Happy Lunar New Year

 

Dr. Cinde Lock
Principal, Branksome Hall Asia

 

Dear Branksome Hall Asia Families,

Happy Lunar New Year! 

I hope everyone is well and enjoying our wonderful life here in Korea. We are so blessed and fortunate to be safe and operating fully on campus in this time of Covid. Our students are busy with their studies this week as we head toward the Lunar New Year holiday and it is nice to see all of the focus, learning, and smiles in classrooms and in the hallways.

We received feedback from our CIS/WASC school accreditation visit that took place in November and are very pleased with the results. The international evaluation team offered several commendations. In particular, we were praised for our culture of care and the ways that we ensure the academic success and emotional well being of our students. The evaluators also expressed their approval of our well defined Strategic Planning and how this is delineated clearly in our mission-focused framework. The ways that technology supports different pathways of opportunity for our students and the unique methods that we use to implement innovative systems design in our academic programs across the school were also highlighted as stand-out features of the school.

The Accreditation Team commended us on the quality and continuity of our curriculum across divisions and recognized us for the ways that we empower our students to have voice, confidence, and build their leadership skills. Our strong professional development program for teachers was also a commendation.

This accreditation work also aided us in focusing our school goals for the remainder of this school year. Over the coming months our emphasis will be on refining our child protection policies and procedures. Specifically, we will be updating our written procedures to ensure that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) is referenced in all of our materials and we will be revising our policy regarding Homestay arrangements. In addition, we will be evaluating our facilities to ensure clear lines of sight for teachers in classrooms and other areas of the school. 

I am very pleased that we have been granted permission to move forward with the self-study portion of the accreditation process, in anticipation of our full re-accreditation visit in April 2023. 

Overall, the visit was a wonderful learning opportunity and the lead evaluator, Ms. Deirdre Fischer commented that she would only return to teaching, if she could work with our wonderful students and staff at Branksome Hall Asia. Full steam ahead!

Wishing you all a very happy, safe, and healthy New Year.

All my best,