March 27, 2020 - Covid-19 update

Dear Vanier Students, Parents, and Guardians:
We mentioned in an earlier email that we would provide an update on or before today about the resumption of instruction.
Nothing has changed since our email from Monday, March 23 that included an attached letter and FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) from the Department of Education.  In that letter, it stated:
Classes at all Yukon schools are suspended as of March 18, 2020 until April 15, 2020, due to recommendations from Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. 
During this time, students are not expected to attend school or learn from home. School staff will be working with their principal and staff from the Department of Education to assess potential impacts to school programs and to plan for measures needed to ensure continued learning for students. This includes: 

• Identifying where students are at in their learning to date. 
• Identifying the most essential learning for students that can completed for rest of the school year after April 15. 
• Ensuring students who are eligible to graduate Grade 12 this year will graduate. 
• Looking at how to best deliver essential learning to students and communicate student learning to families should the suspension of face-to-face classes continue after April 15. 

Next week, our staff will begin tackling this list.  I will email again on Monday with some further information about:

• Possible educational activities for students to engage in until April 15;
• Ways to access the contents of lockers to obtain binders, books, and learning materials;
• Ways to obtain books and learning materials from our Learning Commons/Library; and
• Other suggestions to best prepare for the resumption of instruction on April 15.

I realize it will be frustrating for many to wait until April 15 to resume instruction - we thank you for your patience and understanding during this time while staff prepare.
Again, we want to ensure all our school community stays well informed and connected, so please:

1. Ensure that we have a valid email address for every student, parent, and guardian on file.  In particular, we don’t have many student email addresses on file.  If you would like to add or update an email address, please email the updates to vcss@gov.yk.ca
2. Join our Instagram feed.  We would like to be able to share images of our students continuing to learn at home and allow students to join us each weekday for daily prayer over Instagram Live.  Our account name is vcssyukon and you need to ask to join – if your user name does not clearly identify you, please let us know who you are and what student you are connected with!
3. Download and install Zoom.us app (for iOS and Google) or software (Mac or Windows).  We will be using Zoom to facilitate class meetings and other school group virtual gatherings.  You do not need to create an account with Zoom to participate, simply download the software from https://zoom.us/ or find the free app on Apple store or Google store
4. Bookmark our website.  https://www.vcss.ca/ will continue to be the main place for information to be posted.  Teachers’ websites and our Learning Commons library catalogue are also linked there.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact us by replying to this email.
Sincerely,
Ryan Sikkes, principal and Jeanette Gallant, vice-principal