Thunder News Flash – May 8, 2021

We have been very fortunate so far at our school with very few cases of COVID-19.  However, because of this we are not really that well-versed in how Fraser Health works, or the terms “self-monitor” and “self-isolate”.  Here is a brief explanation that can hopefully clear up some of the misunderstandings.

When there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the school, Fraser Health will receive this information, and they will begin their contact tracing process.  If they get a complete picture of a student or adult’s activities at the school, they may not contact the school.  If they feel that the child is too young or there is some information missing, they may contact the school to find out who they play with, who they sit beside, etc.  Once Fraser Health determines that they have all the information that they need, they will send us the following letters with very explicit instructions as to who should receive each letter:

• A Notification Letter goes out to the entire school community to make them aware that there is a case of COVID-19 in the school.  They will not say who it is, which grade it is in, or in any way give out any identifying information for confidentiality reasons
• A Self-Monitoring Letter goes out to the parents of the children in the class where there is a case of COVID-19, or to staff who work in that class or with those students.   This letter simple means that you should be on even higher alert than usual when doing your daily health check.  It does not mean your child has been exposed to COVID-19, but just that there is a chance that they have.  Again, no identifying information is shared in this letter
• A Self-Isolation Letter goes out to staff or just the parents of children who Fraser Health has determined have been in close physical proximity of a confirmed COVID-19 case for a prolonged period of time, usually over 15 minutes.  They take into consideration who sits close to this child in the classroom, who they play with, if they work in small groups with other children, etc.  Using all of the information that they gather, Fraser Health then determines who, if anyone, should receive this letter.  Again, no identifying information is included in this letter other than the possible exposure dates.  This letter does contain a recommendation that children or staff in self-isolation go for a COVID-19 test 7 days or later after the last exposure date.  However, even if the test is negative, the child is still required to self-isolate for 14 days from the last exposure date.  The date of your child’s return to school could vary from other students who receive this letter if they happened to be away from school during some of the exposure dates  

Please bear in mind that this information has been collected over time and from a variety of sources.  If you are ever in doubt, or need clarification, it is best to check the BCCDC website often as information is constantly changing.  Please click here to see this website.  It is also important to contact 811 if you have questions regarding symptoms that may or may not be related to COVID-19.

Just a reminder to all adults who are not using the drop off or pick up lanes, but are choosing to park their vehicles instead, please remember the following:

• if you are walking to the waiting areas to pick up your children, you must wear a mask, and you must stop at the sidewalk to avoid close physical interactions with other children or school staff
• if you park your vehicle, please remember that you should not be socializing with other parents during this time

We appreciate your understanding as we try our best to keep everyone safe and healthy.

This year we have had to improvise quite a bit with our school Library – due to COVID-19 and the health and safety requirements we have had to follow, but also because we have had to change our Library database twice!  Mrs. White created a system where she wrote down the barcode numbers for the books that students took out, but unfortunately those are our own barcodes and there is no way to trace those books as they had not yet been entered into our current database.  We are asking for your help – please check your house, and have your children check their bedrooms and backpacks for our school’s Library books.  Please return the books that you find as soon as possible so that they can also be entered into our database.  In two weeks we will send notes home regarding any remaining outstanding books; however, all we will be able to tell you is the number of books your child has taken out and not returned.

Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to cancel our class Masses until further notice.  We will do our best to try and have each class attend Mass once before the school year ends, although this may require a bit of juggling as we get closer to the end of the school year!

St. John Brebeuf has made a few changes to their school calendar, which has a ripple effect on our school.  Please note the following:

• May 21st – this is a special day for the Grade 12 retreat, and there will only be Grade 12 students at school.  While the busses will be running, there will only be Grade 12 students on the busses and at the bus stops, so this may mean that there are no students at some of the bus stops.  Please be aware that the younger children could be waiting at their bus stop by themselves, and dropped off by themselves in the afternoon
• May 27th – this is a new early dismissal day at SJB only.  Please note that their students will be dismissed at 12:00pm, but we will be in session the full day

We have made a change to our school calendar.  Please note that our Planning Day will now be on Monday, June 14th, so there is no school for students.  We will now have a regular school day on Monday, June 21st.

