200 Students Participate in 'Deokbune Challenge'

About 200 students from Dulwich College Seoul located in Banpo-dong do sign language for “appreciation” and “respect” for medical staff dedicated to responding to COVID-19 on June 5.

The students of Dulwich College Seoul located in Banpo-dong delivered a thank-you message to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and local medical professionals on June 5. Representing over 40 countries from around the world, the students from Dulwich College Seoul, aged 4 to 18, have observed the tireless efforts of Korean medical staff as they fight COVID-19.

As part of its contribution to the “Deokbune Challenge,” which translates to “Thank-you Challenge,” Dulwich College Seoul individually photographed about 200 students doing sign language for “appreciation” and “respect” for medical staff dedicated to responding to COVID-19, creating a mosaic which shows the word “Deokbune” in Korean.

“We thank you with all our hearts for your heroic efforts in protecting and helping us in these difficult times,” said Aaron, a Year 12 (17 year-old) student at Dulwich College Seoul, who participated in the Deokbune Challenge.

Dulwich College Seoul provided online education to all students starting on Feb. 24 due to COVID-19, and the school began a phased reopening on May 20 under Korean government guidelines.

In order to complement the efforts of local medical professionals to contain the virus, the school has implemented the following procedures: combined home and in-school learning to reduce students in school; school entry and exit times for students are staggered; students are spaced in classrooms, during activities and on buses; all staff and students wear masks all day; activities are adapted to maintain distancing; and the dining hall is operating on less than 50 percent capacity with partitions separating students and with no shared utensils.

Graeme Salt, headmaster at Dulwich College Seoul, offers his thanks in sign language for medical staff dedicated to responding to COVID-19.

“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Korean medical staff and the Korean health authorities, we now have hope in the midst of a global pandemic,” remarked Graeme Salt, headmaster at Dulwich College Seoul. “Our children are back to studying at school and meeting their friends, and I would like to express my gratitude to all local medical staff on behalf of the school.”

Dulwich College is one of the U.K.'s oldest independent schools, founded in South London as a boys’ school in 1619. Dulwich College International (DCI) was established to bring the Dulwich education to students around the world and is now one of the fastest growing U.K. independent school networks. Through DCI, Dulwich College has been in Asia for almost 15 years. The Dulwich network currently provides for over 9,000 students in 11 cities and five countries, with Colleges in London, the Pudong and Puxi districts of Shanghai, in Beijing, Suzhou, Seoul, Singapore and Yangon, International High Schools in Suzhou and Zhuhai, and a sister school in Dehong. Dulwich College Seoul opened in 2010, steadily expanding its roll to a capacity 700 students from age 3 to age 18.

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