Campus Operations During the Provincial Shutdown

Posted January 7, 2021

As we approach the beginning of the winter semester on Monday, January 11, Heritage College & Seminary wanted to provide more details surrounding campus operations, student services and how the school will operate while under the ongoing provincial shutdown.

Heritage continues to prioritize the safety and health of our community of as we continue to equip men and women for life and ministry. As a result, we have established new guidelines for the campus that will be in place for the remainder of the shutdown – scheduled to end on Saturday, January 23.

All winter semester classes will begin through online delivery

In keeping with the requirements of the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities, all college classes for the winter semester will start online until the scheduled end of the 28-day lockdown period. For more information, please see our update from December 21, 2020.

The Heritage Community Centre

The Heritage Community Centre will be open for regular hours starting January 10, 2021. During the time of the Shutdown, furniture has been rearranged and room capacities have been adjusted in order to provide a safe space for students to use as they begin their studies this semester.

Students are asked that all furniture within the Heritage Community Centre remain in the places they have been placed and are not to be moved.  

• Student Centre: New Capacity – 10 People

  • This area will now include the main sitting area of the Student Centre and the seating located in the hallway leading to the Chapel.
  • The Pool Table will be available to use but will be limited to games between two people.
  • The Ping Pong Table has now been relocated to the Gym and will also be limited to games between two people.

• Desks Overlooking the Gym – New Capacity – 6 People

  • Six, physically distanced spaces have been designated for studying purposes.

• The Bean: New Capacity – 10 People

  • The Bean will remain open during the provincial shutdown.
  • The booths located in the Bean will be limited to two people, one person on each bench.

• Chapel: New Capacity – 10 People

  • The space can be used for personal study and practice space for Music & Worship Studies students.
  • The Prayer Room will also remain open with a room capacity of 2 people.

• Cafeteria & Gym

  • Seating options will be available for students in both the Cafeteria and the Gym.
  • When the Gym is being used for dining, the capacity of the space will be 30 people.
  • The Gym will have a maximum capacity of 10 people when not being used during meals. There will be no team sports in the Gym during the time of the Shutdown.

• Fitness Centre

  • The Fitness Centre will continue to be closed during the shutdown.

• Recording Studio – New Capacity – 6 People

  • There will be a limit of only two people inside each room in the Studio.
  • If you are singing, the vocalist must be the only one in the room and can only use one of the tracking rooms.

Academic Building

• Bookstore

  • The Heritage Bookstore will be open for limited hours during the month of January and students are encouraged to order their textbooks through the online bookstore and select the “Pick-up at Bookstore” option.

• Library

  • The Heritage Library will be open to enrolled students, staff, and faculty from Monday to Thursday from 11:30am to 4:30pm and 6:30pm to 9:30pm, Friday from 11:30am to 4:30pm, and Saturday from 11:00am to 2:00pm.

Off-Campus Students

• Off-Campus College students are welcome to continue to use the Student Centre and Library over the course of the shutdown while abiding by all of the campus protocols and new room capacities.
• Seminary students will still be allowed access to the Heritage Library with their provided Heritage access card. Students are encouraged to contact our Administrative Office to receive an access card at admin@heritagecs.edu.

 All protocols will continue to be in effect

• As the winter semester begins, all campus protocols will remain active, including:
  • You must wear an appropriately fitting mask inside of all campus buildings, with the exception of your residence room.
  • You must swipe in and out of all campus buildings using the swipe card issued by the main office. When you use the swipe card, you are confirming that you are feeling well and are not displaying any of the common symptoms of COVID-19. Please use the Ontario COVID-19 Self-Assessment found at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment/.
  • You must sanitize your hands when you enter and leave all campus buildings and keep a physical distance of 6 feet or 2 metres.
  • Learn more about the Province-wide Shutdown at https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-provincewide-shutdown.

We are looking forward to welcoming our students back to Heritage for the winter semester. We are praying that as we begin this semester online that God will continue to teach and equip our college and seminary students through all they learn this semester.