​The last day of school – a remarkable day in any year but especially significant this school year given that it was in-person and at the end of June! Never in my career did I think those two things could be taken for granted. For me, they are the light at what has been at the end of a very long tunnel. I know it was so important for all of our staff to be able to finish off our school year in this fashion, and I can only imagine the sense of hope that it creates for our children as we look forward to next school year.
We have received frequent positive feedback from our parent community about how well we have navigated the storm this year and I have repeated many times that it is due mainly as a result of how all of our families have done their part. That includes supporting our many guidelines and restrictions including the many phone calls we made requesting your child to go home and isolate due to symptoms. Thank you for that.
Our children have modeled resilience and adaptability as they have lived in a considerably more public space than many of their parents did through the pandemic. This is notable, worth celebrating, and as adults, worth some self-reflection around flexibility.
On that note of adjusting to change, it is worth mentioning that our teacher staffing has been adjusted for September. With a drop in student enrolment to previous year's levels, with Miss Hunt retiring and a return to two Grade 5-6 homerooms rather than three this year, students can expect that they may have a different homeroom teacher in their second year within the grade groupings. Please remember that it is only because of our multi-age classrooms that our students typically have the same teacher for two years, and it is normal in larger school settings for students to have a new homeroom teacher every year.
In the absence of an appreciation tea for parents, we felt that a public gesture of thanks was the least we could do noting your efforts as parents. Each of our homerooms made an effort to paint letters and spell out a message in the windows on the west side of our school. It spells, “We love our parent community." See the photo below.
From all of us here, have a safe summer and see you in September.
Jason Fech Principal