September 11, 2020
Hello UA Community,
Thank you for an excellent first week of school. I know we were all a bit anxious wondering how things would unfold this week with the school start-up, and I am happy to say it was a big success. It has been some time since we have felt the energy of students and teachers in the building together. Everyone – students, parents and staff, appear to be following all of the safety protocols that we have established for UA’s safe return to school. For that I am very appreciative. This week gave me the opportunity to meet many parents out on the sidewalk before and after school, thank you for being so welcoming. I also discovered that some of the Kindergarten students think it has been 100 years since I was in kindergarten myself, and I was serenaded by the exceptionally talented UA Show Choir. What a great start to the school year!!
Personally, being new to UA myself this year, I was very curious to see how all the routines of the school would work and function in reality, not just on paper. I was amazed at how well the UA families and staff adjusted to the changes to the routines for drop-off and pickup, and how smoothly the traffic flow in the roundabout works. Students have done an excellent job washing their hands and using the hand sanitizing stations around the school, staying physically distanced when possible, and wearing masks when required. The new normal has now been normalized and appears to be routine for our entire community. Well done, everyone.
In addition to the students starting this week, we also have two teachers returning to UA this week who we feel very fortunate to have back as part of the UA team. Ms. Abrante will be returning this year as an Associate Teacher, and Mrs. Creighton will be returning two days per week to support students. We are thrilled that both of these teachers will be back at UA for the 2020-21 school year.
On Tuesday, next week, you will have the opportunity to virtually meet your child’s teacher. A new procedure will be implemented to help UA parents connect with the classroom teachers using Zoom. While we would love to be able to invite you all into the school to visit in person, we are not able to do that at this time. Please find out more details regarding the Meet the Teacher evening below.
Yours in education,
Mr. Slinger
Head of School
