OTTAWA -- Students in Ottawa and eastern Ontario will be returning to class this week for in-person learning.

Schools in Ottawa will reopen on Monday for in-person learning, while students in both the Upper Canada District School Board and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario will return to school on Tuesday or Wednesday.

"I'm excited to see my friends and go back to school," said Allie Goulet on Saturday ahead of the return to school.

Monday will be the first time elementary and secondary schools have been open for in-person learning since the start of the Christmas break in December.

"We think it's safe, essentially," said parent Jennifer Stephenson on Saturday if she is worried about COVID-19 transmission in schools. "There's been no cases of it in their school at all."

"It's better than just sitting online and just look at a screen," said Samuel Stephenson about looking forward to going back to school.

The Ontario government announced schools in the following school boards will resume in-person learning this week

  • Ottawa Carleton District School Board
  • Ottawa Catholic School Board
  • Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario
  • Upper Canada District School Board
  • Conseil des ecoles catholiques du Centre-Est
  • Conseil des ecoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario
  • Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est Ontarien

CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at what parents and students need to know before schools reopen in Ottawa for in-person learning on Monday.

Daily Screening for COVID-19

Ottawa school boards remind parents and students to use the Ottawa Public Health Self-Screening Tool to check for symptoms before going to school.

Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms must stay home and follow public health directives about testing.

Secondary students will be required to confirm they have completed the daily self-assessment. (School boards will release more information about the procedure)

New mandatory mask policy at schools and on school buses

Students in Grades 1-3 will now be required to wear masks on school buses, in class and outdoors where physical distancing cannot be maintained.

All students in Grades 1 through 12 must wear a mask on buses and at school.

Kindergarten students are strongly encouraged to wear a mask.

Ottawa School Buses

All students from Grades 1 to 12 will be required to wear a mask on buses, and students in Kindergarten are recommended to wear a mask.

The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority says yellow school bus and van service for Kindergarten to Grade 12 students will resume on Monday. OC Transpo will resume service to all secondary schools in Ottawa on Monday.

Information on school bus delays and cancellations will be shared online.

"Right now it's all systems go," said Nancy Daigneault, Executive Director of School Bus Ontario.

"We’ve been sitting around waiting for the green light for a while now and we’re pleased to be getting the children back to school."

Daigneault adds while the mandatory masks for students in Grades 1 to 3 on buses is new, everything else will be the same.

"Everything else is going to be status quo, the same as it was in the fall."

Ottawa Carleton District School Board

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board says in-person learning will resume for all elementary and secondary school students on Feb. 1.

Secondary students will return to the in-person learning model used in the fall. The schedule will begin with Cohort A in-person on Monday. (The OCDSB says schools will provide more information)

Students in specialized program classes will return to the learning model they had selected in the fall.

Childcare and Extended Day Programs will be operating.

Ottawa Catholic School Board

The Ottawa Catholic School Board says elementary and secondary schools will reopen for in-person learning on Monday, Feb. 1.

Secondary students will receive notification from their school by Sunday evening about which Cohort they are in for semester two, which begins on Feb. 1. Secondary cohorts will continue to rotate one day of in-person learning followed by one-day of asynchronous learning at home.

Extended Day Programs will reopen on Monday at all locations that were open before the lockdown.

Conseil des ecoles catholiques du Centre-Est

All elementary and secondary schools in Ottawa will open for face-to-face learning on Monday.

A new self-screening confirmation procedure will be put in place at the school as of February 10 for students in grades 9 to 12.

Before and after school care will also resume on Monday.

Conseil des ecoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario

All elementary and secondary schools in Ottawa will resume in-person learning on Monday.

Before and after school care will be open starting Feb. 1.

Upper Canada District School Board

The Upper Canada District School Board says all elementary and secondary schools in the Eastern Ontario Health Unit jurisdiction will open for in-person learning on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Monday, Feb. 1 is a Ministry of Education approved Professional Activity Day for UCDSB staff, and there will be no school programs for students.

To confirm your school's opening date, visit the UCDSB website.

School bus transportation for all eligible students will resume in the Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry (SDG), Prescott-Russell and Cornwall areas on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. 

Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario

Elementary schools and all Grade 7 and 8 students in high schools: Schools will reopen on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

Secondary schools – Grades 9 to 12 and all special education programs: Schools will reopen to students on Wednesday, Feb. 3 with the beginning of quadmester three.

Transportation will resume to schools on the first day of classes.

For more information, visit the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario website.

Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est Ontarien

All elementary and secondary schools will be open starting Monday.