Arthur E. Wright staff meet needs of students

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/05/2020 (2151 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and all in-school classes suspended, the staff at Arthur E. Wright Community School is certainly rising to the challenge, successfully teaching their students online.

Arthur E. Wright is a kindergarten to Grade 8 school in the Seven Oaks School Division with 533 students. At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the province closed all classrooms and asked for ‘an all-hands-on-deck approach’, appealing to parents, caregivers, principals, trustees and superintendents, by vowing that all schools would continue to teach the regular curriculum to students from their homes to keep them on track.

Teachers are working closely with students and their parents online, sending out lessons and providing ways for students to easily submit their assignments.

“Our staff has been incredible in meeting the needs of our students during this unprecedented global pandemic,” said principal Anna Mangano.

The school features Manitoba’s first Filipino bilingual program and it usually hosts several after-school youth activities.

One of the first initiatives the school division launched was to provide internet connections to students who did not have the service.

While it’s difficult to replicate school online, the staff of Arthur E. Wright is applying a long series of practical and creative ways to engage students. They stay in daily contact with kids and families through home visits, home materials drop-offs, phone calls, video chats, whole-class lessons, one-on-one teaching sessions, read aloud sessions, emails, some necessary meetings at school using proper distancing, and a fun project whereby students collected 500 photos of messages of hope designed by kids and posted in their home windows or yards.

No student will be held back due to COVID-19; however, students must actively engage in learning.

Mangano and her amazing staff continue to develop new ideas. They are planning a creative farewell for Grade 8 students, hope to plant their popular community spring garden and intend to complete the school’s Active Living Green Space project.

Derek Dabee is a member of the board of trustees of Seven Oaks School Division and a community correspondent for The Maples.