distance learning. Nevertheless, we will be well prepared for when we start school in August, keeping with social distancing protocols and making the school environment as safe as possible upon our return.

You will need to take the temperature of your child each morning before they come to school, so have a thermometer handy each day. There will also be a very brief checklist for you to fill out about any flu symptoms your child may have, which must be turned in each morning. Once we approach the first day of school later this summer, we will let you know of all the precautions we’ll be taking.

In the meantime, all of you should keep healthy and safe. We are grateful for working with such a supportive community and look forward to seeing everyone back at school in August. Best wishes and thanks to all of you!

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

Dear SIS Parents,

It was a pleasure to meet with so many parents from out PAR yesterday afternoon and to address your concerns and to discuss the incredible effort all of us are making during this current difficult situation. I believe we are all in this together and must work as one positive force for the sake of our children.

The school year will conclude on May 29^th this year, with distance learning continuing until that day. Teachers will be teaching on the 9^th and 10^th of April, the days that had been set aside for Parent Teacher Conferences. PTC’s will take place by appointment and virtually later in April. The Principals will help to arrange those dates and times. Distance classes will also be held on April 30^th and May 4^th and 5^th, with May 1^st being the only holiday for the remainder of this year. Altogether, SIS will have held classes on 176 of the normal 180-day school year.

All SIS students who continue with their online classes through May will be awarded full credit and grades for the year. As we have eliminated many school trips, including overnight sports, music, and middle school trips as well as all ES field trips, our students will end up with at least 180 full days on instruction, just as they do each and every year, however the Business Office is processing refunds for the lunch, bus services, and tuition for the four days missed.

AP exams will be taken remotely, meaning at home by students on their computers. The dates have not yet been announced but Mr. Macklin has set up an information page for all students in grades 10-12 on which anyone, including parents may ask him questions. The May SAT has been cancelled but at this point, the June SAT is still scheduled. Once we know more specific information about the possible June SAT, we will be in touch with high school parents.

The visit to SIS by Ms. Edwards, our new College Counselor has been canceled due to quarantine restrictions, but she will remain in close contact with Mr. Schneider and the other high school counselor who are gathering student information regarding their college applications.

ES parents from the PAR had a very fruitful meeting with Ms. Schuppel yesterday in which they discussed suggestions about enhancing distance learning for our youngest students. As a result there will be some adjustments to improve the process. We are grateful for such feedback from parents is important and taken very seriously, so please keep in touch with us!

Please beware of rumors that may circulate via social networks

We appreciate your kind words and support of all of us and are convinced that remaining positive during these rough times will help to get us through this period stronger than ever.

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School

Update on School Closure

Dear Parents,

Our teachers used this past Monday, a day set aside for professional development, to work together to formalize their plans for distance learning. Yesterday those plans were enthusiastically put into operation. All reports indicate that our high school and middle school students followed their normal school schedule and that the plan for meeting students and teaching online was achieved. Children in the elementary school have also been in contact with their teachers who have prepared and provided e-learning lessons with their students.

A meeting with all of the Heads of KAIAC schools was held today here at SIS. Each of the international schools here in Seoul is continuing with distance learning and all report successful efforts in doing so. The same is true for the dozens of schools in China that have been closed to students for weeks.

We have decided to continue to implement distance learning through to at least the end of next week, March 6^th. We will reassess the situation late next week and hope to re-open the school as a full day for all students on March 9^th, the day that public schools in Seoul are also scheduled to re-open. In the meantime, your children are encouraged to stay home and not go out to meet in groups.

Thus far, no member of any of the KAIAC schools has shown any indication of contracting the virus and it is fortunate that the virus typically strikes many more older people than younger ones, especially children. SIS has brought in a professional company to disinfect the entire school and will continue to ensure the school is thoroughly disinfected once students have returned.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to the day when school is fully back is session and are grateful for your positive thoughts and comments.

Keep well!

Sincerely,

Michael Colaianni
Head of School