• Upon entering and exiting the school building, all staff, students, and visitors are required to wash or sanitize their hands-available at every entrance.
• Physical distancing and traffic flow must be maintained-our stickers will help!
• A mask must be worn in all spaces within the building except to eat.
• Non-essential visitors and parents/guardians will have limited access to the building to ensure chances of contact and transmission of Covid-19 are minimized. 
• All visitors, including all parents will be required to sign in to a visitor log and leave a phone number for the purpose of contact tracing.

Morning Arrival-8:45-9:00

• Staff will be available at each arrival point to safely direct students to their designated door.
• Students will come directly into the building or their assigned portable. There will be no congregating on the school yard.
• Students will use a labelled designated door and go directly to their classroom. These designated doors will be the ONLY doors they are allowed to use for entry and dismissal.

Late Arrivals and Picking Up Students During the Day

• If a student is late, they will come through the front door independently, if possible. A table will be set up outside the office with late slips. Students will pick up a late slip and go directly to class where they will be welcomed by the teacher.
• If a child needs to be picked up early for an appointment, please advise the teacher or school ahead of time. Once you reach the school, ring the buzzer, and your child will be sent to the front entrance. Your child will be signed out by office staff. 

Dismissal 3:20

• Students will exit the school utilizing a designated door and directly leave the property-there will be NO congregating on the playground.
• Staff will be available to safely direct students onto the bus, to the walker exits, or to Kiss and Ride.
• Students will wait at Kiss and Ride, physically distancing, until they reach their vehicle safely.

Dropping Off Lunches

• All families are strongly encouraged to work together to bring a packed lunch to school each day.
• In the event that a lunch needs to be dropped off, ring the buzzer.
• The lunch MUST be pre-labelled with your child's name clearly visible.
• Leave the lunch on a designated table and it will be delivered at a later time by a staff member.
• You will be required to sign the visitor log and leave a phone number for the purpose of contact tracing.

Thank you for your co-operation. We truly appreciate all you are doing to prepare your child for their return to school. 

Good afternoon Northwood Families,

As you are likely aware, the start date for students was changed last week - Thursday, September 10th. 

In addition, the Board is staggering the start of school for students.  In short, students have been placed into two groups according to first letter of last name (A-L and M-Z).  They will come to school every other day, for the first four days.  Please click the link and read carefully.

https://www.publicboard.ca/News/ourstories/StaggeredStart/Pages/default.aspx#/=

We want to ensure that families/siblings attend school on the same day. 

Please call the school at 519-969-7610 to inform us if your children have different last names.

Thank you,

Mr. Romano

English Version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oJVU9cVyN0&feature=youtu.be

Arabic Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMf9p1xNnc8&feature=youtu.be

Greater Essex District School District (GECDSB) is pleased to announce our Bring Your Own Educational Device (BYOD) partnership with Lenovo.

Our goal is for families to have access to all the resources necessary for learning and for our students to develop digital citizenship and social responsibility in the use of technology.

Lenovo has partnered with us to bring together Window 10 laptops, which offers parents a significant savings over buying these devices separately. Lenovo offers additional value, added warranty if required.

GECDSB uses Window 10 Laptops for educational purposes, and we are excited to offer parents the opportunity to purchase these devices at a reduced rate.

https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/greateressex/laptops/lenovo/student-laptops/c/windows-edu-laptops?IPromoID=LEN649155

A staggered approach to school start-up, beginning on September 10^th, will provide the GECDSB additional time to reorganize staff assignments and student timetables for all in-person and virtual school classes, and will provide opportunities for schools to ensure that health and safety practices and new school protocols are reviewed and practiced before the full complement of students returns to each building. This approach allows staff to support our students' successful return to the new school environment in smaller groups to learn and review these important health and safety measures. 

All students in Junior/Senior Kindergarten to Grade 8 attending in-person (including those students in our GAINS classrooms) will be divided into two (2) groups: Group 1 and Group 2. These groups will be created alphabetically as one measure to keep all students from a family together. Schools will notify parents/guardians of their child(ren)'s group assignment and return to school schedule shortly.

Grade 1 to 8 students in Group 1 only will attend school on Thursday, September 10, Monday, September 14, and will return for daily classes beginning on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.

Grade 1 to 8 students in Group 2 only will attend school on Friday, September 11, Tuesday, September 15, and will return for daily classes beginning on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.

Early Years (JK/SK) students in Group 1 only will attend school on Monday, September 14, and will begin daily classes on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.

Early Years (JK/SK) students in Group 2 only will attend school on Tuesday, September 15, and will begin daily classes on Wednesday, September 16, 2020

New Bell Times for the 2020-2021 School Year

8:45-9:00 Student arrival to school (no earlier than 8:45)

9:00-9:50 Period One

9:50-10:40 Period Two

10:40-11:20 Nutrition Break

11:20-12:10 Period Three

12:10-1:00 Period Four

1:00-1:40 Nutrition Break

1:40-2:30 Period Five

2:30-3:20 Period Six

3:20 Dismissal

Please note: No playing on the playground before school. All arrivals go straight to the classrooms from busses, kiss and ride and walkers into designated entrances. Supervision will occur similar to rainy day supervision. Play structures, park benches and picnic tables are off limits and are not to be utilized. Students will be dismissed at the end of the day in a staggered manner and students will exit from designated doorways. 

Message from Erin Kelly - Director of

Education

The COVID-19 emergency has changed the way we live, interact and operate at home and in the community.

I am very proud of the way the GECDSB community responded and answered the challenges of a radically different teaching and learning model in the final quarter of the 2019-20 school year.

We learned a great deal from our experience. The delivery of our services evolved; advancing rapidly over those months. The knowledge we gained and the awareness we developed has served us well in the creation of our plan to return to school for the 2020-21 school year.

The goal in reopening is to minimize risk and increase safety for everyone while continuing to offer the learning and educational resources that our families demand and our students deserve. The following document is a guide for learning, instruction and our expectations for operating under restrictive conditions.

We all have responsibilities to promote everyone's health and safety during these uncertain times. The guidelines have been developed from a variety of trusted sources.

To be successful this year, it will require the same type of fortitude and resilience we have witnessed over the previous 6 months. It will take cooperation with and consideration for each other to safely manage the demands of reopening our schools and continue to provide our essential service to our students.

Be kind, stay safe.  

       Erin Kelly

      Director of Education

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ekPKiL6CTI&t=3s