"We are committed and prepared to see all of our students returning safely to our amazing campus for daily in-person learning in September."  Anne-Marie Kee, Head of School and Foundation

Dear Lakefield Families,

Over the past few months, our Pandemic Safe School Working Group and team have worked hard to prepare for our September re-opening, and we have been guided by local, provincial, federal and international guidelines as well as important research, including The Hospital for Sick Children's recommendations for school re-openings in Ontario, COVID-19: Recommendations for School Reopening. and Harvard School of Public Health's report, Schools for Health.

Our comprehensive plan is organized into three sections, where you can find more details including the following highlights:
Our People 
  • Our students will come together, every day, for face-to-face learning with their teachers in small classes of 12 students (on average). We can confidently offer our students the opportunity for meaningful learning and daily co-curriculars in the arts and athletics. Our students will also continue to enjoy a full range of all-community activities with their peers such as house meetings, house events, paper house and spirit events during the course of their program day.
  • Our dedicated staff will be prepared with additional mental health and wellness training and innovative teaching strategies enabling them to be proactive and nimble to adjust to changing conditions.
Our Place 
  • Our 315-acre campus and facilities are ideal for our students' health and well-being and to be outdoors every day. Our outdoor social seating and recreational areas are being enhanced throughout the campus to enable all of our students - day and boarding - to enjoy a healthy social life at a distance of 2m, as required.
  • Our boarding houses are among the smallest of CAIS boarding schools providing us with a unique advantage to create and foster connections between students and staff. Our small residences allow us to cohort our boarding houses and enhance day-to-day community living.
  • Our dedicated COVID-19 Care Unit (Lampman House) with nurses trained in COVID-19 Care enables us to provide individualized attention and care to assess, treat, and trace symptomatic and confirmed cases. 
Our Program 
  • Our new innovative schedule ensures more opportunity for enriched academics and authentic learning. By reducing the number of classes per day while lengthening each period, students will spend more time with teachers pursuing subjects in greater depth. 
  • Our schedule includes significant breaks between classes to reduce transitions and slow the pace, making for a healthier learning environment.
  • Our program leaders are making plans for our students to safely enjoy rich daily experiences in their arts, athletics and co-curricular pursuits.
  • Our House Model will creatively ensure safe opportunities for meaningful connection between our day and boarding students and a full range of community activities.
We are a school that is passionately focused on Outdoors Every Day, Authentic Learning, and Community First. At this time in our world, we have added a new priority: Safety First. For the foreseeable future, every decision we make must be guided by this commitment.
 
We hope you know that we remain committed to our vision, mission, and values; and many of us are working hard through the summer to plan for the very best possible experience for our students while prioritizing safety. The reality is that our fall term, and perhaps the full year depending on the pandemic, will be different. We believe we can make the year not just a good one, but a great one.
 
An aspect of putting Safety First is the assumption that it is best to begin with a stricter approach to guidelines in the hopes that we will be in a position, later, to give something back, rather than take something away. We are also assuming that the adjustments we are making are temporary only. Like you, we are continually monitoring ministry and public health guidelines as they change. Our promise is to be nimble. Rest assured, the school will continue to revisit our campus, community and house programming as guidelines around pandemic safety change and more opportunities are permitted. Finally, our assumption is that our community of students and parents are partners in safety. We all want to be back on campus, every day, in a normal way, as soon as is safely possible to do so. We can get there, together.
All of our work and every decision we make is focused on two essential priorities:
  • Ensuring that we uphold the highest standard of community health and wellbeing.
  • Fulfilling the promise of our mission as a school uniquely committed to challenging and enabling students — whether day or boarding — to reach their individual potential in mind, body and spirit through authentic learning, being outdoors every day and a powerful and embracing sense of community.
I am pleased to launch the plan shared within this section of our website, dedicated to the safe re-opening of our campus. Because the world is changing so quickly, you will find links to various other websites on which we rely for guidance so you have the latest updates; we may update certain sections, but please know that any and all major changes will also be shared by regular email communication.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our school.  We have a history of resilience, and I am confident in our future.
 
Take care of yourself, and each other,
 

Anne-Marie Kee
Head of School and Foundation

Lakefield College School (LCS) is committed to ensuring a safe campus environment for all to enjoy.

In accordance with direction from the Peterborough Public Health Unit, and many other community advisors, and following the Ontario Ministry of Education guidelines, LCS is confident that we’ve achieved our objectives to uphold the highest standard of community health and wellbeing for our students; while fulfilling our mission as a school.

List of 5 items.

  • Health Advisory Network

    We are guided by the advice and counsel of experts in the fields of public health, medicine and education through our Pandemic Safe School Working Group.

  • On-Campus COVID-19 Care Unit

    LCS will have a dedicated COVID-19 Care Unit with some of our nurses specifically trained in COVID-19 Care. This enables us to isolate a suspected patient in an environment that provides individualized attention and care from a trained nurse and then assess, treat and trace symptomatic and confirmed cases. 

  • On-Campus COVID-19 Testing

    We are preparing for our campus to become a testing site so that our own COVID-19 Care Nurses will be able to test symptomatic students in the most expedient manner possible

  • Safe Region / Low Active COVID-19 Cases

    Peterborough, Lakefield and the surrounding area continue to be one of the safest areas in Canada and the Peterborough Public Health Unit has reported 3 active cases of COVID-19 as of August 9, 2020.

