St. Bernadette Elementary School
Newsletter
November 18th, 2020
HIGHLIGHTS
• COVID-19 Update
• Maintaining proper health and safety
• 2021-2022 Admissions
• Lights of Hope
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE
• Nov. 24th – PJ Day for Covenant House
• Nov. 30th – Kindergarten Advent Assembly (streamed live on our YouTube Channel at 9:15am)
• Dec. 1st – Gr. 4 and 5 Mass
• Dec. 9th – Gr. 2 and 3 Mass
• Dec. 10th – Christmas Concert (posted on our YouTube Channel at 6pm)
• Dec. 14th – 18th – Spirit Week (TBA)
• Dec. 18th – Kindergarten and Gr. 1 Mass
• Dec. 18th – Early Dismissal (11:50 LG2 and LG4, 12pm LG1 and LG3)
• Dec. 18th – Reports go home
• Dec. 18th – Stingers club after school until 2:30pm. This is only for families who are registered for Stingers club and they must contact Sheila Vader prior to Dec. 18th to attend.
COVID-19 UPDATE
Dear Parent(s),
St. Bernadette School continues to adhere to and follow our health and safety plans. Ventilation, mask wearing, sanitation, physical distancing and health checks continue to be done in the school. Our success is defined by the compliance and willingness of everyone in our community to make sacrifices and attend to the multilayered approach of our plans.
COVID-19 is in our community. It is in our grocery stores, pharmacies, care homes, daycares and other places of business. To keep our staff, children and yourself safe, we must continue to make sacrifices to not gather (especially in each other’s homes), wear a mask whenever we are in public, maintain physical distance and live a healthy life. We can continue to keep our school a safe environment by being a caring and considerate community. We must shift from me to we. This is about all of us and we have to take care of each other. My sacrifices protect you and your child, your sacrifices protect the children in your child’s class and their teacher, the sacrifices of the teachers protect us all. COVID is not in our school, it is in the community and we must commit to a new normal to keep each other safe and healthy.
Currently, attendance is roughly 30% higher than it was at this time last year. This shows that our school is healthier on a whole and that our multilayered approach is working. This multilayered approach isn’t just for students, it also applies to parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. who are in the child’s bubble. Everyone must work together.
I am calling on families to continue to do the good work of wearing your mask on school property, to not gather in the parking lot, to refrain from carpooling when possible, to refrain from getting out of your car, and continue to do health checks each morning with your family. I want to encourage families in grade 3 to kindergarten to mainly use the school parking lot and drive thru area as your main pick up and drop off area. The parish parking lot is not designed to handle school traffic and we don’t have the authority to make changes or additions to the parish parking lot. The safest way to drop off and pick up your child is using our drive thru. It will add extra minutes to your routine (especially at pick up time), but it is the safest way to pick up and drop off your child. Only Kindergarten and Gr. 1 parents can accompany their child to the classroom. All other children can make their way to school on their own.
Finally, as the daily numbers increase, so does the pressure to close schools. We don’t know what the future holds. The staff is committed to pivoting to new learning models if and when the school must enter a new stage of instruction. Much like our preparation for the closure after Spring Break, staff have been troubleshooting and coming up with plans that will continue to meet the needs of the students. I am very proud of the work and commitment our staff has shown during this time. We are very fortunate to have a staff of such dedicated, diligent and prudent people who are very committed to the health and wellbeing of your child.
Many thanks to our families for their willingness to commit to the needs of the school community and the sacrifices you are making to keep everyone safe and healthy.
IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING PROPER HEALTH AND SAFETY
St. Bernadette’s believes strongly that a multilayered approach is essential to reducing risk at our school. We have identified 4 areas that will keep everyone safe:
1. Physical distancing – it is especially important that adults maintain physical distancing from each other and other children, especially when on school property. Children must maintain physical distancing from other students outside of their Learning Group. Families should not be getting together and students should not be having playdates.
2. Masks – Mask wearing is mandatory for visitors and adults while on school property. Masks must be worn properly and have a minimum of 2 layers of protection. Students are encouraged to wear a mask as much as possible throughout the day. Teachers will suggest to students they should put on their mask if physical distancing cannot be maintained. We continue to have great compliance with mask wearing in the school.
3. Washing Hands – Children will wash their hands anywhere from 6 – 10+ times per day. Every time a student transitions, they will wash their hands. Students should wash their hands prior to leaving their house.
4. Health Checks and testing – Ensuring we are healthy on a daily basis is very important. Families have shown excellent compliance thus far. If a child is unwell, they cannot return to school until they are well again and symptoms have subsided. If your child is unwell and has COVID like symptoms, you must call 811 and they will give you further guidance.
With everyone in our community working together and adhering to these 4 layers of protection, we can keep each other safe and healthy as we head into the winter months.
2021-2022 ADMISSIONS
Admission to our school are stagnate at the moment. Trying to advertise and reach new families is very difficult during this time. Currently we have 8 new families applying for kindergarten and we are hoping for another 11 more. Your support in a word of mouth campaign would be greatly appreciated as our usual venues for reaching new families is not possible this year. Having good numbers in our primary grades allows us to continue to be self-sustainable and affordable. Thank you for your support and help in letting families know about our school and how to apply.
LIGHTS OF HOPE
Our Lights of Hope campaign has begun. This year we are doing things a little different to ensure everyone’s safety. Instead of each student getting prayer cards to sell, donations can be made through the parish’s online platform similar to our Walkathon. Christmas light bulbs can be purchased for $5.00 each and represents your prayer intention. Students do not have to keep track of their sales as there is no minimum or maximum for how much you are to sell. Tax receipts will not be provided for this fundraiser. Please ensure that your billing address matches that on your credit card or the payment will not go through. All we ask is that you please participate in this event to your best ability and support it in the best way you can.
Here are the steps:
1) To donate go to: https://www.stbernadette.ca/donate
2) Select or type in the amount you’d like to donate
3) Select Designation: P93 School Lights of Hope
4) Type in your prayer intentions in the comment box
We would like to thank the families who have stepped forward to help with the Christmas light decorating for our Lights of Hope event. We currently have enough people helping and so grateful for the response from the community.
This might be our last major fundraiser for the year. All proceeds will go towards a last push to get the much needed Chromebooks in the hands of our students. We are very close to our goal and we hope to reach it though this fundraiser.
Thank you again for all your support in this meaningful and blessed event!
GOOGLE REVIEWS
The school relies on positive social media presence to help celebrate our school and to attract families to our community who will benefit from a Catholic education. To help foster this presence, Ms. Jed Molina runs all of our social media sites. We share student work, classroom activities, major events, extra-curricular events and fun photos we think the wider community will enjoy.
Our presence on Google took a hit when two erroneous reviews were given by what was believed to be bots. These reviews had nothing to do with the school and hurt our rating. As much as we tried to remove the reviews, they are still there. Our best effort to reduce the impact false reviews have on our school is to increase the amount of reviews we have.