| Welcome back to another school year, one that presents us with many challenges and many opportunities. Many CBE staff have been working tirelessly over the summer preparing for the return of staff and students into our schools. Safety protocols have been developed to keep all individuals as safe as possible given the context of our “near normal" return to school. Mask protocols, hand washing/sanitizing and frequent cleaning are our main processes to reduce the transmission of Covid-19. We will be enacting social distancing wherever possible within school; unfortunately, this will not be possible in most situations. We have seen an increase in student registrations by approximately 100 students and this is equal to the approximate number of students from QEHS who have registered for the Hub. With this increase in enrollment, students will potentially see the same number of students in the building as last year. Registration in the Hub will have a potential impact on both staff and students within the building. Once Hub decisions are made by CBE, we may be required to make changes to both student and staff timetables and assignments. These changes may occur in mid-September. Due to these upcoming unknowns, we will not be adjusting timetables at this point in time. Despite the restrictions and limitations that Covid has placed on schools, we will continue to maintain our focus on learning. In our first three days in schools, staff have also been focusing on lesson preparation. We know students will be coming to us with a wide range of learning experiences from the spring. Teachers are working on ways of meeting students where they are at and moving them forward in their understanding and demonstration of learning. We have been using the wording Rigorous and Human to describe our approach at QEHS. Rigorous: we will be intentional and focused in our teaching and instilling the value of hard work with students. Human: we will be acknowledging that students have all been impacted differently by Covid-19 and students may need different supports to engage in the work. These two approaches fit well with our continued goal of Personalization of learning and our goal of helping all student meet their potential as individuals. With the implications of Covid-19 and our focus on student safety and learning all extra-curricular activities (including sports teams and clubs) have been postponed at this time. I am looking forward to having students back in our building and the adventure ahead of us for the 2020-21 school year. Thank you, Mr. Arrell
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