Dear Vanier students and families:

First, two important updates.  As you can imagine, things have been changing quickly over the last days and weeks and we had been making some specific plans without all the necessary information.  As a result some of our plans need to change.  We apologize for any inconvenience these changes may result in:

1.The distribution of locker contents and learning materials is postponed.   We had been advised to not provide families with any materials from inside the school to ensure the safest and most up to date recommendation are followed to prevent any possibility of the spread of COVID-19.  We don’t want to create any unnecessary risks and in an abundance of precaution, we will wait for official guidelines for the safe handling of all materials from schools as recommended by Yukon Department of Health and Social Services.

2.Home learning will start on Thursday, April 16.  Up until yesterday, we had been operating on the understanding that learning would resume on the 15th.  All communications from Vanier, including yesterday’s emails from teachers, reflected this.  The Department of Education has clarified that classes are suspended until the 15th, inclusive, resulting in the first day of learning at home being Thursday, April 16.
 
Yesterday, our Minister of Education announced that face-to-face classes with students would be cancelled for the remainder of this school year.  We are quite sad that this is the case, but absolutely understand the need to do so in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.  I’ve attached a letter and FAQ sheet – these were also sent out yesterday.

Since staff returned to school on March 30, we have been preparing for this possibility and will be ready to roll out our learning from home program next week as promised.

Each teacher has been asked to develop an educational program for their class to facilitate learning from home.  As mentioned in Monday’s email, the time allotments for this program are:

• 10 hours per week for Grade 8 & 9 students (3 hours each for Scimatics and Humanities, 1 hour each for Religion, French, PE, and options class); and
• 3 hours per week per course for Grade 10-12 students

Teachers will choose one of three methods for delivering and accepting assignments with the goal of these being ready for use on April 16.  On that date, you will be able to check what each teacher will be using by checking our school website next week.

1. Email/posting assignment/instructions to website and collecting and communicating by email;
2. Google Classroom (accessible through https://portal.yesnet.yk.ca); or
3. Another technology that was in use prior to the cancellation of classes (e.g. FreshGrade)

In all cases, teachers and staff may host Zoom meetings to facilitate small-group or class-wide discussions or to provide additional support.

If you need help accessing the portal, please start here: https://www.vcss.ca/help.html and watch Mr. Biss’ very helpful video.  The link to the portal login is at vcss.ca under the ‘Portal’ menu.

• The user name for every student is [student number]@yesnet.yk.ca (e.g. 1234567@yesnet.yk.ca)
• Most students have a password in place.  If you need it reset, please call the school at 667-5901 any time after 1 pm today or email vcss@gov.yk.ca
• If you need a student number, please call the school at 667-5901 any time after 1 pm today.  We will ask some questions to verify identity before releasing a student number.  We will not do this over email.

 
We will also be developing some structures to help students need additional support, especially those who were used to being supported by our Educational Assistants.  We are developing plans and structures to make additional help available to students.  Please keep in mind this may look and feel very different from what students are used to receiving in the school.
 
There are still many unknowns with regard to how the next days and weeks will go.  Our commitment to keeping you as informed as possible remains.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your questions and concerns.
 
Sincerely,
Ryan Sikkes, principal and Jeanette Gallant, vice-principal

On April 7, it was announced that face-to-face classes would be cancelled for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.  Our school staff has been working hard over the last days preparing for this eventuality and will be rolling out an educational program to get kids to the end of the year on April 15.

Dear Vanier students and families:
 
In the Catholic tradition, this week is called Holy Week as we mark the somber events leading to Christ’s crucifixion and death and celebrate the joy of his resurrection on Easter Sunday.  It is a week that elicits a wide range of emotions.  In a similar way, we are all experiencing a wide range of emotions as we deal with the worldwide response to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the uncertainly, at the school level, of what comes next for us all.
 
Ms. Ouellette and Ms. Brogdon have started an information website with resources for students and parents/guardians: https://vaniercatholicsecondarycounselling.weebly.com/  Please feel free to reach out to them if you or your child requires any additional supports during these difficult times.
 
Next week, on April 15, our teachers will commence a program to facilitate our students learning the remaining essential parts of each course from home.  Here are the requirements that the Department of Education have shared with us:

• Grades 8 & 9 – The provision of opportunities and resources for students to engage in language arts, literacy, mathematics, numeracy learning standards, and the personal and social core competencies of the curriculum. Teachers will assign about ten hours of work to be done by each student per week and will work with their students and families/guardians on the delivery of these materials.  [For Vanier, the ten hours will be divided as follows: 3 hours per week for each of Humanities and Scimatics and 1 hour per week for each of French, Religion, Physical Education, and the options class]
• Grades 10-12 – For learners in their graduation years, this will include providing the activities, resources and supports for students to develop the competencies and understandings outlined in learning standards that are prioritized so that they can be successful in as many of their current courses as possible. Teachers will assign about three hours of work per course to be done by each student per week and will work with students and families/guardians on the delivery of these materials.

Starting tomorrow, teachers will begin contact students by email to check in and collecting any specific concerns about their classes.  They are still planning their instructional approaches and will share those details with students on Wednesday, April 15. 
 
We have heard some concerns about technology as we have been reaching out to families:

• Zoom – there have been many news reports about the security and misuse of Zoom.  We are confident that Zoom is a secure platform as long as the meeting settings are configured correctly.  The misuse that has been reported is when meeting login details are shared publicly and not password protected.  We will message students individually with the login details and passwords to ensure meetings are kept secure.
• Access to technology – we have heard that some families will require additional technology and we hope to be in a position to loan out our limited numbers of iPads and laptops to those families who need them.  More details on how to make a request will be sent out on Wednesday morning.
• Portal Logins – we have heard inquiries about the login to the student portal.  Starting Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm, we will have telephone-based technical support in place to assist families with resetting passwords and troubleshooting accessing the student portal.  More information will come in an email on Wednesday morning.

