Monthly Archives: April 2020

All families and students are invited to celebrate Catholic Education Week with us during the week of May 3-8. The overall theme is: Igniting Hope and there are five sub-themes:

Monday: Our Hope in Christ

Tuesday: The Hope Within Us

Wednesday: The Hope Among Us

Thursday: Hope for the World

Friday: A Future Full of Hope

We also hope that all families will join the Bishop in a Virtual Mass on Friday, May 8th at 10 AM. More information can be found on the WCDSB Pray@Home site.

Minister of Education – Letter to Parents – April 28 2020

Dear Families,

If you would like to place an order for the Lifetouch school pictures that were taken earlier this year, go to mylifetouch.ca. Free shipping to your homes will be available until May 31, 2020, when you order on mylifetouch.ca with promo code SMILES. Locate your access credentials on your proof sheet if you have it or call 1-866-457-8212 and Lifetouch will help locate your credentials.

Thank you.

School Closures Extended to Keep Students, Staff and Families Safe

Students Will Still Be Able to Complete School Year

Ministry of Education

TORONTO — Today, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced that all publicly-funded schools will remain closed until at least May 31, 2020, as part of an effort to keep students, staff and families safe from COVID-19.

The extension was based on expert advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health and health officials on the COVID-19 Command Table and is part of the government’s ongoing effort to stop the spread of the virus. The advice was to extend school closures for an additional period of time to permit updated modelling and data to inform next steps, given the government’s absolute commitment to safety.

“We will do whatever it takes to keep our students safe,” said Minister Lecce. “The government is taking a careful approach which provides our medical experts the time to review the modelling and make the best decision for the safety of our students and the future of learning.”

The government took immediate action to close schools in Ontario, the first in Canada to do so. The ministry continues to monitor the evolving situation and if necessary, the closure may be extended further to protect the health and safety of Ontario’s school communities.

At the same time the Ontario government is taking steps to ensure learning can continue. In March the province unveiled its Learn at Home portal. It offers all students high-quality resources, featuring made-in-Ontario math and literacy resources, created by Ontario-certified educators, in both English and French. Elementary resources are designed to help young students learn at home with interactive activities that encourage participation through entertaining and stimulating digital content. High school content was designed with a focus on STEM courses and ensures core competencies and skills are reinforced.

At the end of March the Ministry of Education unveiled the second phase of Learn at Home to ensure the continuity of learning for students. This included providing clarity for parents, enhancing education supports and creating opportunities for educators to connect with students.

The government has also partnered with Rogers Communications and Apple to help meet the educational needs of students and families during the COVID-19 outbreak. iPads are being purchased and distributed by Ontario school boards, pre-equipped with free Rogers LTE wireless data. Apple is providing on-going support in French and English to teachers, parents and students, with a collection of resources to support learning and working from home. To date, over 20,000 iPads have been sent to targeted families in need. The free Rogers wireless data will be available until the end of June.

“Regardless of what transpires over the coming weeks, Ontario’s students will be able to complete their school year with confidence,” added Minister Lecce. “In particular, for students in their final year, we are removing all impediments to ensure students graduate and pursue post-secondary education.”

Quick Facts

• Should schools be permitted to reopen, school employees will have access as of May 29, 2020.
• The Ministry of Education will move forward to replace the remainder of Professional Activity (PA) days and examination days with instructional time, as well as the introduction of an expanded summer learning program that will focus on credit recovery, supports for vulnerable students, and course upgrading. Boards are to find solutions at the local level in keeping with this direction while upholding collective agreement obligations.
• Private schools, First Nation schools, licensed child care centres and EarlyON programs will remain closed until May 6, 2020, with certain exceptions for licenced care, under an emergency order made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, which only allows closures to be extended for 14 days at a time.
• Through the Ontario Together web site, the province received more than 300 proposals from businesses, organizations and everyday Ontarians to provide solutions to remote learning while schools are closed during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Next steps will be shared soon.

Additional Resources

• Learn at Home
• Ontario Together

Visit Ontario’s website to learn more about how the province continues to protect Ontarians from COVID-19

Please call the device support number below for issues such as connecting to the internet or hardware issues with WCDSB-owned devices.

Hours of support are 8AM to 4PM, Monday to Friday.

