PRIMARY SCHOOL - INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR

 Filenews 13 August 2020

Primary Education teachers were given the first instructions in view of the new school year against the background of the treatment of the coronavirus.

The written communication concerns Directors and Faculty Members of Primary Schools, Kindergartens and Special Schools and was provided by Anapl. Director of Primary Education Sofia Ioannou Georgiou.

This is the announcement:

The start of each new school year is always a special, especially important day for all of us. This year, emotions are mixed, pleasant anticipation for the new year, uncertainty due to unprecedented data. Certainly, the new school year is expected to be a different and demanding year, since corovirus COVID-19 continues to afflict not only our country, but also the whole world.

Despite all the difficulties, we should all ensure the pedagogical support of our students and the smooth continuation of the educational process, while, at the same time, we must show due maturity and responsibility, in order to protect the health of our students, our fellow human beings and ourselves.

The school year 2020-2021 will start on 1 September 2020 for teachers and on 7 September 2020 for all primary school pupils. However, taking into account the fact that, every day, the epidemiological picture of our country varies, the way schools operate may be affected.

In any case, the schools and in the new school year will operate with the implementation of a Health Protocol for which you will be informed when the consultations with the Ministry of Health are completed. Therefore, before the start of the courses, all preventive measures should be taken, in cooperation with the relevant School Authorities and the relevant Associations of Parents and Guardians, to ensure the safety and health of students, teaching and auxiliary staff with regard to the new Corovirus COVID-19, in accordance with the instructions to be sent to you.

Pending the instructions of the Ministry of Health and the decisions to be taken on all issues of the operation of schools and looking forward to achieving our common goal of the smooth and orderly functioning of our schools, attachments, instructions and information are given for the school year 2020-2021.

The aim of this circular is to inform everyone as fully as possible about the various educational and/or administrative issues that may arise during the school year, so that you can handle them properly and effectively. It should be noted that if, due to exceptional circumstances and, in particular, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is considered that any directive, information, policy, etc. referred to in this circular should be differentiated, you will be informed in good time, so as not to affect the smooth functioning of schools and at the same time to ensure the health of all. Everyone's understanding and cooperation is taken for granted, taking into account the special and unprecedented conditions we are experiencing.

We have also shown that despite all the difficulties, we can carry out the work entrusted to us. That is why our vision is still to create a school that is democratic, happy and effective. A school that cultivates critical thinking, creativity, kindness and love for beauty and a sense of beauty. A school in which students learn, rejoice, play, mature, develop and march in society as active citizens, with social sensitivities, empathy, respect and love for themselves, for their own, for their community, for their country and for the whole world.

And in all this we can make a decisive contribution to each and every one of us. We recognise the ever-increasing difficulties and the constant, complex and, in some cases, intractable challenges in the everyday life of our schools. However, bearing in mind the multiple possibilities that characterise the human resources of Primary Education, I have no doubt that you will respond, collectively and responsibly, both to the general challenges of the times and to the specific challenges of the new school year. In this effort, take for granted my personal support and assistance, as well as the supervisory and guidance staff of the Directorate of Primary Education.

For easy access to this circular, the relevant forms, as well as previous important circulars referred to in this circular and you should be aware of them, please visit the Website of Primary Education: http://www.moec.gov.cy/dde/ (Instructions for the school year 2020-2021), where you can easily find all the information you are looking for. In addition, in order to facilitate, in particular, the older Directors, who are aware of the instructions given in the past on the various issues, next to the title of each topic, it is stated whether it is a new subject or whether it has any revision to the policy in force or to the timetables or circulars concerned, so that the whole circular is not required to be re-studied.

It should be noted that, depending on the needs created each time, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth (Y.P.P.A.N.) often differentiates the forms used by schools, teachers and/or parents. Therefore, whenever a form has to be completed or a form given to parents, use what is currently posted on the internet (on the website of the Directorate of Primary Education - Forms), and not what has been printed and stored in the past or that may have been stored on the school computer.

It is recalled that, since last school year, the forms of the Directorate of Primary Education do not bear the designation of EPA but the IDS and the forms of Special Education bear the designation EU. In this context, I hope that, to all teaching and auxiliary staff, the year 2020-2021 will be creative, remarkable and effective, both at school and on a personal and family level. To the students, I wish wholeheartedly, to live all the beautiful, unique and great that their school can, with its special care and care, offer them.

Source: eyenews