Hello Families,

We are happy to welcome everyone back to school tomorrow. As we return back, please be aware of the health guidelines:

1. Wearing a face mask is now optional for all staff and students (with the exception of #2). Mask use is a personal choice and will be treated as such at school.

2. Federal government guidelines state that anyone who has travelled outside of Canada must follow federal travel guidance, including wearing a well-constructed and well-fitting mask when in public spaces, both indoors and outdoors for 14 days following entry into Canada. This includes while at school for students, staff and visitors who may have travelled outside of Canada during spring break.

We are happily planning our spring events which will include a senior flag football trip, swimming lessons for K-Gr 6, a field trip or two and graduation!! Look for more info on these to come soon.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Atherton

Did you know that we operate under the authority of two entities? Both of them regularly review our program to ensure we are doing a great job of educating your children.

We completed a BC Ministry of Education evaluation earlier this school year (and passed!). This spring, we are having a team from the Seventh-day Adventist school system (with hundreds of schools throughout North America) review our program. As part of the preparation for their visit, they would like information from our students, parents, and staff. Some of our students have already completed their survey; the rest will do so right after spring break.

We ask that you please take a few minutes to fill out the survey:
Parents/guardians of K-Gr 8 students
Parents/guardians of Gr 9-12 students

The surveys will close April 8. The information collected from these surveys goes directly to the evaluation team. They may provide us with the results, after removing any information that would identify a particular student or family.

We appreciate your honest, helpful feedback as we look at our program along with the evaluation team to see what we will keep the same and what we will modify in the next few years to best meet the needs of our community.

Thank you for your contribution!

☀ Enjoy the spring weather this week! ☀

It’s a full week before spring break! A reminder of what’s happening at PCS:

Monday (tomorrow) – Bear Mountain Ski Day for the whole school. There will be no regular classes. Our shuttle bus will come from town to our school and then head to Bear Mtn with everyone needing a ride. Pickup will be at 4 pm at the IGA parking lot. The weather looks like it will be fairly nice but please dress warmly for the drive and bring lunch or money for food while there.

Wednesday Mar 16,3 – 6 pm – Fireside Fun for Gr 6 – 8 students on the PCS grounds. We will have skating, fire building, games, hot drinks and free supper. Bring skates and helmets if able. Open to students attending all schools.

Friday Mar 18 – Report cards going home & Powder King ski trip. Vehicles will leave at the beginning of the school day and return at 5 pm. Regular classes happening for all those not going.

Mon Mar 21 – Fri Apr 1 – Spring break!

Mon Apr 1 – First day back from break

Fri Apr 15 – Mon Apr 18 – Easter break

For those who ordered, our pink shirts have arrived! We will hand them out tomorrow morning and have pink shirt day #2. All are welcome to participate and wear pink tomorrow to help stand up for kindness 🙂

We are also determining whether we have enough interest to have an additional ski day for Gr 5-12 students to Powder King Ski Resort on March 18. It will cost each student about $75 for the lift ticket, rental, and transportation there. This is significantly reduced from regular prices so we encourage students to attend. We will be making a decision tomorrow so please discuss this option with your children.

Thank you to our students and parents for the student-led interviews. We appreciated being part of parents learning more about what our students have been learning at school.

A few things to note:

Monday, Feb 28 – No SD59 buses. We have regular classes and our shuttle bus will run.

Revised Bear Mountain Ski date is Monday, Mar 14. If you previously turned in paperwork and do not wish your child to attend, please let us know. If you did not turn in paperwork and would like your child to go, please contact Mrs. Fowler for paperwork.

Three weeks remain until spring break. The end of term 2 is approaching and report cards will be handed out on March 18. Spring break is Mar 19 – Apr 3 with classes resuming on Apr 4. Other items after spring break can be seen on our website calendar.

We are currently registering Kindergarten students for the 2022/23 school year. This involves a visit to the classroom with the teacher as part of the Ready, Set, Learn program. Please let any family friends know to contact us for an appointment.

Registration for all students for the 2022/23 school year will start soon. Watch for more info to come 🙂

A great weekend to you all!

Each student in public, independent and First Nations K-12 schools is being provided with a box of five Artron rapid antigen at-home tests distributed through their school. Our supply has arrived and we will distribute them to students to take home tomorrow.

Test instructions are included in the box coming home. Links for information about when to use, how to use, and what to do depending on results are included in the attached document.

We will have some extra kits at school if a student requires more than this initial box. Please let us know if you have any questions.

rapid-test—letter-to-famlies20220215.pdf

Sadly, although the snow has improved a little, the cold weather is not great for skiing/snowboarding tomorrow. To ensure the safety of our students both in transportation to the hill and on the hill, we are postponing our ski trip to a date in March. Because of this, there will be regular classes for all students at PCS on Tuesday. Info on the date change will be communicated later this week.

Wednesday is Pink Shirt Day to support anti-bullying. Please wear pink if possible. There will be a special focus at school for our students. For those who ordered shirts, we hope to have them tomorrow, but if not, we will choose an alternate day to wear them together.

And a reminder of early dismissal and student-led parent teacher interviews on Wednesday and Thursday. If you are unsure of your appointment time, please contact Mrs. Fowler at school tomorrow 🙂

Thank you for your understanding of this topsy-turvy week!

Hello Parents,

We had fun during our school wide activities this afternoon. Some great characteristics showed themselves!

Here are a few things to note for next week:
Monday – No school for the Family Day holiday
Tuesday – Ski day to Bear Mountain. Thank you to everyone who signed up!

Wednesday & Thursday – Early dismissal (1 hr early with bus arrival in town also one hour early), followed by student-led parent teacher interviews.

Student-led interviews are done to facilitate communication between parents, students, and teachers. It also helps students build skills around talking about their personal learning and growth.

• Interviews will take place with Zoom.
• Packets of information to look over with your student will be sent home Wednesday next week.
• Appointment times to speak with the teacher(s) are being sent in a separate email.
• Not all Gr 7-12 students have scheduled appointments with the teachers, though we do ask that you take time together for your child to discuss their learning with you. If you do not receive an appointment time and wish to speak with the teachers, please let us know and we will give you an appointment time.

Thank you for continuing to work together with us to best support your children.

Have a great long weekend!

We would like to encourage all our students to come skiing next Tuesday (Feb 22). We have extended the deadline to allow info and payment to be turned in tomorrow so more students can join in the fun. It is a great opportunity to try a new sport and/or improve skills with friends. If funds are a concern, please let us know.

The info we need to send to the hill is:

• Ski or snowboard
• Height
• Weight
• Shoe Size
• Payment of $30

We are looking forward to enjoying outside time with all our students!

As viruses continue to spread in our community, a reminder to please continue the daily health check with your children before they come to school. If they have any symptoms of illness, please keep them home. These include:
– runny nose
– sneezing
– sore throat

– headache
– cough
– loss of appetite

– nausea/vomiting
– diarrhea

– extreme tiredness or fatigue
– difficulty breathing

– fever/chills
– body aches
– loss of sense of smell/taste

We recognize new symptoms may not be noticed in the short time in the morning before they come so if students are showing symptoms at school, we will be asking parents to come pick them up.

If someone has symptoms, please complete the health check questionnaire at bc.thrive.health to know when the student can return to school.

Thank you for your continued support to keep our school community healthy.