A Very Warm Welcome Online

Dear Parents & Guardians of Class 4G,

Season Greetings and a Happy New Year to you and your family. A very warm welcome back to school once again! I hope all of you have enjoyed a relaxing holiday. It is my pleasure to inform you, that for this year, I have the privilege of being your child’s Form Teacher in 4G. Together with you as our valued stakeholders, I will be facilitating his learning in English and Mathematics. To ensure that your child’s fullest potential is actualised, there are a few areas I would like to highlight:

1. Online Class Blog (Trial Version)
This will be the first time I am putting up a class blog. Given the progress of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Maris Stella High School being awarded Centre of IT excellence, there’s a constant calling for teachers to undertake initiatives to leverage on ICT to enhance the learning of our pupils and at the same time, involve their parents. The aim of the blog is to serve as a platform to inform parents and remind pupils of their daily assignments while also highlighting other administration matters, e.g. the signing of various consent forms. The advantages of an online blog as compared to email are that it is more media-rich, allowing for an easier read without the clutter of other emails in the inbox. Having said that, I would appreciate it if you could point your browser to the following URL:
http://2009blessed4g.blogspot.com/

2. Other Modes of Communication
Though you may post comments on the blog, I am happy to entertain emails on matters of a personal or private nature at the following email address:
chewhupseng@yahoo.com

You can also reach me via the staff email list posted on the school’s website.

Though email is a great way to communicate, I would usually call back, as a phone conversation gives a more personal touch. Should the need arise and I am unable to reach you during school hours, or vice versa, I’d try to call again when I reach home.

3. First Round of Feedback
It will be very helpful if you could fill up the attached feedback form so that we as teachers can get to know the parents and child better. For those with learning needs and have submitted the relevant documents, do let me know so I can find out a bit more from the previous teachers who have interacted with your child.

4. Strategies For Better Results
In a mixed ability class, different children learnt at varied paces. Therefore, it’d be an excellent practice to read up in advance of chapters before they are taught in class. When this takes places, classroom teaching will serve to reinforce concepts even more.

With a weighed approach targeted at areas that a class is generally lacking in, it is impossible to discuss every question during a Math or English lesson of 2 periods. Detailed Worked Solutions (DWS) will be given in such cases. This is different from “copying from an answer key”. According to feedback from parents of my previous classes, DWS allows our pupils to spend more time analyzing their mistakes outside classroom time and when at home, they could always seek alternative help ranging from their parents to siblings or even tutors. However, students should feel free to approach me if they require assistance in their learning.

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop me an email. And with your permission, some of these may be put up on the class blog so that other parents could benefit from a community of knowledge sharing as well.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr. William Chew
Form Teacher, Primary 4G