School district launches online learning resource for stay-at-home students

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District has launched a resource for parents and students to continue learning for the rest of the hampered school year.

The platform is called Learning at Home: Good at Learning-Good at Life, and is hosted by Google.

The site has been used by staff and students before.

"There is no expectation for families to be teachers. For now, students are encouraged to share their learning and routines with their teachers for feedback. Teachers will not assign grades or values to any work students complete while they are at home," reads a news release from the district.

District officialssaid it's a welcome resource for teachers, whose routines were thrown into disarray when schools were closed last Tuesday due to concerns around COVID-19.

"Our ultimate goal is to promote learning," said NLESD CEO Tony Stack. "But that's going to look different for different groups of students at different grade levels. We recognize not all families have access to online resources and we will continue to look for opportunities that will make resources accessible for all."

No access to schools

If students left anything behind on the last day before schools closed due to COVID-19, it'll have to wait to be picked up. How long that wait will beis anybody's guess.

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District took further steps to restrict access to schools Sunday evening, telling students and parents that their pre-arranged, drive-thrupickup of personal items was cancelled.

"There will be no public access to school facilities whatsoever," the district said in a tweet Sunday night.

Anything left at schools around the province will have to stay there until further notice, as the school district deals with the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The only people allowed to access schools are principals and maintenance workers as directed by the district.

The NLESD, in concert with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, made the decision to close schools last Monday.

Students wereoriginally going to be allowed to return to school last Wednesday and Thursday to retrieve their belongings, but that was cancelled as well.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador