Shropshire Star

Teacher cancels New York trip to support Chinese students unable to return home

The headmaster of a top private school has cancelled a family trip to New York after taking the decision to stay at home and support Chinese students unable to return home for Easter because of the coronavirus epidemic.

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Myddelton College Headmaster Andrew Allman with students from China, from left, Albert Gao, Martin Wong, Cynthia Guw, Kenneth Zou and Anna Zhang.

Andrew Allman, from Shrewsbury, headmaster at Myddelton College in Denbigh, had been due to celebrate his birthday in the Big Apple with his family at Easter but instead will be in his study as the school stays open for its 40 pupils from China during the three-week break.

Staff at the school have backed him by cancelling their own holiday plans to ensure that the students from China can stay.

Mr Allman, who was educated at Shrewsbury School, said the school had taken the step to ensure the health of all its pupils and to reassure parents as well as to safeguard the interests of Year 11 and Year 13 students who are due to take GCSE and A-level equivalent exams this summer.

He added: “The welfare of our students is paramount and all those from China are staying on with us at the school this week for half-term and for the Easter holidays from March 27 to April 20.

“I and a number of staff have cancelled holidays so that we can be here for them and be available to reach out and support them at this difficult time, which naturally includes those who have important exams coming up in the summer.

“We consider a safe option is for all of our students to stay here with their friends and be able to access resources of the school available to them, including the opportunity to speak to trained pastoral professionals. This also takes into consideration support that the students are able to receive for their emotional needs.

“In addition to our academic provision we have scheduled activities for them including a number of trips to places such as Lake District, Snowdonia, Portmeirion and Anglesey.

“The reaction of the parents has been twofold because naturally parents of British-based children were concerned about students returning from China after the holidays.

“They have been reassured and so have the parents of children from China who will now remain here and in the case of those taking exams not face disruption to their future plans.

“For them that includes gaining entry to universities like Edinburgh, Durham, Queen Mary’s University in London, Nottingham and Warwick.”

Chinese students at the school are also relieved and Martin Wong, 17, from Macau, said: “I really appreciate the school taking this decision because it means we can stay here with our friends and we have the staff here to support us because we wouldn’t be able to do that if we had to stay with our guardians.

“We have been worried about the situation in China but now my parents minds are at ease knowing I’m safe and being supported by the school and not at risk of contracting the virus.”

Albert Gao, 18, said: “Normally we would go home to China for the holidays but the school has arranged a full list of activities and tutorials and our parents are very relieved.

“The speed at which the virus has been escalating for us to be able to remain at the school and remove the risks associated with travelling to and from our home country provides us with great comfort.”

Anna Zhang, 18, said: “We know our parents have been worried about the situation in China and how it would affect us if we had to go back and we are extremely thankful that we are able to stay on here with our friends.”

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