Thunder News Flash – February 6, 2021

On Thursday, February 4th new Health and Safety Guidelines were released for schools in British Columbia, and schools have been given until February 26th to implement these changes.  As a school we will be carefully reviewing these guidelines, revising our Return to School Plan and putting any changes into place as soon as we possibly can.  When the Return to School Plan is updated it will be posted on our school’s website, and sent to parents by email.  Please be assured that we are working hard to ensure the health and safety of everyone at the school.

St. James & St. Ann’s School continues to have two seats available on the Regional Education Committee (REC) for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year, and for the 2021-2022 school year.  The Board of Directors has given St. James & St. Ann’s School permission to make these seats available to parishioners of St. James Parish, St. Joseph’s Parish and St. Ann’s Parish.  Currently the positions to be filled are in the Maintenance and Vice-Chair portfolios.  If you feel that you would be a good fit for one of these positions, and are interested in being involved in the governance of our school, please contact your parish priest as soon as possible to put your name forward.  Remember that being a member of the REC fulfills your Parent Participation commitment for the year, and is a wonderful way to be involved in the school.  

Progress Reports will be going home with all students on Wednesday, February 10th.  If your child does not give you their Progress Report when they come home from school, please check their backpacks.  After reading through your child’s Progress Report, please sign the cover and return the cover in the envelope to your child’s Teacher as soon as possible. 

While the B.C. curriculum no longer aligns with the use of letter grades or numerical assessment, parents are still able to request letter grades for their children in Grades 5 – 7 for the core subject areas.  The form to request letter grades is found on the website by clicking here.  Please print the form and submit it to your child’s teacher from February 16th – 19th for the latest term, and your child’s teacher will return the form to you with the letter grades for your child the following week.  For the final term of the year, please submit this form from June 21st – 25th and the completed request form will be given to you with your child’s final Progress Report for the year.  It is important to note that in elementary schools, letter grades do not equate to a percentage, but instead are related to a descriptive word:

• A = excellent
• B = very good
• C+ = good
• C = satisfactory
• C- = unsatisfactory

The income tax receipts for the tuition paid for the 2020 calendar year will be mailed to all families this year as it is important for us to minimize the number of adults who enter our school due to COVID-19.  These will be mailed to families beginning on February 8th.  Please remember that this income tax receipt is used on your income tax form as a charitable donation.

Parents are reminded to please enter their Parent Participation hours through the school’s website by clicking here and scrolling down to the portal, or by scrolling down to the end of the News Flash and clicking on the button found there.  There are a number of families who have either entered very few hours or no hours so far this year.  However, due to COVID-19 and the changes to the program because of health and safety requirements, we will not be cashing anyone’s cheques dated February 1st at this time, and will instead give parents until June 15th to complete their 20 hours of Parent Participation.  

We are very excited to be celebrating Valentine’s Day at the school on Wednesday, February 10th, and the celebrations will include:

• the sharing of Valentine’s Day cards for those who choose to participate in this.  The school rule regarding Valentine’s Day cards is that if you are planning on sharing cards you must give one to all students in the class
• the sharing of treats – if you plan to bring a treat for all the students in the class they must be individually packaged, store bought and nut-free.  Unfortunately the health and safety rules do not allow for homemade treats to be shared at this time.  Non-food related treats such as pencils, erasers and bookmarks are a great choice, as they also help to avoid any other food allergies in the class
• a dress down day.  The theme of this day will be jeans and Valentine’s Day colours, and it will also be our fundraiser for the RCAV charities, so each student is required to bring a dollar or two to participate in this dress down day.  If you would like more information about the charities that are supported by the RCAV, please click here 

Since we know that many people quarantine items before they bring them into their homes, and therefore may be uncomfortable with their children bringing home cards and treats, each child will be provided with a large Ziploc bag to hold these items.  The cards and treats will be distributed by the students at school, and then the bag will be sealed.  Students will not eat any treats at school, and the sealed bag will be sent home at the end of the day.  Therefore families may follow these same quarantine practices when their child brings home these cards and treats, and parents can make the choice about what their child may or may not eat.  

