FROM THE HEADMASTER

from THISTLE 2020

Alumni

Learning in Pandemic Times

When twenty-twenty began, the leadership team envisioned a year of consolidation after the notable integration of Primary and Kindergarten at our San Fernando Campus, and the reconfiguration of the Intermediate and Senior schools in Olivos. But soon after the year’s kick-off the COVID pandemic hit with the resulting lockdown of schools, requiring academic and support teams to promptly devise a plan to ensure, overnight, the continuity of teaching and learning through virtual means. Far from being short, this adverse context lasted unfortunately for most of the year, continually challenging academic teams to sustain engagement and learning through passion, commitment and resourcefulness. It was only in late November that governmental authorities allowed students to attend school premises in carefully managed subgroups ("bubbles") to the delight of students, teachers and parents alike, allowing some respite before year end.

In spite of these most challenging times, we continued on our path to becoming a competency-based school. Based on Michael Fullan’s work, staff worked on an initial maturity model of six competencies or life-worthy skills: Character, Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity and Citizenship. As they get defined to fit our school’s culture and vision, they will be used as a reference in student assessment and activity planning, thus promoting deep and holistic learning.

The pandemic put everybody to the test. Teachers had to redefine teaching and learning and find ways to leverage technology as never before. This was particularly

hard in Kindergarten, given the enormous limitations in attention spans and autonomy of our youngest students, and required unprecedented collaboration from families from their homes. One of the most salient examples of this was the "collegiate evaluation", a new student assessment approach that combined the evidence teachers gathered through digital portfolios with the observations from parents to jointly achieve an integral view of student progress. Primary combined synchronous lessons (Zooms) with asynchronous tasks and activities, focusing on academics (with a prioritisation of core curriculum content) and on socioemotional wellbeing through SEIL and beyond, while also conducting artistic and physical education activities to promote the holistic development of our students. Despite the huge challenges in dealing with virtual learning, the Primary team made significant progress on the competency framework, defining rubrics and using them as a reference in student assessment. Secondary also worked extensively on becoming a competency-based school, through the continuation of the Sea of Learning and other initiatives to involve students in interdisciplinary projects where our competencies were brought to life. The GROWth initiative, aimed at supporting students to find their sense of purpose, also gained traction; and mentoring from alumni and parents continued to flourish. Regarding the IB, while written exams were cancelled due to COVID-19, students were evaluated through internal assessment and coursework and 69% obtained their Diploma, with an average of 30 points, in line with the historic school average.

In the Arts, imagination and out-of-the-box thinking were indeed required for staff and students to find ways to express themselves virtually. Kindergarten brilliantly shared work through the Arts Exhibition, a virtual museum-like tour where students could present their works. Through YouTube Live, Primary carried out its concert as a PBL (Project-Based Learning) proposal, allowing students to participate as performers, backstage, in design or in advertising; and Intermediate students created Trapped!, a musical film fully rehearsed on Zoom and shot with Chroma... a masterpiece! The Alumni, Communications and Arts teams joined forces at year end to organise One Night By The River, featuring a selection of the work done by IB film students, followed by protocol-following performances on a stage at Malloy’s outdoor cinema, right near the water and well attended by families... from their cars! Another noteworthy effort was our parental survey, aiming to establish a new feedback channel with the families, through which we also shared the school’s quest for finding the right equilibriums during these challenging times ("Strike the balance we must!"), requiring careful attention to the integration of Academic, Physical, Socio-emotional, and Artistic aspects. Results throughout the year were very positive, and input from parents helped us adjust and continually improve during these very uncertain times.

Given the dramatic pandemic context and its sanitary and economic impact on society, the Comunidad Ampliada San Andrés (CASA) entities came together in a coordinated response through RedSA’s Covid-19 Campaign. Community members joined forces through fundraising and volunteering, in coordination with other neighbour organisations, resulting in extensive support throughout the year to those in need in San Fernando and Vicente López: face masks and protective shields to essential workers; mattresses to hospitals; food and supplies to over 450 families in need; tutoring support to students; and psychological support to adults.

Our innovative and entrepreneurial spirit was also evident in our Founders’ Day celebrations, turned into a week-long series of presentations by the various CASA entities, including a beautiful version of Skye Boat Song by students and recorded under Zoom format, and a virtual version of the 1989 song You’re the Voice by alumni, an inspiring example of how St. Andrew’s can come together against all odds. San Andrés LIVE was also born, a virtual platform to share our social impact efforts as well as showcasing inspiring work by students and parents, staff, CASA members, and alumni from Argentina and the world.

Lifelong Learning San Andrés continued growing this year, despite the impossibility of presential learning. Eleven virtual presentations were made across four programmatic areas: Education & General Knowledge; Workplace & Entrepreneurship; Personal Growth; and Community & Parenting. CIAESA, our research center on education with UdeSA, had a most fruitful year. Far-reaching, high-impact and scalable projects were carried out during 2020, two of them on fundamental questions on teaching and learning, and the other two on educational policy and its effectiveness at the state and provincial levels.

Twenty-twenty was indeed a most challenging and fascinating year and, as such, enabled us to grow tremendously as a learning community. We can proudly say that we crossed innovation and technology barriers, came together as a multidisciplinary team, and in many ways reinvented teaching and learning. I would like to extend special thanks to directors and staff for their resilience and openness to learn and adapt, and for sustaining their tireless efforts and commitment; to parents for their patience and support through very challenging times for all; to the Board and Trustees for the confidence in our leadership; and to our dear students for their tenacity in turning constraints into wonderful possibilities, inspiring us all.

Warmly,