On June 27th, De Esdoorn’s three Board members shared information about the upcoming 2020-2021 school year with families. The meeting was attended by five parents and our new school principal Naomi Verstoep. The meeting was to discuss the uncertainty for schools in general, what has been working online, what could be improved, and what families should expect from De Esdoorn in September.
De Esdoorn – informatiebijeenkomst op 27 juni 2020 from De Esdoorn on Vimeo.
Our intention is to resume in-class instruction at the same location at City View Church, 4370 Sophia Street in Vancouver in September 2020, and to look for additional locations in Surrey and Coquitlam for new classes.
To open for in-class instruction depends on two factors: (1) whether schools are permitted to accept students in-class, and (2) whether the church can and will give access to the school. We will follow Vancouver School Board (VSB) policy on opening for in-class instruction, including adhering to VSB guidelines for health and safety. The church had their first meeting last weekend, so we are hopeful that they will be ready for us in September.
We have already determined that there is enough space in the church to keep the required distance between students, and we will ask parents not to enter the church. Exact guidelines will be published and shared with families at the beginning of the school year. Families in the zoom meeting all agreed: our students are better off seeing each other in person, especially our toddlers.
During the meeting we received a lot of good feedback on the lessons we have been giving online since April. Parents voiced that online lessons should be more interactive, that more contact hours / moments are needed and that we use the same Zoom link every week. Luckily for us, Naomi has gained experience in recent months with interactive methods at her school in the Netherlands and she will certainly use them in the preparations for classes in September, should we need to go online. The big advantage for classes in September is that the teachers can prepare over the summer and that they will not be caught off guard.