3 minute read
Keeping everyone safe and secure
By Brenda Montgomery Director, Academic Innovation & Growth Selwyn House School
As I look back on the 2020-2021 academic year, I believe Selwyn House School managed the COVID-19 pandemic exceptionally well.
In March of 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, everyone was in turmoil. Nevertheless, Selwyn House quickly adapted to an online learning program, and I am very proud of our teachers and students for persevering during this strange and unsettling time.
We had few cases of COVID—not as many absences and interruptions as we had originally expected—and we managed to educate our students and move through the curriculum almost to the same extent as in a regular year. While some luck was involved, I credit our school’s Health and Safety Protocols for keeping everyone safe and feeling secure.
The Senior Administration Team at Selwyn House worked non-stop during the summer of 2020 to develop a way to open the school safely for all students while also keeping everyone else safe. Of course, we also had to follow all the regulations from Santé Quebec and the Quebec Ministry of Education, which changed almost daily.
I believe that everyone took very, very seriously their responsibility to open the school safely and remain vigilant. We understood the severity of the illness and the speed with which COVID-19 can spread.
We were told by the Quebec government that we could not bring all of the Senior School students back into the school unless they were kept isolated in class bubbles and mini-pods within each bubble. Trying to also maintain a student’s class selections (arts, options, sciences, math, etc.) made this a difficult task.
I was incredibly pleased that we were able to devise a plan to bring all of the students back on a staggered schedule, even though it meant increasing teachers’ workloads as the number of class groups increased.
We had to implement an online learning program for those students who could not come to school. Teaching a class online is one thing, but teaching a full academic year online provides special challenges.
Once the academic schedule was in place, we focused on health and safety protocols. We allowed only limited movement within the school, assigned doors and recess areas for each grade, provided loads of hand sanitizer, Lysol wipes and, of course, masks. Selwyn House actually went above and beyond the Ministry of Education’s requirements, and insisted on masks in classrooms. We knew we had to keep our community as safe as possible.
We purchased 100 state-of-the-art air purifiers for classrooms and offices. Our kitchen staff, under the guidance of chef Silvana Parnas, were amazing in preparing individual box lunches and delivering them to each classroom every day!
We are very grateful to Selwyn House Old Boy and current parent Dr. Donald Vinh ’92, clinician and scientist in the Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Dr. Vinh is on the front lines of treating and researching COVID, and we appreciate his willingness and availability to answer our questions, host parent meetings, and provide guidance.
Teachers worked harder this year than I have ever seen. They learned new technologies and new methods of delivering instruction. They supervised more. Teachers worked under what I call the “invisible lead blanket of COVID.” No doubt, teachers were dealing with their own concerns and worries about their own families. Nevertheless, they provided calm and reassuring guidance to our students.
Throughout this, we were guided by our new headmaster, Mike Downey. We proved his motto for the year, “Stronger Together,” is certainly true. Our students are fortunate because they continued to learn and progress through the curriculum. I know they are prepared for their next academic year.
In summary, I am so proud of everyone at Selwyn House. This is a special place, and it’s special because of the teachers, staff, students, parents and Old Boys.
