Students experiencing COVID-19 symptoms will be supported by faculty and Health Centre staff. If required, they will be accompanied to an isolation area at the school and the school will contact parents and emergency contacts to arrange immediate pick-up. Students will be asked to get tested for COVID-19 at a local assessment centre.
Families are asked to send students to school with two medical masks each day. Employees and students in Years 4 to 12 are required to wear a well-fitting three-ply mask while indoors and on campus, and students in SK to Year 3 are strongly encouraged to do the same.
The College has conducted an analysis of all its ventilation and air circulation systems to ensure they are appropriate for the safe return to school. The highest efficiency level of filters compatible with our system are in place, and filtration will be monitored and replaced frequently. The filtration provided is consistent with the manufacturer's recommendations for hospital laboratory environments.
Fresh air will be brought into buildings regularly throughout the day, and a complete exhaust and refresh of air will take place daily during off-hours.
All windows inside classrooms will be operable and open at all times, appropriate to weather conditions.
Employees and students are required to complete a daily screening prior to arriving on campus and entering school buildings. The College will be using the REACH app to support daily screening. We also encourage families and students to install the COVID-19 alert app created by the Government of Canada.
The College’s health and safety protocols follow guidance from local and Provincial authorities and the Ministry of Education. We continue to follow the direction and guidance of all relevant governing bodies and implement measures accordingly.
It is our intention to offer a co-curricular program that is as full and varied as possible given physical distancing and cohorting measures. Our programming reflects the most current guidance from the Ministry of Education, public health authorities and relevant sporting and artistic organizations.
Yes, while the store will not be physically open this year until further notice, you can place an order for curbside pick-up.
Please review the online Blues Shop catalogue and contact Patti Cawker-Chiang, Store Manager, at 416-488-1125, ext. 4500 or bluesshop@ucc.on.ca to place your order and arrange curbside pick-up.
Orders will be available for curbside pick-up, Monday to Friday from 2:45–3:45 p.m. Students can collect purchases after school and parents waiting for a purchase may park in the North Lot. Tables will be set up outside the Groundskeeping Building for physical distancing purposes; a map of pick-up location is available here.
Email is the best way to connect with faculty. Faculty emails are available by logging into Bluenet and navigating to the Faculty and Staff directory. Please allow 48 hours for a response to your inquiry.
Anyone entering a campus building on campus will be required to be screened before coming to the campus and before being permitted to enter a building.
Yes, the Health Centre team is open and available to students for support. In addition, isolation rooms have been identified for use in the event that a student becomes ill or is symptomatic during the school day. In the case that a student becomes ill while on campus, parents will be required to pick up students promptly.
The College follows guidelines from health authorities and the Ministry of Education. If there are positive indicators that we can return to campus as normal, then we are positioned to make that switch. Similarly, if we are required to further restrict campus activity and need to transition to a remote model, we will be ready to make that switch. The ability to toggle between different modes of the CLP is a primary feature of our return to campus plan.
The Diploma Programme (DP) will be covered in its entirety and students will be well prepared for final exams in May. The most significant impact of the hybrid schedule will be that students will cover 50% of the syllabus in-person synchronously and 50% asynchronously. The CfL will be available to support all students on their asynchronous days. The University Counselling Office is available through the summer to support members of the 2021 Leaving Class with questions regarding transition to university. The synchronous-asynchronous learning platform provides the opportunity to develop the self-advocacy skills that are required for success in university.
Prep Students are participating in on-campus learning daily. Upper School students are attending on-campus learning in cohorts according to the schedule provided to them.
Students may bring lunch from home or participate in the Aramark classroom-delivered bagged lunch service. Families may opt-in on a term-by-term basis and will be billed accordingly. The menu is a six-week rotation in the Upper School, with service commencing on September 9. To review the Upper School rotating menus, as well as the Aramark form indicating lunch service participation, please log intoBluenet. Please note snacks will not be available for purchase; students may bring their own.
Boys should bring with them each day: - School supplies (including 4 whiteboard markers) - Charged laptop - Headphones - Personal supply of hand santizer - 2 clean masks (medical or cloth) - Lunch, water bottle and snacks (Note: students not signed up for the lunch program will not be able to purchase food at school. Outside food deliveries will not be permitted and students are asked not to leave campus during lunch period.)
A modified phys-ed program is available. Teachers will use activities that make physical distancing measures possible and are recommended by health authorities. These activities will take place outside where possible.
Monday - Thursday each week we will be running grade level skill-based practices from 3:45 pm - 4:45 pm at various locations on campus.
The sports being offered are as follows: Year 8: soccer, volleyball, cross-country Year 9: soccer, volleyball, cross-country, football Year 10: soccer, volleyball, cross-country, football Year 11: soccer, volleyball, cross-country, football Year 12: soccer, volleyball, cross-country, football
During the week, varsity hockey will also be running skill-based practices in the Mara Rink, and rowing will be running dry-land training.
The Upper School parent calendar will be updated to reflect school events. Every effort will be made to modify events to comply with public health guidelines related to public gatherings.
Upper School students will be using Brightspace as their primary point of reference for learning activities. Students will also use ManageBAC where necessary. The school will offer virtual information sessions on how to use these platforms.
