PCS Parent Committee AGM

Good Evening Parents,

As many of you are aware, tomorrow is our scheduled AGM and while we had planned to meet face to face, we are meeting via zoom to accommodate more people. The time is still the same, 6:30PM and the meeting details have been emailed out to parents. We look forward to seeing you there and are looking forward to having a great year at PCS.

Thanks in advance,

PCS Parent Committee

Camp Outs

Hello Families,

School is in full force and we’ve started out strong. We had a great camp out last weekend with our upper grade students. Thank you to all the families who participated.

Our Gr 5-8 campout is scheduled for this weekend. Despite the questionable weather, we are going ahead with the campout. We are starting at 4 pm on Saturday and ask that students be picked up by 11 am on Sunday. If students would like to come just for Saturday afternoon/early evening and then go home, that is perfectly fine and we’d love to still have them participate! For those staying overnight, please send lots of bedding to stay warm (and a change of clothes is a good idea). Depending on if and how much it rains, we may spend some of our time inside (while wearing masks). Either way, we plan to have fun with food and games!

Enjoy your weekend!

Reminder on Illness

Hello! Just a reminder that if your child isn’t feeling well, please go to BC COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool (thrive.health) and complete it. This will let you know if your child needs a Covid-19 test and result before they may return to school. If a Covid-19 test is needed, call 1-844-645-7811 for a referral to the Chetwynd Primary Care Clinic where the test will be completed. Please complete these steps before sending your child back to school.

Thank you for doing your part to keep everyone as healthy as possible!

When_to_get_tested.pdf

Day 2 + More

So many great smiles today! We enjoyed having our students in our classrooms today.

Just a reminder that our shuttle bus is running at regular hours tomorrow (Wed). School District 59 busses will have varied hours tomorrow but will be on their regular schedule on Thursday to match our shuttle bus schedule.

For Grades 9-12, a note will be going home tomorrow for our campout this weekend. Weather looks good so we are grateful! Hoping to have all our students come and have fun with us 🙂

Orientation Tomorrow

Hello! Just a reminder of our orientation on Thursday. We ask for parents and students to come for about an hour between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm*. You can meet our teachers, ensure we have all the information we need, pick lockers, receive schedules, learn about extra curricular options, sign up for fundraisers and more. See you soon!

*If it is not possible to attend due to work schedules, we would love to still have our students come. And if that is not possible, please let us know and we will arrange to get you everything needed at a different time.

Covid-19 Guidelines

Hello Parents & Students,

We have a little more certainty as to how school will start. As the media announced yesterday, masks will be required in all indoor areas for all K-12 staff, visitors, and students in Grades 4+. There will not be cohorts, so we can happily safely resume some of our programming that was put on hold last year.

Other items to note are:
– Daily health checks are required. If you’re feeling sick, stay home.
– Cleaning and disinfecting will continue daily.

– Students will be able to play sports and other extracurricular activities.

– Public health strongly encourages all eligible students and staff to be fully vaccinated (i.e., receive 2 doses) against COVID-19 to protect themselves and those around them including those who are not eligible to be vaccinated. If you would like to get a vaccine in Chetwynd, the options are:

Planning for School

Hello Families,

Can you believe we’re a few days into August? We are doing our best to enjoy summer as well as prepare for September. A few things for you to know as school draws nearer:

Start of School
Our student/family orientation day is Thursday, September 2. We ask that a parent and all students attend for about 1 hr between the hours of 10 am to 4 pm, to ensure we have accurate information, pick a locker, receive a schedule and other items to prepare for learning and a great school year to come!

The first day of regular classes is Tuesday, September 7, from 8:30-2:35. Our shuttle bus will be running but School District 59 busses will not be running on a regular schedule until Thursday, September 9.

September Days
September has two days with no school: Mon Sep 27 and Thur Sep 30. September 27 is a non-instructional day for professional development for our staff, and we will be observing the newly appointed Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 30, as per the announcement by the BC government: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021FIN0048-001531. For other dates throughout the school year, please see the calendar on our website.

School Supplies
We appreciate our students being prepared to learn when they come to class. Attached is a supply list for Gr. 7–12 students. School supplies for K–Gr 6 (other than a water bottle and non-marking indoor shoes) are supplied by the school.

Covid Guidelines
The Ministry of Education is expected to provide information regarding Covid-19 guidelines for school about mid-August. When we learn more, we will let you know what to expect.

Staffing

We are happy to have Lianna Hunter joining our full-time teaching team this year. She has spent many years in our classrooms and also helped part-time in several different roles. She is loved by staff and students alike so we are excited to have her back with us full-time. This year, she will be teaching in our Gr 3/4 room. Mrs. King will be using her Science skills to teach our Gr 10-12 Science, Biology and Physics classes, as well as spending some time with the Gr 3/4 and 5/6 classes. We are wishing Mr. Hoffmann well as he gets married and moves next month.

The start of a new year is a fun place to be and we look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Happy rest of summer,

Mrs. Atherton

School Supplies.pdf

Last Day

Plans for Tuesday remain the same for PCS. Shuttle bus will run in the morning and school will be until noon. Students will be having fun together, saying goodbye, and gathering their belongings for the summer. There will be no shuttle bus at noon. If your child has belongings at school and you are not able to arrange transportation for them, please let us know so their things do not get misplaced in the final year cleaning. See you tomorrow!

Update for Today

SD59 has cancelled their busses for today. Our normal protocol is to cancel school when there are no busses for the cold. However, with the heat, school is safer than home for many and we have a plan to mitigate heat/risks while on our bus ride back from the lake. So we will be going ahead with our field trip as planned. Our shuttle bus is running and will bring students back to the regular drop-off after school today, however we prefer if you pick your child(ren) up at school if you are able.

Field Trip ~ Heat ~ Last Day

Hello Families,

In light of the extreme heat for the last two days of school, we are making a few changes:

1. Our field trip to Moberly Lake will be from the start of school until 11:30am and all students will be going to Moberly Lake Provincial Park. These changes are primarily to reduce the length of time students will be on the bus during high heat hours. Lunch will be served at school and we will have activities in the afternoon, likely by the creek or in the gym which will be cooler areas.

For our lake time, it is important that your child(ren) brings:
– a water bottle
– sunscreen and/or hat
– swimsuit/clothes for water

A hopefully still cool bottle of water will be provided for each student for the ride back to the school.

2. Dr. Choi, Medical Health Officer of Vancouver Coastal Health, released a statement "At this time, the risks from extreme heat exceed the risks from COVID-19. While the Extreme Heat Alert is in place, access to cool spaces should not be restricted due to concerns about crowding and physical distancing, and mask recommendations should be loosened if necessary due to difficulty breathing/thermal regulation."
With this in mind, we will not be requiring masks for the last two days of school in our building or on our bus. Our two cohorts (K-Gr 6 & Gr 7-12) may also be in the gymnasium together as that is our most cool space.

If you are not comfortable with these changes, we respect your decision and will understand if you choose to keep your child(ren) home or drive them to/from school or the lake.

Reminder: our last day is this Tuesday and school will be done at noon. There will not be bus transportation to town so please arrange to pick up your child(ren) and their belongings at school. Report cards will also be handed out on Tuesday.

If your family needs a place to stay cool outside of school hours this week, please let us know and we may be able to create a space for you to hang out in our gymnasium for a while.

It’s been a year full of changes and this is one more to add to the list 🙂 Wishing everyone a wonderful summer!

Mrs. Atherton