Our primary concern when creating class lists is to leverage our professional judgment to address individual and collective needs, as well as the spiritual, educational, and social needs of SJRH’s students. We take this task seriously and confer with each other regarding observations and experiences over the year with each child.
We have found ourselves in extraordinary circumstances since March 2020, and our students, staff, and families have persevered together through those challenges. It is important for parent partners to recognize in-person and remote students are in the care of a number of teachers throughout the day. We are blessed to have an effective and committed group of educators at St. Joseph – all of whom work collaboratively to deliver a challenging, supportive and inspiring program to our students across learning modalities.
From time to time, parents will contact the school with requests for a student to be with a friend or to be with a specific teacher. We also understand these requests may be more frequent as a result of the effects of the pandemic. While these requests seem straightforward, they are not. Our commitment to all students in our care is to provide them with opportunities to excel in a well-balanced class with an excellent teacher regardless of learning modality. When we attempt to address the request of one parent, we begin to compromise our ability to offer our best to our students as a whole as we consider the following: learning styles, academic abilities, social groupings, language needs, special education needs, balance of males and females, behavioural needs and previous placement in combined grades. While combined grades are a reality in many schools, especially in smaller schools such as ours, we do our best to create a balanced class.
We know you appreciate that creating the best and most functional class groupings possible is no easy task. Accepting parental requests is not in the best interest of all children in the school as it restricts school staff in creating what we consider the most ideal classroom groupings. For this reason, we will not be accepting parent requests for class placements.
Your understanding and cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s teacher or the school’s administration.