It seems that students at Abbotsford’s Mennonite Educational Institute will return to class soon, but not in the traditional way.
Vijay Manuel, MEI’s head of schools, posted a note today (March 20) stating that a virtual classroom is coming to MEI students.
In the note, he states that school officials and teachers have been working throughout the current break on a transition from in-class education to a different method of instruction.
The private school hopes to reveal the full details of what is planned on April 2.
Here is the notice posted on Manuel’s blog:
Dear MEI Families,
MEI IS OPEN FOR LEARNING - JUST NOT IN OUR PHYSICAL BUILDING
The MEI Team is working hard to prepare for a new way of instruction to be implemented as mandated by the B.C. Ministry of Education. The learning will continue!
Over the break, your principals, vice principals, and team leaders at the schools level are working together to begin planning for the transition from in-class education to a new model of delivering instruction and assessing learning: “MEI Virtual Classroom” is our working concept.
These school leaders (principals, vice principals, and team leaders) will engage our teachers starting on Monday, March 30th along with other teachers across the province, who will receive training for this new way of delivering instruction. Once plans have been finalized, I will have an update for you on Thursday, April 2nd that will lay out how we will move forward together as a school community.
MEI is a unique place of learning for many wonderful reasons and I want you to know that we are going to continue to be a highly relational learning environment focussed on excellence in all we do. Most importantly, we are a community that teaches from the Bible and follows Jesus; we will continue to lead our children to God within this new reality.
With such a rapidly changing landscape around us, we all have a multitude of questions swirling in our minds, likely new ones each day. I’m asking you to be patient. We are working to provide the best education possible for our students within this new reality and will communicate often in the coming weeks as we receive information.
Finally, I thank you for your trust, confidence, and in countless cases, encouragement!
God bless you,
Vijay Manuel
Head of MEI Schools