Hello Families,

It’s chilly out but our hearts are warm with Christmas cheer this week. Come out to our Christmas program Wednesday evening to celebrate our students and see the doors our house teams decorated. Please see the details below and a reminder for our last day before break.

Wed Dec 14 6:30 pm – Christmas program put on by our students. We encourage all to come out. Participating students should arrive between 6:00 and 6:15 pm.

Fri Dec 16 12:00 pm – Early dismissal. There will be a bus in the morning but there will not be an afternoon bus taking students back to town at the end of the day.

May you have the gift of faith, the blessing of hope, and the peace of God’s love this Christmas season. We look forward to seeing our students back on Tuesday, January 3.

Warm regards,
Mrs. Atherton

Dear Families,

We had a shelter-in-place lockdown at school today. The RCMP were dealing with an event in our area and asked that no one leave the building as a preventative measure. We are thankful our communication between staff worked well, students cooperated as asked and everyone stayed safe. After about 15 minutes, the RCMP called back to give the all clear and classes returned to normal.

The RCMP are happy to respond to any questions you may have regarding this incident. They may be reached at 250-788-9221.

Stay well!
Mrs. Atherton

Dear Parents,

At Peace Christian School our mission is to Prepare Caring Students who Love, Learn and Lead. We continually evaluate aspects of our program to see how we can best fulfill this mission. Currently, we are moving toward more proficiency based learning practices. This focuses on a set level of expectation during instruction and assessment of students.

What does this mean? Our teachers will move toward focusing on the end goal with students so they have a clear understanding of what they are working to achieve. Assessments such as assignments, quizzes, tests and projects will still provide students the opportunity to demonstrate their progress in learning. This year, for K-Gr 8, grades will be determined and reported on whether a student is emerging, developing, proficient or extending in their knowledge of curriculum subject areas. Next year, Gr 9 will be included in this grading scale.

Why are we doing this? Educational research shows that students’ learning improves when clear targets of information and skill are established. We want to give students and families better, more specific information both before and after instruction to facilitate better learning. The province of BC is also moving toward proficiency based reporting. A handout is attached to explain the provincial proficiency scale, as well as what you can expect to stay the same and what is changing in terms of reporting.

Our teachers are working hard to learn and adjust to a new way of reporting student learning. We do ask for you to be patient with us as we make this transition. We anticipate there will be changes throughout this school year and into next year. These changes will ultimately make our program stronger and our students more likely to succeed.

We do want you to understand where your child(ren) is/are at in their learning throughout this transition so if at any point you have questions, please reach out and ask. We are happy to discuss what we are seeing and the progress they are making.

Warm regards,

Mrs. Atherton

2022 student_reporting-brochure_for_families.pdf

Hello Families,

Just a few reminders for you of upcoming events:

Fri Nov 25 – No School

Mon Nov 28 at 6:30 pm – Trade Program Presentation for families of students interested in entering trade related careers and what it can look like while attending PCS

Wed Dec 14 at 6:00 pm – Christmas program for all our families to attend, presented by PCS students

Fri Dec 16 – Early Dismissal – School is over at noon.

We appreciated connecting with our parents during parent-teacher conferences. Thank you for supporting your child’s education!

Warm regards,

Mrs. Atherton

Mom’s Pantry orders arriving this Friday November 18 and will be ready for pick up.

Thank you for supporting our PCS grad class by purchasing Purdy’s chocolate. There is still time to get your orders in. Use the link provided to purchase chocolates for yourself or others.

Link: https://fundraising.purdys.com/1022726-98367 

Deadline to order: November 23, 2022

Happy shopping!

Hello Parents,

Our sincere apologies. Times for parent teacher interviews were sent out with the incorrect dates attached. If your message said the 18th, your appointment is on Wednesday the 16th. If your message said the 19th, your appointment is on Thursday the 17th. All times remain the same.

Thank you to those of you who let us know of this error. If you have a separate request (zoom, later time, etc), we will do our best to accommodate and will get back to you individually on Monday.

Once again, our apologies for this error. We realize your time is valuable and are looking forward to meeting with you!

Mrs. Atherton

Hello Parents,

PCS has received an allocation of grant funding from the BC Independent Schools Affordability Fund. This is a temporary funding measure for this school year. As noted by FISA (the Federation of Independent Schools Association which we are part of): "The purpose of this grant is to make life more affordable for BC families who are temporarily facing financial challenges and short-term assistance with the current costs of school supplies, education-related fees, and dealing with food insecurity that impact children’s learning. Government recognizes that British Columbians may be struggling with rising food costs, and costs for a range of goods and services."

We will be using this funding to support our families in a variety of ways throughout this school year. Please note that some of our permission slips and forms will include a checkbox for you to tick if your family would benefit from having the costs covered by this grant. Hot lunch forms went home today and are eligible for this funding so please let a staff member know if you would appreciate the use of this fund for this first hot lunch period. And in the future, if your family needs assistance with food, clothing, extracurricular activities or transportation costs, please speak with Mrs. Siller or myself.

We appreciate FISA advocating to the BC government on behalf of independent school families to also have access to this funding initiative. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Warmth to you this weekend!
Mrs. Atherton

Our parent-teacher interviews are coming up on Nov 16 and 17 (which are also early dismissal days). This year our interviews will be primarily in person but we are also offering the option to meet via zoom. We are currently scheduling appointment times so please let us know by Monday if you would prefer a zoom session or have a specific time preference.

Have a great weekend!

Leslie Fowler
Secretary

Can you believe it’s November already? The weather is certainly starting to let us know. Here’s an outline of our November happenings:

Fri Nov 11 – No School for Remembrance Day
Mon Nov 14 – Picture Retake Day – Our original day pictures should be here soon.
Wed/Thu Nov 16/17 – Early Dismissal (1:30 pm) and parent-teacher conferences. More info to come on this later this week.
Fri Nov 25 – No School for a Non-Instructional Day
Mon Nov 28 – Trades program presentation. Time yet to be determined.

Looking ahead to December, we will be having our Christmas program for students and families to attend the evening of Wed Dec 14 at 6:30 pm. Fri Dec 16 will have noon dismissal as it is the last day of school before Christmas break.

As always, you are welcome to check our calendar online for major events. Our ski days, non-instructional days and early dismissal dates for the next few months are scheduled there.

Other news to note is that we have two teachers joining us these next couple of weeks. Miss Villegas is starting next week teaching Math and PE. We are excited to have her moving to Chetwynd, though we will be sad to say goodbye to Mr. York. We are grateful for him spending the last two months with us away from his home, and appreciate his passion and dedication to helping our students learn.

Mrs. Balane will be starting the following week teaching primarily our Science classes. We are grateful for her and her husband choosing to move to Chetwynd and bring her expertise to our school. Thankfully Pastor Josh will still be spending some time with us at PCS as we appreciate the positive addition his good ideas and creativity add to our program. We hope to keep him around 😀

As we enter the season of darker and colder weather, may we remember that there is light and warmth in God’s love for us!

~Mrs. Atherton