The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world as we know it. Most of us are trying to proceed with daily life under this “new normal” of social distancing and safety protocols. While we are not certain of when this global crisis would end, we are sure of one thing: we cannot approach this situation with yesterday’s logic. Tackling the problem requires a new perspective. Already businesses and institutions are starting to shift to online platforms with more still to follow. Many schools are driven to adapt online learning to continue education at a safe distance but the reality is most are unprepared to do so due to the huge technical requirements. Which leads us to question: how will we know if our school of choice is up to the challenge?

Though online learning provides us with a stopgap solution to the current problem, it is important to know that online learning is inferior to actual face-to-face learning in a physical classroom setup. Especially for students in the primary and elementary levels, being in a social environment and learning to model behavior while in school is essential to their growth. While there will be plenty of schools offering online learning, there will also be some who will do it better than others. Here are three things to help us assess if a school is well-equipped to make the shift:

• • It has a good and communicable plan of action.

A good school will come up with a clear plan of action in order to address the demand for learning under this new normal. The school will also make sure it is able to communicate the steps it will take clearly to the parents and staff. At this year’s parent orientation, Eastbridge discussed its plans in detail to accommodate online and blended learning for its students this coming school year following the necessary health directives and safety procedures.

• • It has amply prepared its community to adapt to the new system.

A good school offers support to its community. This includes acquiring the best tools to supplement online learning and training their faculty to maximize use of the new tools at hand. It also provides opportunities for parents to cooperate in their children’s education by briefing them as necessary to deal with the requirements of online learning. Last orientation, Eastbridge hosted a Q&A to address parents’ concerns regarding the use of technology in the new system along with suggestions on how we can work together to help each other. Our teachers have also been undergoing multiple trainings and dry runs to ensure their capability not just in teaching online but also in the use of digital tools like Schoology, Zoom, G Suite Education and many more. This coming June we will also be offering a “summer” preparatory course to ease our students into adjusting to online learning.    

• • They continue to strive to maintain the quality of education.

While multiple schools may use the same online tools, they vary in their approach. A good school finds a way to reconcile its primary learning principles with today’s mode of delivery to make sure the education it provides is still of high quality. Eastbridge has always championed the multiple intelligences and we are always coming up with ways to make dynamic, interactive, and fun lessons and activities for everyone even in an online setting. Expect a lot of interesting new activities up ahead as we navigate this new system together.

                With these in mind, we continue to push forward and explore new horizons as we go. Ultimately, the school which knows what to teach and the teachers who know how to teach will make the biggest difference. To put this forth in an analogy, a violin is just a violin. But in the hands of a maestro it will sing while in the hands of a novice it will only squeak. Choose your child's school wisely.

The Philippine Science High School (or Pisay for short) is well-known for being one of the best schools in the country. This is in no small part due to the admission to the school being extremely competitive. With over 20,000 applications each year, only 5% of the examinees (who must belong to the top ten percent of their class and have a final grade of 85 or higher in their Math and Science subjects) pass the exam. Here at Eastbridge, we are incredibly proud of our history of producing Pisay passers almost every year. This year’s exam passer is none other than our very own Jayden Pondoc.

             During his time here at Eastbridge, Jayden has proven himself every bit the capable student both in his academics and extracurriculars. A consistent honor student and a capable dancer, he has always shown good work ethic in and out of the classroom. Though he counts Math as his best and favorite subject, he attributes his excellence in his studies to maintaining his focus at all times. He says he is the type of student to always be prepared—constantly reviewing his lessons and focusing on topics he originally found difficult to understand. “You need to keep adding to your knowledge.” he quotes. This attitude to learning has helped him greatly in securing the regional math competition championship with his teammates.

His experience with the Pisay entrance exam he says was “difficult but manageable” with about an hour given for each section of the test. Apart from hours of serious study a week before the exam, his math training under Teacher Rolyn, our interim school principal, helped a lot. Using Singaporean math along with his characteristic firm but focused approach, Teacher Rolyn trains his students to think quickly, critically, and to tackle problems using creative solutions. Beyond the academics however, what Jayden appreciates the most about Eastbridge is its multi-disciplinary leanings. “I like how they hold many events for the students and how they teach them a lot of things to help them become more developed in different ways.” he says. He also shows a great fondness for the school’s spiritual instruction. “I became closer to God, more spiritual, and more hardworking [during my time here].” he adds.

In the future, Jayden dreams of becoming a computer engineer like his dad. He hopes to be successful so that he can help his sister with her academics and be financially stable enough so his parents would no longer have to work to pay the bills. With his sense of hard work and selflessness, we know that Jayden would go a long way in life.  

P.S.
In one of the meetings of parents with the Eastbridge Administrators, Jayden's mother expressed the desire for Jayden to stay at Eastbridge if only Eastbridge had a high school.

(Photo credit: Rolyn Perez)

There are several questions that may arise in the minds of parents when they hear that Eastbridge is a non-traditional or a progressive school. Some think that it will become difficult for their children to enter a traditional school later on once they start their kid at Eastbridge. Or, that maybe a non-traditional school has less subjects than traditional ones since it seems that non-traditional schools tend to have more playtime and more toys and manipulatives. Still some think that non-traditional schools are using new and therefore untested methods that may later prove to be non-beneficial to the students when they go into elementary, high school or college.

This article is a primer for parents who want to know more about the differences between the two types of schools and which one is best for their children.

First of all, there are quite a lot of non-traditional schools in the country. It is not something new either. Real Montessori schools for example have been in existence since the early 20th century and many Montessori schools worldwide celebrated the Montessori Education Centennial in 2007. Other examples of non-traditional schools are Piaget schools, Waldorf or Steiner Education schools, Multiple Intelligences schools (to which Eastbridge belongs), etc.

It took a while but our school is finally approved by Google to use Google Suite Education Account. Not all schools can have Google Suite Education. Without it, schools have to settle for the limited GSuite free account.

What does this mean for the school and students?

Several Eastbridgers are going to St. Scholastica's College this July 28tn, 2018 to receive their awards for obtaining gold, silver and broze medals in the recently concluded International Singapore Math Competition. The following students bested their competitors from other Asian countries to obtain these medals.