From the Office – Dec 2020

I wanted to take a moment to commend all the families for working together with the school this fall on so many new items and changes that we’ve all had to make part of our routines and expectations – not only for the students, but for the staff and bus drivers and parents.

It’s been a positive fall here in so many ways and the struggle that it is for everyone to miss the extras that we’ve simply become used to as persons involved in this school and in educating your children will not last forever. Please look for the positives and the joy that this season can provide, and let’s continue to be thankful for the good things we can enjoy either together or across distances with our loved ones and families and friends.

I want to thank families also for choosing to keep your student(s) at home when they start showing symptoms or are not feeling well this year. We’ve continued to stay open and have good practices in place that keep the cohorts apart while they’re here and masks on everyone as well. Our plan for a phase three was described to you earlier this fall and I’ll keep staying positive that we won’t need it.

Cold Cats started up this last week before the Christmas break. If you are interested in having your K-6 student have permission to be outside on the indoor recess day, please contact your child’s teacher and/or Mrs. Block at the office so that their name can be on the list. I did tell the grade 7s they can also be added to the list but I’ll need them to make their way over to the west end of the playground so I can supervise them as well. Warm outdoor clothing is a must including some sort of face covering. We normally have about 20 kids or less out there and I’m supervising them myself around the playground equipment and hill area. Call me if you have any questions.

End of semester and end of quad exams for grades 10-12 are scheduled the end of the last week in January. The last Friday in January will be the turn around day between semesters.

It’s a big adjustment this year to miss the school-wide Christmas lunch this year. Thank you for your continued support for those type of days we have as our customs – I hope we’ll be able to do something like that again soon. On another positive note, we quickly filled six hampers for the local Food Bank here last week and they were picked up to be distributed! What a wonderful program and we all thank them for their volunteerism to support families in our school area!

On behalf of the staff here at our school, thank-you for the support this fall, the understanding when something needs to be different than we’re all used to, and the belief that we are all doing the best we can with a difficult situation. We are all looking forward to a positive end of December and the year 2020 and I think we are also all looking forward to some changes and good news around the world in the new year. I will continue to use our PowerSchool email program to send out details to families over the break, including those about any COVID developments. I really hope that won’t be required and that the next email you find from us will be our next newsletter in January.

That’s all for now.  For further information and updates from the students and classrooms, check out our school website at http://blogs.spiritsd.ca/hanley/.  As always, Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to send us a message or give us a call. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’ll talk to you soon.