20.08.2021

Beacon has 100% occupancy in face-to-face classes

By Matheus Alves and Bruna Cronfli

As announced by the government, a new back-to-school plan had been released, therefore increasing the number of school attendance. In July, Beacon restructured its internal areas in order to make possible the students’ attendance after school-break period. The rooms were adjusted according to the 1-meter-distancing protocol to ensure the presence and the safety of all students in the classroom.

In the first two weeks of August, some tests were conducted in order to monitor the incidence of Covid-19 cases and the necessary adjustments. According to the analyses provided by the internal monitoring center and Albert Einstein’s hospital consultancy, the school met the safety protocol requirements and was permitted to proceed with its 100% occupancy by adopting the face-to-face class format. Hybrid and remote teaching were restricted to families who chose to keep students at home and to those who had contact with symptomatic people or who tested positive for Covid-19.

Several factors were taken into account when deciding on the full-occupancy rate, such as: the cafeteria capacity to provide all students with their meals (a high-risk situation of contamination according to the security protocols); the use of common spaces (courtyard, gym, playgrounds, etc.) by each class at a time; trained operational staff and controlled time to sanitize the school spaces after use; among others.

Since 2020, students have been adapting to the challenges imposed by the pandemic. In the beginning, part of this process happened due to the new configuration of the family space, where family members had to share the same physical space for several months. Having the school adopted the face-to-face format, students are, once again, having to adapt from the private (their home) to the public (their school) and live together intensely for longer periods. This new adaptation brought natural imbalances in the relationships, like new adjustments, or even conflicts. Beacon understands these conflicts as a learning opportunity. The school has engaged in paying a special attention to the existing relationships inside the school, and also, in helping the  children and the adolescents to develop autonomy in order to resolve possible conflicts and to establish adjustments among each other, always under the supervision of an adult.

In addition, Beacon has been working on the adaptation concerning learning expectations, and together with our team of advisors, the school has been making curricular adjustments to be carried out in a gradual, contextualized, and meaningful way. Our focus is to continue respecting the specific development of each student, making sure differentiation is also respected. Students who need some kind of extra support will be offered reinforcement classes in Mathematics and Portuguese language, as well as our ESP, English Support Program.

We reiterate the collective responsibility to fight the pandemic within the entire community. Health protocols must be followed inside and outside the school in order to guarantee the face-to-face classes and everyone’s safety.