Thunder News Flash – June 12, 2021

We are all looking forward to June 15th, with the hope that an announcement will be made saying that we are moving to Step 2 of BC’s Restart Plan.  The possibility of being able to gather with friends and family, and travel throughout BC, is certainly exciting.  However, the Health & Safety Guidelines for schools have not been revised, and there are no plans to do this before the end of the school year.  So, even though things might be opening up in our communities, our school protocols will remain the same to the end of June.

As we all continue to grapple with the discovery that took place at the Kamloops Residential School, we have been provided with some resources to help further inform us by the Archdiocese of Vancouver.  To read a FAQ document, please click here.  In addition, Archbishop Miller was interviewed by CBC radio host Matt Galloway – to hear a recording of this interview, please click here and advance to about minute 23.  Finally, an interview with James Borkowski, by Gloria Macarenko, again on CBC, can be found by clicking here.

At school we will continue to pray for the children who were lost, as well as their family members, by praying a Novena as our daily morning prayer beginning on Wednesday, June 16th and ending on Tuesday, June 29th, our last day of school.

As you know, Neat Uniforms, our uniform supplier, has had to adapt and do things very differently this year.  Please click here to read their latest letter about purchasing uniforms for next school year; click here to see a promotional flyer about a bundling option that they have; and click here to see a poster about our school’s online focus week.  They are working very hard to meet all of your uniform needs under less than ideal circumstances, and we are confident that this will continue in the future.

Please note the following events will be taking place in June:

• Monday, June 14th – no school as our staff gathers for Planning Day to begin to get ready for next school year
• Friday, June 18th – Sports Day – please note that a snack and lunch will be provided by the school, and dismissal is at 12:15pm
• Friday, June 25th – Celebration of Gifts, the Grade 7 Farewell and an abbreviated version of Step Up Day – all taking place during the school day
• Monday, June 28th – Rag & Bag Day – students need to bring a rag to school to wash their desk and chair, as well as a large sturdy bag to bring home all of their belongings
• Tuesday, June 29th – the last day of school with dismissal at 11:30am

We are making a number of changes to our Celebration of Excellence this year, including changing our focus to celebrating all the gifts our students have.  After a review of scholarly articles related to school recognition programs, and the practices of other schools who are on the cutting edge of education, we believe that we need to move towards recognizing the gifts and talents of all of our students, including academic excellence, rather than trying to fit a small number of students into the subjective criteria of a few awards.  To align with the Redesigned BC Curriculum, our current assessment practices, as well as our school-wide belief system the 3 Be’s, all students in the school will be recognized at our Celebration of Gifts.  We need to realize that ALL students have gifts and talents that are deserving of recognition, and it is not our mandate to rank and sort students into winners and losers.  Life is hard in so many ways, and there are so many inequities in this world, so let’s choose to build our children up so that when they do have to face challenges in their lives, they will know that they have the strength to do so.  A wonderful video for parents to watch that highlights this message can be found by clicking here.  Not everyone will agree with this, and this is a topic that many schools are grappling with, but we do know that you will agree that all of our students are shining stars in their own unique way.

We are happy to let you know that this summer the Fraser Valley Regional Library will be holding their Summer Reading Club 2021.  This is a wonderful way to have your child keep up with their reading, and have some fun.  For more information and to register, please click here.

We are happy to let you know that we are going to be replacing our very old school roof, and the work will begin as soon as school is out for the summer.  Please note that if you stop by the school over the summer, there may be some areas close to the school where you are unable to walk, but these will be clearly marked and all safety precautions will be taken when work is happening at the school.  As you can imagine, this is a very expensive project for our school to be undertaking; however, we want to assure you that this will not impact the future of a new school in any way.  Instead, with the support of our Regional Education Committee and the Archdiocese of Vancouver, we will be fulfilling our responsibility to provide your children with an outstanding education in a building that is safe and dry.

