New school and a new normal for Grade 9 students

Grade 9 students with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board made the major transition to secondaryschoolon Tuesdaya day of orientation that included meeting teachers, touring classroomsand plenty of first day jitters.

"Everyone's excited and nervous," said Kayla Harder, 13, who is entering Glebe Collegiate Institute.

Harder says she chose to attend classes this yearbecause she learns better in a social setting and she's satisfied that safety measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 are in place.

"There's stickers on the ground and tapemeasuring which way to go," said Harder.

"There'shand sanitizers everywhere and water fountains are blocked off and that kind of stuff...I don't have any concerns."

Students are divided into learning groups of 10 and sit at physically distant desks. Each pupil is required to wear a mask in class and throughout the school.

Harder is looking forward to making new friends in high school, but she says wearing a mask posesa challenge.

"It's really weird we are not able to see people smilewhen you're trying to, like, greet people," said Harder.

"I'm trying to squint as much as I can to show that I'm happy."

Sadie Girard says her first day at Glebe was disorientingat first, as teaching staff weren't always able to answer her questions about schedules and class locations. But the 14 year old said the confusionwas understandable.

"It hasn't ever happened before and [teachers have] never really had time to practise," said Girard."So everyone was learning together."

Like her friend Harder, Girard says she was eager to get a start on Grade 9 in a classroom setting.

"Having a teacher is so much easier than having to learn off the computer," said Girard.

"It's not fun to sit at home by yourself with your brother across the table."

What its like to start high school during the COVID-19 pandemic

4 years ago

Duration 0:44

Three of Ottawas newest Grade 9 students, Sadie Girard, Theo Kneen and Kayla Harder, say the experience of starting high school is much different than they imagined due to COVID-19 safety measures.

Grade 9 student, Theo Kneen, 14, says he wasn't happy that his high school career was beginning in the shadow of the pandemic,withstrictsafety precautions and truncatedin-class learning.

"I felt a little bit cheated that this would be my start to high school," said Kneen.

But now that's he's seen the setup and heard from his teachers, Kneensays he is more optimistic.

"I think that they'll be able to teach us enough and as efficiently as before," said Kneen, "I feel it will practically be as good as the real thing."