Government of Ontario Announces All Grand Erie Schools Will Reopen to Students in September with Full-Time, In-Class Learning

Today, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced that all publicly funded schools in the province will reopen this fall for students to return to the classroom. This decision will be paired with enhanced cleaning and health and safety protocols due to COVID-19.

For Grand Erie elementary and secondary students, this means that when the 2020-21 school year begins on Tuesday, September 8, they will be taking part in full-time, in-class learning, Monday through Friday.

Grand Erie’s enhanced cleaning protocols will include an emphasis on touch points, common areas and common objects. Health and safety protocols will focus on making time for regular handwashing. Where handwashing is not available, hand sanitizer will be used. Directional signage will be placed to assist with physical distancing requirements, and schools will consider staggering nutrition, lunch and recess breaks.

The Province is mandating non-medical cloth masks for all students in Grades 4-12, while encouraging the use of non-medical cloth masks for students in Kindergarten through Grade 3. The Province will be providing medical masks for teachers and school staff.

Grand Erie families will be required to keep students at home when sick, or when exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. School visitors will also be extremely limited. The board is working on a protocol with both the Brant County Health Unit and the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit should there be a COVID-19 outbreak in any school or board site.

“The safety and well-being of students and staff remains our highest priority,” said Brenda Blancher, Director of Education. “Recognizing that it’s now been nearly six months since we’ve been in the classroom together, Grand Erie will have social and emotional supports available for students in the fall as we know this will be a challenging time for all.”

Grand Erie District School Board represents more than 26,000 students in 58 elementary and 14 secondary schools within the City of Brantford and the counties of Brant, Haldimand, and Norfolk, as well as secondary students from Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

Important Updates:

• July 30: Minister of Education Stephen Lecce sent this message to Ontario parents, updating them on the back-to-school plans announced by the Province.

Good Food Adds Up to Good Learning at Courtland Pubic School

Evidence suggests that breakfast and snack programs in schools:

• Improves children’s school performance, memory and test grades
• Enhances students’ physical, emotional, social and intellectual development
• Increases attendance rates, particularly for nutritionally at risk children
• Provides additional time for children to eat and drink nutritious breakfasts and snacks
• Provides energy for students to be more physically
• Enhances nutritional status of students by replacing the consumption of foods with low nutritional value with more nutritious choices, such as more vegetables and fruit
• Promotes a sense of community by bringing people together to ensure all children are well-nourished
• Leads to better dietary habits by increasing the frequency of eating breakfast
• Reduces the prevalence of vitamin and mineral deficiencies

With the generous support of the Child Nutrition Network and the Grand Erie District School Board, the school was able to renovate a room in the school into a nutrition program kitchen. Funds provided by the Child Nutrition Network and school fundraising monies purchase the good food and materials needed to run the program.

Every morning at 8 a.m., parent volunteers and their children arrive to prepare and distribute the food for the day. This program would not happen without their enthusiastic support.

Each serving of food includes a dairy product (i.e. yogurt, cheese string), a grain product (i.e. crackers, mixed cereal, muffin, whole wheat bun) and a fruit product (i.e. apple, banana, clementine orange, grapes, juice) or a vegetable product (i.e. cucumber slices, raw carrots). A container filled with food is delivered to each classroom and as children get settled for a day of learning, staff and students are encouraged to help themselves to a delicious and nutritious start to the day.

“Nutrition programs, such as the one at Courtland Public School, are happening in many schools within the Grand Erie District School Board. It’s a huge effort supported by the Board, volunteers and community agencies. Working together, it’s amazing what can be done. We feel most grateful to have this opportunity for our Courtland school community”, says principal Deb Opersko.

Roots of Empathy

Courtland Public School offers the Roots of Empathy program in our Kindergarten A classroom. Our Early Childhood Educator, Mrs. L. Wildman is a trained Roots of Empathy instructor. Our Roots of Empathy baby and her mom are welcome visitors to the classroom.

An explanation of program, from the Roots of Empathy website is included below:

Roots of Empathy is an evidence-based classroom program that has shown significant effect in reducing levels of aggression among schoolchildren by raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. The program reaches elementary schoolchildren from Kindergarten to Grade 8. In Canada, the program is delivered in English and French and reaches rural, urban, and remote communities including Aboriginal communities. Roots of Empathy is also delivered in New Zealand, the United States, Isle of Man, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Emotional Literacy

At the heart of the program are a neighbourhood infant and parent who visit the classroom every three weeks over the school year. A trained Roots of Empathy Instructor coaches students to observe the baby's development and to label the baby's feelings. In this experiential learning, the baby is the "Teacher" and a lever, which the instructor uses to help children identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others. This "emotional literacy" taught in the program lays the foundation for more safe and caring classrooms, where children are the "Changers". They are more competent in understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others (empathy) and are therefore less likely to physically, psychologically and emotionally hurt each other through bullying and other cruelties. In the

Roots of Empathy program children learn how to challenge cruelty and injustice. Messages of social inclusion and activities that are consensus building contribute to a culture of caring that changes the tone of the classroom. The Instructor also visits before and after each family visit to prepare and reinforce teachings using a specialized lesson plan for each visit. Research results from national and international evaluations of Roots of Empathy indicate significant reductions in aggression and increases in pro-social behaviour.