COVID-19 Pandemic Induced School Suspensions and Changes

**This article documents a current event.**
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial information may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, in the 2019-2020 School Year, in-school lessons were suspended from 2020-01-23 to 2020-05-24, for a subtotal of 4 months. The school used online learning sessions on Google Meet and Zoom to teach students during this time. School resumed on 2020-05-25, but only for selected year levels.

However, the school was suspended again at the start of the 2020-2021 school year (2020-08-17) due to the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

After the resumption of full-day school for the new 2021-2022 school year (2021-08-16), primary school was suspended and secondary full-day school was stopped again due to the spread of the Omicron Variant of COVID-19 on 2022-01-11, with secondary students reverting to a half-day schedule. On 24th of January, all face-to-face schools were suspended and a timetable for full online classes for both Primary and Secondary were introduced. On April 25th, half-day school for both primary and secondary students were resumed.

## First Suspension and Resumption

The arrangements for class resumption after the first suspension are below.

 2020-06-01
 2020-06-01
 2020-06-08
 2020-06-15
 2020-06-22

During the first school suspension, most computers in classrooms/form rooms had their operating system upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 Pro. Computers in the PC Labs did not get upgraded. All taps/faucets in the toilets were also replaced with automatic taps/faucets.

Sometime during the period of school closure due to the pandemic, the Lennon Wall was dismantled. Post-its were discarded and a poster crumpled. The wall at 2020-05-29 only consisted of a few scattered post-its. Currently (as of 2022-04-28), the wall is empty.

Many school events were cancelled due to the pandemic, for example, Sports Day. Some events were modified, for example, Parent's Day. Parent's Day was split into three sections over two days. Only ten sessions were available for each section.

School times were shortened after the partial school resumption; from 8 hours to 4 hours and 45 minutes. There were only four lessons, with a Form Tutor Period (FTP) at the start of the day and a Break after two more lessons. There was also a Home Room Time at the end of the day. Each lesson was one hour long. There were also 1 FTP+ period (extended Form Tutor Periods) every week, which was also one hour long.

Some students had to go to school on selected Saturdays after the partial school resumption. School started 30 minutes (8:30 am) later than normal school days on Saturdays, and lessons were only 45 minutes long. The first lessons on Saturdays were 50 minutes long to allow for time for the teacher to take attendance, as there was no Form Tutor Period (FTP) on Saturdays. However, there are only 2 of these Saturdays before the end of the term, for the year levels 3–5 and 8–11, and only 1 for the year levels 6–7.

Eating was completely prohibited, with water consumption not recommended. Students are now allowed to wear PE uniforms for the whole school day if there is a PE/Drama lesson.

Principal Lau has been observed being more active in walking along the hallways, observing students in the first few days after the partial school resumption.

### Google Classroom and Online Lessons

    During the school suspension, due to not being able to have lessons in school, the school made a schedule for students to attend online lessons in the platform Google Meet. Some teachers used Zoom. The schedule is similar to the original schedule, but there is no week B. Announcements and assignments are posted on Google Classroom, where students can interact with the teacher(s) and each other. They can also submit their homework and complete other actions using Google Classroom.

    Head Principal Lau recorded herself narrating a story during the school closure period every Friday, facing an empty auditorium. The videos would be posted onto a Google Classroom course, where students can watch the videos. Two shared drives on Google Drive (one for primary and the other for secondary) were set up later so sharing Principal Lau's story videos was easier.

All secondary students were also added to a Google Classroom classroom named 'Secondary PE' where videos of PE teachers demonstrating physical activities were posted. There were also assignments assigned to students, where students had to complete activities on an app called HomeCourt and hand in the results. There have been two assignments assigned before the partial school resumption.

Below is a post by a teacher in the classroom:

> "Dear all, This week PE Dept prepared some fitness tests and challenges for you. Please have enough warm-up and cool down before and after exercises. Besides, you might also keep working on Lesson 1 -3 as a regular exercise. Finally, remember to hand in the challenges assignment. Homecourt App is only available on Apple IOS devices. No worries if you are using Android devices just click done and send the private comment "Sorry I can't finish the homework because I am using Android devices" to let us know. We can do it when we back to school later."
>
>

Some year levels had to go to school on Saturdays in Week A during a period of time.

