Home Backup Oct 10 2020 with reopening plan
Upper Grand District School Board’s International Student Program
Reopening Plan for September 2020
Hello Everyone,
We hope this finds you and your families safe and well. We want to start by thanking you for your patience and understanding as we have been waiting to see what September will hold for our new and returning international students. We finally have some news, however, as you well know, this could change again before the start of the school year! Here is what we know so far:
Travel Restrictions/Requirements
- Borders are closed until August 31, 2020. Travel exemptions will be made for students that hold a valid study permit or a “Letter of Introduction” (a letter saying that the study permit has been approved). Both the study permit and the Letter of Introduction MUST be dated on or before March 18, 2020, 12:00 Eastern Standard time.
- All people entering Canada MUST quarantine for 14 days.This means our new and returning students will need to be in Canada by August 24, 2020. This would allow our students to quarantine for the required 14 days and start school, on time, on September 8. Homestay programs have sent quarantine/self-isolation forms to students under their care. If you do not have a quarantine/self-isolation form, please feel free to use the one here: Quarantine or Self Isolation Plan Form This form will need to be presented to border security at the airport, or your point of entry.
School Re-Opening Plan
- On July 30, the Minister of Education announced its decision for the reopening of schools in September. All elementary and secondary schools in the Upper Grand District School Board are to reopen under a ‘conventional’ model in September. This means that all schools will open to students for in person learning, five days a week. The province also stated that parents/guardians will have the choice to keep their child at home if they do not feel comfortable returning to school in person in the fall. Therefore, there are two options for UGDSB students: attend school in person or participate in remote/distance learning from home.
- Our program will be requiring that all parents/families determine whether students will return to class in person or participate in distance (online) learning and fill out the fillable form which can be found at this link: Required Information Form
- Students MUST submit the Required Information Form and this checklist Student Registration Checklist with required documents and signatures to international.student@ugdsb.on.ca by August 21, 2020.
- In class learning will look much different. Students will either be doing two courses/day over a 10 week period or one course/day for a 5 week period (hopefully this will be confirmed soon). Students will have approximately 5 hours of instruction each day.
- Our ISP students may register for distance learning if they cannot travel to Canada due to border restrictions or health and safety concerns. Please note that the distance classes will be conducted during our regular school hours, so this may be problematic for students in vastly different time zones. (If the students are willing to do this, we will let them register for distance learning). Also note, that if distance learning is the option, courses will need to reflect what is being offered for distance learners. Lastly, students need to be prepared to come to Canada if school resumes back to full in-person classes as the online option will no longer be available (this will not happen during the middle of a quadmester).
- Students must be here on time to start school. If they cannot be, they can register to do the online distance learning for the first quadmester and then switch to in-class learning when the next session begins. This will be in the beginning of October if our students are doing one course at a time or mid-November if the students are doing 2 courses at a time.
- All UGDSB ISP students must pre-register for school by the deadline of August 19, 2020. The board has sent out pre-registration information to parents, however, if you have not received this, please find the link here: Individual Upper Grand DSB Pre-Registration Survey
- For more information about the re-opening plan, please see the Parent Guide at: UGDSB Parent Guide Reopening Schools
- This is a link to Reopening schools frequently asked questions: Reopening Schools Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- As new information becomes available, it can be found on the district website at ugdsb.ca.
Student Options
If students are already in Canada, they can choose to attend school or do distance learning.
Students need to be able to start school on September 8th, if they choose the in-class option. If this does not work, they can opt to do the first quadmester online and then start the in-person classes for the following quadmester.
Students can defer to February or September 2021, at no additional charge, if they prefer, as this coming school year is definitely much different than our regular school year.
Students can also apply for a refund. Students will be refunded the full tuition and medical(if applicable), less the $200 application fee. If this option is chosen, please send an email to international.student@ugdsb.on.ca to request the refund.
Please note, if students start online classes or in-person classes, NO refund will be granted.
Please see refund policy here: COVID Sept 2020 Refund Policy
Important Links for our UGDSB International Students
Student Guide – This link will open the UGDSB Student Guide: UGDSB ISP Student Guide 2020-2021 This guide will give students a bit of information about what to expect when they arrive.
School year calendar- School Year Calendar 2020-2021
Medical Information – If medical insurance has been purchased through the UGDSB, you will find information on the student medical insurance plan at this link: https://www.guard.me/ugdsb and updated Guard Me COVID-19 information can be found using this link: https://www.guard.me/covid-19.php
If student has life threatening allergies or a medical condition which requires a plan of care, please go to this link and fill out the appropriate form.Plan of Care link: Parent Checklist for Plan of Care Policy 518. If you are a returning student, you need to resubmit a form as well. You will find the form you need at the above link.