Putting Together Community and Safety First

Putting “Community First” is one of the four goals which guide the direction of our school (along with Authentic Learning, Outdoors Every Day and Strength and Permanence). Our vision ensures that we continually strive to fully know each and every one of our students; that we create strong connections between day and boarding, Canadian and international students; and that we continue to offer a well-rounded and enriching program including an advisory program that supports students far beyond academics. This fall, all students (day and boarding) and faculty are associated with one of our 12 residential houses, to strengthen our community through the creation of house families. 

 

During this extraordinary year, the importance of community and the power of human connection in learning and growth has become even more clear. How then does that happen this year? What does community time look like in a time of COVID?

 

We have been tapping into the strengths of our school: the power of nature on our beautiful 315-acre waterfront campus and the power of human connection among our students, faculty and greater LCS community. In our daily schedule, we have created time each week to meet and build community.  By placing our community time after Period One, remote students are invited and expected to join in all community gatherings via Zoom.

 

Outdoor social seating by every residence provides space for day and boarding students and faculty house members to gather, safely physically distanced, so that house and advisor meetings can occur as often as possible outside. Each house has also been assigned indoor meeting spaces for times of inclement weather, so that everyone can continue to gather in a safe manner. House meals and house events are organized so day students and faculty associated with the house will be involved. These times together provide opportunities for connection, engagement and fun while keeping safety first.

 

Chapel will take place on Mondays and Thursdays. Current safety protocols limit indoor gathering sizes to 50 people and outdoor gatherings to 100 people so Houses will gather at their indoor gathering spaces to Zoom in to Chapel in small groups. In this way, we’re still gathering as a whole community through small virtual gatherings. Houses will be able to rotate through the Chapel space so we all get to enjoy time in our beautiful Chapel. We are hopeful that one day, as conditions improve, we may be able to gather in larger groups outdoors and there may be a time when we all may be able to gather as a school at the waterfront.

 

We know that all of this will evolve; programming, safety guidelines, what our students’ needs are and how our community is doing will all dictate what happens during our time together. We are excited to be making this step forward as now more than ever we need connection and kindness to thrive as a community.