Latest COVID-19 Operational Advisory (Ad-hoc Workshops)

Updated: 15 June 2020, 10.00PM

Dear Parents,

We hope that you and your family have been doing well!

Thank you for your patience and understanding with the operational changes thus far.

Although we have faced challenges, we are grateful for the opportunity to continue supporting your child’s learning progression during this period of uncertainty.

As announced by the ministries, Phase 2 of Reopening will be commencing on 19 June, with certain limits. These limits include but are not limited to:

•  People should maintain a safe distance of at least 1 metre at all times.

•  Where this is not feasible, safe distancing should be maintained between groups, with each group having no more than five people. Groups must maintain 1m distance from each other.

The Centre’s Stance on Reopening in Phase 2

We understand that many parents are concerned with regards to when onsite lessons will be able to commence here from June 19 onwards.

Based on our risk assessment, the Centre will not be reopening on 19 June until further notice.

While we do not have a definite answer as to when we will resume onsite lessons, we’ll like to share with you the considerations we had when making this decision:

#1 Consideration: Safety of Our Students & Staff

While extensive screening procedures can be put in place, we still need to manage the risk of having asymptomatic carriers who can spread the virus, without showing fever or any respiratory symptoms. As advised by the ministries, social distancing is necessary in order to keep the number of new cases under control and prevent large clusters.

This is also an exceptionally crucial time for the graduating Primary 6 students. We do not want anyone in our community to be placed in a situation where they may be inconvenienced in the event of an infected case at our centre, as stay-home-notices may be served.

Given the above considerations, we do not want to endanger our students and staff by recommencing onsite lessons at this point until further notice.

#2 Consideration: Class Sizes

At this point, most of our classes have 12 to 14 students enrolled in them.

After taking into account the physical constraints of our classrooms along with the social distancing measures, it is not logistically possible to accommodate onsite lessons.

To get around this, we have considered alternatives:

Alternative 1: We have considered the prospects of opening up more classes to reduce the number of students in each class.

However, this is also deemed to be challenging on two fronts:

(A) The teaching schedules of our academic staff are at full capacity.

(B) Downsizing the class will also be futile if any student in a given class refuses to transfer to an alternative class due to personal preferences.

Alternative 2: We have also considered the prospects of conducting digital lessons concurrently with on-site lessons at the exact same time slot. Some parents have proposed us to go with this as this solution may benefit both groups of students: those who prefer onsite lessons AND those who prefer digital lessons.

However, it is important to understand that it is difficult for the teacher to give undivided attention to students attending onsite classes AND students who are tuned in digitally:

(A) As you may have already noticed, it is inevitable that technical issues can surface sporadically from time to time in a digital class environment. Instead of leaving the student to figure things out, the teacher is expected to communicate that to the Customer Care team, so that we can reach out to the affected student’s parent to get him/her back online.

(B) Other delivery challenges include:

– Visibility issues for digital lesson students who are trying to see what is written on the whiteboard (instead of the digital board).

– Audibility issues for all of the stakeholders: The teacher who has to wear a headset needs to be able to hear students in the digital classroom AND students in the onsite classroom. To fix this, some parents may then suggest that we put the students who are tuned into our digital lessons on loudspeaker instead. This will not work very well because any ambient noise will be picked up and it is generally challenging to listen in to the class.

(C) From a logistical standpoint, it is also difficult to come up with a truly equitable system to decide which student can attend on-site lessons and which student can attend digital lessons for a given week. Assuming that a system is in place, this may confuse more parents than it tries to help.

#3 Consideration: Learning Environment

During our onsite and digital lessons, our teachers adopt a participative approach with the students in order to create an interesting and fun environment for students to learn.

With the social distancing measures in place, it will inadvertently change the dynamics of the learning environment. As a result, students may not be able to discuss effectively with their classmates and teacher.

In the meantime, we are assessing the prospects of incorporating other discussion formats in our onsite classes, so that our students can continue to learn effectively.

Moving Forward

We would like to assure you that your child’s education and learning progression is the top priority to us. Digital lessons have been working pretty well for many of our students over the past few months.

