Safety First: People, Place and Program

The schedule for 2022/23 will look something like this.

Mod 1	September 12 - October 14
Thanksgiving Break (October 6 - 10)
Mod 2	October 17 - November 18
November Break (November 10 - 14)
Mod 3	November 21 - December 22
December Break (December 22 - January 9)
Mod 4	January 10 - February 10
February Break (February 17 - 20)
Mod 5	February 13 - March 9
March Break (March 9 - 27)
Mod 6	March 28 - April 21
April Break (April 6 - 10)
Mod 7	April 24 - May 18
May Break (May 18 - 22)
Mod 8	May 23 - June 15

A mod schedule is a way of organizing a school schedule into multiple terms that each have fewer, but longer class periods. A module, or mod, is the period of time the academic year is divided into. The LCS school year will be divided into eight mods, each lasting approximately one month. Think of a "mod" as a short term or mini-semester. The mod schedule allows for course content to be taught in short, intensive chunks, rather than spread out over an entire academic year.

In a semestered system (like the system at the majority of Ontario public high schools), students would take up to four courses from September to January and another four courses from February to June.

In a Modular schedule, you will take advantage of the researched benefits of spaced learning and interleaving. Here you will study fewer subjects at one time, then take a break from them before returning to them again. You will review previously studied material and then move to new material. This pattern has been shown to help long-term retention of material, more deeply embeds information, and helps to ensure you are able to focus on fewer important ideas at any one time. You will take subjects all year, ensuring you do not have long breaks in the learning of a subject. 

You can view the school calendar for 2022/23 on our website.

Our intention is to provide students with their schedules in late August. While it will be possible to make schedule changes, we are anticipating classes to be at capacity, and movement or changes to your schedules will be dependent upon space availability. If you are considering course changes, please contact your counsellor to see what is possible before the year begins. As the year proceeds, students will have two days at the beginning of each course to add, drop, or change courses.

No. LCS will still be able to offer the same breadth and choice of courses.

All classes are 95 minutes in length. The only exception is on Wednesday when students will have just two classes, which are 80 minutes each. 

The average class size is 14.2 students, with the majority (80% of classes) having between 10-18 students. Our unique modular schedule also means that teachers will be supporting a total of roughly 24 students during any one Mod period, thereby enhancing the amount of attention and support available to each student.

Exams at LCS will now occur at two different times of the year. Courses will conclude at the end of Mod 7 (May) and Mod 8 (June). At the conclusion of both of these mods, there will be four days dedicated to exams and culminating assessments for each course instructed. This is depicted on our 2022/23 Calendar of Important Dates.

Students in Grade 12 will take a minimum of 5 courses, but the majority will take 6. This provides our graduating students with the opportunity to have unscheduled periods to help support them to complete the increased amount of work and responsibility that comes with life as a senior student at LCS. Helping students to balance the demands of their courses, co-curriculars, and school life responsibilities is part of life at Lakefield; working hard to create a balanced schedule is an important part of this. 

It is possible for Grade 11 students to have studies in their schedules if they have worked ahead and used summer as an opportunity to achieve important course credits. Sometimes Grade 11 students choose to use these in the Grade 11 year, but more commonly, these studies are saved to be used in Grade 12 when the demand of university applications, school life responsibilities, and SIC roles all require important time. 
Students may wish to make some adjustments if they see some mods as much heavier or lighter than others. During our consultations with schools that have already implemented this type of schedule, they indicated that their students have found the ability to choose when lighter and heavier modules happen to be a huge benefit.

Teaching a 95-minute class requires different teaching strategies from a shorter class, and the emphasis—because this type of schedule allows for more authentic learning opportunities—will be for more hands-on activities, more movement, more switches of focus to consolidate and reflect. Our teachers receive professional development in planning for longer classes and have already begun to plan their approach. For some insights about how a 90 minute period might be set up to keep students engaged and enhance learning, have a listen to Jennifer Gonzalez' podcast, Making the Most of a 90-Minute Block.

Should students miss a large amount of class time for any reason, our response next year will be very similar to what it has been in the past. We would work hard—alongside the student—to help them catch up. Teachers would strive to work with students to accommodate the missed material. If students miss time as a result of an athletic event or an arts trip, classes take place every day, making it possible to get support as students get caught up. If absences occur for extended periods of time, the student may need to take make up courses beyond the academic year. That being said, we have had great success in finding personalised solutions for individual situations helping students overcome many different obstacles.

Just as in past years, when a day ends depends on the co-curriculars chosen. Some students might end Wednesday at 2:50 p.m. and Saturday at 12:15 p.m.; others will have co-curricular activities that are scheduled later in the day.

Grade 12 Guidance classes are formally in each student’s schedule. With the support of Guidance counsellors, students will research universities and programs, complete applications, complete any supplemental work that is necessary, and ultimately, review and affirm offers. 

There are aspects of the new schedule that have potential benefits to our students in preparing for university. Most university students carry 5 courses at a time, so 4 at a time is a lighter load. That said, it is also the case that most universities are semestered and have half courses and end-of-semester exams. So, students cover material at a more intensive pace. Our mod schedule is designed to create a more intensive pace for a smaller number of courses. This should provide the opportunity to dive more deeply into subjects and gain a greater appreciation for the depth of study and focus that is part of life at university.  

In the fall of 2019, our students were interviewed by the ISM consultant, and also about 93% of our students completed a survey conducted by ISM that helped establish levels of stress. Based on the feedback obtained from this research, the ISM consultants recommended a modular schedule with significantly reduced classes.