Dear parents and friends,
First of all, we hope you and your families remain safe and healthy. We wish to assure you, that during this difficult time, École Socrates-Démosthène and the Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal remain by your side as we are doing our utmost to provide educational services to your children in our new reality.
Youth, your children, our students, have been especially affected by the situation, trying to come to grips with it. Our teachers and educators, also confined to their homes, are fully aware and are committed to providing educational services, understanding and compassion to their students to the best of their ability. They have been receiving training and guidance from experts on distance education and virtual classes.
In addition, you have at your disposal the Ministry of Education’s, L’École ouverte, on the web, where you can choose from thousands of resources to learn, create and have fun with your children.
For those that might not be aware, our School is now part of a new radio show Ta Molivia Ston Aera on MikeFM 101.5. Thanks to an incredible collaborative effort by HCGM, our Greek teachers and our students and their families, every Wednesday from 12:00-1:00 pm, we can all witness and hear first-hand what makes our School, and particularly our students, so special. The topic this week will be olive oil and the week after it will be about Easter.
With the approaching of Easter, we believe it is important for everyone to celebrate this occasion. Therefore, please take note that there will be no educational services offered on Catholic and Orthodox Holy Fridays and on both Easter Mondays. During Orthodox Holy Week, April 14-16, our School will be offering only limited educational services.
We would like to remind you that the Ministry of Education (MEES) has ordered schools across Quebec closed until at least the 1st of May because of COVID-19. All Socrates-Démosthène campuses will remain closed during this time as our administrators and faculty are required to work from home.
Faculty has been instructed to use every possible tool at their disposal to educate and communicate. Please keep in mind that no evaluations will be conducted during the school closure. Our School encourages all its students, with the help of their parents, to follow along to the best of their capacity and capability.
Should schools not re-open this year, our students’ final evaluation will be based on the first two completed terms. All ministerial exams have been cancelled for this year. MEES has made it clear that there is no possibility of extending the school year.
Most special activities and outings have also been cancelled until the rest of the school year. We are still hopeful to be able to stage our grade 6 graduation gala in June as well as the grade 6 and high school trips to Greece. These three activities will be reassessed in due time.
As for the school uniform for next year, our new supplier, Maison d’Uniformes Lemira, has informed us that if fitting trials cannot be conducted in the campuses as planned (because of a possible prolonged closure), exceptionally, all orders will have to be done on line.
Meantime, please note that every campus has been completely disinfected and will remain so until students and staff return. In addition and until further notice, we have been instructed by MEES not to open campuses to allow anyone to pick up anything.
Most importantly, we urge our students and their families to respect the health guidelines against COVID-19 we have been receiving and together we will get through this.
The director general, Chris Adamopoulos
#Ça va bien aller