That being said, we completely understand that the digital learning model may not be suitable for all students. If you have any feedback or thoughts about the situation, whether good or bad, we welcome you to share them with us in the form below.

Once again, we thank you for your patience and support during this period. As announced, more information will be shared by the respective ministries over the upcoming days and we will definitely keep you updated once there are any changes to our operations.

Tell Us What You Think 🤔

Previous COVID-19 Operational Advisories

COVID-19 Operational Advisory (03 April 2020, 11.00PM)

Dear Concerned Parents,

We hope that you and your family are doing well!

Here are some quick updates regarding our Centre’s operations in light of the recent safe distancing measures implemented by the Ministry of Health.

These measures are designed to significantly reduce movements and interactions in public and private places, in a bid to curb the local transmission of COVID-19.

 

(A) Changes to our Customer Care Operations

(1) Our reception will be closed from 7 April 2020 (Tuesday) to 4 May 2020 (Monday).

(2) Although our reception has to be closed, our Customer Care team will continue to support you with your questions during this period as they will be working from their homes during their allocated shift periods.

(3) Please refer to the following support channels:

☎️ Phone Calls/ WhatsApp: For enrollment enquiries (e.g. registration/withdrawal, fee payments, lesson make-ups & class transfers)

Our team of senior staff has been assigned to hold onto the Company’s mobile phones during the aforementioned period.

Our phone lines and WhatsApp support channels will continue to function during our usual operating hours:

– Monday: 12PM to 7PM
– Tuesday to Friday: 12PM to 9PM
– Saturday to Sunday: 8.30AM to 7.30PM

🖥 Technical Help Over Website Live Chat: For technical enquiries related to your child’s digital learning experience

👉🏻 Click on this link to pull up the chat window: https://pique.one/helpdesk

We have decided to dissociate technical help from our WhatsApp support channels so that we can help those who need assistance immediately.

Our Live Chat system allows us to help multiple parents at once by assigning tickets to available Customer Care team members. This is much more efficient as compared to texting us or calling us.

 

(B) Digital Lesson Experience

(1) There will be 𝗡𝗢 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 to the digital lessons. Meeting IDs and passwords will still be disseminated to you via Email and WhatsApp & your child is expected to continue his/her online lessons.

(2) As part of our Business Continuity Plan (BCP), we have invested in plenty of equipment to boost our team’s productivity at home. This includes additional network infrastructure for our academic members so that they can continue to conduct lessons reliably at home.

(3) Students who are attending the workshops will receive their materials at least two days prior to the commencement of their workshop.

For safety & logistical considerations, we will be couriering these materials to your residence at NO EXTRA COST 😄 to you. More information will be sent to you via WhatsApp prior to the commencement of the workshop.

 

Moving Forward

While these measures are understandably disruptive to our usual operations, our team will continue to adapt and support our community members in the best way possible in our own capacities.

We seek your kind understanding and patience during this period if we are unable to get back to you as promptly as we usually do prior to this COVID-19 situation. We’ll also be putting up a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the academic updates page so that you can continue to be kept informed.

Thank you & stay safe!

💕 Together With You,
The Pique Lab

COVID-19 Operational Advisory (24 March 2020, 10.00PM)

Dear Concerned Parents,

In light of the latest developments of the coronavirus situation in Singapore, we will be adhering to the latest directive by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that was released on 24th March 2020.

All centre-based tuition and enrichment classes will be suspended from 26 March 2020, 2359H to 30 April 2020, but may be extended if the situation does not improveThis is to reduce the intermingling of students from different schools and enhance the safety of the students in Singapore.

Section 1: What Does It Mean For Your Child’s Scheduled Workshops?

Section 2: Step-by-Step On How Our Video Lessons Work

Section 3: Next Steps With The Pique Lab

Section 4: Last Notes By Our Team

Section I: What Does It Mean For Your Child’s Scheduled Workshops? 

