Welcome Back Message & Updates

Dear Families, 

We are excited about welcoming back students – in person and through remote learning – to the 2020-21 school year. The pandemic has brought many changes to our school and its families, but I know that we can rise to the occasion if we work together. 

Thank you for keeping up with the communications coming from HWDSB, and for completing important forms and surveys as required.  

We are taking many actions to prevent COVID-19 at our school. You will notice that safety is guiding our programming choices. Here are some of the important points to remember: 

Attestation
Before a student can enter a school, we require that their family completes an attestation that they have read, understood, and will abide by expectations. Find this on the Parent Portal. (Backup location for forms and translations.) 

Daily COVID-19 Screening
HWDSB COVID-19 Student Screening Checklist is to be completed daily before arriving at school. The checklist is found on the Parent Portal as well as on the HWDSB website. If you answered YES to any of the screening questions, or if you refuse to answer the questions, the student has failed the screening and must not attend school. The family should contact Public Health (905) 974-9848 or their family doctor for testing. Please contact the school using SafeArrival to report the absence. If the student is tested for COVID-19, your school would appreciate knowing the outcome of that test. 

Staggered start details 

As you know, we will be opening our school with a staggered start timeline. This means that not all students will begin on the same day. Please see the chart below, note which group your child falls into,  and reach out if you have more questions: 

September 8 & 9:  Staff transition to new jobs and planning for school reopening

September 10 & 11:  Short Transition Visits for students with identified needs (teachers will call to set up appointments)

September 10 & 11:  Junior Kindergarten Orientation

September 14:  Students whose last names start with A-K

September 15-Students whose last name starts with L-Z

September 16-18:  All students attend full days

 

New routines and protocols 

School operations are changing significantly to ensure that we can provide a safe learning environment for students. We are finishing school-specific protocols and expect to post these to our website as they become finalized.  You can look at the previous post on the Site Specific Plan for more details on these new routines and procedures.

Water Bottles 

Drinking fountains in all schools will be bagged and not used. Please be sure to send your child with a reusable water bottle so they stay hydrated, in addition to their non-medical mask.  Most rooms have a sink where they can be refilled during the day, as well as at our bottle filling station on the first floor.  We are looking to install a second bottle filling station on the second floor early this school year.

Visiting Schools 

This year, our school must significantly limit or even prohibit visitors to school, including parents, to support a safe and healthy learning environment. We ask families to call or email our school if they need to supply information or contact a staff member. Also, it is strongly recommended that parents do not drop off items during the school day.  We ask that parents review their morning routines to ensure students come to school with all the things they need when they arrive to school (lunches, snacks, homework, attire appropriate for the changing weather, etc).  Calls home from students will also be limited as access to school offices will be restricted as well.   If there is an emergency or need to call home, our Office Staff will make those calls.

Junior Kindergarten Orientation 

To orient our new Junior Kindergarten students to our school, our Kindergarten Educator Teams will be making contact with families to invite them to an MS Teams Orientation Meeting.  This meeting will introduce families to the Kindergarten program, provide information about school reopening and to set up a time for a short, individual tour of the school and classroom on Friday, September 11th.  You should expect a call from the school starting September 8th.

The visit on September 8th will be about 5-10 minutes long and will be an opportunity to meet the Educator Team and see the classroom set up. 

Due to health precautions, only one parent and one child can attend this tour at a time.  

Elementary reorganization 

All schools across the district underwent reorganization, based on reduced enrolment due to some families opting for Remote Schooling.  At Sir Wilfrid Laurier, we had approximately 90 students opt for online Learning.  This meant we saw a decrease in our number of teachers and we had to reorganize our classes.  The new organization is as follows:

The Staffing Process is on-going and teacher assignments will be communicated closer to school re-opening.

Class sizes are also not yet finalized, but the above graphic are our approximate class sizes.  These will be finalized once school officially starts.

**Please Note:  If you are using the Parent Portal, you may see your child’s class placement and teacher as of today.  However, that information is not finalized.  Accurate class placements and who your child’s teacher will be should be reflected in the Portal by September 10th.  We ask that parents check the Portal prior to starting school on September 14 or 15 to make sure you know which class your child is in. 

I will continue to send updates as we receive added information. Thank you for understanding the challenges of planning the new school year, and for sharing our commitment to safe and successful school year. 

Learn more about COVID-19 precautions at HWDSB at www.hwdsb.on.ca/covid19. 

If you have any questions, or think your child might struggle with school, please let me know. 

Sincerely, 

Greg Moore                                               Gillian Stafford

Pricipal                                                       Vice Principal