COVID-19

Back to School Details - Junior School

Back to School Information

We are so excited to welcome our students back to campus in September. Our work over the summer has been focused on realizing our collective dream that our campus can come back to life with the energy and promise of our students growing and learning together.
 
The health, safety and overall wellness of our students, staff and their families is our guiding priority. All of our decisions have been underpinned by a commitment to this. The goal of our Junior School program plan is to share the structures, practices and innovations we’ve put in place to pair that guiding priority with our commitment to continue to provide an exceptional education and school experience. Our plans allow us the flexibility to transition quickly to alternate learning models as government regulations and changing health conditions in the school, the city or the province evolve.
 
Our commitment to the values and mission of the College is unwavering. Whatever school looks like, the promise of our faculty and staff to know and love our boys remains.

The School Day

List of 6 items.

  • Sample Schedule for Grades 3-6, Monday through Friday

    8:15*-8:30
    Homeform
    8:30-9:15
    Core
    9:15-10:00
    Core
    10:00-10:20
    Break
    10:20-11:00
    French
    11:00-11:45
    Lunch/Recess
    11:45-12:30
    Core
    12:30-1:15
    PHE
    1:15-2:00
    Core
    2:00-2:15
    Break
    2:15-3:05
    Arts

  • Sample Schedule for Grades 7 and 8, Monday through Friday

    8:30-8:45
    Homeform/Community Building
    8:45-9:40
    Music
    9:40-10:00
    Break
    10:00-10:45
    STEM
    10:45-11:30
    PHE
    11:30-12:30
    Lunch/Recess
    12:30-1:30
    Humanities
    1:30-2:00
    Break
    2:00-3:00
    French
    3:00-3:15
    Homeform

  • Distance Learning

    Central to our planning for the 2021/22 school year has been our commitment for full-time face-to-face learning for all students, everyday, on campus. We believe that the learning as well as their mental and physical well-being are optimized when school resembles, as closely as possible, a "normal" experience. A parallel online program is not available for our students.
     
    Having said that, we recognize that distance learning may need to be operationalized. This may be for those with specific COVID-related circumstances (quarantine requirements, documented medical conditions) or under direction from public health authorities for a group or cohort or for the school as directed. 

    In our contingency planning, we have prepared a distance learning model should public health directives make this necessary. We all hope we will not need to move to any sort of distance learning.

  • Knight’s Academic Support

    We are pleased to announce that the resource teachers will be able to work with our students both in class and in small groups this year. These supports will be offered to all students who continue to solidify their foundational literacy, numeracy and organizational skills. In addition, this year we have designed a new after-school program to offer supplementary support. We recognize that, due to the ongoing disruption of student learning caused by the pandemic, some boys will benefit from this extra help. This program will provide the students with extra time, individual instruction and additional practice. Jay Kearsey will work with Grades 7 and 8 and 
    Janet Stephenson will work with Grade 3 to 6. The times and locations are as follows:

    GradeTimeLocation
    Grades 3 and 43:15 to 4:00 pmJS101
    Grades 5 and 63:15 to 4:00 pmUpper Learning Commons
    Grade 73:15 to 4:00 pmSH003
    Grade 83:15 to 4:00 pmSH101

  • Recess

    Recess and play will be an important part of the Junior School day, as we feel the boys will need the time out of masks, as well as time to socialize, play and connect. Play and time outside is also an integral part of our positive mental health initiative.

  • PHE

    Daily Physical Education will continue this year.

Drop-off and Pickup

List of 2 items.

  • Start and Pickup Times by Grade

    In order to ensure the safety of our students, we have staggered the start and pick up times. The students will be greeted and dismissed from various doors on campus. These times and locations are listed below.

    ClassStart TimePick UpLocation of Door
    Grades 3 and 48:15 am3:00 pmKetchum Hall
    Grades 5 and 68:20 am3:05 pmFront Entrance
    Grade 78:30 am3:15 pmTarmac Entrance
    Grade 88:30 am3:15 pmTarmac Entrance

  • Traffic Management

    The Layby is the designated drop-off and pickup area for Junior School students. 

    As good neighbours of the Annex, and as part of our Georgian Code of respecting all community members, we ask that you pay attention to the following guidelines when it comes to accessing the school by car:
    • Please abide by all traffic regulations, including full stops at stop signs and speed limits, when driving within the immediate neighbourhood of the school and on campus. 
    • Do not park on the main streets for pick-up or drop-off. 
    • When using Albany or Howland Avenue, please do not pull up onto the sidewalk to wait for students, or to drop them off. Instead, please make arrangements so that your son is already outside waiting for you when you arrive. Quick stop parking is available at the very bottom end of Albany before Barton ave. 

