Thunder News Flash – June 19, 2021

On Friday we celebrated this school year with our annual Sports Day.  While it was very different from other years with all of our COVID protocols, it was still a wonderful day.  Of course the lovely sunny weather helped, and our fantastic Grade 7 students ensured that the stations were well run, and enjoyed by everyone.  Thank you to all the staff who helped make this day special, and to the parents who supplied apples, washed and bagged the apples, filled water balloons, made treat bags, and picked up our cooked hotdogs.  It clearly takes a village to run a successful Sports Day!

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:

• Thursday, June 24th – Grab and Go Gratitude – more information in this News Flash
• 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 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.

Even though we haven’t been able to interact too much with all of the school parents, we want to thank you for all the ways that you have supported us this school year.  First of all, you entrusted your children to us during this very different and chaotic school year.  We are sure it must not have been easy during this pandemic year to bring your children to the school and drop them off each day, but you trusted that we would not only teach your children, but we would do our best to keep them safe by diligently following the rules we were given.  You have also shown such flexibility as we changed routines you were used to, made adjustments to our school calendar and events, you followed us on YouTube, learned how to use Zoom, etc., etc.  We could go on and on listing all that you have done to help us this year, but instead on Thursday, June 24th we would like to give you a sweet treat to start your day.  Staff will be stationed in each of the drop off lanes from 8:00 – 8:25am, handing you a bag of pre-packaged treats as our way to say “thank you for everything this year”.  For those parents who drop their children off at the YMCA Kids Club early each morning, your bag of treats will be waiting there for you.  We really just want to express to you how much we appreciate all of you, and to let you know that we couldn’t have made it through this year without your support.

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.

Thank you to all families for your work and effort to complete your Parent Participation hours this year.  As all families were unable to help with any of our fundraisers during this 2020-2021 school year, we will not be cashing the fundraising cheques that were collected with your registration.  Please note that for any families who were unable to complete their 20 hours we will be contacting you directly to see if there are any ways that you can help with projects and odd jobs at the school as we inch towards the end of June.

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.