We hope that these protocols are considered appropriate by parents, and that everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day! 

The Parent Survey has now closed regarding conferences, and the results show that while there is certainly value in the Student-led Conferences, many parents have commented that this year the risks are just too high to introduce that many people into our carefully controlled setting.  So, please note that Parent/Teacher Conferences will take place during the week of March 8th – 12th, with the date still to be determined, and more details to follow shortly.

This is just a reminder that Tuesday, February 16th, is Shrove Tuesday.  Pancakes will be provided for Hot Lunch for all students who ordered them on the February Hot Lunch form.  Please note that each child will be served two pancakes, about the size of a medium paper plate, with syrup.  Unfortunately we will not be serving sausages this year or juice boxes.  So, if two pancakes are not enough for your child for lunch, please send them to school on February 16th with some additional food to eat for lunch.

Following Shrove Tuesday we will be celebrating Ash Wednesday, and having our Poverty Lunch.  The students are asked to bring a simple snack, a smaller lunch, and no treats to school on Wednesday, February 17th.  We will have a short virtual assembly, and then the students will eat their lunches in their classrooms in silence, as we keep our focus on the importance of this very holy day.

Our next Work Bee will take place at the school today, Saturday, February 6th from 9:00am – 2:00pm.  If you are able to, please bring gloves for inside or outside work, and small cordless gardening tools.  We appreciate all your hard work!

Next week you will receive order forms for the upcoming Gift Card Campaign fundraiser.  The first due date will be Monday, February 22nd.  Look for opportunities to earn money for the school when you shop at grocery stores, eat at restaurants and buy gas!  Thank you to all the families who participate in St. James & St. Ann’s fundraising efforts!

The weather forecast has changed again, and there is not a snowflake in sight, but just in case here are our snow day procedures:

• as a regional school, we have students who come to our school from many different locations.  It is very difficult to determine the safety on the roads in all areas, and so our school, in conjunction with SJB, has to make a decision that takes many factors into consideration.  While we do our best to make a decision about school closures as early as we can, that is not always possible.  In the event of a school closure, the information will be posted on the homepage of the school’s website, hopefully by 6:00am.  Please do not call the school
• if the decision to close the school is made later than usual, an email will also be sent to all school families
• if it were to begin to snow heavily during the school day and the decision was made to close the school, we would then activate the process we have in place where the classroom phone out parents would make the necessary calls for parents to come and pick up their children.  Administrative staff would remain on site until all children are safely picked up from the school  
• if the school is open, but you believe that the driving conditions are too dangerous in your area to bring your children to school, please keep your children at home – the safety of your family is far more important than their schoolwork, which will be waiting for them when they return to school

We do our best to make the best decision possible during these challenging situations, but please know that the safety of the students, staff and parents is our primary concern.

Thinking about going to SJB next year?  Wanting to learn more about who they are and what they offer?  Join them for their Virtual Open House and see why that is where you want to be!  Their Open House goes live Monday, February 8th at 6:00pm and they will be hosting a live Open House Q&A session the following night, on Tuesday, February 9th from 6:30 – 8:00pm.  Register now by clicking here.

Order Forms and payment (cheque or direct debit form) are due this Monday by 9:00am.  Buy 10lb cases of local frozen blueberries for $25/each!  Additional order forms can be found on our website under Parents/Forms.  You must be able to pick up your blueberries on Friday, February 19th at 2:30pm.  Thank you for your support!

Do you have a family favourite blueberry recipe?  Be sure to head over to our Facebook page and share your favourite recipe.  All contributions will go into a random draw to win a $25 gift certificate for Save-On Foods to get the additional baking supplies to start baking when your Berryhill blueberry order arrives.  The contest closes Monday, February 8th at 11:00pm.

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.