Safe Return to School 2022-2023

Safeguarding Student Wellbeing 

(Subject to change depending on Public Health directives)

Linden’s Goals for 2022-2023 

• Prioritize hands-on, active learning for all grades
• Foster our community, welcome new people and strengthen social connections
• Safe return to school sports, clubs and other activities 
• Ensure we are as safe as possible as we do this work together

Masking & PPE

• For the 2022-23 school year, we will continue to require universal masking for everyone in the building, except when eating which is only done in cohorts.
• We all recognize the benefits of being outside. We will continue to get students out, as much as possible. This affords another mask break during the day. Mask breaks will take place outside within cohorts and social distancing as best as possible. 

Self-Screening

• Students, teachers, school staff and visitors will self-screen for symptoms of COVID‑19 every day prior to entry to the school
• Anyone who is feeling sick or has any symptoms of illness, including those not listed in this screening tool, should stay home and seek assessment from their health care provider if needed
• The School and Child Care Screening Tool and a downloadable version of the screening tool can be found here.   

Vaccine Information and Resources

Immunization is one of the most important safeguards against community spread of COVID-19. Please visit the links below if you need more information about vaccines or how to book an appointment. We encourage all eligible members of the Linden community to get a booster vaccination ahead of the cold and flu season. Children ages 5-11 are now also eligible for booster shots. 

• The Public Health Agency of Canada's overview of vaccines for children can be found here.  
• Families who have questions about vaccinations can book a consultation with a special SickKids Hospital COVID-19 Vaccine Consult Service here.  
• City of Toronto information about booking appointments can be found here.

Isolation and Returning to School After Illness

Despite the provincial government’s recent changes to isolation guidelines, we encourage anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or has symptoms to follow these safety measures:

• Isolate for a minimum of 5 days or until symptoms have improved for 24 hours
• Test negative for COVID-19 before returning to school

Cohorts

Cohorts are described as students who are in regular contact with each other and are separated from other groups of students. While we have increased the size of cohorts to allow for participation in clubs and athletics, we will continue to maintain smaller groups for much of the day, including lunchtime and recess. If two or more students within a class test positive for COVID-19, families will be informed. Students’ names will remain confidential.

Cohorts are as follows:

• Kindergarten to Grade 6 
• Grades 7-12 

School-day Timing, Check-ins, Screening, and Attendance

• Staggered start/end times and designated entrances will continue, along with outdoor screening each day. You can find the schedule here. 
• Each day, all families should complete the Ontario Covid screening. 
• Attendance will be taken as students check-in, as well as in their first-period class and for students in grades 7 and up - attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class.

Extracurriculars

• All-Schools will take place virtually, once or twice per month.
• Greetings will take place virtually every week.
• Clubs will occur within cohorts. 

Lunch

• Students in Kindergarten to Grade 6 will eat outdoors or in their homeroom classes. 
• Returning to our normal practice for Gr 7s, students will be permitted to go out for lunch on Fridays only.
• Grade 8 students may go out for lunch daily if they wish.

Cleaning Practices

• Hand sanitization: Hand sanitizer is available in many locations; students will receive instruction in hand hygiene, and additional hand-washing breaks will be built into the instructional day.
• Surface cleaning: Daily cleaning of high-touch surfaces, like eating areas, washrooms, doorknobs and desks at least once a day.

Ventilation

The Linden School continues to apply the best practices and make upgrades to improve ventilation as required in all classrooms.  This includes:

• Increase natural ventilation with doors and windows open periodically.
• Frequent maintenance checks and filter changes. 
• High-efficiency medical grade  HEPA filtration units are used in classes.

Events

With precautions in place, we are planning some in-person events at Linden this year, including Curriculum Night in October. Should case numbers increase, we will pivot to virtual events.  

Readiness to pivot to more restrictions

While we hope this won’t be necessary, should further restrictions be imposed, we will be ready!

Public Health Information

To stay up to date on all of the procedures and guidelines that The Linden School is following, please see our Public Health page on the Linden website. To keep up with any and all Toronto Public Health updates that we’ve received, please see here.

Please reach out to us if you have questions!