It has come to our attention that a number of students are using technology at home quite a bit more than we would have expected.  We hear students talking about being up quite late and online, and they are also talking about using different social media platforms such as TikTok and Discord.  Both of those platforms have a minimum age requirement of 13 years of age to create an account.  As a parent you may be very involved in your child’s online activities, and we would hope that this is the case as it is so important to monitor what your children are doing.  As these kinds of platforms are used by many people, the content that is discussed and the language that is used is often not in alignment with what we would want our children to be exposed to.  But just in case you are unaware of what they are doing online, we thought it would be timely to bring this to your attention.  We are also hopeful that we will be able to have our police liaison officer come and speak to our intermediate students before the end of the year regarding what they are doing online.

Just a reminder to please enter your Parent Participation hours, which is especially important as we get close to the deadline for completion of your hours for this school year.  You can enter your hours by going to the school’s website under the Parents tab, then clicking on Parent Participation and clicking on the “submit your hours” button.  OR, you can scroll down to the bottom of this News Flash and click on the “submit your hours” button. 

For those parents who still need Parent Participation hours, we really need your help.  While the grass often gets cut during our monthly Work Bees, now with the nicer weather it needs to be cut more regularly than that.   We really need 2 or 3 parents who would be able to cut the grass as well as do some trimming work with a weed eater.  This can be done on the weekends or in the evenings.  Volunteers would need to supply their own ear plugs and eye protection.  If this sounds like something that you would be able to help with, please email Mrs. Sask directly by clicking here. 

Hot Lunch Order Forms will be going home on Monday, May 10th and are due back on Friday, May 14th at 9:00am.  This will be the last Hot Lunch Order Form for this school year, and as always we are unable to accept any late forms.

If your child was absent in April, and we have still not received a note to explain this absence, your child was given a bright pink attendance note on Thursday, May 6th.  Please complete this note, sign it, and send it to the office with your child as soon as possible.

The week leading up to our major Spring fundraiser is a wonderful time to show some school spirit.  As part of our Spirit Week we will have the following dress down days:

• Monday, May 10th – P.J. Day – come to school dressed in your favourite, appropriate, P.J.s, or wear your Thunderwear
• Tuesday, May 11th – Twin or Multiples Day – find a friend or two or more, and dress alike, or wear your Thunderwear
• Wednesday, May 12th – Superhero Day – this could be a traditional superhero, your favourite saint, or someone you feel is particularly inspiring, or wear your Thunderwear
• Thursday, May 13th – Career Day – dress up for the career you would like to have in the future, or wear your Thunderwear

Let’s have a wonderful week, full of school spirit and fun, leading up to our Zumbathon!

EARLY BIRD PRIZE:  Bring your pledge sheets in on Tuesday, May 11th by 8:45am for an early bird prize of 1 extra raffle ticket for the prize draw.  We will tally up how much we have raised so far and reveal it that afternoon!

The ZUMBATHON is this coming FRIDAY (MAY 14)!  It is sure to be a fun and exciting day filled with school spirit.  Students in Grades K, 2, 4 and 6 are invited to dress in warm colours (red, orange, yellow, pink) and students in Grades 1, 3, 5 and 7 are invited to dress in cool colours (blue, green, purple) – get creative and wear your assigned colour, paint your face or colour your hair, temporarily of course!  More information about the day will be coming this week. 

All students earn 1 raffle prize ticket for every $10 they raise.  There are lots of prizes to be won, including a Top Primary Student Prize, Top Intermediate Student Prize, Special Prize Draw for all those who raise at least $125 and many great class prizes for all classes who raise at least $3000 as a whole.  For a current list of prizes, check them out by clicking here. 

We encourage all students to ask for pledges in COVID-safe ways.  Please check out the Zumbathon info package for details on how to keep safe. 

DONORS CAN PLEDGE ONLINE USING THEIR CREDIT CARD by clicking here.

We hope that students are busy collecting pledges to raise money for outside learning and fun spaces for our school!  Together we can raise $25,000!

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.