Foremost School students will have altered Remembrance service

Remembrance Day is going to look a little different for students of Foremost School, due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

Students will not be meeting as a school at 11a.m, as they would on most years, but instead participating in individual classrooms, said Corey Steeves, principal of Foremost School.

“What we do have, we’ve been selling poppies, that the Legion brought in here at the school. And so that’s been happening for a little while,” said Steeves. “Then we have a virtual presentation. So one of our staff members is putting together a virtual PowerPoint presentation that all teachers will have. And then at 11 o’clock, the entire school will play that presentation that the staff member is putting together, and as part of that, the moment of silence will be built into that presentation and the Last Post, and all that. Basically putting together your typical traditional Remembrance Day ceremony. It’s just gonna happen in every individual class at 11 o’clock.”

Due to the nature of the presentation, the Foremost Branch of the Canadian Legion will not be attending as guest speakers, but Steeves hopes that the smaller groups will allow for deeper discussion between teachers and their students surrounding the occasion.

“I know, teachers will be prepared to discuss a little bit and talk a little bit about why we do it, and the importance and that type of thing. So although it’s not ideal, we’d love to be all together in the gym. It could be used as a learning tool as well, after the ceremony to talk about, okay. Because they’re in the class, they’re in that smaller setting. So I hope that ends up happening,” said Steeves. “It’s more important to have that conversation as well. As you know, we have fewer and fewer, you know, veterans here, I mean, that we get that we have the opportunity to speak to and learn from, that’s why it’s even more important to, to have that conversation with students and talk about the history.”

Many of the students have purchased and are already wearing poppies, said Steeves, despite the unusual circumstances.

“I know, in a typical year the Remembrance Day ceremony would be quite a thing, and there would be a partnership with the Legion,” said Steeves. “So it is, you know, with COVID, I think this will also work quite well. Students will still get, you know, that experience and, you know, have, there’ll be time to reflect.”