Safety Measures

List of 3 items.

  • Junior School Cohorts and Spacing

    We are pleased to welcome back all Junior School students for in-person learning five days a week. While at school, students will remain with their core and subject teacher(s), while maintaining as much physical distance as possible within their classrooms. We have divided the students into the following cohorts:
    • Grade 3 and 4
    • Grade 5 and 6
    • Grade 7
    • Grade 8
    Grades 3 and 4 will occupy the first floor of the Junior School and Grades 5 and 6 will occupy the second floor of the Junior School. Both groups will have their own entrance, stairwells, hallways and washroom facilities. Grade 7 will occupy the learning commons in the Junior School, and the Grade 8 classrooms will be in See House.

  • Masks

    Please send your son with 3 to 5 masks every day. Masks can rip and become moist at recess and sometimes the masks are lost while playing. Please ensure that your son is wearing a new clean mask every day. 

    The only time masks will be removed is for eating lunch. During Phys Ed class, masks may or may not be used depending on the game play. 

    Types of masks - Students in Grades 3 to 6 may wear a well-fitting, 3-ply cloth mask or a pediatric-sized 3-layer disposable mask; while students in Grades 7 and 8 must have a 3-layer disposable mask. Cloth masks may only be worn layered with disposable masks.

  • Pre-screening

    Again this year, we will be using an App called MyMedBot to screen our community members each school day for COVID-19 symptoms and behaviours. Parents will be expected to complete the MYMedBot screening App prior to any student arriving to campus. 

    New Families to RSGC: On September 1, you will receive an invitation by email to set up your account. The email will come directly from MyMedBot, so please whitelist noreply@mymedbot.lu (or monitor your junk mail in case the invitation is flagged as spam).  We ask that each family take a few minutes to get set up and to familiarize themselves with the app. Here's what you can expect:
     
    Beginning on Thursday, September 9, all families will be prompted to log in each weekday to complete a short survey regarding your child's health. Please complete the form between 5:00 - 7:30 am. It shouldn't take more than a minute to complete each morning.
    Parents must complete this every morning, even if their son(s) is at home. No adult or student will be admitted onto campus without daily pre-screening.

    Before arrival at school, parents/guardians must attest to their son’s health before he will be granted entry into the school. Students who are identified as not having fulfilled this requirement will be sent to the school nurse to fill out the questionnaire so that they may enter the school building. 

    It is important that parents/guardians select “push notifications” so they can be reminded when they have not submitted their son’s prescreening.

Other Details

List of 4 items.

  • Aftercare

    Unfortunately, aftercare will not be available this year.

  • Lunch

    We are currently working with our partners at Aramark, looking at different models that will allow us to continue to provide food service. More details will follow.

  • Co-Curricular and Club Programming

    We intend to run a selection of hybrid co-curricular and club activities both before and after school. We have taken great care to ensure that no cohorts will mix during these activities and will continue to follow the health and safety guidance of the Ministry of Education. A detailed description of the offerings will be shared during the week of September 9, 2021. The times of the clubs are listed below.
     
    Morning In Person Co-curriculars7:30 to 8:15 am
    Afternoon In Person Co-curriculars3:15 to 4:00 pm
    Virtual Clubs4:15 to 5:00 pm

  • Well-being

    Our Junior School social worker, Lara Pierre, will be available to meet with individual students who are seeking support. Our social worker also works with the Physical Education department to deliver a mental health and wellness curriculum, and she will be organizing many opportunities for both virtual and live discussions of support.

Questions?

We want to hear from you with any questions you have about health, safety and returning to school. We’ll do our best to provide answers. Please send your email to Nurse Kelsi and your question will be addressed as soon as possible.

Public Health Agencies

School Uniform

It is important to remember that students will not have access to lockers or change rooms during the day at school. They will have their belongings with them at all times. As such, the uniform policy will be modified this year and will remain modified until further notice. Junior School boys should wear the RSGC Phys ed uniform to school. We believe this will provide the greatest flexibility for them in all activities.
 
The RSGC Phys ed uniform includes:
  • Any RSGC house, Phys. ed. or Knights athletic t-shirt
  • Any RSGC hoodie or quarter-zip
  • RSGC shorts or track pants
  • White socks
  • Closed-toe athletic shoes
It is essential that students wear laundered, clean clothes to school every day.

Royal St. George's College

120 Howland Ave | Toronto, ON | M5R 3B5
416-533-9481 
info@rsgc.on.ca

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Royal St. George's College is an independent school for boys located in The Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school admits boys from Grades 3 through 12. Our mission is to challenge and inspire each of our students to become the best version of himself.