Hello QEHS families,
To say these are interesting times is an understatement.
A month into Ongoing Learning during a crisis QEHS staff, students and
parents seem to have fallen into a routine appropriate for their situation. This
current form of teaching and learning is far from ideal, and I commend both
staff and students for their resiliency and perseverance in learning.
Core classes for all grades continue as well as elective & CTS
courses at the high school level. It is important for students to maintain
engagement in learning where circumstances permit. While students marks
will not drop below the level they were at prior to the pandemic, within some
high school courses, students who do not complete new modules may still receive
a passing mark in a class but not the prerequisites for future courses and may
be required to re-take the course. Plans are underway for student support next
year to help fill any gaps in learning both during in-class instruction as well
as utilizing Knights Block. As a reminder, students in junior high should be
involved in 10 hours a week in learning and senior high classes are 3 hours per
week per subject. Much of the assessment teachers are doing of student learning
is formative in nature with few traditional tests.
Many decisions and processes involving QEHS are still
unknown as we enter the final two months of school. We do know that all grade
twelve graduation and grade nine farewell activities have been cancelled for
the year. Plans are underway for ways to celebrate these important milestones
in life in appropriate ways. QEHS is currently developing our procedures
for the end of the year regarding returning of resources and collection of
student belongs remaining at the school. Our business manager is also in the
process of drafting refund cheques which will be available in June.
Later this week I will be receiving our budget for the
2020-21 school year. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, funding to public
education was seeing significant reductions. With the new state of the economy,
we are expecting even more dramatic reductions to our budget. The addition of a
new funding model provided by Alberta Education is also leading to uncertainty
for next year. We will be planning and organizing the school as best as
possible to meet the learning needs of our diverse range of students, but are
expecting things to look significantly different next year. If your child has
not completed their course registration for next year, please have them do that
ASAP as this impacts our timetabling. I will continue to update our
community as structures are put in place for next year.
Information will be forthcoming with our next School Council
meeting which will be taking place virtually.
May 15 and 19 are non- instructional days, where teachers
will be working on professional development and other professional obligations.
No classes will run on those days.
As always, if you have any questions about your child’s
learning please do not hesitate to contact their teacher. Additionally if you
have other inquiries about QEHS I can be reached at jsarrell@cbe.ab.ca.
Thank You
Jason Arrell
Principal
Queen Elizabeth High School
