#1: Vision, Mission, Values & Strategy

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#2: Co-Curriculum & Learning Environments

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How Community Service Supports Students in Tough Times

Writing for Edutopia, High School Administrator Sean Cassel says, "giving struggling middle and high school students opportunities to help others may ease some of the stress they're feeling this year." Cassel shares some Covid-safe ways for students to help others:

• Host a monthly community service session where students make sandwiches for a local food kitchen that serves those in need.
• Have students spend time with the elderly from local nursing homes on virtual platforms.
• Have students package collected and donated food for local families.

#3: Academic Program

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Online learning could be here to stay as Ontario considers plans to offer it to all students post-pandemic

According to this article in The Toronto Star, "the Ontario government is looking at offering full-time, online learning to students in all grades — even after the pandemic is over, says a consultation report that has prompted an outcry from educators and critics." Critics are concerned the government is focused on reducing the cost of education instead of ensuring the quality of education and student wellbeing. It will be interesting to see if other provinces consider this approach too.

#4: School Leadership

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Managers And Executive Leaders, Want To Help Eradicate Burnout? Here's Expert Help

For this Forbes article, Rachel Montañez interviewed Jennifer Moss, the forthcoming author of The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It. In the interview, Moss cautions against using wellbeing strategies when preventive measures are necessary and stresses that organizations must recognize root causes of burnout. As well, she emphasizes that "all direct managers need to have a mental health 101 and understand where all of their support systems are inside the workplace."

#5: Human Resources

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How to Create an Inclusive Workplace [Diversity and Inclusion Employee Survey Template Included]

This TINYpulse blog post offers several factors to consider to build diversity in the workplace and increase employee engagement in the process, including a Diversity and Inclusion survey template. Designed to measure and monitor your organization's diversity and inclusion efforts, the template has ten questions that use a scale of 1-5 to rate how much participants agree with each statement and an open-ended qualitative feedback question: "What is one thing our organization can do to increase the inclusion of diverse people and ideas?"

#6: School & Community

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The #1 Reason Your Last Capital Campaign Struggled and How to Fix It

In this blog post, education marketing consultant Bart Caylor says, "a capital campaign is tough work you only commit to when the goal is mission-critical." Caylor lists eight mistakes and missed opportunities common in capital campaigns and offers solutions for each of them. A few of which are:

• Marketing and development didn't work closely together.
• Your capital campaign case statement didn't connect with your audience.
• Major donors were underacknowledged.
• Your audience didn't know how the money was being used in real time.
• There was no central hub where the public could learn about the capital campaign.

#7: Enrolment Management

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What Do We Want New Parents at Our School to Feel?

In this blog post, advancement consultant Barbara Barron stresses the importance of the first impression and how we want new parents to feel when first introduced to the school community. Barron recommends that schools use an "advancement lens" to gain this perspective: "seeing the big picture, the full arc of experiences our families will or can have at our schools from start to finish years from now". The post includes some prompts to get you started.

#8: Governance

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Ubiquitous Uniqueness: The (Almost) Impossible Task of Differentiating Your School

In this Volt article, Peter Ashley, Vice President for Communications and Marketing at Hanover College, provides a four-step guide to identifying your school's unique purpose, brand and value proposition:

1. Define your highest purpose as an organization
2. Identify emotional barriers
3. Select a desired emotional response
4. Develop a brand brief

Though the article is written for higher education institutions, Ashley's advice is relevant to independent schools.

#9: Finance

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CEOs 'far more confident' about economy

Writing for HR Reporter, Jim Wilson looks at a KPMG survey of Canada's CEOs which shows that after a year of the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Their confidence level in the three-year growth prospects for the Canadian economy has risen to 81%, up considerably from 48% six months ago.
• 84% of Canadian CEOs are making capital investments in new technologies that will drive stronger efficiencies and productivity.
• Just 17% of CEOS globally say they will downsize their company's physical footprint, compared to 69% of those surveyed in August 2020.
• 62% of Canadian CEOs say that they will continue to build on the use of digital collaboration and communication tools well beyond the pandemic.

If your school is offering summer camps, the article 10 Tips For Filling Up Summer Camp Registrations, Fast! is worth a read.

#10: Physical Plant, Health & Safety

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No immediate changes to physical distancing guidelines for Canadian schools, despite CDC shift

Recently, the CDC updated its guidance to say that only three feet of distancing is necessary in the classroom. However, according to CTV News, the Public Health Agency of Canada won't consider changing the recommended distance between students in classrooms until potentially "early summer 2021." At that time, the agency expects to update its COVID-19 guidance for K-12 based on the latest transmission and epidemiology data. In the article, CTV News' Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy said he believes maintaining the current guidance is prudent.

#11: Commitment to School Improvement

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As schools reopen, prioritizing student mental health can prevent 'twin-demic'

This Education Dive opinion piece is written by Dr. Scott Poland, a professor at the College of Psychology and director of the Suicide and Violence Prevention Office at Nova Southeastern University. Dr. Poland says that schools must take a proactive approach to student mental health and mitigate the risks of suicide and self-harm. Dr. Poland recommends that schools hire additional mental health staff or leverage community resources if this is not possible. As well, schools must talk openly about suicide.

#12: Boarding Program

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Entry Requirements for International Students returning to their home country

The Air Canada COVID hub has information to assist with travel plans. Everything you need to know about entry requirements, testing locations, flexible change and cancellation policies, service offering changes, biosafety measures, and more. Please remember that Travel and Entry requirements can change, and they can change often.