Dear Parents/Guardians of Brentwood Elementary Students,
Happy New Year and welcome back. I hope that you all found time to have a restful and restorative winter break with your family. We are excited to see all of our Brentwood Eagles in the building on Monday, January 10th. All buses will be running on their regular schedules. Thank you for your understanding this past week. Our staff were busy preparing for added considerations in the playground, classrooms and organization of contingency programming should our school’s needs change.
Message from Superintendent - Important information was shared with all families recently outlining our process for any potential closures and steps the school would take in these scenarios. Please follow the link to the Saanich Schools webpage where the information has been posted and review it if you have not received the email. You will also find the Updated Communicable Disease Plan on the district site as well.
Throughout the fall, we have been fortunate that our students and staff at Brentwood Elementary have kept many of the recommended Health and Safety Protocols in place such as Daily health checks, staggered entrances/exits and recess times, hallway direction markers, masks wearing, reduction in crowding, and hand washing.
These measures outlined by public health will continue and safety measures that are being reintroduced or recommitted to are:
A strong reminder and commitment for ALL staff and students to be performing a daily health check, and to seek and follow the guidance of Island Health and/or 811 as necessary. Simply, stay home if you are sick.
Limit visitors to those who are supporting student learning and well-being. We ask parents to prearrange with staff via email if you need to connect and set up a virtual meeting. If you are dropping off or picking up students please remain at the front door by the sign in table and a staff member will greet you. To support our clerical staff with other duties, we’d appreciate no phone messages to students throughout the day unless urgent.
Wearing properly fitted masks. Thank you for providing clean reusable masks and spares for the day. Reusable masks will need to be washed regularly. We have some disposable masks for the occasional forgotten ones, but we are running low. If you are able to provide a box of child size single use medical masks for the classroom for replacement, that would be greatly appreciated.
We once again, we ask families to avoid congregating on the school grounds at drop off and pick up time. To help us reduce crowding, thanks for a quick pick up or drop off and exit from the school grounds.
To increase spacing, teachers have re-examined the layout of the furniture in their classrooms and have looked to increase spacing between desks and reduce where students are facing one another where possible.
We will be re-emphasizing hand-hygiene practices, additional reminders and signage in the school remain at all hand washing areas..
Staggered lunch hours continue to stay in place to reduce crowding (Primary K-3 will play at 11:14am and eat at 11:44am. Intermediate Grade 4-5 students, eat at 11:14am and play at 11:44am)
Staggered afternoon recess will also remain: Primary students (K-3) at 1:20pm-1:35pm and Intermediate (4-5) at 1:44pm-1:59pm.
To invite space during the morning drop off time, attendance will be taken at 9:00am. All students arriving to school after the 8:35am bell are to head to the main school entrance doors. Students will not be marked late until 9:00am. Classroom teachers will be engaging in "soft start" activities to accommodate this staggered start time.
If you anticipate any student absences please email: brentwood_attendance@saanichschools.ca
*Parents are requested to follow all travel requirements. If you anticipate any necessary isolation period following a return from the holidays, you are asked to communicate absences to the school 250 652-3996 or email brentwood_attendance@saanichschools.ca
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/prevention-risks/travel
Travel - British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Check the COVID-19 situation where you plan to visit. Follow local guidance and take precautions to prevent COVID-19. <br /> <br />International travellers should plan ahead for the travel requirements of their destination and for returning home. www.bccdc.ca |
Dress for the Weather - As the weather is much colder and wetter now, we need to remind students to dress for the weather. With this in mind, please ensure your child(ren) comes to school for almost any type of weather since students will be expected to go outside at both recesses unless it is extremely cold or wet. Please consider sending a spare set of clothing to school for your child to have in a pinch in the case of a slip or fall, having an extra pair of socks is always handy too. This will greatly assist us as our spare clothing is at low for certain items.
We are excited to reconnect and engage in new learning opportunities with our students. All students should head to their regular classroom line-up spot to meet their teacher.
We thank you for supporting the above protocols, and appreciate your flexibility as we navigate through this next curve in the road ahead.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Helena Takhar