Dear Parents,

We are into March and in uncharted waters where the Coronavirus is concerned. At present, in common with all other Ulaanbaatar Schools, we are closed until 30 March.

All of our Staff are at School and, as you know, Form Tutors and Subject Teachers are in daily contact with their Students. The On-line Teaching continues and we have been broadly pleased with the commitment shown by Students across the School. The System is improving all the time and we are working on some new Video Lessons (to appear on our Website) and some non-academic activities to supplement the Programme. As far as we can, we must all try to vary and enliven the daily routine. Boredom is the enemy!

One exciting development is the new ESM Internal and External Scholarship format. We will be running a range of tests for many age groups assessing various talents for different awards. The Scholarship Tests will run On-line for the first time and will be effective for the Academic Year 2020-2021. The On-line Testing is taking place during March 2020; details to follow next week.

ESM has been preparing a detailed Curriculum Review for the Summer Term and for the year ahead in August. And our entire Staff (from Pre-School to Grade 12) is involved in a 3-week immersion Course: What it means to be an IB School. However, we, of course, remain deeply concerned for our Students and also for our Parents in this extremely difficult time. ESM is a successful and ambitious School Community and we are all determined to emerge at the end of the current Emergency in the best possible shape to face the future.

We will come back to Parents later in the month with our proposals for the Summer Term and beyond and very much hope that, at least in Asia, the Virus may be declining in impact over the coming weeks to enable the Country to function properly again.

In the meantime, our thoughts are with the whole ESM community: with all of our Pupils, for whom ESM is such a big part of their lives, with our Parents, in many cases facing Business and Logistical Challenges (including Children at home!) and of course with our devoted Teachers and back-up Team of Admin and Workers.

Gillie and I send our warmest wishes to you all.

Regards,

Graham Hill,

Director,

ESM

3 March 2020.