To limit the number of indirect and direct contacts to under 100, as per health guidelines, Upper School cohorts, organized by House, will not be mixed during terms. We will look to change the cohorts and Houses attending each day at the end of the December and March terms.
These guidelines are in place to help minimize the risk of the spread of COVID-19, especially in the event of an outbreak. As a result, we have to split the school in a way that allows us to achieve class sizes of a maximum of 15, and splitting by Year group would not achieve the reduced numbers required for cohorting. As such, splitting by House allows us to get class sizes of under 15 and cohort sizes down to half a Year group. We will look to change the Houses attending each day at regular points in the academic year.
Alternating days provides the best opportunity for support with our students by allowing regular contact with their teachers. Based on the Board of Stewards survey, 46% of students preferred alternating days while 27% preferred alternating weeks. We also considered the TDSB survey of 70,000 families where both students and families preferred alternating days.
With hygiene being of paramount importance for reducing the spread of COVD-19 and because students will not have access to lockers or changing areas this fall, we are suspending the requirement for the full UCC uniform for the period of hybrid learning. Should resumption of full in person classes resume, the school may opt to, over time, return to a regular school uniform. Please see the modified Upper School uniform requirements here.
The safety of our students is of paramount importance. All Upper School students will have an opportunity to learn more about the day-to-day requirements of returning to campus prior to the start of school. The consequences of not adhering to any of the requirements will also be shared. As with all of the Upper School’s discipline policies, the current thinking describes a graduated discipline system, and we have a commitment from all faculty to enforce the COVID-19 restrictions. If any student persistently falls short of expectations and is deemed a risk to the safety of other students, that student will not be permitted on campus.
As part of the school’s health and safety measures, students are required to remain physically distant from each other and from their teachers. The College is employing a number of strategies to assist with this including designated year level entry and exit doors as well as bathrooms. In addition, classrooms are set up to reduce the number of students in the learning space.
Signage is posted throughout the Prep to remind students to physically distance from friends, classmates and teachers.
Students will spend an increased amount of time outdoors as weather permits which will allow them opportunities to interact more freely with classmates in their cohort.
UCC branded clothing is available through the Blues Shop on campus. You can view the Blues Shop catalogue, along with the ordering process details, following the link here. For merchandise information and to order, please contact Patti Cawker-Chiang, bluesshop@ucc.on.ca, 416-488-1125 x4500.
The After School Program (ASP) will be available this year to students in SK to Year 7. Please note that only pre-registered students will be allowed in the ASP and that clubs will not be available this year until further notice. More information about the ASP and registration are available on Bluenet.
To maintain cohorting and allow for sufficient time for deep cleaning of all learning spaces, we will not offer Homework Club or the after-school library options for Year 5 to 7 students. Child(ren) will need to be picked up at their designated dismissal time or must be pre-enrolled in the ASP, as the Prep buildings will be closed to all students and employees daily at 4 p.m.
Students not registered for ASP whose parents are late in collecting them at dismissal will be supervised by an ASP staff member, outdoors, by the ASP gathering point in front of the Parkin building.
Parents who are more than 15 minutes late will find their child's account charged $25.00 for this supervision service beginning Monday, September 21, 2020.
Students may bring lunch from home or participate in the Aramark classroom-delivered bagged lunch service. Families may opt-in on a term-by-term basis and will be billed accordingly. The menu is a three-week rotation in the Prep School, with service starting on September 14 to allow for time to focus on development of key routines in the first week. To review the Prep School rotating menus, as well as the Aramark form indicating lunch service participation, please log into Bluenet.
All students will eat lunch in their form rooms. Microwaves and hot water will not be available.
There will be a modified Norval program this year available at the Deer Park campus and delivered by the school's Norval faculty. Activities will take place outdoors during the school day.
The Prep Parent Calendar will be updated to reflect school events this year. Please check back often, and stay tuned to Heads Up for information about event plans. Every effort will be made to modify events to comply with Toronto Public Health guidelines related to public gatherings.
Email is the best way to connect with your son’s teachers. All faculty emails are available by logging into Bluenet and navigating to the Faculty and Staff directory. Please allow faculty 48 hours to respond to your inquiry.
Primary students (SK to Year 5) will use SeeSaw and Middle students (Year 6 and 7) will use Brightspace, our new LMS. The school will offer virtual information sessions for parents on how to use these platforms.
Students are permitted to bring whatever they believe will make them comfortable in their home away from home. The only provision is that anything in the room can be wiped clean (chair must be leather or similar versus cloth).
Yes, there will be weekend programming. UCC will be guided by Toronto Public Health and Public Health Ontario in our quest to continue to introduce UCC boarders to the opportunities for enrichment that exist outside and inside the gates of the College.
New boarding families were invited to attend bi-weekly Zoom calls. Boarding families can continue to find relevant information in the Boarding resources on Bluenet. Families interested in UCC boarding beyond the 2020-21 academic year are encouraged to learn more about our program here.
The provision of daily meals to our boarding students is the top priority of our food service provider. The boarding community will have sole access to the Upper Dining Hall and will be served breakfast, lunch and dinner in that facility while observing physical distancing. In addition, an evening snack will be provided.
Yes, the Health Centre team will be available to students for support and will also work with students to communicate the importance of our health and safety protocols. Isolation areas will be identified and used in the event that a student becomes ill or is symptomatic during the school day.