In order for us to continue supporting your child during this period, we will be conducting the following workshops using video:

    • Experimental Techniques Masterclass
    • Electrical Circuit Masterclass
    • Matter Techniques Masterclass
    • Energy & Forces Masterclass
    • Adaptations & Interactions Masterclass
    • Adaptations Masterclass
    • P4/P5/P6 Complete Concept Integration™ Science Course
    • P6 SA1 Examination Revision Programme

These video lessons will be carried out during your child’s existing scheduled workshop time slots.

For instance: If your child is attending an Experimental Techniques Masterclass on 26th April, it will be carried out at the exact same timing online.

Based on conservative estimates, you can expect this arrangement to happen for the whole of Term 2 (i.e. April, May and June).

If the government were to allow centre-based tuition classes to carry on at some point in time, we will re-evaluate the feasibility of running offline lessons, concurrently with online lessons.

Here’s The Thing:

Our team of teachers will continue to do our best to coach our students in our online classes as we usually do in our offline classes. This is OUR commitment to EVERY student at The Pique Lab.

We will be sharing how we plan to execute for video lessons (see: the next section on how our video lessons work), so that we can continue to help your child learn in a safe environment in the upcoming months.

If you have paid for these workshops, we would like you to review what we have planned (see: the next section on how our video lessons work), so that you can make a more informed decision for yourself.

However, we completely understand if you feel dissatisfied or uncomfortable with our digital plans.

As such, we will make necessary arrangements for a full refund of the workshops (if payment has been made and your child has not attended the workshop yet) OR process a class withdrawal (if payment has not been made yet).

Should the situation change for the better later in the year, we welcome your child to consider attending classes with us again. 🙂

Meanwhile, please read on!

Section 2: Step-by-step Guide On How Our Video Lessons Work

Step 1: Receiving Your Child’s Lesson Handouts

Prior to the commencement of the workshop, we will send the required workshop materials via our trusted courier partner, Urban Fox.

These worksheets will be either be hand-delivered to your doorstep or dropped in your letter box, depending on the size of the parcel and your preference.

Why Do We Do That?

(A) This process eliminates the inconvenience of printing the handouts or having your child attempt the questions electronically.

(B) Given that your child’s upcoming examinations are very likely to be done on paper, we want to retain the familiarity behind attempting questions and writing answers on paper. It is very important to not lose this touch, especially with the increase in digitalised learning during this period.

If your child’s scheduled workshop lesson* falls on 28th March 2020 (Saturday) and 29th March 2020 (Sunday), we require you to drop by our Centre’s reception (Serene Centre, #02-20) to collect the workshop materials as our couriers will not be able to deliver the handouts in time to your place before the video lesson.

Based on our current schedule, only students from P6 CCI Science Course (Run 115, Run 116 and Run 120) are required to drop by our Centre to pick up the materials.

Step 2: Receiving Your Child’s Class Access Link

Your child’s teacher will be conducting the video lesson at his/her current scheduled day and time of his/her existing workshop.

These classes will be presented/streamed on Zoom, our online video lesson partner. You shall receive a link for your child to join the class.

💕 We will also send you a video walkthrough on how to set up your Zoom lesson on your device.

Step 3: Attending The Lesson

Clicking on the link during the scheduled slot brings your child into the digital classroom where he/she will see the teacher and his/her classmates.

For the best learning experience, your child needs to switch on his/her web camera and microphone.

The teacher will conduct the lesson accordingly as he/she would usually do in an offline setting.

A short break can be expected during the middle of the lesson. During which, students may use the restroom or have a snack.

If your child has any question(s) at some point during the lesson, he/she may raise his/her hand or ask them in the ‘Chat’ box.

Step 4: Managing Homework (If Any)

If there’s any homework given to your child for the workshop, we will be communicate these instructions during the video lesson. We will also send an email to you after the end of each lesson to share the instructions for the homework.

Your child is expected to complete his/her homework on paper dutifully as how he/she would have done previously.

🔺 Due to logistical considerations, we will not be collecting your child’s homework during this period. Instead, we will be sending you the answer sheet for the homework via email after the end of the workshop.

💕 You have our assurance that your child’s teacher will review important questions in the homework (if any) in the next video lesson (only applicable for workshops with more than one session).

