Saturday classes at Moncton's Harrison Trimble High School aim to fill pandemic learning gaps
For some Moncton students, the school week is expanding by one extra day.
Recovering from pandemic academic disruption is requiring some extraordinary measures, like sacrificing part of a weekend to make up for lost time.
Some Harrison Trimble High School students are going to school on Saturday, then again on Jan. 14 and and 21 to prepare for exams.
Gary Wilson, the principal at Harrison Trimble, said between 30 and 40 students will be attending. He said half will be there because teachers strongly suggested their parents send them. The other half wanted the extra time.
"They want some quiet, they want some some help," Wilson told Information Morning Moncton.
Wilson said COVID closures have created challenges for students, not only in his district but worldwide. The gaps, he said, vary from student to student, depending on how much time their parents had to help and how accessible they found online learning.
What Saturday school will look like
Wilson said the day will be different depending on students' needs.
It will start at 8:30 a.m., with a free breakfast for all students. Then at 9, teachers will divide the the students according to their grade level and which subjects they want to review.
"We're going to try to tailor it as much as we can," he said.
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Wilson said 15 teachers volunteered to take part, but the school needs only eight.
"Those teachers will gather ... three to five students and then they'll head out to one of their classrooms," he said.
The school is also relying on technology such as video and online notes for the students who may want more help but can't get to the Saturday classes, Wilson said.
The goal is not only to review material that may have been missed, but also to prepare students for the adult world, where deadlines and online communication are always present.
"The pandemic has caused some gaps in learning through no fault of their own. But not only do we have to close those gaps, what we have to do is, we have to make students more self-reliant learners," Wilson said.
"We know that time is the number one factor in helping students learn. Having a smaller group is certainly going to help."
