Day: 30 May 2020

The oral exam for the baccalaureate in Monaco is cancelled this academic year and third trimester will not count towards final results, in line with a decision by France’s education department.
As part of its new phase of deconfinement, the French government announced on Thursday that the French baccalaureate oral test will not be applied for the 2020 academic year.
In a press conference on Friday, Isabelle Bonnal, Director of National Education, Youth and Sports confirmed that the same will apply in Monaco, because “the Principality of Monaco applies French educational programs for public and private establishments under contract.”
Only results obtained during the first two months of the academic year will be assessed for the baccalaureate. However, students are still encouraged to go to classes for the remainder of the final term.
“The student’s progress observed after the reopening of high schools will be indicated in comments in the school booklet. Likewise, assessments will be made of the school book concerning the pupil’s attendance and their commitment to school work during confinement and until the end of the year,” said Ms Bonnal.
Monaco first announced on 3^rd April that final exams of the baccalaureate would be cancelled in favour of continuous assessment. Friday’s announcement confirmed Monaco’s position.
Only the grades of the first two terms will be taken into account as part of continuous assessment to obtain the baccalaureate.
As every year, the baccalaureate diploma will be decided by a committee of the Academy of Nice chaired by an academic and composed of inspectors and teachers. The jury will analyze the candidates’ school work, study the academic results obtained by each candidate during the final year of the first two terms (as well as the first year) and take note of the assessments made by the teachers.
With regards to a return to a larger number of classes, like France, Isabelle Bonnal said the department would “carry out an inventory in order to judge all the opportunities for additional openings, perhaps two to three days a week, and always respecting the health security of students and staff.”
The only oral tests maintained are those of pupils who fail to obtain the baccalaureate in continuous examination.
 
Photo: Isabelle Bonnal, Director of National Education, Youth and Sports ©Direction de la Communication
 

Since the strictest of the lockdown rules were lifted in early May, the Grimaldi Forum team has been hard at work to make the venue a safe and welcoming place for the public when events start back in autumn.
The Grimaldi Forum has been scrubbing, sanitising, building and reorganising since 4^th May in preparation for the resumption of a full events calendar come September.
The Forum has a litany of regulations they are putting in place to assure the public and the staff are in a safe and healthy environment. Amongst the new measures they have adopted are the mandatory taking of temperatures upon arrival at the site, obligatory mask-wearing, visors for hostesses, systematic cleaning and disinfection of all equipment and contact points such as ramps, door handles, elevator buttons and public facilities, as well as daily cleaning of staff uniforms.
To heighten security even further, they have placed disinfectant mats at the main entrances, mounted self-service dispensers for gel at strategic points all over the building, trained security guards in Covid-19 protocol, are providing an isolation room for suspected cases, and put up social distancing signs to remind the public of their obligation.
Grimaldi Forum has worked hard to reschedule, rather than cancel outright, as many events as possible. They have been highly successful and have managed to reorganise dates for 20 out of 25 events.
 
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