Dear Parents & Guardians,

Our faculty and staff have spent this week putting final preparations in place to welcome our students back to school, whether on-campus or online, next week. Of course, we have been re-adjusting to new necessary protocols and precautions that are required on the TCS campus. (Maybe our students have seen us wearing our cloth face masks on our social media pages?) While our students can expect our campus to look different than when they last saw it, I know that they will agree that having our community back together will be something very special.

In advance of next week, please familiarize yourself with the Opening Week schedule and revisit the School Re-opening Fall 2020 website to ensure you and your child are up-to-date on the latest re-opening details and health protocols.

(If you prefer, click here to read or print this communication as a PDF.)

Opening Week

For families’ ease of reference, we are pleased to share some key reminders regarding next week’s opening of school.

Student Arrivals

• Tuesday, September 8th – Returning boarding students
  Your child’s housemaster has been in contact to explain the process of moving in. Please respect your pre-determined two-hour window for move-in and be reminded that only one family member, per boarding student, is permitted in the boarding houses to assist with the move-in. Please respect residential staff’s requests related to managing traffic in the house. Housemasters will email returning boarding families on Sunday, September 6th to outline specific campus arrival locations.
• Wednesday, September 9th – Boarders registered in the TCS quarantine program
  TCS staff will oversee the transportation and move-in of students in the TCS quarantine program. Students will be made aware of their specific move-in time in advance.
• Wednesday, September 9th – Returning Senior School day students
  All returning Grade 10-12 day students will be welcomed back to campus by their housemasters between 9:00-10:00 a.m. Housemasters will email returning day families on Sunday, September 6th to outline specific campus arrival locations. Returning day students will be in programming on campus from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. For those registered, bussing (morning and evening service) will be available. Parents dropping off or picking up students at school will be asked to remain in their vehicles.
• Wednesday, September 9th – New and returning Junior School students
  At 8:30 a.m., all Junior School students from Grade 5-8 will be welcomed by the head of Junior School and directed to their homeform teacher who will be in areas, designated by grade, outside Boulden House. The homeform teacher will escort their students through a specific entrance to their homeform class. (Families will have received class placements already.) Parents are encouraged to drop their child off without getting out of their vehicle. For those registered, bussing (morning and evening service) will be available. The day will end at 3:45 p.m. and the bus will depart at 4:05 p.m. Also, a reminder of the parent welcome Zoom call on Tuesday, September 8th. (Note: Wellness Wednesdays and Activ8 begin the following week.)
• Thursday, September 10th – New boarding students
  The admissions office has been in contact to explain the process of moving in. Please respect your pre-determined two-hour window for move-in and be reminded that only one family member, per boarding student, is permitted in the boarding houses to assist with the move-in. The admissions office will be contacting all new boarding families on Tuesday, September 8th with specific details on campus arrival locations. Please respect residential staff’s requests related to managing traffic in the house. New boarding families will be permitted an additional two hours on campus to tour outside the buildings and visit with their child and assigned student “buddy.”
• Friday, September 11th – New Senior School day students
  New Senior School day students (including those moving from Junior School into Grade 9 this year) are asked to arrive to campus at 10:00 a.m. for an orientation in their house as well as a familiarization tour of campus with their assigned house “buddy.” The admissions office will be contacting all new day families on Wednesday, September 9th with specific details on campus arrival locations. New Senior School day students will be in programming on campus until 4:30 p.m. For those registered, bussing (morning and evening service) will be available. Parents dropping off or picking up students at school will be asked to remain in their vehicles.
• Opening Week – TCS Connect e-community Students
  While our TCS Connect students will not be physically joining us on campus next week, we are focussed on welcoming them back to school through a variety of informative and fun initiatives. More information to come for TCS Connect families very soon!

Opening Week Schedule (Senior School)

Click here to re-familiarize yourself with the details of the Opening Week Schedule for the Senior School.

Important Reminders for Opening Week – What to bring!

• All Junior School and Senior School students: Bring a refillable water bottle and several cloth masks. Dress according to the weather as a lot of time will be spent outdoors on Opening Week.
• Boarding students: Housemasters have shared a packing list, which is linked here for your ease of reference.
• Senior School Day students: Are asked not to bring items for their lockers on the first day back.
• Junior School students: In addition to a refillable water bottle and several cloth masks, Junior School students are invited to bring a nut-free snack and a sun hat.

