Junior School

I do hope you, your children, and loved ones are healthy and have enjoyed your time together during the Spring Break. The teachers and I in the Junior School are eager to reunite with students next week online. At the moment, plans are being developed by teachers to make the online learning experience relevant, engaging, meaningful and significant. To that end, I am pleased to inform you all that online learning will commence for your child on Wednesday, April 1.

Parents will access all learning through the Parent Portal where teachers will post a document with links to the planned learning. Parents are asked to log in to the Parent Portal as soon as possible to ensure access. Should you have any difficulties logging in, please do not hesitate to contact our technology department at tech.support@stratfordhall.ca. Parents are kindly asked to submit all technology and connectivity related questions directly to our technology department.

Online learning for most of the older Junior School students will be designed using a combination of live sessions via Zoom, pre-recorded sessions and offline activities for students to engage with independently.

We all know parents are extremely important to student success at school. During this period of online learning, parent support will be critical. Having said that, students in Grades 3-5 should be able to participate in the learning on their own, with some support from parents, logging into lessons and retrieving documents from the Parent Portal. Parents of younger students in K-2 will take a more active role in their children's learning, helping them access materials in the portal and logging into live sessions or pre-recorded sessions.

We have learned a great deal about what is working well for parents in an online learning environment from schools locally and abroad, and Stratford Hall teachers are working hard to ensure students continue to learn and grow during this time of school closure.

Parents can begin preparing your child to be ready for learning next week by working with them to set up the learning space they will use for online learning. They will need writing tools, paper, a notebook to get started. Teachers will provide more detailed information about materials in the learning plans.

A detailed overview of next week's learning will be sent to parents on Tuesday. In the meantime, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

We are all in this together.

Kind regards