Greater Sudbury students from junior kindergarten to Grade 12 will resume their studies Jan. 4 after the holiday break, but it won’t be in-person.
As per the provincial government’s shutdown announcement Dec. 21, due to surging COVID-19 cases, elementary and secondary students will participate in remote learning from Jan. 4-8, after the Christmas holidays.
Schools in northern public health regions (such as Greater Sudbury) will be permitted to resume in-person instruction Jan. 11 for both elementary and secondary students.
In other parts of the province, the situation is a bit different, as elementary students will return to in-person learning Jan. 11, while secondary students will continue to learn remotely until Jan. 25, when they will be able to return to in-person learning.
We’ve reached out to local school boards to see what the remote learning for students will look like during the week of Jan. 4-8, but so far haven’t heard back.
Only the Sudbury Catholic District School Board has posted a memo to its website, saying parents will be contacted by staff on Jan. 4 with guidance on how to access the platform and to get started in the virtual classroom.
Educators will connect online with their class every day during the week of Jan. 4-8. Students will follow their regular school timetable. This schedule includes start and end times and recesses.
About 75 per cent of the instructional day will be in real-time (so-called synchronous learning) with teachers providing instruction for students in Grades 1- 8, and 25 per cent will be delivered asynchronously, with students working on their own.
Students in Grades 9-12 will receive approximately 80 per cent of their course delivered synchronously and 20 per cent asynchronously.
Educators will use their professional judgment to provide flexibility to students who cannot fully participate in synchronous learning. Teachers will continue to provide various learning experiences, not all of which will require online computer-related instruction.
For those enrolled in elementary remote learning school, there will be no changes, as classes start Jan. 4, as scheduled.