Health Assessment and Protocol Reminders

• When your child arrives on campus for opening day, a screener will be at each house, to conduct a verbal health check (using a form) and remind students of mask use and health protocols on campus. (For boarding students who have a family member accompanying them to assist with move-in, those individuals will be subject to health screening as well.) Once on campus, students will learn about the new app that will be used to conduct daily health assessments. More information on the “REACH” app below in this message.
• Families, students and school faculty and staff each have an important role in maintaining personal and community health. As such, parents are asked to reinforce proper hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and cloth mask use with your children. Visit the “Health & Safety Measures” section of the School Re-opening Fall 2020 website for these important details: http://www.tcs.on.ca/reopening2020.

Life at Trinity: A Handbook for Senior School Families

All Senior School families are asked to click here to download a PDF version of Life at Trinity: A Handbook for Senior School Families. This document contains a great deal of helpful information, as well as expectations for students which should be reviewed prior to the start of the school year. We suggest students and parents keep a copy of this file for reference, and you can also access it online at www.tcs.on.ca/parents. Throughout the year, Life at Trinity may be updated to reflect changing circumstances. In this case, families will be notified and a revised copy of the handbook will be circulated.

Daily Health Screening

TCS has been using the REACH boarding program for several years as a digital tool to help manage leave for boarding students and to give us a clearer record of who is on campus at any given time. REACH has expanded to help student and staff health management during the pandemic and it will be used by all members of the TCS community this year. As such, staff have been learning about the program during preparation meetings and we will help students download the REACH app and walk through the program when they arrive on campus. (Note: When your child arrives on campus for opening day, a screener will be at each house, to conduct a verbal health check (using a form) and remind of mask use and health protocols on campus.)

In the Senior School, REACH will be used to manage daily health assessments, while at the same time serving as a tool to manage contact tracing throughout the day. Each student and staff member will be asked to “check in” at every destination they reach, and while this practice feels unnatural, it is an important part of the School's re-opening plan. Junior School students will only be using the REACH tool to complete the daily health assessment prior to arrival on campus and before boarding the day buses in the mornings.

It would be helpful and appreciated, if families can continue to reinforce the importance of adhering to new practices and protocols to support the health and wellbeing of all members of the TCS community.

Further Details Regarding Campus Access

Senior School - Early arrivals: While the academic day does not start until 8:30 a.m. (8:00 am. on Wednesdays), for the 2020-2021 school year TCS will accommodate student early arrival on campus after 7:45 a.m., in an effort to help support those parents/guardians/family members who would like to personally transport their child to school, but require a morning drop-off before 8:00 a.m.

Those students arriving between 7:45 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. are asked to use the School’s main entrance (by front reception) or the LeVan Hall entrance and make their way directly to Cirne Commons where there will be supervision provided. Students will be encouraged to study quietly, listen to music (with earbuds), and/or have a (nut-free) breakfast snack which they have brought from home. This is in keeping with the School’s strategies to mitigate health risk by promoting physical distancing and the proper sanitization of spaces over the course of the academic day.

If your plan is to drop off your student between 7:45-8:00 a.m., you are asked to register in advance with our attendance office by contacting Laurie Caine at TCSattendance@tcs.on.ca as this will allow for adequate staffing and cleaning.

Senior School - Early departures during academic/co-curricular day: Once on campus, students are asked to remain on campus for the remainder of the day. This may include parents postponing any non-essential appointments for students. For essential appointments, families are encouraged to book at the beginning or end of day. For students with mid-day appointments, once they leave campus, they are asked to finish the academic day from home, whether online or asynchronously. These “leaves” do not need to go through the TCS health centre, but would go through the normal process for early departures by way of our attendance office (TCSattendance@tcs.on.ca).

Junior School – Arrival times: Students who are walking or being driven to school may enter Boulden House after 8:00 a.m. and go straight to their homeform room for quiet supervision until the start of classes at 8:30 a.m. On Wednesdays, which have a later start time of 9:00 a.m., those arriving on buses will be supervised outdoors for physical activity (Activ8). If your child will be arriving late or leaving early, please contact Jennifer McNutt to advise: jmcnutt@tcs.on.ca.

