| St. Bernadette Elementary School Newsletter September 16th, 2020 |
| HIGHLIGHTS • Remind App • Parent Participation • PEC Elections • Masks • Stingers Club Phone Number and Drop Off/Pick Up Routine CALENDAR • Thursday Sept. 24th – Meet the Teacher Night via Zoom • Monday Sept. 29th – Orange Shirt Day (non-uniform) • Tuesday Sept. 30th – Picture Day |
REMIND APP
The school will now be exclusively using the Remind App to communicate urgent messages with parents. The app is to be downloaded on your phone and you are to enter in the code provided by your classroom teacher. You can go to https://www.remind.com to download the app or to access it on the web.
Unfortunately parent participation is going to look and feel very different this year and we are unable to move forward with classroom representatives. However, we believe that this app will allow for urgent messages like school closures (snow days, etc.), classroom reminders and other information to reach you in an appropriate and timely fashion.
If you have not already received a document from your teacher about the app, you should receive one by the end of the week.
Please use the following link to join your grade:
Kinder – rmd.at/kstb1101
Grade 1 – rmd.at/gr1stb
Grade 2 – rmd.at/gr2stb
Grade 3 – rmd.at/gr3stb
Grade 4 – rmd.at/gr4stb
Grade 5 – rmd.at/gr5stb
Grade 6 – rmd.at/gr6stb
Grade 7 – rmd.at/gr7stb
PARENT PARTICIPATION
The Stage 2 restart plan for schools has made it very difficult to incorporate the physical presence of parents into the school. We have always believed that parent involvement, an inalienable piece to education, is crucial for a child’s development. However, we also must adhere to the parameters that will keep children safe and healthy. This means that we had to cancel the vast majority of our parent participation program. There are three areas that still require parent participation: Parish Education Committee (PEC), Supervision and Maintenance.
A call went out from the PEC at our webinar in August asking for volunteers to fill positions for parking lot supervision. Although we had a couple of responses, it is not enough to keep your children safe and to keep the flow of traffic as good as it is now. The PEC has graciously stepped into the role of supervisors, but this cannot continue to the rest of the year.
Therefore, it has been decided that every family will need to complete 2 parking lot supervision shifts from now to Dec. 18th, 2 shifts between Jan. 4th and March 31st, and 2 shifts between April 1st and June 23rd. Although these shifts will amount to a few hours of participation, they will replace the required 40hrs of parent participation. The $800 non-participation fee is still in effect and will be cashed if a family does not fulfill its supervision duties. Those families who have opted out of the parent participation program and wish to opt back in should contact Camille at participation@stbernadette.ca.
The health and safety of your child is very important to us. Soon you will receive notification from Camille with further information on how to select your preferred time and other pertinent information.
PEC ELECTIONS
The PEC is seeking nominations for the 2020-2021 school year. If you are interested in joining the PEC this year, please contact pec@stbernadette.ca prior to September 25th, 2020.
MASKS
We highly recommend that everyone in K-7 wear a mask while indoors. We understand that some students are unable to wear a mask or are unwilling to do so. For those students who are able and willing to wear a mask, we ask them to do so while indoors and traveling inside of the school. Time spent outside is a break from wearing a mask.
Families should provide children with a case or bag to hold their mask. These cases/bags need to be breathable and not retain moisture. The CCDC recommends a paper bag for storage. What is important is that students have a place to put their mask when not in use. Another option is to purchase a lanyard so the mask hangs from their neck while not in use.
We were notified over the weekend that the order of reusable masks from the government were once again being delayed. In lieu, the government has sent us disposable child size masks to be used until the such time the shipment arrives. Currently we have approximately 1200 disposable masks in the school and children who don’t have a mask or forgot their mask can ask for a disposable mask. The custom masks we have ordered will be arriving by the end of next week.
Children can wear any mask they want. We have also made an order for a third mask for children that should arrive in the next 10 days.
STINGERS CLUB PHONE NUMBER AND DROP OFF/PICK UP ROUTINES
This is a reminder that if you are late for pick up, your child will be brought down to Stingers Club. To pick your child up, please call 236-518-6402. This will put you in direct contact with the coordinator so you can pick up your child.
If you arrive to school and it is dark out or pouring rain, you may drive up to the doors by the gym to pick up your child. Please drive the same as if you were at the end of a cul-de-sac.
REMINDERS
AT HOME SCREENING PROCESS
Every family must do an at home screening to ensure their child is healthy and is able to attend school. There is a form that you are to use as a checklist to ensure that you have check for all symptoms. We suggest downloading the form above, printing it and posting it somewhere visible in your house.
STINGERS CLUB PAD FORM AND REGISTRATION
You should have received an email about registration for our Stingers Activity Club (before and after school care program).
All registration forms need to be sent to stingersclub@stbernadette.ca prior to their first day in the club.
If you are unable to fill it out online, please send it with your child prior to their first day in the club.
Furthermore, please remember to send the Pre-Authorized Debit form in with your registration. Both the PAD form and registration can be downloaded from this newsletter (please see below).
REMINDER OF LEARNING GROUPS AND STAGGERED START/END TIMES
We would like to remind you that September 10th is a half day. Your child’s LG and their start and end times are as follows:
LG1 – Kindergarten and Grade 1
LG2 – Grade 2 and Grade 3
LG3 – Grade 4 and Grade 5.
LG4 – Grade 6 and Grade 7
School Start
8:45am – LG2 – enter through the doors by the gym
8:45am – LG4 – enter directly into their classroom
8:55am – LG1 – enter through outside classroom doors facing the church
8:55am – LG3 – Grade 5 – enter directly into the grade 5 class
9:05am – LG3 – Grade 4 – enter through the doors by the gym
Sept. 10th – Half Day School dismissal
11:50pm – LG2 – exit through the doors by the gym
11:50pm – LG4 – exit directly out of their classroom
12:00pm – LG1 – exit through outside classroom doors facing the church
12:00pm – LG3 – Grade 5 – exit directly out of the grade 5 class
12:10pm – LG3 – Grade 4 – exit through the doors by the gym
Sept. 11th – Regular dismissal
School dismissal (except Wednesdays – see below)
2:50pm – LG2 – exit through the doors by the gym
2:50pm – LG4 – exit directly out of their classroom
3:00pm – LG1 – exit through outside classroom doors facing the church
3:00pm – LG3 – Grade 5 – exit directly out of the grade 5 class
3:10pm – LG3 – Grade 4 – exit through the doors by the gym
Wednesday School dismissal
2:05pm – LG2 – exit through the doors by the gym
2:05pm – LG4 – exit directly out of their classroom
2:15pm – LG1 – exit through the doors by the gym
2:15pm – LG3 – Grade 5 – exit directly out of the grade 5 class
2:25pm – LG3 – Grade 4 – exit through the doors by the gym