School Closure Extension & Distance Education

JICS Update: School Closure Extension & Distance Education

January 7, 2021

Dear JICS Parents,

As you have likely heard, elementary schools and school-aged daycares will be closed for in-school learning until at least Friday, January 22, 2021. We understand this is not the news families or we at JICS had hoped for, but we recognize the critical need to take steps as directed by medical experts and health officials in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Please be assured that the JICS Lab School remains committed to providing the best possible education for all students, while ensuring the safety and well-being of all students and staff.

Distance Education

The JICS Lab School teachers are ready to provide distance-education to all children in JK to Grade 6 beginning Monday, January 11. Each set of Grade Teachers will email parents with schedule information by Sunday.

Children will be expected to be ready at 9:00am each morning and we will be notifying parents of late arrivals and unexplained absences.

Each day will include a combination of synchronous (with teacher) and asynchronous (independent) learning. In addition, there are movement breaks, lunch, recess, and fresh air times. Each division (Early Years, Primary, Junior) will provide developmentally appropriate learning experiences. Depending on the age of the children, your child/ren may require some adult support at home.

We will not require parents to complete the online daily student screening form for children in JK to Gr 6 during distance education.

In addition to each grade’s Homeroom Teacher and Team Teacher, each class will have a new Intern (2nd year MA student) and Teacher Candidate (1st year MA student) to assist with the learning experience along with the Specialty Teachers (French, Music, Drama).

Pick Up of Learning Materials JK to Gr 6

Parents and/or caregivers are asked to come to JICS to pick up essential learning materials (JK - Gr 6). For children in Grades 1-6, you will also be given a JICS computer that the children are familiar with using at school, ensuring a smoother transition for the children to distance-education. Although some families may want their child/ren to use devices from home, this will complicate things for us. Please connect the JICS device to your home internet before Monday’s start. Parents are responsible for the appropriate use and care of the loaned technology and will be required to sign an online agreement for borrowing the devices.

The school will be open for material pick-up on:

• Friday, January 8, 1:00-5:00pm

• Saturday, January 9, 2:00-4:00pm

Please enter the building from 45 Walmer Road with PPE and maintain physical distance while in the building. We will direct you to your child’s material from the reception.

Nursery Classes

The Nursery classes are exempt from the ministerial school closure order and thus Nursery East and Nursery West will welcome the return of the children on the morning of January 11, 2021 and in the afternoon for the Nursery children registered in daycare. Please note that the ministerial order prevents the ICS daycare from providing their services to school-aged children (JK to Gr 6).

Nancy, Paige, Tory, Chriss, and I will be in the JICS building each day. Please do not hesitate to be in touch by email or by phone.

We are deeply disappointed not to be welcoming all the children back into the school next week. While we are hopeful that 2021 will be a better year for all, the high COVID numbers and this setback is disheartening. With that said, the students are looking to us, parents and teachers, to instill happiness, hope, and confidence in their hearts. We look forward to seeing them online, reconnecting and continuing our journey of learning.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Sincerely,

Richard

Richard Messina | Principal

Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Laboratory School

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education | University of Toronto

416-934-4509 | richard.messina@utoronto.ca