Updated: Day Bus Information

Both Senior School and Junior School day bus families can expect to receive bussing information specific to the Opening Week of school, from the travel office, over the next few days. Details to be shared include bus stop locations and times as well as seat assignments. Next week, the travel office will begin to send day bus confirmations and travel notices pertinent to the week of September 14th onwards. With the evolving bussing situation this year, we thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to finalize bussing details.

Senior School change in bus departure time: In addition, we wish to share an update to Senior School bus departure times with the late bus needing to depart 15 minutes sooner than was previously communicated. The late bus will now leave at 5:45 p.m. instead of 6:00 p.m. This is to accommodate a 5:20 p.m. end to co-curricular programming and a full two-hour window required to serve dinner to our boarding students. It is also in keeping with the necessity to ask day students to only be on campus for official TCS activities. Following our Opening Week, the regularly-scheduled Senior School bus departure times will be as follows:

Monday – 5:45 p.m.
Tuesday – 4:15 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
Wednesday – 3:00 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
Thursday – 4:15 p.m. and 5:45 p.m.
Friday – 5:45 p.m.

As it is a long academic day, bus students will receive a snack which they can enjoy before boarding buses for the ride home (see the “Lunch Service” section below, for more information). Food/drink may not be consumed on the bus given that students must keep their masks on at all times.

The TCS travel office (traveloffice@tcs.on.ca) is happy to respond to any questions families may have. Again, please watch your email inbox for further bussing information.

Lunch Service

As previously communicated, the School has established five lunch locations and will serve lunch in assigned “sittings.” This modified lunch service, approved by public health, allows the School to cohort lunch service by grade and sanitize in between sittings. Locations include the Junior School, Osler Hall, Davies Student Centre, Cirne Commons and the Lower Gym. We ask families to be aware that this year’s new lunch delivery system will be a massive undertaking and, with a priority on the health and safety of our community members, the School will need to continually re-assess the efficiency and effectiveness of this service.

Senior School students will be assigned to Lunch 1 or Lunch 2 and a specific location. It is essential that students abide by the directional signage, distancing and hygiene protocols throughout the lunch service. This will include hand washing or use of hand sanitizer and careful removal of masks (clean hands, only touch ear loops, place in paper bag, clean hands; reverse to don mask after eating). Junior School students will receive and consume lunch in their classrooms. Students are encouraged to have a paper bag (or other container suitable to store their mask) with them at all times. A personal-size bottle of Health Canada approved hand sanitizer may also be convenient for students.

The serving of lunch safely, and in keeping with current public health and government guidelines, requires strict food-handling protocols. As such, meals will be served (no buffet) and there will be limited options available. Our culinary services team has been working closely with public health to do their best to provide some choice at meals; however, students should be prepared for limited selection. (Students with food allergies or intolerances will be prioritized.) Once the school year has begun, menus will be posted in advance on Edsby and on the parents page on the School’s website. For the Opening Week menu, click here.

All students are reminded to bring a refillable water bottle to school each day as beverages will be limited at meal times and fountains have been temporarily disconnected. Touchless refillable water stations are operational throughout the School.

For day students taking the 5:45 p.m. bus home, a snack station will be available at the LeVan Hall entrance. The bussing company does not allow food or drink on the bus. Students will be able to have their snack prior to boarding the bus (between 5:30-5:45 p.m.)

Junior School Co-curriculars

The focus for the Junior School co-curricular program in the fall of 2020 will be no different than in previous years. Student personal growth, skill development, physical activity, artistic expression, teamwork, leadership and fun are still at the core of our program. Teachers will lead students in a variety of athletic, team-building and artistic activities in two-week sessions. Each class will enjoy an immersive co-curricular session over eight days, within their class cohort. Of course, student safety is of the utmost importance during these small group activities, which will primarily take place outdoors. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact Alex Gordon, Junior School co-curricular coordinator, by phone or email (agordon@tcs.on.ca). Once they arrive to school, students will be learning more about the options available to them this fall. Also, please be sure to check the weekly newsletter for pictures, updates and highlights of our students!

