KEEPING STUDENTS ACTIVE

As most families know, co-curricular activities are an important part of the Pickering College educational experience. They build on what is learned inside of the classroom and teach our students valuable lessons in leadership and teamwork. With school resuming in-person learning in September, we knew that the Co-curricular Program was going to have to be modified if we were going to be able to continue to offer it during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Director of the Co-curricular Program Marc de la Bastide, in partnership with physical education teacher David Fiscaletti, was tasked with figuring out how the school could run a comprehensive co-curricular program for our students while at the same time being safe, physically distanced and outside. “The overall objective has been to keep students active,” says de la Bastide. “It is a challenging year with all of the new rules, but they have adapted well and understand the (pandemic) situation.”

There have been a few major changes to the Co-curricular Program this year. For instance, because there are no competitive sports taking place during the fall and winter, the focus has been on skill development and game play only within cohorts.

Also, for the first time, instead of selecting one option for the term, each cohort rotates through a different activity each day. Some of these options have included soccer skills, badminton, tennis, table tennis, walking/running, outdoor volleyball, Frisbee, ball hockey, skating and snowshoeing.

“We chose in-person activities that used as little equipment as possible—we have separate racquets for each division and everything is disinfected after use,” says de la Bastide. “The students wear masks and are still coming out to have fun.”

In addition, the school has offered an array of online clubs including the Green Team, Yearbook Club, Debate Club, Youth Action Organization, Yoga, a Music Club and, new this year, Puma Challenges. Puma Challenges are weekly individual challenges that combine fitness, skills development and community service and ensure that students learning virtually could still join in from wherever they are and benefit from participating in the Co-curricular Program. “We know how important it is to include students who are not learning on campus to help them stay connected to the school.”