Section 3: Next Steps With The Pique Lab

Our Customer Care team will reach out to you for your preference via WhatsApp within the next 3 working days (27th March 2020 (Friday) to 29th March 2020 (Sunday)).

✅ If you are comfortable with our video lessons, we will proceed with scheduled workshops!

Our teachers will continue to support your child in his/her learning for the scheduled workshops:

  • Your child will continue to receive our highly targeted past year examination practices prior to attending the workshop.
  • Your child will attend lessons with us on our video platform with his/her teacher.
  • We will also send you step-by-step instructions on how to set things up.
  • The materials will be sent to your place, including the answer sheets wherever applicable.
  • We will also be addressing any question(s) that your child may have about learning during and after our lessons.

❌ If you are dissatisfied or uncomfortable with our proposed plan above, we can process a class withdrawal for your child.

Please take note that once a withdrawal has been processed, we will no longer reserve a seat for your child in our classes & the seat will be offered to other students.

If you have made payment for the scheduled workshop and have not attended the workshop yet, we will process the refund accordingly via bank transfer to your preferred bank account.

Section 4: Last Notes By Our Team

Over the past 7 years, we have managed to help thousands of primary school students excel in Science using our proven methodology and we are able to do that because we care for our students.

We believe that we are able to tide through this crisis together as a team, working closely with your child along the way in this journey.

We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to parents reaching out to us & showing your generous support during these troubling times.

Please rest assured that we will not let you down & will continue to do better in creating a fantastic learning experience for your child.

Thank you & stay safe!

💕 Together With You,

The Pique Lab Team

Last Updated: 24/03/2020, 22:00H

Frequently Asked Questions

Q) Why do you have to courier the worksheets to me? Why can't I print the worksheets on my own?

Our team has decided to courier the documents to you as this eliminates the inconvenience behind printing the handouts or having your child attempt the questions electronically.

Given that your child’s upcoming examinations are very likely to be done on paper, we want to retain the familiarity behind attempting questions and writing answers on paper. It is very important to not lose this touch, especially with the increase in digitalised learning during this period.

Lastly, this decision was also made to protect our organisation’s intellectual property interests.

Q) What happens if my child experiences any technical issues?

(1) We will be sending you a user manual on how to set up the Zoom meeting.

(2) We strongly suggest that you and your child conduct a demo session before the actual lesson.

(3) If you still experience any technical difficulties, please try again on an alternative device.

(4) If you are still unable to resolve your problem, our Customer Care team will be able to help you out through our LiveChat service

Q) Can my child access the live video lesson on two or more devices?/ Can I share access with my friends?

No, we only permit one student to be connected to the live video lesson at any point in time.

This is because we need to be fair to all of the students who have paid for academic support & also to prevent the abuse of our video lessons.

Attendance will be taken before the start of the lesson. Unidentifiable students or duplicate students will be removed from the lesson.

Q) What happens if my child is unable to attend the scheduled live video lesson?

As per our Terms & Conditions, the Centre will require a minimum of 14 days’ notice prior to the commencement of the course in the event that a reschedule needs to be arranged. Any re-schedule or make-up lesson arrangements are subjected to availability. 

Q) Why am I unable to record the live video lesson?

Due to the sensitivity of the material, we are not permitting video playbacks in order to protect the organisation’s intellectual property interests.

As such, we seek your kind understanding to get your child to pay close attention during the lesson and ask questions if he/she has any.

Q) I'm only interested in onsite classes. Can I reserve my seat or credit my fees in case the situation gets better?

Presently, we do not have a definite answer as to when we will resume onsite lessons.

Given that there are limited seats available in our classes and business overheads, it is only fair and just if our existing resources go towards helping paying students.

While we appreciate your support for our onsite classes, it is also important for us to continue to sustain ourselves, so that we can give more value to our community. If you are uncomfortable with our digital plans, you can explore other alternative education partners who can best serve your child during this period.

When the situation recovers, you may check back with us on the availability of our classes and our Customer Care team will be able to advise you from there.

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