Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, The Abelard School remains committed to delivering our robust and fulfilling curriculum.
We have always seen education as a lifelong pursuit, and although teaching remotely is not our preferred form of instruction, we feel remarkably fortunate to be able to continue to share our love of learning with our student body.
We are so proud of our students, who have not only continued to work hard, but some have even produced their best work of the year, proving that the Abelard thirst for knowledge and fulfillment remains intact!
Third Term, March 30-June 18, 2020
Abelard began online classes on March 30th, and since then we have been successfully employing Zoom to deliver our traditional seminar-based classes. We are fortunate that our small class sizes allow us to proceed more or less as usual, despite the change in delivery: as well as receiving instruction, the students still have ample opportunity to ask and answer questions, and to offer their perspectives and insights. We are also still laughing and sharing our love of knowledge, and of life.
Our online school day runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the addition of a twenty minute break between classes to allow the students to consolidate and review independently, to prepare for their next class, and to stretch and move about.
The timetable is as follows:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
9:00-9:40 Period 1 classes
10:00-10:40 Period 2 classes
11:00-11:40 Period 3 classes
11:40 – 1:00 Lunch (12-12:15 Monday: School Meeting)
1-1:40 pm Period 4 classes
2-2:40 pm Period 5 classes
3:00-3:40 pm Period 6 classes
Tuesday, Thursday
9-10:15 am Period 1 classes*
10:30-11:45 Period 2 classes *
11:45-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:15 Period 3 classes*
2:20-3:45 Period 4 classes*
*with short break roughly midway
Assignments and Assessments
We are very proud of our students: not only are they still attending all of their classes, they have been completing the homework and assignments thoughtfully and diligently, submitting them through individual Google Classrooms for each course.
Timed tests are given through Google Classroom, with the understanding that academic integrity remains essential. Parent proctors are enlisted in some instances.
Culminating assessments remain an important vehicle for our students to demonstrate the consolidation of knowledge and skills they have acquired through the year. The emphasis in these tests will be on synthesis and analysis. In light of the circumstances, however, culminating tests will be weighted at 5% of the final grade for the course rather than the customary 20-30% for final exams.
Evaluation continues, and all collected assessments will be used to determine the final marks in June, in conjunction with the grades from first and second terms.
Weighting of the individual assignments and assessments will be based on their nature and will be in the best interests of the students.
Electronic report cards will be issued at the end of June.
School and Community Spirit
Our aim is to maintain a sense of community and school spirit, and whether we meet in person or online, our commitment to assisting others and to sharing our interests, joy and creativity is important. We continue to hold our regular Monday school meetings, and the student council has been hosting drop-in Zoom lunchtime social hours.
Some of the ongoing extracurricular activities include our student-led film, Minecraft and baking clubs. Many of our students and teachers have been inspired by the Getty Museum’s Quarantine Art Challenge, and have created wonderful and witty three dimensional recreations of famous paintings. The school Yearbook and Literary Journal are currently in production.
Accomplishments of our Graduating Class
Our Online Graduation and Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, June 18th, to be followed by a more formal convocation as soon as the situation permits.
Vice Principal Brian Blair continues to act as our university guidance counsellor and the liaison between our school and the universities, and we are pleased to say that once again our twelve Grade 12 students have all been accepted to university.
Although not all of the universities have completed their admission process, our students have already received an impressive array of university and scholarship offers from post-secondary institutions in Canada and abroad, including:
King’s College London:
- English Literature
University of St. Andrews:
- English and Comparative Literature
University of Edinburgh:
- Linguistics and English Literature
University of Toronto:
- Victoria College: Arts and Science, Vic One Northrop Frye Stream: President’s Scholar of Excellence
- Victoria College: Arts and Science, Vic One Northrop Frye Stream
- Life Sciences
University of Waterloo:
- Mathematics (co-op and regular)
- Public Health
- Architectural Engineering
McMaster University:
- Civil Engineering
- Humanities
- Social Sciences
- Mathematics and Statistics Gateway
Queen’s University:
- Arts and Science: Principal’s Scholarship
- Computing;
Queen’s University, Bader International Study Centre, England
- Science
Western University:
- Social Science
- Medical Science
York University:
- Health Studies & Global Health
McGill University:
- Civil Engineering
- Arts and Science
Ryerson University:
- Business Management
- Journalism
University of Ottawa
- Public Relations.
Brock University
- Public Health
UBC:
- Civil Engineering; Arts and Science
We are also thrilled that yet another Abelard student, Lavan Balendran, has won a Schulich Leadership scholarship.
Our congratulations to these fine scholars, who we know will thrive in their post secondary education and be a credit to us and to their future schools.
The Abelard School 