Senior School Locker Access

Lockers meeting the 2 metre distance requirement will be available for use. To support the need for day students to have a secure storage space, “frog boxes” will be available in the day houses. These storage boxes are lockable, can be sanitized, and their locations around the perimeter of day house areas will be physically distanced and clearly marked. For ease of transition, and to mitigate concerns related to virus transmission, students are asked to carefully consider what they need to bring with them each day. Day students are asked to be aware that Century, our bus provider, is asking riders to avoid large items, whenever possible, in order to help maintain physical distancing and seat assignments.

Senior School Textbooks

At the beginning of the school year, teachers will supply students with a list of any required course texts. Books and resources are divided into two categories: textbooks and consumables.

Textbooks are formal course texts published by major publishers such as Pearson, Nelson, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, etc. Textbooks will be loaned to students, at no additional cost, for the duration of the academic year. Should the book be lost or returned in an unusable state come the end of the school year, a replacement charge will be billed to student accounts. For students who are learning online, digital copies of textbooks will be provided.

Consumables are course resources that are to be purchased by students and cannot be returned at the end of the academic year. Consumables include software codes (if applicable), workbooks, and novels for the English curriculum. Any required consumables may be purchased at the school store. Students are not able to return print copies of novels as students are encouraged to annotate their books in the development of active reading skills. Students have the option of reading print editions or digital copies of English books, and audio versions are available for most titles through the Senior School library.

Dress Code: Further clarification

As with many decisions regarding the re-opening of school this fall, we are taking a gradual approach, erring on the side of conservative health and safety measures in relation to our dress code. Please note, that once our students have successfully transitioned back to campus, the School will be re-evaluating the dress code with an intention and desire to re-institute uniforms. Where students do not own TCS-related clothing, or not enough to wear on a daily basis, clean casual clothing will suffice. Our preference is for consistency, but we will need to flex and adapt to the situation as well. We thank families for their understanding, and would like to reiterate and further clarify expectations for dress for the start of school.

The School’s recently announced decision to temporarily relax the dress code, moving from Number One dress to clean casuals (as outlined further below), is based on the following:

• Maintenance of student and staff health through the reduction of the number of clothing articles that cannot be readily laundered (i.e. clothing needs to be laundered between each use).
• Projected use of outdoor spaces this fall means that students will need the ability to dress warmly, in layers.
• Unavailability of change rooms for co-curricular programming means that students will need to wear clothing and appropriate footwear that matches the expectations of their scheduled physical education or daily co-curricular programming activities of any given day.

Students attending on-campus classes at the start of the school year are asked to adhere to the following dress code which will be re-assessed after the Thanksgiving weekend. Students are expected to wear:

• Socks
• Shoes: Closed-toe athletic, dress or casual shoes
• Bottoms: Business casual pants/shorts, chino/khaki-style/cotton pants, non-ripped jeans, athletic warm-up pants, sweatpants, yoga pants, leggings
• Tops: “TCS apparel.” This might include: TCS, TCS team or (unaltered) house shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, quarter-zips; TCS tracksuit jackets Note: Students without TCS apparel may wear clean, casual tops as long as they meet our basic community standards* (details on that below).
• Headwear: Religious or culturally-appropriate headwear only

Note: Students may default to the TCS uniform (minus jacket and tie),provided these items are laundered before being worn again to school. Please note that TCS kilts provide a particular cleaning challenge and should be avoided.

*During school hours, students are expected to avoid wearing pajama pants, ball caps, hoods, slides/flip flops, sandals and/or slippers. And, as a general reminder, it is the School's intent to sustain a community that is positive, anti-oppressive, equitable, accepting and inclusive of a diverse range of social and cultural identities. Clothing choices should not promote offensive or obscene images or language, not promote content that is discriminatory, not reference tobacco, cannabis, alcohol, drugs or related paraphernalia, and not promote violence.

While the 2020-2021 academic year will be a year that will certainly present new challenges, it will also offer many new opportunities to learn and explore, as we come together as a community. Thank you to our students, parents and staff for approaching the year with a positive outlook and a commitment to working together to ensure a productive, healthy, successful and fun year.

A final reminder to please familiarize yourself and your child(ren) with the details of the School’s re-opening plans, found at: www.tcs.on.ca/reopening2020. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Stuart Grainger
Headmaster