In late May or early June, the school added the Zoom for GSuite add-on to school email Gmail client.

### Health and Safety Measures

A health form had to be submitted when students came back to school. Students were also required to check their temperatures on a daily basis and record them on a form provided by the school. How often this form was checked varied between classes.

The school also place a temperature sensor that displayed a video feed showing the temperature of students at the top of the Main Staircase. The school nurse and other staff would also manually check student temperatures with hand-held temperature sensors. A similar station was put in place where students would disembark school buses in the morning, next to the entrance of the First Stairwell, on the ground floor. On 2020-05-30, tables with a hand sanitiser dispenser was placed in front of the station at the top of the Main Staircase. Students were required to use the dispenser and sanitise their hands before entering.

Only Year 8, Year 9 and Year 11 students attended the first assembly session after the partial school resumption. The first assembly was hosted on 2020-05-29 from 11:35 to 12:35. Year 6 and Year 7 students will attend a second session of assembly on 2020-06-05 from 11:35 to 12:35. Students and staff were to sit with one seat between each person and to sit in between the people in front of them. Seats that were not to be used had a white rectangular sticker with a red cross stuck on them. Additional black chairs were placed on the sides of the Auditorium to increase the seating capacity. During the last assembly session of the school year, Year 8 students watched a live video of the assembly session through YouTube to maintain social distancing.

Assessment week for Year 6, Year 7, Year 8, Year 10 and Year 12 students was cancelled. Year 9 students and Year 11 students still have to complete assessments. Normal class timetables were to be followed when a Year 9 or Year 11 student does not have a lesson for a period, except for specified subjects. There were also instrument lessons during the assessment week. These instrument lessons were hosted in online meetings, just like during the school closure period. Some assessment periods were removed. This limited the amount of content that students could be tested on. For example, Year 9 International Maths did not have a non-calculator paper.

The areas outside toilets had white tape placed on the floor to serve as markings for people who line up to ensure social distancing. The toilets had only half of their original capacities to ensure social distancing.

Some other rooms also have the same white tape markers on the floor outside the doors, such as the Art Rooms. These rooms are usually rooms where students might line up outside the doors.

A laminated number card printed on yellow paper had to be given out to a student if the student wanted to enter the Library. These cards were given out by a librarian sitting next to a table at the entrance of the Library. The cards were to be returned when students leave the Library. The number of cards given out was limited. There were also tables with (a) hand sanitiser dispenser(s). Students were required to use the dispenser and sanitise their hands before entering the Library. The tables in the Library had red crosses printed on paper (laminated), which were stuck in front of seats in an alternating fashion.

Tables in the Integrated Science Laboratories, Multi-Purpose Rooms, Physics Laboratory, Chemistry Laboratory and the Biology Laboratory had transparent plastic dividers placed on them.

Only two students could sit at each table in the DT Rooms, at opposite corners. IGCSE DT students were given a pair of goggles each for use in DT lessons. They are stored at school. Each table in the DT Rooms was provided with a canister of wet wipes.

Each homeroom/form room was provided with a bottle of manual hand sanitiser dispenser and a box of surgical masks. The masks were available on request and can only be used in emergencies.

## Second Suspension and Resumption

The second suspension was similar to the first suspension period.

Some BenQ smartboards were added to rooms such as the Physics Laboratory and the DT Room during the second suspension.

The Opening Ceremony was recorded as a video and posted to YouTube. There was an 'Additional Lesson' period for some year levels where teachers could book the session and use it for various purposes. The third day of this school year (2020-08-19) was cancelled due the typhoon Higos. The typhoon's highest tier on this date was 9.

Most rooms, including the indoor stairwells, such as the Second Stairwell were sanitised by Zoono and had a sticker stuck on at least one door of the room/area.

### Suspected Case of a Student's Sister

A rumour was circulated throughout students on/near the day 2020-10-06 that a sister (not a PLKCKY School student) of a Year 5 PLKCKY School student has COVID-19. A senior teacher from the primary section was rumoured to have confirmed this on the same day (2020-10-06).