 
Starting Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm, we will begin distributing the contents of student lockers through curbside pickup or through delivery to homes.  We will share the specific instructions on how to obtain the locker contents at the school or request delivery by email on Wednesday morning.
 
To be honest, I had hoped to send out more specific information and instructions about various things in this email.  However, we simply don’t have all the information that we need, as a school, yet to move forward.  Hopefully by Wednesday morning, we will be in a better position to do so.  Thank you for your continued patience.
 
We hope that all our students will use this week to continue reading, trying new things, keeping physically active, and reviewing previous topics.  Our Instagram page and school website have lots of other suggestions to keep busy, too!
 
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions or concerns.
 
Sincerely,
Ryan Sikkes, principal and Jeanette Gallant, vice-principal
 

Dear Vanier students and families:

I hope this email finds you all feeling well.

Please find, attached, an update letter from the Department of Education.

We are part-way through calling all families to verify contact information and to collect some other information such as technology access.  Thank you for your cooperation as we go through this process, especially as some of our staff are calling from their homes.  Once we have updated this information, students and families can expect to receive updates directly from teachers.

Our staff have very successfully made the transition to meeting and collaborating online to plan for instruction resuming on April 15!  We've been so happy to see the number of students joining our noon daily prayer and engaging with other content on our Instagram page.

Near the middle of next week, we will:

• Begin the process of allowing students/families to collect the contents of lockers so that students will have their learning materials all together at home.  This will be accomplished by curb-side pickup or delivery;
• Encourage all students to log in to our student portal and ensure their user name and password are working correctly;
• Share information related to whether it will be possible, in certain circumstances, for families to borrow school technology.  The number of devices and chargers we have to loan out is limited.

More details about all of these will come next week by email.

Until then, please don't hesitate to contact us, by replying to this email or emailing vcss@gov.yk.ca, to ask any questions or share comments and concerns.
​
Sincerely,
Ryan Sikkes, principal and Jeanette Gallant, vice-principal
 

Dear Vanier Students and Families:
 
Today was a new experience for all our staff as we met virtually through a Microsoft Teams meeting! Lots of good ideas are already emerging that will result in an effective and engaging educational program to start on April 15.
 
We also held our first daily prayer over Instagram Live at 12 noon today – this will continue every weekday and we invite all our students and families to join us.
 
We appreciate your understanding and patience as we continue to make preparations.
 
Here are some other things that will be happening this week:

• A staff member will call each family to confirm contact information, share some information, and ask some questions about technology access and supports that students may need to have in place while learning from home.
• We will be preparing to empty lockers so students can have all their learning materials they need at home.  We will be offering curb-side pick up or delivery to homes – we will send another email when this will be ready.
• We will be preparing to offer loans of materials from our Learning Commons – visit our catalogue at vcss.ca  Learning Commons  Catalog.  Again, we can arrange curb-side pick up or home delivery!  Email requests to Janet.Clarke@yesnet.yk.ca

 
I know the biggest question on most students’ minds is, “What am I going to do until April 15!?”  Here are some suggestions:
 

• Start building in some routines during the work-week - consistent bedtimes, wake-up times, and work times;
• Watch our Instagram feed (vcssyukon) for daily prayer (12 noon) and daily challenges and contests;
• Make sure you have a quiet space set aside at home to do school work;
• Daily reading time – start reading a novel (order one from the learning commons for pick up or delivery) or download the Libby app and use your Whitehorse Public Library card to download e-books;
• Review prior learning (with materials from lockers, when available) in all courses in progress;
• Catch up on work that was assigned prior to spring break – submit those overdue assignments;
• Grade 10-12 students – do practice Literacy and Numeracy assessments
• Use online tools to master mathematics  or literacy skills – e.g. Khan academy
• Read online news sites and have current events discussions (what else is going on in our community, country, world aside from Covid-19?!);
• Watch YouTube videos to help revisit and master those tricky topics that you don’t feel you learned well enough the first time;
• Daily physical activity – make it a goal to get outside for at least 30 minutes every day;
• Do an art or craft project;
• Find a free audio book to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.  There are stories available in French as well: https://stories.audible.com/start-listen?ref=adbl_ent_anon_ds_hm_hb
• Start a journal – in a notebook or digitally to write down your thoughts, tell a story, or write poetry;
• Watch an online documentary (and get your friends to watch it at their home) and meet online to discuss it.  National Film Board (https://www.nfb.ca/) has an excellent, free collection;
• Watch a Powerful Stories Tedx:   https://www.ted.com/playlists/386/10_years_of_ted_talks_powerfu
• Listen to a podcast for teens – there are so many great options out there!

 
I know many of you, especially Grade 12 students, will be anxious to get going on new learning.  Again, please be patient and don’t email your teachers asking for work – they’re working on preparing it for you now.
 
Teachers will be in touch soon to outline what will be happening in their classes.
 
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions or concerns.
 
Thanks,
Ryan Sikkes, principal and Jeanette Gallant, vice-principal

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

Hello everyone:

For the latest news from Government of Yukon on the Covid-19 situation, please visit their Covid-19 website.

Classes at Yukon's public schools are suspended until April 15.  Educational programming that will involve students working from home will continue after spring break ends on March 27 and arrangements, in particular, for grade 12 students will be put into place to ensure graduation.

More information will follow on what Vanier students can expect after the end of spring break will be posted on this website on or before March 27.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us directly at vcss@gov,yk.ca or by calling the school at 867-667-5901.

Sincerely,
Ryan Sikkes, principal and Jeanette Gallant, vice-principal