September 29th 2022
Today, Sept 29th we have come to school dressed in orange, to recognize and honour our Residential School Survivors, and act in a manner that promotes remembrance of this dark history of our past. Across Canada we will continue the work towards building reconciliation. Residential schools are a part of our Canadian history that requires a humanistic understanding that runs deeper than seeing it as a fact on a time line, or a bump in our past. It requires us to develop a level of understanding that will enable us to see this act for what it was, so that we can start to move forward with understanding equality and social justice. It is about honouring the voices and stories of the past.
“Reconciliation will be about ensuring everything we do today will be aimed at a high standard to restore the balance of the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples”.
Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake in 2013. It grew out of one survivor’s account of having her shiny new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school at the Mission, and it has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools happening annually. The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools. It is also an opportunity to set the stage for the coming school year as we look to implement new curriculum material about residential schools and reconciliation. Orange Shirt Day is also an opportunity for First Nations, local governments, schools and communities to come together in the spirit of reconciliation and hope for generations of children to come.
I have added the link above to some information and resources put together by our district team. Please visit the link and talk with your children about what they experienced today during our assembly today to recognize tomorrow’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We have also asked each class today to think about an “action” for reconciliation. What work are we going to commit to doing to bring about positive change?
Tomorrow is about honouring and remembering the stories of the past, and recognizing nationally the work we must commit to doing. Every child matters, and every voice needs to be heard.
Please join us today and tomorrow in wearing orange to show your dedication to truth and reconciliation as we work together to towards a better Canada.
- Harvest soup harvesting day
- Immunization Day (grade 6)
- Harvest soup chopping day 8:30am-1pm
- Fire Drill 12:10pm
- Staff Meeting 2:45pm
- Harvest soup 8:30am-1pm (in the gym)
Sept 26th PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY
On Monday the staff took the day to learn together. It is important to us that we work towards individualizing education for each of the children in our classrooms. To do that we work hard to take advantage of the time we have with our colleagues to collaborate, learn together, and plan. This month we looked deeper, together, into the premise of making learning visible. Here are some of the resources we shared and discussed on Monday that might also be useful tools at home. Contact your child's teacher if you are interested in learning more about this.
"Making Learning Visible has a goal to create and sustain powerful cultures of learning in classrooms and across schools that nurture individual and group learning. Though the project focuses on using documentation as a central pillar of group learning, MLV is ultimately a project about democracy. By learning in groups, we also learn about the cultures and values of others. By seeing how these unique perspectives influence the learning process, we gain a greater understanding of what we learn as well as each other."
Fire Prevention Week 2022 is just around the corner!
Did you know today's homes burn faster than ever. You may have as little as two minutes (or even less time) to safely escape a home fire from the time the smoke alarm sounds. Your ability to get out of a home during a fire depends on early warning from smoke alarms and advance planning.
This year, Fire Prevention Week runs from October 9 to 15 and the theme is “Fire won't wait. Plan your escape". The campaign aims to educate children and families about home fire escape plans;
- Forms (G-Suite permission, Walking Field Trip, Media Consent, Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation) to fill in for your child as required by the school district;
- Indigenous ancestry self identification forms
- Agendas (K to grade 5)
- All students who seek bus transportation are now required to register annually to receive a bus pass and to have a bus seat allocated to them. We encourage you to review District Policy 806 for more information about your child’s eligibility for school bus transportation. Here is the the registration form to register your child(ren) for the bus.
- Passes have been issued to all eligible students who have registered to ride the bus for the 2022/2023 school year (lanyards have been ordered and will be distributed asap).
- Go to the App Store or Google Play and search for “School News by Edlio” to install.
- Open the app and search for the school; tap “Add School.” If you have kids in other Edlio-powered schools, add them to the app too.
- Enable push notification by going to the Alerts tab and tapping “Enable Notifications.”
Indigenous Education Brochure
Universal Precautions
Dogs on School Grounds
- In the first few weeks of school we have lots of new little faces joining our school community. Many of our new small humans may be nervous around dogs. It is important that all dogs on school grounds be accompanied by an adult and be on a leash. We also ask that individuals bringing their dogs to drop off and pick up be mindful of the kindergarten entrance and try not to bring dogs into where the students are lining up and listening to morning instructions.
- When dropping off or picking up in the bus loop parents must remain IN THEIR CARS at all times. This means no helping little ones with seatbelts, backpacks, or walking them to their classrooms. It is integral for safety that while in the bus loop the driver is always in the vehicle and behind the wheel.
- Parking in the bus loop is also prohibited. This is a quick drop off or pick up area. If you need to park please continue to the parking lot to do so.
- Children are walking through the parking lot all the time, please slow down to ensure safety.