I know this short spell of warm weather won’t last, but after the brutally cold snap we had before the break, I’ll take this in a heartbeat! I hope all our Hanley Composite School families had a restful and relaxing break. For many bus students who didn’t have transport during those cold weather days, I know many of you got some extra days of break. I know that we did have about ten Cold Cat lunch recesses outside and the students can hold their heads up high that went out at the minus 50 wind chills – pretty tough Cold Cats kids!
Our school and our school division are changing in a lot of ways from what we’ve known as traditional thoughts on access to learning this year. We’ve gotten used to being able to access school work online when we’re moved to a level three or level four on our Safe Schools Plan but there seems to be varying levels of understanding about other types of days. Parents, please be aware that on those cold weather days when buses don’t run, with learning being posted online, students have the ability to connect to their teacher(s) and access learning from home. With those extended days away and our compressed quads and classes, it became very important to the teachers to be able to move ahead on their lessons and expect students to log in and access those learning options. As we move forward this year and into the future that might become more and more an expectation. As the school division continues to project, Learning is Everywhere!
We have a staff PD day on March 8th to make you aware of as it’s not a school day for students.
For those students planning on pursuing a trades career and looking to apprentice with a tradesperson, the Youth Apprenticeship Program is a simple program to complete for a step ahead of other apprentices. We’ve also helped send students in past summers to a Summer Youth internship in a trades area where they receive very good pay and up to 2 apprenticeship credits on their transcripts. See Mr. Tucker for further information for either program. We will have a presentation for it soon for those interested.
I know that the school division sent out an update to families about what’s going on with COVID updates and where we’re at. So far we haven’t had a case in the classrooms to deal with and as the letter explained, if we ever do we’ll be in contact with families as needed. Please continue to practice proper mask use and hand sanitizing as required and we’ll continue to work through this year together. Ironically, this month’s message last year at this time was sent out just before we all went home. I’m thankful for so many supportive families and the work you have all done along with the teachers and support staff to keep on with the learning in school through all of it. Again I’ll repeat that we’re doing it, together! Thank-you.
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. We’ll talk to you soon.