COVID-19 ADVISORY 15 – 1 to 30 MAY 2021 Operations

Dear Parents,

You will have read the recent newspaper reports of the increased number of community COVID-19 cases. Our government has also re-imposed stricter safe management guidelines for the period up to 30 May. Additionally, there is the case of the student from a Secondary School testing positive and the whole school will switch to home-based learning in the current week.

While DAS will respond to the above and continue to be vigilant and careful, there is also no need to over-react or be overly concerned at the present time. Singapore and DAS are a lot more ready today than a year ago to deal with COVID-19!

For the period up to 30 May, all DAS assessment, teaching and training services will continue unchanged at our centres. Please note that your child will be expected to use the TT App or TT Token when entering DAS centres from 17 May.

At the same time, DAS has stepped up preparations for the possibility of a DAS centre having to close for a few days for extra cleaning in the event a student or a staff, unfortunately, contracts COVID-19. All classes in the affected centre will switch online for those few days if this happens. From our experience delivering online classes for over 3,000 students in 2020, DAS is confident that your child will continue learning via online teaching should this be required.

For students whose school has to close and the whole school switches to home-based learning or if a single student has to serve SHN (Stay Home Notice):

• The affected student(s) will attend DAS classes online till the end of their school closure or SHN.
• They will therefore be attending a dual approach class whereby their DAS classmates will continue the class in-person with their educational therapist while the affected student(s) join the class online.
• Please understand the level of interaction with the student attending class online will vary depending on the dynamics of the class and the assessment of their educational therapist.
• Students attending classes online will be marked as present. DAS will reinforce their learning by offering online Mass Make-Up classes which have been organized during most school holidays or provide Take Home Learning Packs.
• Should your child qualify for MOE/DAS bursaries and require a laptop, please do not hesitate to approach your Learning Centre.

DAS will continue to respond in line with government guidelines so there may be changes to the above. But as always, do inform your centre manager and/or Educational Therapist if either you or your child has been served a stay home notice (SHN). DAS will continue to have open communication with parents so please feel free to engage us if you have any questions.

Once again, there is no need to be overly concerned at the present time.   We did not let COVID-19 stop us from continuing with our lives and our work for our students with dyslexia in 2020. Our students with your tremendous support have also shown tremendous resilience and continued to learn. COVID-19 will therefore also not stop us in 2021. Stay vigilant, stay safe and continue to live and learn!

Yours sincerely,

Lee Siang
Chief Executive Officer
Dyslexia Association of Singapore
www.DAS.org.sg