Fall 2020 Planning for TCS (work in progress)

Dear TCS Family,

Thank you for your incredible support and encouragement during the last three months as we navigated a very challenging situation that caused each one of us to adapt, adjust and recreate a new way of education.  I am so pleased with how well our students have done and while this was a very different experience, I know they are ready for their next grade this fall.  

Before we all head off for our summer break, I wanted to share with you the plans we have been discussing and are putting in place for the fall.  The government has put forth three scenarios for next year:

• Scenario 1 - resuming daily in-school classes is the preferred and likely scenario - near normal operation with  health measures.  
• Scenario 2 - In-school classes resume with physical distancing and additional health measures
• Scenario 3 - At home learning continues, in-school classes are cancelled
  • Links to scenario 1 and scenario 2 from Alberta Government.

The government and us, are aiming and preparing for scenario 1 with the final decision to be made by August 1.  Our goal is to have students back in the building as much as possible, while following AHS guidelines. 

We are so blessed at TCS to have a fantastic building that has extra rooms and larger spaces so we can spread out as needed.  We are also incredibly blessed with extra staff that can assist us if we need to spread out and creatively teach in multiple spaces.  As well, we will be moving our grade 6 classes to our current music and art rooms to spread out our students and allow for flexibility in rooms throughout the school.  Most of our classrooms are already equipped with sinks, and  we will be installing sinks in the rooms that do not have one over the summer break.  Additionally, we will use multiple entrances and exits for our students next year to help manage the flow and volume of students.  Furthermore, teachers and support staff are cleaning out the classroom spaces to remove extra items and plush surfaces to maximize space for adequate distancing and to ensure proper sanitization can take place.  Based on the  three scenarios provided as of today, we are confident we can have 100% of our students in our school each day, while following all of the AHS recommendations regardless of what scenario we are in. 

In addition, we are planning our delivery of learning that will combine the best practices we previously had, but also now have acquired over the past 3 months to ensure we are providing the best education possible for all learners, which includes being able to effectively teach our students who may learn from home if this is best for them during this season.  This will also make it workable if students are not well and need to stay home for a period of time.  

Finally, we are looking at each grade level as a team, for grades 1 - 9,  that will have 40 - 48 students, at least 2 teachers, and at least one educational assistant.  Each team will have two main classrooms, plus additional space to move into as needed to be spread out.  Therefore, we will not be assigning students to a specific grade level homeroom so we can easily adjust our grade cohorts to meet the needs of our learners and AHS.  

In closing, we are very pleased to be able to provide school full time for all of our learners through each of the three possible scenarios we may face next year.  We are confident we can meet the needs of each situation while providing excellent education and can easily transition between scenarios as needed.  We have developed a model that allows flexibility, fluidity and sustainability for our staff, students and parents. I hope this answers your questions about our plans for the fall.  As we learn more over the summer, after August 1, we will communicate again with you.  

I truly hope you all have a fantastic summer and we can't wait to all be back together on September 2.

Blessings

**click here to watch the video**