Private schools in Abu Dhabi receive students with new procedures and different routines

Private schools in Abu Dhabi received students today, coinciding with the decision to resume in-person education. The first session was devoted to ensuring the safety of the students and supporting them psychologically, while during the second session the students were introduced to safety procedures and trained on how to act when any warning is issued inside the school, ensuring their readiness and knowledge of the procedures to be followed, in addition to re-establishing the daily school routine.

In detail, private schools in Abu Dhabi have adopted a set of updates to the school day in accordance with the directives of the Department of Education and Knowledge, with the aim of supporting the return to in-person education and enhancing security and safety standards. These updates included distributing working hours to ensure the implementation of safety protocols, organizing physical education classes inside sports halls, in addition to allocating break periods for students inside school buildings.

Schools implemented 4 measures as part of the main measures to return to in-person education, which included: allocating safe areas in the school, unifying an alert system for students, and comprehensive training for employees, in addition to setting staggered dates to regulate the entry and exit of students, as schools designated safe indoor areas for all educational levels. These areas are located away from glass and windows, have high structural strength, and can be reached within one minute. To ensure students’ calm and prevent any panic, calm verbal instructions will be used to alert and alert students to move to safe areas.

The schools confirmed that all employees received comprehensive training, as all members of the teaching, administration and supervision staff underwent full training on the new emergency protocols, to ensure that every member of the team is prepared to lead students and reassure them. Overlapping dates have also been set to organize movement, in compliance with the directives of the Department of Education and Knowledge in Abu Dhabi that prohibit gatherings and random movement, in addition to updating school hours and setting a timetable for the dates and routes of entry and departure for each classroom.

Schools have also divided the school day into four time periods, with the first period starting before arriving at school, and parents are expected to follow official school directions regarding attendance times, uniform, compliance and school operations. The second period is for arrival and delivery to ensure that students enter the school at their specified times through the designated entrances, where the school staff supervises the entry of students directly into the building. The third period is the “school day”, during which lessons continue as usual under the supervision of the school staff, and in the event of any emergency, students follow internal safety procedures in accordance with the directives. The fourth period comes “dismissal and return home,” during which students are directed to school buses or handed over to their parents or guardians in safety and calm, with the necessity of following the approved procedures in the event of any warning.