St. Louis 2.0 Action during COVID-19 School Closure
Heart of the Community
In January 2020, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board announced that St. Louis Adult Learning and Continuing Education Centre, Kitchener Main Campus was here to stay. This campus is the heart of our school community and we are still elated. Our students and community partners are thrilled as well! This news means continuance of service in a hub atmosphere, plans for future improvements to our buildings, innovations in our learning environments, and increased use of technology within the already many ways that learning happens at St. Louis.
This 2019-2020 school year also marked the launch of a rebrand (of sorts) called St. Louis 2.0. This 2020 year would springboard this development work. Little did we know, COVID-19 would call us into action sooner.
St. Louis Response to COVID-19
As soon as March Break finished, senior staff at the WCDSB, as well as St. Louis staff and teachers sprung into action. ALL have been working tirelessly to move curriculum, assignments and classroom portals over to D2L. At St. Louis, we can celebrate that this week, Term 4 credit course students (slated to finish at the end of April), Hair styling/ Barber, Culinary Arts and Personal Support Worker students, as well as existing online learners in the Correspondence program and International Languages for Credit learners have been working remotely to stay on track. Obviously, learning from home looks very different from learning in a classroom setting — even for adults (if not moreso). Students and teachers are committed to their success and have jointly adopted the motto — “we are in this together.”
Challenged to Succeed
Let us give some perspective on why the urgency ‘to get back to it’ at our school. We have students who may only need two secondary school credits to graduate, or need that one prerequisite to get into university or college, or an entire cohort is almost finished or just started the classroom portion of a skills trade certificate program. Teachers and Program Heads have been committed to reaching out to these students. They are encouraging all students to login in to their D2L class platforms to do the work to earn their courses and to remain motivated, supported and challenged to succeed. If students want to succeed, they have to login. If they cannot login, contact your instructor.
International Language Elementary Saturday classes and evening classes have a plan to keep young language learners engaged with activities, home crafts, songs etc.
This update covers week ONE of “Back to School at St. Louis” in the wake of the Covid-19 and the government ordered school closure.
Staying Connected in the Weeks Ahead
We need to express that St. Louis is not yet prepared for any new registrations for any St. Louis programs. Our immediate focus is on current student success in their classes and programs. Guidance Services is exploring new registrations options and we will share as more information is known.
It is our intention during the coming days and weeks to share more details on a regular basis as developments unfold. Visit https://stlouis.wcdsb.ca for regular updates. Share and invite others to ‘subscribe’
Next week, in particular, we continue to find solutions for
- Remote Tutor access for existing Secondary School Credit Correspondence learners,
- Connecting our instructors with learners in Core Essentials focused on literacy and basic skills development
- How teachers can connect remotely with more students who have attended ESL /LINC
- How co-op teachers can safely and remotely support those students whose co-op got cut short or has developed into an at-home environment
- How do we support and monitor progress of Credits@Work students who are still working in essential services, while earning secondary school credits simultaneously.
- What does Summer Learning look like?
- How will you be able to register for September classes and skills training?
What Can You Do?
On behalf of St. Louis Adult Learning and Continuing Education Centres, we acknowledge that during this unprecedented time, the health of all our students, staff, as well as the local and global communities is what matters, above all else.
Whether you are a student, staff or community stakeholder, we cannot stress enough the importance of staying home and good hand hygiene. We encourage you to keep your mind active (with your classroom work at home) in the spirit of lifelong learning, connect with others virtually or through social distancing to maintain mental well-being and most of all remain hopeful. St. Louis is the school that brings Hope, Opportunity and Success for ALL!
With Thanks come Blessings
We could not execute any of this action this week without the unwavering support of our colleagues at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, so let us share a final message from our Director of Education, Loretta Notten. During this season of Lent, let us further nurture our sense of community and belonging, and let us pray that God grants us the gifts of wisdom, care and comfort. Because our faith is bigger than fear.
#CalledtoBelong