  • Self-Assessment Mobile App

    LCS is making required daily self-assessments simple and easy by providing all students and staff an app for their phone to complete the Ontario Public Health Self-Assessment (available end of August).

General Requirements: Keeping Our Community Healthy

We are committed to ensuring a safe and healthy campus environment for all to enjoy. Although LCS cannot guarantee a SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) free school, we will do our utmost to keep our community healthy by strictly adhering to the safe practices and risk mitigation habits outlined in the following guidelines:

List of 5 items.

  • Screening

    Students and staff will be required to complete the Ontario Public Health Self Assessment prior to coming to school in the fall and every morning before arriving at school (day) or attending breakfast (boarders). The school will be providing a mobile app to all students and staff for easy access to the screening questionnaire.

  • Hand Hygiene

    Perhaps the single most important precaution one can take to avoid illness is proper hand hygiene.  Students and staff will be trained on proper hand hygiene upon their arrival to campus during orientation.  However, everyone is encouraged to practice proper hand hygiene prior to their arrival to school.  Though the school will provide ample sanitizing stations, staff and students are requested to bring at least one bottle of their own hand sanitizer to campus. 

  • Respiratory Etiquette

    Respiratory etiquette refers to the appropriate method of covering a cough or sneeze. Ideally, individuals will cough or sneeze into a tissue which is covering both their nose and mouth. If a tissue is not available one must cough or sneeze into their upper sleeve or elbow.

  • Public Distancing and Masks

    Public Health Ontario requires that all non-immediate family members keep a physical distance of at least 2 metres from one another.  When physical distancing is not possible Public Health Ontario requires face masks to be worn.  Though the school will be providing cloth face masks, students and staff are requested to bring at least one of their own cloth face masks to campus. Students and staff will be required to wear masks at all times when physical distancing of 2m is not possible. In addition, students and staff are required to wear masks in the hallways of the classroom block, school stores, the dining hall and all other school line-ups. In all of these instances physical distancing must still be maintained when possible.

  • Cleaning and Disinfecting

    In accordance with Public Health Ontario guidelines, all common touch surfaces and washroom areas will be cleaned and disinfected at least two times daily.


Before Arriving on Campus (Travel Advisory and Quarantine Requirements)

  • The Government of Canada (Health Canada) under the Emergency Order: Quarantine Act requires all people who travel internationally into Canada to quarantine for a period of 14 days (and before arriving on campus). Currently, there are no exceptions to this law.
  • Everyone must complete a self-assessment prior to travelling to school.  
  • Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms cannot travel (internationals and Canadian domestics).  People with symptoms are to self-isolate at their home and contact their own local health unit.
  • For those who are able to travel, LCS has created our own Quarantine Program, to support students who require assistance in making quarantine arrangements. The LCS Quarantine Program will be available to students as of July 28, 2020. Anyone interested in registering for the LCS Quarantine Program should contact Jennifer Horrigan at jhorrigan@lcs.on.ca.
  • Students should bring at least one of their own cloth masks and one of their own hand sanitizers.

Parent Communications Archive

  • July 27, 2020 — Return to School Plan and New Schedule FAQ
  • June 30, 2020 — Health and Education Report, Opening and Early Campus Arrivals
  • June 9, 2020 — New Schedule Announcement and Adjusted Tuition Pricing Model
  • May 7, 2020 — Our Response to COVID-19 and End of Year Update

References and Resources

Contributors and Advisors

One of our many priorities is to ensure that we uphold the highest standard of safety while ensuring minimal impact on our ever-important culture.  We are so fortunate to have a network of professionals in our parent, alumni, and friend community who understand how important relationships are to our core values and the delivery of an outstanding academic and cocurricular program. We are grateful to the many individuals who shared their insights and advice as we prepare to open our beautiful campus to those who rightly deserve to enjoy it, our students!
 
  • Johanna Kruger ‘97, Health Counsellor, Perm. Mission of Canada to UN in Geneva, Canadian Representative at the World Health Organization
  • Dr. David Fisman, Epidemiologist Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto 
  • Andrew Muirhead ‘85, Origin Merchant Partners
  • Mary-Pat Cannon, RN, Public Health Nurse, LCS liaison to PPHU
  • Brian Sammon, Public Health Inspector, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, PPHU
  • Jessica Andrews, RN, PHN, Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, PPHU
  • Claire Townshend, RN, Public Health Nurse, PPHU
  • Stephen Grey, CEO Medical Associates of Port Perry, Co-Chair COVID-19 Durham Region Steering Committee, LCS Parent (Sophie ‘21)
  • Dr. Merrilee Brown, Medical Associates of Port Perry, Physician Advisor, LCS Parent (Sophie ‘21)
  • Dr. David Hamilton, Emergency Physician St. Joseph’s Health Care, Hamilton & William Osler Health System, Physician Advisor, Co-Founder EduSafe Predict Technologies, Self Assessment Mobile App. Developer
  • James Spencer, Co-Founder EduSafe, Predict Technologies, Self Assessment Mobile App. Developers 
  • Graham Dobbs, Co-Founder EduSafe, Predict Technologies, Self Assessment Mobile App. Developers 
  • Eric Roher, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, legal consultant

School Information

4391 County Road 29, Lakefield Ontario K0L 2H0   705.652.3324   admissions@lcs.on.ca

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Lakefield College School is a private, coeducational boarding and day school for students in grades 9 through 12, located in Lakefield, Ontario, Canada.

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