SWS Response to school closures

Dear Parents and Staff,
You may be aware that Education Minister Fleming addressed the province yesterday outlining the Ministry’s plans for the K-12 sector in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.  A copy of Minister Fleming’s letter to parents, guardians and school staff members is attached here.

Some key points from yesterday’s announcement are:

• All K-12 schools will suspend in-class instruction as of today.
• Independent school authorities are expected to begin work on continuity of learning planning for their students.
• All students will receive a final mark and students on track to advance to the next grade will do so.
• BC Schools are being asked to develop plans that will prioritize daycare or educational services for the children of essential service providers.

For the remainder of spring break, all teachers will be working on remote learning plans so that we can provide continuity of learning for all SWS students once spring break is over.

Transitioning to remote learning will be an adjustment for all. Aside from wanting to keep our students healthy, our goal is to ensure that students are engaged and learning, while we remain attentive to their developmental needs during this unprecedented time. These lessons will be developmentally appropriate; for example, parent participation and dissemination may be required in delivering lessons to younger students.

An email will be sent Thursday of next week with our plans of support and learning. Please allow the faculty and administration time to prepare a plan of implementation over the next week. Be assured that Squamish Waldorf School will provide continuity of learning for all our students, in an organized, meaningful way.

In regard to our daycare/preschool services, as of now we are waiting for direction from Vancouver Coastal Health. There is a strong mandate to provide care for essential workers and we will work with VCH to provide what we can within our resources. We anticipate further updates in the upcoming days. Parents of all our preschool and daycare programs will receive emails as more direction is provided to us.

While I am sure all of you are going through varying degrees of uncertainty, I hope that you are finding time to connect with your family and find joy in your days. This is an opportunity for the planet to take a collective breath together and learn from what this moment has to offer. Our school community can continue to be a hub to support families in maintaining healthy rhythm and guidance for our children. We can bring our creativity and caring to this task and come together to ensure that everyone is looked after. The Facebook parent networking group will serve as a resource.

I am compiling a list of essential service providers in our parent body. Please email me if you are continuing to work outside the home and require care for your children so we can assess the community need and plan accordingly.

As always, we will continue to provide updates and share information regarding additional actions and announcements. Please know that I am in constant communication with the Ministry of Education and we are all working together to try to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Sincerely,
Gabriel Alden Hull