Part II: School Life

Alternative Co-curricular Programming

Clubs and activities will take place with reduced numbers in each cohort of students. That is to say, the numbers of students in each cohort will be determined by our ability to maintain physical distancing for the specific activity or club, and based on the location within which that activity or club takes place.

Athletics will also take place, including team training, and team practices. We can divide the main gym on the Oxford Campus into two spaces, and we now have access to a third gym on our Coburg Campus if necessary. We also anticipate exploring sports that lend themselves well to physical distancing, but would also align well with our long term strategy for Osprey Athletics - rowing, stand up paddle boarding, cycling, golf, etc. Sport competition and the types of sports we will be able to compete in will be determined by two governing bodies - the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation (NSSAF), and nationally through Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS).

Building Relationships and Community

One of the best things to come out of this pandemic has been the acceptance and widespread literacy around video conferencing. Given that parents will not have access to the school*, we will need to continue to be creative about building relationships and community.

We will endeavour to engage parents in a variety of roles: as volunteers on committees and task forces, as class parents, as attendees at Coffee Mornings (using tools such as FaceBook Live), as members of the Armbrae Parents Association, etc.

*Parents of younger students that present challenges at drop off, may enter the school via the “Grade 6” (east side) door, and then exit the school through the south set of double doors (front of school).

Wellbeing Support Systems for Students, Teachers, and Parents

A major focus for us for this year, will be our new partnership with Dr. Michael Ungar and the Resilience Research Centre. A team of Armbrae teachers will begin building resilience curriculum that we can deliver to students across all divisions as part of our larger Advisory Programme.

To this point, we have had good success engaging parents in this process, and we expect to continue to do so - both in terms of what areas of resilience we should focus on, but also in terms of reinforcing lessons on resilience at home.

Supporting Student Success

Learning strategists in all three divisions will support classroom teachers and students of concern wherever necessary. This support can be provided in the classroom - so-called "push in" support - or outside the classroom - "pull out" support.

In addition, employing the new learning management system (LMS) Brightspace will provide all students with opportunities for asynchronous learning for enrichment, remediation, or to catch up on missed work due to illness, travel, or missed class time.

Considering the Impact of Changing Routines and Expectations

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our children in numerous ways at home. We need to anticipate that changing routines and student expectations at school will also have unintended consequences.

Clarity, patience, and consistency will be important when educating students about changes to their day. Empathy will be just as important when students struggle with those changes and/or to meet new expectations. Maintaining social distancing, remaining in cohorts, and wearing masks will be challenging for many students. Again, clarity, patience, consistency, and empathy will be needed at all times.

Finally, providing opportunities for students to move, be physical, and engage in creative pursuits will be more important than ever. We must make these opportunities available during academic classes, recesses, lunches, and after school.

Communication Channels

During this coming school year, communication and transparency will help to strengthen our home to school partnerships with families. We will continue with our weekly updates, ensure that our various websites are up-to-date, continue to communicate via social media channels, and continue to use more traditional communications strategies including one-one-one connection (email, phone, etc.), surveys, and up-to-date calendaring.

Service Learning

The Service Learning Program will be suspended this year. Students are not required to complete a specific number of service hours.

Graduation and Celebrations of Learning

The end of each school year calendar is populated with a number of ceremonies that celebrate student learning and co-curricular accomplishments. These celebrations and ceremonies will look different this year, but they will also be more robust and personal.

We learned a great deal by holding our face to face ceremony for Grade 12 graduates in late July. The feedback we received from students and their families was overwhelmingly positive. We look forward to reimagining our ceremonies, creating new celebrations, utilizing new venues, and deploying new technologies in order to make the end of 2020-21 the most memorable year end in Armbrae's history!