519-578-3677 Ext: 2316

Please see the attachment below for an update from the Director of Education and the Chair of the Board of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

WCDSB School Closure COVID 19 April 23, 2020

As we approach the end of the school year, preparations have slowly begun to ensure that our class structures are in place for September. Preparing class lists is a process that involves hours of work, on behalf of all staff, to ensure that the needs of all our students are met. Lists are fluid documents that may be changed and revised several times from now until the beginning of school in September. A great deal of thought and reflection goes into the placement of each child. Many factors are considered in student placement including: academic abilities, social groupings, and gender ratio. In addition, we consult Board and Ministry of Education guidelines including those for combined classes.

Each new school year is a tremendous opportunity for students to meet new friends and expand their circle of acquaintances. Our goal is to place a child where they will achieve the most success academically while trying to balance their social development. A balanced class reflects the diversity and needs of our school community and all our students.

Through collaboration and communication with support staff, classroom teachers and the special education teachers, our goal is to create classes that:

– Are balanced with all types of learners across all classes taking into consideration academics, social factors and gender.

– Create a positive learning and social environment for all students considering learning needs and past experiences with peers.

– Review all students with IEPS to plan for special needs and accommodations.

– Plan for a positive and productive transition for all students.

Communication is essential to this process. We are seeking specific input from parents that focuses on unique needs and situations. For parents who feel their concerns are significant enough that it may impact classroom placement, we have implemented the parent input process where parents may fill out an online google form to share concerns or issues that may impact placement or transition planning. The information provided will be kept confidential and reviewed by the principal and vice principal. However, considerations for placement may need to be shared appropriately with staff assisting in class placements.

Please be clear that parents are not required to fill in this form. This form is only intended for parents who feel they need to communicate a specific concern to the school team for consideration.

When parent input in the format below is received, the principal and vice principal will sort parent input based on special considerations.

Special Considerations: A Special Consideration is a unique need or issue regarding a child that the principal, vice principal and school staff determine will significantly affect his/her placement. Special Considerations are intended to avoid unfavorable groupings with other children or to repeat an issue that has happened in previous years.

Special Considerations may be based on the following:

– Significant and uncommon social, emotional or physical challenges.

– Past personal history with individuals that may impact your child.

Special Considerations should take the form of one or more of the following:

– Identifying the accommodation needed that may affect class placement

– Identifying the peer that is requested as a positive support to directly address the special need

– Identifying a past experience that should not be repeated

Our goal through our placement process is to work to address concerns and to identify any additional supports needed during the transition from one grade to the next. So, if you have a significant concern about your child’s placement, please follow the directions below:

The parent input process is not intended to provide the opportunity to request a specific teacher. Any request to be placed with a specific teacher will be disregarded and consideration will focus on the student need identified.

If you submit more than one consideration, please be clear which is the most important as it is not always possible to accommodate more than one consideration.

The Parent Input Form will be open until Friday, May 8, 2020.

Please click on the link below to access the Parent Input Form:

Holy Spirit Parent Input into Class Placement Form

Thank-you for joining this important conversation! We are interested in learning about how WCDSBLearn@Home is going.

The tool we are using is called ThoughtExchange. Your participation is voluntary, and your feedback will be very important for helping us make sure that we are providing the needed supports for students, staff, parents and community members.

To make sure that the conversation is about the topics most meaningful to you, we have set up separate conversations for different groups. This is why you are asked if you are a student, parent, staff member, administrator, or community member.

Here is the link: https://my.thoughtexchange.com/763676673

Once you have shared your thoughts, you will have the opportunity to read the thoughts of others and assign *STARS* based on how much you agree (5 Stars) or disagree (1 Star).  This helps us determine the ideas that are most important to the group.

We encourage all participants to read and consider 20-30 thoughts.

You can return to the exchange as often as you like to *STAR* thoughts.

PLEASE NOTE:  If you would like to join more that one conversation – choose a new group by opening the invitation link in a new tab in your web browser.

The Survey will remain open until Tuesday April 21, 2020.

If you have any difficulty with the survey, questions can be sent to: wcdsbresearch@wcdsb.ca

Parents/guardians who consent, are also welcome to share this link with their child(ren) to participate in the thought exchange.

For younger children (Grades K-8), please support them in participating as their feedback will be very important during this process.

Thank you in advance for your participation in helping us make WCDSBLearn@Home a success!

As we are navigating through these unprecedented times we are now mourning after a senseless act of violence. Our thoughts and prayers are with the province of Nova Scotia and everyone affected. Please see the resource below to help get through these difficult times.