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Friday, August 28, 2020

Sekolah Sri KDU Virtual Info Day 2020

 


We are in the Recovery MCO phase now and life has gotten back into some normalcy with a new normal routine. Students have gone back to school while parents continue to look for better school options and opportunities for their children. The one positive aspect about the MCO is the fact that students, teachers and schools were fast tracked into the new digital learning environment. 

Schools like Sekolah Sri KDU can move seamlessly into the new normal with their existing infrastructure. Students were able to continue learning from home and now busy parents can even attend the school's 'Info Day' from the comfort of their homes. Parents can view the school premises virtually and ask questions during FB live sessions. 

Sekolah Sri KDU Virtual Info Day 2020

If you have always wanted to find out more about Sri KDU as a school option for your child, the virtual info day is an excellent opportunity for you to do so.

Who should attend the Sekolah Sri KDU Virtual Info Day 2020?

Parents with children going to or currently in primary or secondary school who are looking for private schools doing the Malaysian National Curriculum with emphasis on Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin.

Here are 10 things you should know about the Virtual Open Day

1. It will be held on Saturday, 5th September 2020 from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm.

2. There will be LIVE CHAT sessions 

3. You will be able to learn more about the school through a VIRTUAL TOUR

4. School preview sessions will be done LIVE on Facebook

5. You can join Parents and Students sharing sessions on Zoom

6. The Sekolah Sri KDU Primary school Live Preview is at 12.00 pm

7. The Sekolah Sri KDU Secondary school Live Preview is at 10.00 am

8. You can enjoy a *rebate of 50% off the Registration Fee when you register during the Sekolah Sri KDU Virtual Info Day *Terms and Conditions apply.

9. You can ask questions about Sekolah Sri KDU's curriculum which is the Malaysian National Curriculum supplemented by the Cambridge and/or Singapore curricular for English, Maths and Science

10. You can learn more about Sekolah Sri KDU's trilingual focus on Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin proficiency

Interested in attending the Sekolah Sri KDU Virtual Open Day on Saturday,  5th September 2020?
RSVP here

Sports and Co-curricular Activities restarting in schools wef 1st September 2020


With effect from 1st September 2020, sports and co-curricular activities will be allowed in schools including the PJPK (Pendidikan Jasmani dan Pendidikan Kesihatan) classes. 


This means that students may not need to be confined in classrooms all day long as before and they can also take part in inter-house or club/society matches.

Full SOP on what to do before, during and after such activities can be downloaded from the Ministry's website. The SOP apply to all public primary and secondary schools as well as private schools registered with the Minsitry of Education, Malaysia including SK, SJKC, SJKT, SMK, SMJK, Kolej Vokasional and Kolej Tingkatan Enam etc.

Some of the SOPs and FAQs laid out include social distancing of 1 to 3 metres during stretching and warming up exercises and 3 to 5 metres for more dynamic exercises like sports, marching and dance.  Where social distancing is not possible during the activities, then face masks are required.

What Parents Should Know 

Students are encouraged to use their own sports equipment like badminton racquets or musical instruments. School provided equipment may be shared provided they are cleaned and sanitized before and after use.

Students are required to bring their own food, drinks, towels, clothing and equipment, sharing is not allowed. Shower/changing room/toilet facilities may be used with limits according to capacity. Number of students for each activity may also be limited according to capacity.

Students with low immunity may join provided they have written consent from their parents.

If outside agencies are involved in the activities, they must be agencies approved by the Ministry. Parent's consent is also required. The agencies must follow SOPs including having any outsider's temperature taken and recorded before entering the school premise.

After the activities, teachers, students and trainers are required to wash their hands with soap and water or sanitize their hands and all rooms used to be cleaned and equipment sanitized. Everyone is to leave immediately after the activities.

What Parents Can Do

1. Make sure you provide your child brings their own food, drinks, towels, clothing and equipment (if they have their own) and remind them about the no sharing SOP

2.Make sure you provide your child with hand sanitizers 


3. Make sure you read through and give written consent or otherwise if you are uncomfortable about your child taking part in activities especially those organized by outside agencies. (for example, many activities in SJKCs are conducted by third parties.) Make sure they are approved by the ministry and follow the SOPs.


4. Make sure you arrange for transportation to pick your child up immediately after their activities

What do you think about the restarting of Sports and Co-curricular activities in schools wef 1st September 2020? Yay or Nay?

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Malaysia School Holiday Calendar 2021 - Changes and Possible Implications

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The Ministry of Education has released the 2021 school holidays calendar.  The school holidays for 2021 are as follows:

27 March - 4 Apr 2021 First Semester Break
29 May - 13 Jun 2021 Mid Year Break
17 Jul - 25 Jul 2021 Second Semester Break 1
11 Sept - 19 Sept 2021 Second Semester Break 2
11  Dec - 31 Dec 2021 End of Year Break

The school holiday calendar 2021 can be downloaded from the Ministry of Education Malaysia official website here: Takwim Persekolahan 2021


Let's compare next year's holidays with the 2020 (before ammendmend for Covid calendar). What is the difference?  Let's see what this means to us parents. Note that we compared with the original school calendar for 2020 before any ammendmends were made due to Covid-19 because every year the calendar is more or less the same.


