After nine weeks at home, many were a little apprehensive to start school again today. Certain secondary classes and Grade 4 have already been at school for a week or two but for the majority of Primary, today was the first day seeing friends and teachers in person in a long while.
Students and parents were very good about following the new regulations concerning entry to the school building. Each primary grade has a different entry point so as to minimize contact between classes. Once students had reunited with their classmates and were back in their familiar classrooms, things went back to normal very quickly. The few exceptions being the prioritizing of hygiene measures and the slight shifts in daily routines.
Playground time is allocated in slots and separate areas are designated to grades. The emphasis is not on keeping groups small but on maintaining a consistency in who has contact with a class.
Next week our middle-school students will be returning to school and all our classrooms will be full again.
With the daily declaration of health from parents and keeping classes contained we are optimistic that this return to normality is the right direction to take. In addition, our nursing team have done an incredible job of informing all staff on correct protocol for managing a situation where a student might show symptoms of illness.
As a school we have had to reinvent many everyday procedures and it has been a logistical marathon but we are thrilled to have our students filling the school building with life and learning once more.
