Ontario in-person classes update | yorkville

Dear Yorkville community,

I hope that this note finds you well, and that you have begun to be able to enjoy something of the holiday season.

As many will now know, the Province has announced that under the newly announced lockdown, secondary schools will need to remain physically closed until January 25th.

We are well prepared for this, as we have been providing virtual class options throughout the year. On January 4th, we will resume classes in this virtual format for all students, and look forward to returning to the physical classrooms on January 25th. Classes will run on the regular schedule, without interruption. Teachers will, as usual, issue any instructions specific to their classes as we proceed.

We greatly appreciate your resilience, cooperation and understanding through these trying times, and will remain here for the community through this newest phase of challenge.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at any time. I will be checking emails regularly over the holidays.

Best,

Michael Booth
Principal
Blyth Yorkville and Orbit

mbooth@blytheducation.com

Though our physical doors remain temporarily closed, the minds of our students stay open. Summer classes are continuing to meet on their regular daily schedules, in virtual classrooms with face-to-face instruction and peer interaction.  The Blyth Academy model of small class sizes, flexible scheduling and individualized approach have enabled us to remain faithful to our standards. Our commitment to ongoing and meaningful communication between school, teachers, students and families has been critical to this effort.

Although our students have transitioned into summer mode and COVID-19 restrictions have begun to loosen, we are looking ahead to what September will hold for our campuses and families.
We want to be clear - our preference and our priority is to get students back to our campuses, but we must ensure this is done in a safe and effective way. While we await official guidance from Public Health and the Ministry of Education, a "return to school" task force has been hard at work putting concrete operational plans in place for all likely scenarios. This includes a full return to campus with safeguards, a blended model of virtual and in-campus learning and the continuation of fully virtual classrooms. All scenarios will provide robust learning and live, daily instruction and interaction with teachers and peers. 
With ten campuses across Ontario, we realize that each one of our schools is a unique space and community. We will be implementing across-the-board policies on hand washing, facility cleaning and social distancing measures. Each school is also prepared to pivot individually based on the guidance of local health authorities and to best serve students and families. 
Our recent survey showed that over 80 per cent of Blyth Academy families are eager to return to campuses, and we are hard at work to prepare for this day. As September's scenario becomes clearer and more information becomes available, we will continue to communicate. 

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