Ottawa-Carleton Education Network

At the end of April, six weeks into our quarantine period, a call went out to our international students asking them to share their special talents and participate in an OCENET-sponsored “QuarantArt Contest”.

With the extended closure of schools and board facilities as a result of the governmental response to COVID-19 which began in March, students and teachers at YPLS, like those everywhere in the province were forced to adapt as programming moved online.

In mid-January, OCENET welcomed the fifth cohort of the Osaka Gakugei Ottawa Program (OGOP).  This group, consisting of 25 Grade 11 students, spent their first two weeks in Ottawa at YPLS before being placed at Bell, Brookfield, Glebe, Gloucester, Ridgemont, and Woodroffe high schools.

OCENET has recently taken the opportunity to focus on past programs in teacher training for visiting international colleagues. Having had regular programs delivered in the past for educators from Spain, South Korea, China, Sweden...

During the pandemic, three international students from Gloucester High School, one who stayed in Ottawa, one who returned home, and one who recently graduated

The Lynch-Getty Global Student Award is presented annually to four students attending school in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board – this award is intended for both Canadian residents as well as international students attending the OCDSB.

There is an exciting new project happening at Castor Valley ES. The aim is to develop a long-term and sustainable relationship between Castor Valley students and staff and their counterparts at Shuanglin Primary School in Chengdu, China.

77 students from 20 secondary schools received the OCDSB International Certificate. Students were not able to participate in the usual annual ceremony for ICP graduates. All grads received a “special 2020 edition” ICP travel mug.

March 16th is the day life as I knew it changed. My manager texted me not to come into the office: the OCENET staff would be working from home during COVID-19.