The school later sent out a circular named "Suspected "Close Contact" COVID-19 Case" on 2020-10-07 10:31, stating that they were informed by a parent on the night of 2020-10-06 that the sister of one of their current students (Year 5) has been preliminary tested positive for COVID-19. The school stated that the daughter has been re-tested and the result came back early on the morning of 2020-10-07 as preliminary negative. The Year 5 student in PLKCKY school has been advised by the school to self-quarantine and take a COVID-19 test before returning to the school.

The school also stated that they considered suspending face-to-dace classes for safety reasons; however, the advice from the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of Hong Kong is that there is no need for the school to suspend as the suspected case is not a PLKCKY School student. The school stated that school will continued as usual.

The school stated that they will keep in close contact with the family and the CHP and that they will notify the school community if there is any updated information. They stated that in the meantime, they will strengthen the cleansing and disinfection of the school premises and that parents could continue to send their children to school unless advised otherwise.

They also urged parents to put in place appropriate preventive measures to guard against the spread of COVID-19 based on the health advice from the CHP.

The school sent a follow-up circular named "Primary In-school Class Suspension" on the same day (2020-10-07) at 18:56. The school stated in the circular that the sister of the PLKCKY School student will need a further 2–3 tests to be confirmed negative, which will take 2–5 days. They also stated that after a thorough discussion with Po Leung Kuk, they have decided that for the safety of the school community, they will suspend all primary face-to-face classes and on campus activities for 2 days (2020-10-08 to 2020-10-09) and return to online learning.

The school stated that the timetable for online classes will be:

 14:45–15:45
 16:00–17:00

The school also stated that teachers will post links and passwords to their Zoom rooms on Google Classroom and that instrument lessons will continue as scheduled. The school stated that the school campus will remain open for any students who require supervision.

The school stated that they appreciate the parents' support and understanding during this challenging time and hope they will be able to return to regular classes as usual next week.

According to some teachers, Google further restricted the number of participants that can join a Google Meet meeting some time around October 2020.

### Resumption

        Face-to-face classes were resumed in phases for secondary school students beginning on 2020-09-23. School was half-day, with face-to-face classes in the morning, and online lessons at home in the afternoon. A 2.5 hour period was allowed for students to travel back home and eat lunch. Secondary school students go to school in the morning, while primary students go to school in the afternoon.

The first assembly after the second suspension period was on 2020-09-25. The Chinese character riddle was introduced by Principal Lau on that day.

For Year 10 students, Form Tutor Period was only in Monday morning for both Week A and B, and occasionally in the third period on Friday in Week B. Students had to sign a form as the teachers could not take attendance. Starting on 2020-09-29, every day had a 15-minutes FTP at the start of the day. Students did not have to sign the form anymore after this.

The old drinking fountains had laminated pieces of white paper with a red cross printed on them stuck on, indicating that they should not be used.

On 2020-09-23, a new hand-based temperature checker was implemented at the two main entrances. Students can place their hand in front of the checker and without touching it, the checker can display the approximate temperature. More were placed at other key entrances such as the Library.

On 2020-11-16, full-day school resumed for senior secondary students. There were four designated zones for lunch, called Zone A, Zone B, Zone C and Zone D. The four zones are situated in the Activity Rooms 1–2, the canteen and the Auditorium Glass House. A maximum of three people were allowed to sit at a table. All tables were given a number code and all seats were given the codes "X", "Y" or "Z". Students had designated tables and seats they were to sit at/in. There were transparent plastic dividers set on the table, one for each designated seat. There was a basket in the middle of the table which contained a bottle of hand sanitiser gel, packets of hand sanitiser gel which could be cracked open, and a package of paper towels. The Café on the Hill remained closed. Students could not buy lunch during lunchtime, they had to order it with the lunch order form. Bought lunch could be picked up at the Café on the Hill.

Year 10 students started having their IGCSE mock exams on 2020-11-16, the day of the full-day school resumption, so their school times were variable. The assessment period lasted two weeks. Year 10 students were to arrive at school by 08:00 if they have (an) exam(s) in the morning or by 12:30 if they only have (an) afternoon exam(s). Year 10 students were to revise in the Library during free periods in between exams and were allowed to leave the school after their last exam of the day. Year 10 students were to eat their lunch in the canteen (not the designated areas) during the assessment period.