What is the difference and what are the implications?

1. School starts later ie on 20th January instead of 2nd January.

Possible Implications: This may be good news for those doing school transfers because the results of transfers usually come out around this time. We hope the results will continue to be out at this time instead of delayed further because one of the issues parents and schools face is students often have to attend school at the school they want to transfer out of for a few weeks before they get the results of their appeal or application for transfer. Inconveniences such as not being able to attend the orientation of their new school, whether to buy workbooks and gym clothes, pay school fees etc arise from this.

2. Number of school days and holidays. 

In 2020, number of holidays are 9 + 16 + 9 + 41 = 75 days
In 2021, number of holidays are 9 + 16 + 9 + 9 + 21 = 64 days 

In 2020, the number of schooling days are 49 + 40 + 35 + 75 = 198
In 2021, the number of schooling days are 45 + 35 + 25 + 33 + 56 = 194 days

As you can see from this comparison, in 2021, there are 5 holiday breaks instead of 4. Although the number of holiday breaks have increased, the number of days has actually decreased.  Also, in the second half of the year, students attend school for just 25 days (about 3 weeks) and then they have a break and then they attend school again for 33 days (about a month) and they have another break again. This has not taken into account cuti perayaan or festive holidays yet. 

For example if you were to take into account the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive holidays, then students will be having off days on the following days.

11 May to 16 May 2021 - Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays
29 May to 13 June 2021 - Mid Term Break
17 July to 25 July 2021 -  Mid Semester Break


Possible Implications: Will teachers and schools find it more challenging to schedule exam dates with increased number of breaks in between schooling days? That remains to be seen. We trust that our teachers and schools will be able to schedule their lessons and exams around these dates as necessary. Working parents may also find it challenging to make arrangements for child care with breaks which are scheduled close together.

3. The End of Year Break is in December instead of November

Possible Implications: Flood prone areas may face challenges

Here's a look at the two calendars side by side.


What about Festive Breaks?

Let's compare the Festive Breaks for 2021 with 2020. At a glance, there is not much difference as each of the major  festival is given 2 extra holidays in addition to the public holiday.  So, let's just have a look at the 2021 total number of holidays for each festival including public holidays and weekends.

Chinese New Year = 5 days ie  Wed, 10 Feb to Sun, 14 Feb 2021

Hari Raya Aidilfitri = 6 days ie Tue 11 May to Sun 16 May 2021

Hari Kaamatan and Hari Gawai Dayak  is within the Mid Term Holidays

Hari Deepavali = 5 days ie Wed 3 Nov to Sun 7 Nov 2021


We have used Group B schools as example in the above comparisons. Group B Schools are schools in Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan and Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya. 

Group A schools are schools in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. They observe  Friday and Saturday as a weekend. Therefore the start and end dates of the holidays differ by one or two days and holidays are usually adjusted to fit the weekends accordingly. The school calendar for both Kumpulan A and Kumpulan B are shown below.

Parents from Group A schools can refer to the school calendar at the top of this page for the dates.

With this calendar out, parents can now plan for their time off to spend time with their kids. Even if not going on a vacation, annual leave can be taken to spend time with kids and arrangements for child care etc can be made. 

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Revised School Holiday Calendar 2020 for Group A Schools

Revised School Holiday Calendar 2020 for Group A Schools



Group A Schools are schools in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.

According to the recently uploaded revised school days and holiday calendar for 2020 by the Ministry of Education on  its website, below are some dates parents might be interested in.


20 - 24 August 2020 = Revised Mid Term Holidays for 2020 (Awal Muharram is on Thur 20 August 2020)


15 - 16 Nov 2020 = Deepavali School Holidays. (Deepavali is on Saturday, 14 Nov 2020)


19 Dec 2020 to 19 Jan 2021 = Final Term Holidays

Coming soon....

- Revised School Holiday Calendar 2020 for Group B schools
- Malaysia School Holidays 2021 - Changes and Possible Implications

The full revised 2020 calendar for schools can be downloaded here while the relevant pages for Group A schools are displayed below.



Revised School Holiday Calendar 2020 for Group B Schools

Revised School Holiday Calendar 2020 for Group B Schools



Group B Schools are schools in Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak, Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan and Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya. 

The Ministry of Education recently uploaded the revised school days and holiday calendar for 2020 on  its website.

Here are some of the main dates to pay attention to.

20 - 24 August 2020 = Revised Mid Term Holidays for 2020 (Awal Muharram is on Thur 20 August 2020)


13 &16 Nov 2020 = Deepavali School Holidays. (Deepavali is on Saturday, 14 Nov 2020, therefore total days off is 4 days from 13 Nov to 16 Nov 2020)


19 Dec 2020 to 19 Jan 2021 = Final Term Holidays

Coming soon in our next posts 

- Revised School Holiday Calendar 2020 for Group A schools
- Malaysia School Holidays 2021 - Changes and Possible Implications

The full revised 2020 calendar for schools can be downloaded here while the relevant pages are displayed below.


 

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