Home Learning Message

Posted: April 5, 2020

 

To Our Cobra Family

 

All the teachers at NSER and I have been thinking about all of you these past few weeks. The current situation we are facing is forcing us to make changes to education that are both different and, sometimes difficult.  However, we hope that by working together, we can continue moving student learning forward.

 

With the most recent announcement from the province regarding the move to supporting learning at home, we will do our best to keep you updated and offer support in whatever way we can. 

 

To bring you up to speed on what NSER is going to do, please consider the following.  All students at NSER have an assigned Advisory teacher. They will be reaching out by telephone to their assigned students beginning tomorrow, Monday April 6.  Weekly phone contact between the Advisory teacher and student will occur on an ongoing basis. The purpose of this communication is to talk with our parents/guardians and students in an attempt to keep everyone informed of learning opportunities and raise any general concerns or issues they may be encountering along the way.  Teachers may not have all the answers but will be communicating with me so we can provide answers and solutions collectively.  In the event that you do not receive a phone call, can you please reach out to the school at 836-7001 and leave me a message with contact information so I can follow up. These are challenging time and, unfortunately, we do not currently have all the answers.  We are very much approaching this as a team.  Please be patient as we do our best to support you. 

 

With our online capabilities, NSER teachers will begin posting learning opportunities on their Teacher Page under the NSER website beginning on Monday April 6.  Mental wellness and family connectedness takes precedence during these times.  Please keep in mind that these will be opportunities, not requirements.  At-home learning is going to be all about balance and we do not want you to feel overwhelmed.

 

If you do not have an opportunity to connect with NSER online, please let the Advisory teacher know when phone calls occur.  As a follow up, we will then determine the best course of action to take once more information is gathered.

 

From the province, the following are guidelines that classroom teachers will be following:

 

Grades 7-8

 

Home learning options to support literacy, numeracy, science, and social studies outcomes will be available online to families. Families will be encouraged to have children participate in these options, to the extent possible, an average of 2 hours per day (10 hours per week).  Learners are encouraged to participate in a daily minimum of 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of physical activity.

 

Grades 9-10

 

Home learning options to support literacy, numeracy, science, social studies and personal skill development outcomes will be available online to families. Families will be encouraged to have children participate in these options for a minimum of 2.5 hours per day (12.5 hours per week).  Learners are encouraged to participate in a daily minimum of 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of physical activity.

 

Grades 11-12

 

Education content will focus on core courses to meet high school requirements. Families will be encouraged to have children participate in these options for a minimum of 2.5 hours per day (12.5 hours per week).  Learners are encouraged to participate in a daily minimum of 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of physical activity.

 

All Grade 12 students who had at least 12 credits at the end of first semester, January 2020 and were on track to graduate in June 2020, will do so on time and will receive a New Brunswick high school diploma. Transcripts will indicate the student was “enrolled,” in current semester courses. These second semester courses will all count towards the required number of courses for graduation.

 

On a personal note to our graduates, there is no other way to put this than it’s unfair and unfortunate that your graduation experience is going to look different from what you were expecting.  With that being said, we are going to do everything we can at NSER to give you all we can to celebrate this important milestone.   In the coming weeks, student council and myself will be reaching out to Grade 12 students with more information with how we can continue to work towards celebration of your success – we are very proud of you all.

 

David Cripps

 

Principal