Welcome to a new school year!
Please check your email, spam or child’s school email for the back to school welcome letter from our teachers.
| Welcoming Bell | 8:10 |
| Morning Class Begins | 8:22 |
| Recess Starts | 9:50 |
| Recess Ends | 10:04 |
| Lunch Begins | 11:32 |
| Students go Outside to Play | 11:47 |
| Outside Play Ends | 12:14 |
| End of Day Dismissal | 2:11 |
We look forward to seeing our Wild Cats! Classes begin on Thursday September 10th. If you did not receive any emails from the school, please contact us.Parents of students in grades 1-6 will receive an email on Wednesday September 9th (today), informing you and your child which classroom to go to. Please know that as our enrollment numbers fluctuate that class placements may change.
We encourage all parents to review M.V.Beatties’s Return to School Safety Plan found on our website at https://mvb.sd83.bc.ca/
Please drop off your child(ren) as close to our morning bell at 8:10. The end of our learning day bell rings at 2:11 pm.
Happy New School Year Wild Cat Nation!
August 31, 2020
Dear M.V. Beattie families,
I would like to thank parents/guardians for taking the time to fill out the Return to School survey, and for the thoughtful consideration of what is in the best interests of your children and your family as a whole. I know for many families this was a difficult decision. I want to reassure everyone that we will continue to do everything we can to prepare for a healthy school experience.
Site Safety Plan-
Staff Preparation
The change to the start of the year will enable our staff to have a couple of days to make sure that we are all fluent in our health and safety processes and feel confident about welcoming our students back.
Health Tickets
| Date: | Name: |
| Time: | AM ☐ ☐PM |
| Location: | ` |
| Do you have a fever? | Yes ☐ ☐No |
| Do you have a cough? | Yes ☐ ☐No |
| Do You have congestion? | Yes ☐ ☐No |
| Do you have nasal drip? | Yes ☐ ☐No |
| Are you Sneezing? | Yes ☐ ☐No |
| Do you have any difficulty breathing | Yes ☐ ☐No |
| Is anyone in your household ill? | Yes ☐ ☐No |
This past June, prior to sending your child to school, you were required to fill out a “health ticket” – in an effort to ensure a safe environment for our children. Students entering a bus needed to show the driver that this has been filled out, and then they provided it to their teachers as they entered the classroom. Students who were dropped off by parents or walked to school also needed to provide their tickets to the classroom teacher. Students arriving late, needed to come through the main entrance to provide the ticket to one of our office staff.
In September, 2020 parents will be able to go to Parent Connect and sign off that they understand/accept the rules regarding the “health ticket” and will NOT send their child to school if the answer is “Yes” to any of those questions. This will mean that we won’t have the same need to handle up to 300 tickets per day – and will create fewer challenges that occur due to forgetting to have them signed each day of the week.
Daily Hygiene
Students will line up outside of their classrooms – at a distance from one another. Upon entering the classroom, one at a time, students will go directly to a classroom sink to wash their hands. With any change of environment (back from recess/lunch, music class or gym, etc.) and prior to returning home, students will wash their hands. Students and staff will also have access to hand sanitizer in every classroom.
Physical Distancing
While our goal will be to reinforce the expectations of physical distancing, we know with younger children that it will be near impossible to maintain a 6’ separation at all times. Throughout the province, in our elementary school environments, we have been told to focus on minimizing “physical contact.” Students will have daily reminders of the importance to “keep hands off.”
Day Time Custodial Support
We will have day time custodians at M.V. Beattie which will allow us to maintain an effective cleaning routine. Bathrooms, classrooms, desks, door knobs and other high frequency contact points will be a part of this routine.
Garbage/Recycling
In order for us to focus our custodial time on maintaining the cleaning schedules, we will be asking for students to bring their lunch/snack wrappers and recycling home in their lunch kits.
Staggered Drop Off/Pick Ups
Students who do not take the bus will be asked to report prior to the arrival of our buses – and will be dismissed slightly ahead of the bus students, as a way to minimize the number of people gathering at any time. We will provide you with specific times as soon as we are able.
*We ask for your support in following your drop off/pick up schedules. We want to avoid early morning/after school congregating in the playgrounds.
**Also, for those families that have chosen to keep following the Home Learning Opportunities, we ask that you avoid MVB property during the typical school day hours as it will become problematic for supervision.
Breakfast/Lunch Programs
We will no longer be able to provide plates of toast/fruit outside the office. Instead, we will deliver food to classrooms, as needed. For lunch, we will provide “brown bag” lunches for those in need. It would be helpful if families can let us know if a child will be needing a lunch – though we will always make more to cover our bases if someone shows up empty handed.
Recess/Lunch Times
We will have staggered recess and lunch times in order to have fewer students in shared spaces. Students will stay with their class groupings and be assigned a location (rink, playground, field, swings, etc) which will rotate each day.
Students are not to share food or personal supplies of any kind.
Student Behavior
In addition to the expectations we already have at school, students will also be expected to adhere to the new safety guidelines around distancing and physical touching. Students that cannot follow the rules we have put in place to ensure everyone’s safety will lose their opportunity to attend MVB’s in-class instruction.
Water Bottles
As a precaution, all of our water fountains will be shut off, so we are asking students to bring a personal water bottle to school. We have a filling station near the gym entrance, as well as taps in each classroom to fill them.
Parent Volunteers/Meetings
At M.V. Beattie, we have been very fortunate to have so many parent and community volunteers. However, at this time we will not be able to have more visitors in our building. We still want to hear from you, so please send us an email or make a phone call. We are also happy to find a time to meet in person, if that is preferable.
Regards,
Gene Doray
Principal