This plan is being developed on an ongoing basis based on the guidelines outlined by the Federal and Provincial Governments, the policies of our host venues, and the experience of our teachers who have been safely running performing arts programs for the past year. Last update: August 2021.
During this extremely unprecedented time we are aware that safety is your primary concern, and that many schools may choose to focus on keeping kids safe in their regular classroom settings, and may not want to concern themselves with additional programs just yet. That, of course, is something we completely understand. But for any schools wishing to find a way to continue to offer this program in the time of Covid19, whether that be in the fall of 2020, or not until our winter or spring session of 2021, this document will outline and explain our proposal as to how we could offer something safely for your school.
This plan is currently still being developed and is being based on the guidelines outlined by the Federal and Provincial Governments, the individual school board rules, and the experience of our teachers who have been safely running performing arts programs over the summer. We do expect to update this plan as new information becomes available and we welcome any feedback you may have.
Due to the requirements of physical distancing our Covid19 plan includes the use of gyms only. We will not run classes that involve multiple people singing in a small classroom or music room as it has been deemed one of the higher risk activities. But if a school can provide gym space to use for our practices, we can operate a class safely.
Even in a large space we will have to greatly reduce the number of children allowed in a class. The exact number can be negotiated with the school based on the size of the space but we would generally set that number to approximately 15 students.
In order to prevent the spread of the virus each program would only be available to one cohort at a time. Schools can choose which cohort to open the program up to but it is our suggestion that we start with the older students, who have proven in summer camps to be the most capable of following physical distancing rules and guidelines.
a) Working with whatever guidelines your school is specifically implementing we expect to implement one-way traffic flow to and from the gym for class. One gym door would only be for entering, anyone exiting to go to the bathroom would have to use a separate exit to prevent a build up of traffic near doors.
b) Spaces will be outlined on the floor for each student with a minimum of six feet of distance between each person. Separate markers may be placed for eating and performing and students would be expected to stay within their designated spaces during the class.
Students will be asked to wash hands both before and after class and teachers can provide hand sanitizer as well. Teachers will wipe down any physical distancing markers both before and after class in case they get touched by students.
Students will not be required to wear masks unless the school deems it necessary. Teachers will always have a mask on them but will not use them in class if they are able to teach from a proper distance. However, if teachers need to close the gap between themselves and a student (to hear them properly for example) masks will be used.
Performances would not be open to the full school or families. Instead we could potentially allow the rest of this group’s cohort to watch if deemed appropriate by the school, or we could simply record the performance and distribute the video to student’s families.
With so much time needed to ensure adequate safety guidelines are being followed we do not expect teachers to get through the same amount of material in a class. Instead, scripts will be shortened and performances reduced to a medley of a few songs from the show and potentially a few key lines to string them together. This still allows us to achieve our goal for this program which is having a fun while learning about the performing arts.
Additionally: