Greetings ÉMMSOTA Families.
I am emailing to inform you of your child's assigned Learning Group / Class. This is the class they will be in for the remainder of the year. As outlined by the PHO and Ministry of Education learning groups are set at 60 people. Our District has maintained a lower learning group size at the K-8 level and determined that the learning groups will be the student's homeroom class, of which will not exceed 30 people. Most of our classes range from 22 – 26 students with our French Immersion classes a bit larger. The integrity of these learning groups is a key piece in ensuring the health and safety of our staff, students and community, as outlined by the Provincial Health Office. At this time our learning groups are set and we will not be making any changes. Each student is assigned to a learning group that is also part of a Pod of classes. These classes will not be interacting, platooning, sharing space or grouping together for events or presentations unless online in their own learning group room for the immediate future.
Your child has been assigned to Learning Group XXX.
They will be working with our “EMMOSTA Daily Schedule X".
Start time is XXXX AM and the day ends at XXXX PM.
Please see attached schedule and assigned locations for meeting at the beginning of every day. Handwashing protocols have been established according to entrance and exit and to maintain distance between learning groups. Please have your child come to school with their mask on as we did on Thursday and Friday. The school will be providing masks and lanyards to each student on Monday in their learning groups. We ask that you follow all of our drop off and pick up regulations and please plan to pick your child up off site as much as possible to reduce the traffic flow and numbers coming and going.
If your child comes late for their designated start time they will be directed to the front entrance and foyer where our Youth Worker, Christine will meet them and ensure they wash their hands and get to their classroom safely.
On Monday September 14th, students will be required to bring only their basic supplies, lunch, snack and water. Microwaves for heating food and hot water for noodles, will not be available for students use. We are not assigning lockers at this time so please keep personal belongings to a minimum and backpacks should only be filled with the basic required materials. Once settled into our learning groups on Monday, classroom teachers will go over what supplies are required for our first few days back. Every child will be receiving a small art kit that will be used in class for “Daily Art Activities".
Some of our key health and safety guidelines for students and families have been sent out to you previously and posted on our website. Please pay particular attention to the requirement that parents and guardians do a daily health check before sending their child to school. This is very important as we do not want students coming to school with any signs or symptoms of illness. See the attached form that can be filled out and sent into classroom teachers, or is available as part of our online e-forms that our Secretary, Mrs. Taylor Hill, sent out on Thursday afternoon. Online e-Forms will be delivered to you through your SchoolCashOnline (SCO) account. Please access your SCO account to complete all e-Forms and any future payments. If you have not registered for SCO, please access it through the following link and click on 'get started today' (please register using the student's LEGAL name):
SCO SchoolCashOnline (SCO): https://www.schoolcashonline.com/
Please remind your children that physical distancing is expected at all times, coming to and from school and while not in their assigned learning group area. This is very important and will require continuous conversations both at home and school. We understand students are excited to see their friends. We understand schools will look different as we start the year. The key to our success and the health and safety of all, is that we stay on the same page and enforce the same messaging right from the beginning.
Thank you as always for your support. I will continue to send updates as part of my “Principal's Updates" via email. We will also start sending out our bi-weekly “Moody Matters" e-news updates that will focus on what's happening around the school. These items are all posted on our website at http://www.sd43.bc.ca/School/moody/Pages/default.aspx#/=
I look forward to seeing you all at our EMMSOTA PAC meeting on September 21st at 6:30 PM on ZOOM. Meeting invite will come to you from our EMMSOTA PAC Executives.
We are looking forward to our first full days with students, getting to know our learning groups and beginning our new normal. We know this is a different school start up for everyone involved and we will do everything we can to make it safe and rewarding for all your children.
Cheers for now.
Mark Clay,
Principal
