What to expect in Guelph, Wellington and Dufferin school boards this fall

School boards in Guelph, Wellington County and Dufferin County are preparing for classes to resume on Sept. 8.

The Upper Grand DistrictSchool Board will have a two-week staggered start to the new school year for elementary students attending in person.

For elementary schools, students will be placed in two cohorts:A and B. Cohort A will attend on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and Wednesday, Sept. 9 and then will be off the next two days. Cohort B will not attend on the Tuesday or Wednesday, but will begin class Thursday, Sept. 10 and will also attend on Friday, Sept. 11.

On the next week, Cohort A will attend on the Monday and Tuesday, Cohort B will attend on the Wednesday and Thursday and then all students will attend on Friday, Sept. 18.

"Families will be contacted about which days their child is to attend and which cohort they have been placed in," the board says in documents for parents.

For high school students, only Grade 9 students will attend on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The next day will be Grade 9 and 10. Then all students will attend on Thursday, Sept. 10.

Staggered days

The Wellington Catholic District School Board will welcome new kindergarten students and students in Grades 1, 2 and 3 on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and Wednesday, Sept. 9.

Junior kindergarten students will have "staggered entry visits" between Sept. 10 and Sept. 18.

Senior kindergarten students, combined Grade 3/4 classes and students in Grades 4, 5 and 6 will attend on Thursday, Sept. 10. Senior kindergarten, combined Grade 6/7 classes and students in Grades 7 and 8 will atted on Friday, Sept. 11.

All students from senior kindergarten to Grade 8 will attend starting Sept. 14. Junior kindergarten students will start on Sept. 21.

For high school students: Grade 9 will attend on Tuesday, Grade 10 will be on Wednesday while Grade 11 and 12 students will attend Thursday and Friday. All students will be back in school on Monday, Sept. 14.

Comfortable with masks

For Upper Grand District School Board students, all students will be required to wear masks.

In the Wellington Catholic District School Board, students in Grade 1 and up will be required to wear masks in schools and for children in kindergarten, masks are highly recommended. The board says this comes on the advice ofDr. Nicola Mercer, the medical officer of health for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

"It's important to start practicing with younger children now so they can get more comfortable around masks before they go back to school," Mercer told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

The Upper Grand District School Board says masks are a family responsibility although the province is providing the board with face masks for students who don't have one.

New teachers

The Upper Grand District School Board says it's hiring more teachers. It expects to hire 60 new elementary teachers, particularly to help split up large kindergarten classes, and 100 new secondary teachers to help split classes with 30 or more students as well.

The Wellington Catholic District School Board says it intends to maintain a kindergarten class average below 22 students, which will require investment in more teachers, early childhood educators and "support for outdoor learning."

Additional teachers will also be hired to reduce class sizes for high school courses with higher enrolment and courses that are being offered through online learning.

The board says it is also buying 1,300 netbooks, 500 iPads and 500 webcams to help students with technology.

In-class and remote learning

Each school board is working on various plans about how in-class and remote learning will work and it may be further adapted for individual schools.

Parents and caregivers should check emails and voicemails for more details related to individual schools.

Specific details are available or will be in the next two weeks on the board websites.

• Upper Grand District School Board
• Wellington Catholic District School Board