When high school students return to in-person learning next month, they will be taking only two courses at a time for 10 weeks each.
This is just one of the measures the Surrey School District says it plans to take to help keep students and staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a video message posted Tuesday, Surrey Superintendent Jordan Tinney said the students will be divided into Grades 8 and 9 and then Grades 10 to 12. Learning groups for the junior grades will be capped at 60 and the older grades will be capped at 30.
Senior students will do their morning class face to face but Tinney said they will only come in for their afternoon class one day a week and the rest of the afternoons will be online.
The junior grades will only have face-to-face classes.
“Our model keeps cohorts small and takes advantage of blended learning to make sure our students on the Graduation Program get the courses that they have selected and need,” Tinney said in the video.
Schools will also have staggered start, break, lunch and end times to make sure students don’t arrive or leave at the same time.
The plan still has to go to the Ministry of Education for approval.
Details for Surrey’s elementary schools are expected to be released next week.
The final plans for both elementary and secondary will be posted on the Surrey Schools website by Aug. 26.
Some teachers have expressed concern, however, with back-to-school plans, saying they need more time to get everything ready for students.
“We need two weeks. In order to adapt to this new reality, we needed two weeks,” Surrey teacher Lizanne Foster told Global News Tuesday.
The start of the school year in B.C. has been pushed back two days to Sept. 10.