Ottawa French Catholic school board piloting four-day week at two schools
Elementary students at two Ottawa French Catholic schools will soon have the option to go to school four days a week.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est has announced plans for a four-day school week pilot-project this fall, becoming the first school board in Ontario to offer families a shortened school week schedule.
Parents of students at École élémentaire catholique l’Étoile-de-l’Est in Orleans and École élémentaire catholique Saint-Rémi in Kanata will be allowed to opt-in to a four-day school week.
Students enrolled in the four-day school week would begin classes one week earlier than students attending classes five days a week and the school year would end three days later than the typical school year. Each school day would last an additional 38 minutes compared to students attending classes five days a week.
"Well-being is one of the CECCE’s core values; this initiative aims to support the well-being of students, their families and staff, and to foster school-life balance," the CECCE said in a statement.
"The CECCE believes this pilot project can benefit students and staff in many ways. For example, it will enable them to spend quality time with family, focus on their passions, participate in recreational activities, go to appointments, pursue their studies, engage in personal projects or simply rest."
The CECCE's director of education says a four-day school week has been studied with examples of other schools in the United States and Europe.
"They were very appreciated by the community, it allowed for better life-school-work balance," Marc Bertrand said.
"It also had other important impacts, such as increasing attendance whether it be for students and staff, a lot of them were being able to take appointments or participate in sports activities on that day off."
Bertrand says the four-day school week is also an opportunity to attract education professionals to its schools.
“A lot of companies and corporations are offering a compressed work week to their staff, as well as municipalities that have taken this position as of lately."
Parent Eric Brière, a member of the CECCE parent council, says he will have to discuss a possible 4-day school week with his girls and spouse.
"Definitely, some parents in the school will want to benefit from it, especially families who have a lot of hockey tournaments throughout the year and they’re already missing a lot of school," Brière said.
"One of our concerns for the parents council was that this was not imposed but I think for some families this will fit very well within their schedules and will allow kids to do something else on a Friday.”
Student participation in the four-day school week will be voluntary, and families whose children attend the schools can decide if they want to enrol in the four-day pilot project or stay with the conventional five-day school week.
The CECCE is hosting information sessions for parents on March 27 at 6:30 p.m.
"Our next step is to ask families that are interested and we’ll look at that data and decide how many grade levels we can offer it at and how many groups we’ll have. We could have two thirds of the community but we could also have none in a certain grade," Bertrand said.
"The objective down the road is to possibly expand it to other schools - elementary or even secondary."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.
Significant police presence as Israeli flag flies at Ottawa City Hall
The Israeli flag is flying at Ottawa City Hall today to mark the country's national day, with plans to hold a private ceremony to mark Israel's Independence Day. There is a significant police presence at City Hall, including security barriers outside the main doors.