The after-school bus services were available at 11:30 and 15:35 during the assessment period (on Thursdays the bus services were only available at 11:30). There were no instrument lessons for the Year 10 students during the assessment period.

The Hong Kong Government announced on 2020-11-20 that starting from 2020-11-23, face-to-face classes and all school activities of Year 1 to Year 3 students of all primary schools (including schools offering non-local curriculum) and primary sections of special schools, would be suspended until 2020-12-06 due to the latest situation of the COVID-19 epidemic and the outbreak of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in schools (see https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202011/20/P2020112000754.htm for more information).

## Third Suspension

Due to the fourth wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong, which started in late-November of 2021, the COVID situation in Hong Kong worsened, causing the school to cancel the resumption of full-day school for the secondary students on the 2020-11-25.

An e-circular was sent out by the school stating that in the light of the latest situation of the COVID-19 epidemic and the recent outbreak of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in schools, the school has decided to suspend the full day in-school classes starting on 2020-11-30. All classes were to resume a similar schedule which was implemented on 2020-09-23 (school was to continue again as with both physical and online lessons). A timetable for all the classes in a year level (according to the student's year level) was attached. Students were to check their Google Classrooms for the online schedule posted by their form tutors and any additional information from their subject teachers. The Year 12 TOK presentations were to be conducted in an online format between 2020-11-30 to 2020-12-11. The Year 12 students were to refer to the information sent by the TOK teachers on Google Classroom or Managebac. The school also stated that if you ordered lunch via the catering company, the school will arrange a refund for you.

A factor contributing to that decision might be the various students and parents' complaints about the full day arrangements, especially after the spike of COVID-19 cases on 2020-11-21.

On 2020-11-29, the Hong Kong Government announced suspension of face-to-face classes. An e-circular was sent out by the school on 2020-12-01 stating that the Hong Kong Education Bureau has announced that all physical classes will be suspended starting on 2020-12-02. The e-circular said that all lessons for secondary students will change to online lessons with a slight change to the start time (moved to 9:00 AM). A online lesson schedule was attached. The e-circular also said that Year 10 and Year 12 students may need to come back to school on (a) Friday afternoon(s) for in-school lessons, especially if the teachers require practical work to be completed in preparation for the IGCSE and IBDP examination. Students were to check their Google Classrooms or Managebac (for Year 11 and Year 12 students only) for the online lesson schedule posted by their form tutors and any additional information from their subject teachers. Christmas Party (originally on 2020-12-18) was cancelled and lessons will take place for a half day until 12:30 PM.

During the physical class suspension period, the school remained open to take care of those students who lack a caretaker at home. There were senior teachers and other staff on duty to handle school affairs and take care of students who have returned to the school. Parents were required to send requests to the school at least one day in advance if their child needed to go to the school.

The school Wi-Fi system had maintenance during this physical class suspension period.

An online Christmas Concert was planned. It was planned to start on 2020-12-18 (the last day of school before the Christmas holidays (a Friday)) and the link was planned to be released on the webpage http://cky.edu.hk/christmas-concert-2020-online-version/, but too many people requested resources from the web server hosting the CKY website. The high traffic made the server respond very slowly or fail to respond. After about half an hour, the webpage was updated to include a link to an unlisted YouTube video (https://youtu.be/WuLpcKUcd5Q).

On 2020-12-21, the Hong Kong Government announced further suspension of face-to-face classes.

Physical parent-teacher interviews were cancelled and replaced with online interviews. Sports Day was cancelled. Chinese New Year celebrations were also cancelled.

### Resumption

An e-circular was sent out by the school on 2021-01-16 stating that according to the EDB's announcement, schools are allowed to arrange individual year levels to return to campus to attend face-to-face lessons for half-day sessions. The school stated that as Year 9 to Year 12 students are studying the IGCSE/IB examination curriculum, the school has decided to allow Year 9 to Year 12 students to return to school and attend half-day face-to-face lessons starting on 2021-01-25 until the Chinese New Year Holiday.

