“God provides the wind, but man must raise the sails.”
– St. Augustine
CALLING ALL HANDS ON DECK!! We’re getting ready to set sail for another year!! With the continued extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO), we’ll be leaving the dock and setting sail a little earlier than usual this year. Our first day of classes for the new school year is on Thursday, July 22nd, 2021. We’ll all be starting classes online until we have the ability to resume classes onsite. The ULC Office will be getting in touch over the next week to make arrangements for needed text books and resources to be sent out to everyone before the start of classes.
With bringing forward the start date of school, we are adding an additional week of holidays to the Christmas break in December. It is our prayer for Malaysia that the number of daily COVID cases will fall, that the National Recovery Plan will come to fruition, and families will be able to spend time over the break with the freedom to travel. We are certainly hoping that Semester 2 in January will be running back normally.
With the impact COVID affecting Semester 1, we’ve been reviewing lessons learned from the past year of online learning and will be introducing more classes and activities that are online. We are anticipating that we may need to remain online for most of Semester 1 (July to December, 2021), however we will resume physical classes immediately once we can. Those students preferring Online lessons will be able to continue online.
The 2021-2022 Annual Calendar has been released and is available for viewing here.
Key dates to take note for July are:
Monday July 19 : Teacher Day: No Classes
Tuesday 20 : Holiday: Hari Raya Haji
Wednesday 21 : Teacher Day: No Classes
Thursday 22 : First Day of School
Monday 26 : Grading Period 1 Starts
First Day of School – Thursday 22, 2021
Our First Day of School will focussed on getting all students connected online via the various Google Classroom links, making sure that students have all the needed supplies & resources before classes will start the following day. For those familiar with Google Classroom, students will begin to be assigned to classes over the next two weeks. Access email addresses and passwords remain the same as last year as they are carried forward. For new students, we will be in contact to get your accounts set up and help you get connected.
Class schedules for the First Day of School will differ for each class and will be announced on Monday 19th July. We expect that students will be connected to their classroom for about an hour at the scheduled time to meet their teachers. Parents are invited to join their students (using the same device) to hear updates and instructions given by the teachers.
The first day of student’s full class schedule will begin on Friday 23rd July.
School Textbooks, Resources & Supplies
School books and resources for next year have arrived and we’ll be starting to get in contact with Students & Parents to arrange to get these collected/sent. If you haven’t been contacted by Wednesday 14th July, please contact the ULC admin office to coordinate. You may call the office via the following ways:
Tel: 03-7611 2105
WhatsApp: 016 627 1878
Email: admin@upwardlearning.net
| For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 |
The word “FUTURE” stems from its Latin origin “Fu” meaning to “grow” or “become”. As we look around us today, after over a year of trying to comprehend COVID19 and its impact, we have learned that what we thought we knew was going to happen, is often wrong. We have moved from what we “KNOW”, to what we “HOPE”. To some it has deteriorated further from HOPE to DISPAIR. We typically feel confident in what we KNOW. Many of us have the strength to continue to stand when we have HOPE. But few have the endurance to continue when they arrive at DISPAIR. That is where we as a community MUST stand up.
The economic situation continues to worsen and the impact is widening. One of the hardest things for people to do in life is often just to admit that they are struggling and am in need of help. A part of reaching out and supporting the community is encouraging those in need to seek help. We can do this by showing them where they can get it.
We must continue to pray for the nation. We thought we (as a nation) were on the way out of the pandemic and now it has hit harder than ever. Political situations are wavering. The economy is under strain. And many people are physically locked down from being able to help themselves.
This has dramatically impacted all of us holistically; our Mind, our Body, and our Hearts. We are often hit in one area or another from time to time, but with the current situation, many are being hit in all three. Those that have not been brought up to be strong in all three areas are the ones that quickly lose heart. The mind breaks, the body breaks, and the heart breaks.
When you reach out and encourage people around you that you know are struggling, you bring a little light of HOPE. That light, no matter how far or dim it seems, gives someone something to focus on and try to reach. It helps them start the journey back. So please, spread the light of hope, encouraging them, loving them, blessing them with your words and your connection.
Stay safe everyone. Remember we are all going through this, if you need help, reach out.
