by Caroline Breeds
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Like many in the relocation industry this year I had some unexpected time off due to the global pandemic.
Furlough was a word that this time last year we would have had no clue what it meant, this year a lot of people learnt what it meant. I am now delighted to be back at work and looking forward to connecting with many of you, although at this time predominately via virtual meetings and conferences. We are lucky to be able to use technology in such a fantastic way, keeping closely connected with industry contacts worldwide is of great help and comfort during this time.
What has been happening at ACS
We were able to shift to distance learning swiftly and when the government allowed us, we were able to successfully invite some of our students back to campus in June before the end of the last academic year. This certainly helped us in August when we were delighted to welcome students and staff back to campus!
We are working closely with families who may have had to delay their joining date due to visa or quarantine delays. We have seen demand rising from families now looking to relocate to the UK, and with our rolling admissions policy you can apply for any of our campuses throughout the year. For families that have arrived in the UK and are required to quarantine, we are liaising with the students and supplying school work as well as on-line platforms to meet the teachers allowing the students and parents to feel at ease before they start school.
Admissions News!
We are delighted to welcome Rhian Curtis, our new Dean of admissions at ACS Egham. Rhian has both International school and University admissions experience and comes to us from the Regents International School in Pataya. You will be able to meet Rhian at our next virtual event in October.
It also gives me great pleasure to be able to share the promotion of Helene Campbell as Dean of admissions at ACS Cobham. Many of you will already know Helene, who has been at ACS Cobham having been with ACS for 20 years! She has also worked at Hillingdon and then Egham, before settling into the role at Cobham.
All of our admissions teams are back in the office and are meeting families both virtually and doing on-campus tours after school so please contact them to find out our up to date information around grade availability. Details are as follows:
Cobham Admissions Team - Dean is Helene Campbell, Assistant Deans are Aileen Macgee and Betina Awtani: Email: cobhamadmissions@acs-schools.com Tel: +44 (0)1932 867251
Egham Admissions Team - Dean is Rhian Curtis and Assistant Dean is Jane Hudson: Email: eghamadmissions@acs-schools.com Tel: +44 (0)1784 430800
Hillingdon Admissions Team - Dean is Christina Decu and Assistant Dean is Maria Marsh: Email: hillingdonadmissions@acs-schools.com Tel: +44 (0)1895 259771 Looking Ahead
I will be joining many of you for the EuRA - Fall Forum, Brilliance and Resilience taking place at the end of the month and beginning of October.
Worldwide ERC are also holding a virtual conference over a period of time next month that my colleague Andrew and I will be attending. I am looking forward to attending educational sessions and hearing about how our industry is moving forward in this global pandemic.
Please look out for more information around our series of virtual events coming soon – we may not be able to welcome to you to our beautiful campuses at this time but that will not stop us keeping you up to date with our news!
We will have a mixture of virtual events sharing information from our schools and hearing from our admissions teams, teachers and students. We will also be sharing information about our ‘Get Ready talks’ – these will be on a range of interesting topics and speakers that shouldn’t be missed!
We very much look forward to inviting you back to our amazing campuses just as soon as it is safe for us to do so. However in the meantime, If you would like to have a conversation around any of the information above or any of our schools, then please do not hesitate to contact me.
All the best, Caroline Email: cbreeds@acs-schools.com