Sports Day will be taking place on Friday, June 18th, rain or shine.  Here are some important details to be aware of:

• our theme for this year is Disney, with the students being divided into four colour groups – red (Mickey/Minnie Mouse); green (Goofy); blue (Donald/Daisy Duck); yellow (Pluto).  Students are encouraged to dress in either their team colour, or character, or a blend of both.  As this is a special day, face paint and temporary hair colour are perfectly acceptable.  However, please keep in mind that this is Sports Day, so the students need to be able to be active outside, regardless of what they are wearing.  Classroom Teachers will let the students and parents know which colour group each child is in
• a snack will be provided to all students – delicious Fuji applies provided by the Mah family will be washed and delivered to all students and staff at approximately 10:00am
• lunch will also be provided to students – each student will receive one or two hotdogs, depending on their grade, a juice box, a bag of chips and a treat bag.  Unfortunately we cannot provide an alternate lunch for students who cannot eat hotdogs – please send your child to school with a lunch on June 18th if they do not eat hotdogs
• please note that Sports Day will go ahead rain or shine.  If it is a sunny, hot day, please ensure that your children have a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water to drink.  If it is raining, we will still participate in our planned stations outside.  If it is an absolute downpour we have an alternate plan to keep the students active inside
• just a reminder that school dismissal time is 12:15pm
• unfortunately due to the current Health & Safety Guidelines we are unable to have parents and younger siblings watch and participate in our Sports Day, but we promise to take plenty of pictures, which will be posted on the school’s website and social media!

Due to the COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines, we are unable to have our Step Up Day as we usually do.  However, we know the value of this day and how it can ease the anxiety your child may be feeling about their next grade.  So instead of your children moving to their new classroom, which would require that we sanitize the desks and chairs before and after Step Up Day, we are going to have the teachers move to be with their future students.  The teachers will be able to share some things about next year, the students can ask questions, and there may even be an activity for them to participate in.  Step Up Day will take place in the afternoon on Friday, June 25th for students going into Grades 1 – 6.

The COVID-19 Planning Resource: Graduation is quite limiting in what can be done this year, and it applies to Grade 7 Farewell ceremonies as well.  To see the guidelines, please click here.  After speaking with the Grade 7 students, they feel very strongly that they would like to be together as a cohort, so the Grade 7 Farewell will take place at school on Friday, June 25th during the school day.  This event will be recorded and posted for parents to view later that day.  More information will be sent to the Grade 7 parents next week.

The final Work Bee of this school year takes place today, June 12th from 9:00am – 2:00pm.  Please come with your gloves for either inside or outside work, as well as any cordless gardening tools that can be used to clean up our large school yard.  As always, your hard work is most appreciated.

This is a reminder to please log all of your Parent Participation hours through the school’s portal.  This can be found on the website, or at the bottom of this News Flash.  There are a number of parents who have not yet logged hours for Work Bees as well as other tasks throughout the year.  Thank you to all the parents who have offered to help with the tasks that are required to make Sports Day a great day.  There may be further jobs where help is needed in the next two weeks, but these will be sent to parents via email instead of through the News Flash.  Please watch for these very important emails.

As you begin to plan your summer activities, why not show support for the companies that supported our Zumbathon.  If you are purchasing sporting goods or outdoor gear, why not consider buying them at Cabela’s or Canadian Tire; have fun at local attractions such as Castle Fun Park and Agrifair’s 2021 Drive In Event; support our local basketball team, The Abbotsford Bandits; shop at High Street stores like London Drugs, Purdy’s Chocolatier and Mucho Burrito; and check out some gymnastics classes at Splitz Gymnastics and STEM Summer Camps through Gearbots.  We are so grateful to all our donors!

The Province of BC has created a new Daily Health Check App for parents to use each morning to assess the health of their child before they head off to school.  This is a fun and interactive way to find out if you should stay home until you feel better, or get further health information by calling 811.  To use the Daily Health Check App on your desktop computer, please click here.  To download the app on your mobile device, please click here.

Parents are asked to complete a Daily Health Check of their children each morning before they come to school.  Please assess your child for the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Chills
• Cough or worsening of chronic cough
• Shortness of breath
• Loss of sense of smell or taste
• Diarrhea
• Nausea and vomiting

If your child has one of those symptoms, excluding fever, they should stay home for 24 hours from when the symptom started.  If the symptom improves, they may return to school when they feel well enough.  If the symptom persists or worsens, seek a health assessment.  If your child has two or more of the symptoms, or they have a fever, you should seek a health assessment for them.