Thunder News Flash – January 22, 2022

With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, it is even more important to do the following:

• complete a daily health check with your child – click here to see the most up-to-date information regarding this
• monitor your children regularly for symptoms of illness – if they are sick, they should stay home.  Please click here for information about testing for COVID-19
• follow all of the provincial restrictions that are currently in place – please click here for the latest information
• ensure your children are wearing a mask when they enter the school each morning, unless exempt
• seek reputable sources of information about COVID-19, such as the BCCDC, including how to protect yourself, your family and your community, and what to do if you suspect you have the virus by clicking here

While we all continue to navigate through routines that are disrupted and changes that seem to come up daily, let’s also remember to be kind to each other and offer assistance to those who need help during these challenging times.

As you know, the weather in the Lower Mainland is very unpredictable, and very challenging to forecast.  The winter months can bring sun, rain and snow, all on the same day.  As a school we do our best to ensure the safety of our staff and school families by closing the school when the driving conditions are hazardous.  However, we know that the road conditions can improve quickly, and sometimes the commute at 9:00am can be very different than it was at 6:00am.  For a high school it is much easier to pivot and have a late start, rather than closing for the entire day.  After consulting with some school parents and staff members, as well as the Principals of the CISVA schools in the Fraser Valley, we have decided that our snow day procedures will remain as they currently are.  If the school is closed due to snow and the road conditions, the school will be closed for the entire day.  We thank you for your understanding as we continue to do what we believe is in the best interest of all of our staff, students and parents.

On January 8th an email was sent to families to introduce you to a new mental health program that all CISVA schools are using, called Open Parachute. As we know, this pandemic has had quite an effect on many people, children included.  Mental health concerns have increased as the time spent away from family and friends has left many people feeling isolated and lonely. The staff were introduced to Open Parachute in the fall, and have spent some time getting themselves familiar with this resource.  This month, teachers have introduced this video-based program to their students, approximately once a week.  The email that was sent on January 8th included an introductory letter to parents as well as a pamphlet with information and a link to the parent portal where you can explore the parent lessons and use them at home, should you choose to.  

While Open Parachute is a secular program, teachers can easily make many connections to our faith as topics such as feelings, friendships and standing up for what we know is right are explored.  There are often explicit faith connections included in the lessons, such as in a lesson about friendships where a question is asked about identifying the qualities that God has that would make Him a good friend.  Not all of the lessons are complete in this program as it continues to evolve over time, but we want to assure you that lessons have been reviewed by our Superintendent’s Office to ensure that they are appropriate, and this same process will take place with any of the new lessons that are developed over time.  In addition, our teachers will be previewing the videos and lessons to ensure that they are appropriate for our students, and can pick and choose which lessons they introduce to their class.  

We hope that you will find the parent program useful in your home, not only with any mental health issues raised by the pandemic, but also with the ups and downs that we all face on a daily basis.

Please note that due to the later start to school in January after our Christmas break, we will also be delaying the Progress Reports by one week.  Your child will now be bringing home their Progress Report on Friday, February 4th.

You may have heard on the news that Public Health Authorities are no longer completing contact tracing protocols like they were previously, and due to that will no longer be sending exposure notifications to schools to be distributed.  Instead, the new process they are following relies on schools to accurately report their student attendance numbers each day, and then look for triggers which would indicate that Public Health would need to be contacted.  These could include a higher than normal number of students away in a class, or in the whole school.  In order to help with this, we are asking parents to be a little more specific when reporting that your child is away from school.  When you call the school, or send an email through the website, please let us know the following:

• your child is away due to illness – you are not required to let us know what the illness is, or if the illness is COVID-related; however, telling us this information certainly helps to give us a clearer understanding of what may be happening in your child’s classroom.  Please note that this information is kept confidential and only shared with those who MUST know this information
• your child is away due to another reason, other than an illness – your family is moving, they missed the bus, you are on vacation, etc.  You do not need to be specific with your reason, but again it just helps us understand what is going on in the classroom

Your help with this is greatly appreciated as we continue to try and navigate this ever-changing situation.

Thank you to the many parents who have updated their Parent Participation hours through the portal on the school’s website.  Please note that 10 hours of Parent Participation must be completed by January 31st.  For any families who are new to the school, please note that this does not apply to you.

There are some jobs where the work is sporadic, or may be concentrated in one part of the school year.  If this is the case, and you know that you will be unable to complete your 10 hours by January 31st, please send an email to the Principal by clicking here.  For those families who do not complete their hours and do not make contact with the school, your first direct debit payment of $200 will be processed on February 1st.  Please note that these payments will not be prorated.  

Our next school Mass will take place on Wednesday, February 2nd at 10:45am, led by our Grade 2 class.  Please note that in order to comply with the current Public Health Orders for schools, as this is a school activity we are unable to have any parents attend the Mass.  We will also be limiting the number of classes who attend this Mass to Kindergarten and Grades 2, 5 and 7 to allow the students to spread out in the Church.  As Fr. Richard is currently away on vacation, we will be seeking his approval of this plan on his return, and will let you know if anything changes.

Please note that our next early dismissal day for our monthly staff meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 1st.  This early dismissal day was intentionally placed on a Tuesday, as the Big Bear basketball tournament is scheduled to take place at SJB from Wednesday to Friday.  While we are unsure if this tournament is going ahead, as this date has been scheduled since last June, and parents were aware of this, we feel it is important to keep this date as it is on our school calendar.  As always, the students should bring a snack and lunch to school that day, unless they have ordered Hot Lunch, and they will be dismissed at 12:55pm.