The school also stated that in order to implement the above arrangements, the school hours and timetables for senior Secondary students will be amended starting from 25th January 2021, and that the first lesson will begin at 8:15am and the day will end at 4:15pm. It was said that the new timetable will be distributed to students through their Form Tutor Google Classroom by next Wednesday.

The e-circular also said that during the suspension the school has hired a professional company to disinfect the school campus with a long-lasting antibacterial and antiviral coating that lasts up to 1 year. It was said that safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the whole school community is the school's priority, and the in-school preventive measures will continue to be strictly enforced (which includes routine temperature checking, wearing of face masks at all times, regular hand sanitising, and frequent surface cleaning/disinfection).

The e-circular said that the school bus company will continue to provide services, however, the route and the boarding and alighting stations may be changed.

It was said that if the school suspension continues after the Chinese New Year holiday, the in-school arrangements for different year levels will be further rotated.

On 2021-01-28, an e-circular was sent out by the school stating that one of their secondary teachers has been initially tested positive with the COVID-19 virus. The school also stated that the aforementioned teaching staff’s last day at school was on 2020-11-30 and is currently waiting for further tests in order to confirm the diagnosis in the hospital. It was said that as the teacher has not been in contact with any staff or students for 30 days, there was no need for the school to suspend the face-to-face classes at the moment.

On 2021-02-09, the school stated that following the Education Bureau's announcement on 2021-02-03, schools are allowed to increase the number of students attending half-day face-to-face classes from one-sixth to one-third of the school's capacity. An updated rotation of the half-day face-to-face class schedule was given.

Primary students were to follow their current online schedule if they do not have in-school face-to-face lessons during the week.

Secondary students were to follow the newly released timetable starting from 2021-02-22. The school hours of the new schedule were from 8:15 AM – 10:30 AM (morning online lessons) and 12:30 PM – 4:15 PM (afternoon online lessons/in-school face-to-face sessions according to the above schedule).

The new timetable was to be released to students before 2021-02-18 on their form tutors'/class teachers' Google Classroom.

The school stated that they will continue to closely monitor the progress of the epidemic and strictly follow the EDB's guidelines and preventive measures in order to safeguard the health and wellbeing of all of our students and staff.

On 2021-03-15, the school stated that earlier this month, they were planning to apply for a whole school resumption after the Easter holiday. The school said that due to the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 cases in schools, they decided to continue to monitor the current situation and the development of the pandemic during the Easter holidays. It was said that the current rotation arrangement will continue until the Easter Holiday.

On 2021-03-31, the school stated that the EDB has recently increased the number of in-school face-to-face lessons to ⅔ of the whole school’s capacity, beginning after the Easter holiday. The school also released new arrangements regarding in-school resumption after the Easter holiday.

The 2021 End of Year Assemblies were also impacted by the pandemic.

## Fourth Suspension

On 2022-01-11, the EDB has announced that in view of the latest 5th wave of COVID-19 epidemic, caused by the Omicron variant, all kindergarten and primary schools was to suspend all face-to-face classes and activities until at least February. For safety of the school community, PLKCKY decided to also suspend full-day secondary school on the same day, reverting to a half-day schedule, where students leave the school at 12:45 pm and head home for online classes. Parent teacher interviews on the 14th and 15th have been moved online.

On 2022-01-24, it is announced that all face-to-face schools are suspended and a timetable for full online classes for both Primary and Secondary were introduced.

On 2022-03-19, the EDB announced that Primary, International and Private schools are to resume face-to-face school on April 19th.

### Resumption

On 2022-04-25, in-school classes for both primary and secondary students resumed after the Easter Holidays, reverting back to a half-day schedule with mornings, and online school in the afternoon. All students were required to present a negative Rapid Antigen Test once a week before entering the school. New timetables were released the week before, with resuming instrument lessons.

## Further Reading

* Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic WHO webpage
* COVID-19 pandemic Wikipedia article
* Coronavirus disease 2019 Wikipedia article
* Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Wikipedia article
* www.coronavirus.gov.hk website
* COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong Wikipedia article