Good Evening Clayton Park Families,

Students are returning to in person learning on Monday January 17.   Staff are excited to welcome students back to the building.  Staff would like to thank the students and families for all the support, dedication and commitment to At Home Learning over the past week.  Our students did an amazing job with adapting to learning while at home.  I would like to thank the staff for their commitment and dedication who all did an amazing job programming for students for At Home Learning.

Here are some very important reminders to review with your children before returning to in-person learning.

Monitoring Your Child’s Health

Our shared health is our shared responsibility. We need families to monitor the health of their child(ren) each day before they come to school using the COVID-19 Daily Checklist. A copy of the checklist is attached. Please keep your child at home when they are ill, even if their symptoms are mild. By monitoring daily, you are doing your part to protect our shared health.

Illness at School

Any student who becomes unwell at school will have a separate location in the school where they will be supervised, while they wait to be picked up. If a child feels unwell or begins to exhibit COVID-19 symptoms, a parent or guardian will be contacted for pick-up. It is very important to ensure that your contact information and other emergency contacts for your child are kept up to date with the school. Please reach out if you have any changes.

Hygiene

Frequent hand washing and using hand sanitizer are public health measures we can all practice both at home and school. We will be emphasizing the importance of hand hygiene, throughout the day specifically when entering school and classrooms and before and after eating. Hand sanitizer will be made available at entrances and in hallways, and there will be hand sanitizer in classrooms.

We will also continue to work with children on the importance that “no sharing is caring” in a pandemic. Our teachers will be using age-appropriate language to educate students on why they are not able to share food, personal belongings or their individual school supplies.

The sharing of equipment, including technology will be limited. Any equipment that is shared will be cleaned after each use.

What the School Day Looks Like (School Design)

Students at Clayton Park will stay with their class (cohort) throughout the day, where possible. For the most part, staff will come to the students to limit interaction.

Non-essential furniture will be removed from classrooms and desks/tables will be spaced out as much as possible to allow students to have more physical distance.

For the time being, students will not use their lockers. Students will be permitted to bring their materials to class using their backpack.  It is important that students only bring items necessary for the day to school and that all belongings (text books, binders, backpacks, band instruments) are taken home every day.

Extra-curricular Activities

We know how much students and their families value the opportunities to participate in extra-curricular activities. We are looking at what in-school clubs and activities we can offer that are deemed safe and feasible, and follow public health guidelines. We will share more details as they become available.

Water Bottles

We recommended students bring a water bottle each day to reduce the sharing of water sources in the school as well as limit interactions among cohorts and social gatherings. Bottle filling stations and/or other sources of safe drinking will still be available. Sending your child with a full water bottle in the morning is greatly appreciated.

Breakfast Program

We know how important a healthy breakfast is to starting the day off right. We are working on a plan to ensure our students continue to have access to our breakfast program while ensuring health guidelines are in place.

Masking

The following measures are to be followed:

• Masking is a priority for all students and staff. Compliance with masking is essential for our shared health and wellness. If your student is not masking as directed at school, they will be sent home from school.
• Indoors - masks can only be removed while eating and drinking
• During physical education, masks are not required when participating in rigorous indoor physical activity.  Masks are required when not engaged in indoor physical activity if physical distancing cannot be maintained.  This means that masks cannot be removed as soon as students enter the gymnasium. They must be worn while not actively engaged in rigorous physical activity.
• Outdoors - masks can be removed if students can be physically distanced.
• We will provide each student with one 3-ply cloth facemask on Monday. We will have a very limited supply of extra masks on hand if a student loses/forgets their mask, please pack extras.

Bussing

All students (PP-Grade 12) will be required to wear a mask when travelling on the school bus.

Visitors

As has been the case in recent months, we will be limiting outside visitors in the building, including parents/guardians. This means you will not be able to enter the school to drop off or pick-up your child. If you are picking up your child or dropping something off, please ring the front doorbell or call the main office and we will have your child or a staff member come to the door.

Dismissal

• Bus students will remain in their homerooms. An announcement will be made with the bus number and only those students will be dismissed to the buses at that time. Bus students will be dismissed after the walking students.
• Walking students will be dismissed at 3:20pm.   An announcement will be made for dismissal of walking students
• Students are to remain seated until dismissal.  Students should not be standing or hovering around the door.

Chromebooks

Students who requested and signed an agreement for a Chromebook for At Home Learning are required to continue to bring their Chromebook to and from school on a daily bases.  We do not have extra Chromebooks for students to use throughout the school day.  The school will not be arranging as was done in January for students to pick them up if we have to pivot back to At Home Learning.  Students must have their device with them to complete in class work.  Ensure the device is fully charged prior to coming to school. Devices are to be transported to and from school in a backpack and not carried, as, we do not want them damaged.  Please have your child speak to Ms. Conrad if you they have any questions regarding the Chromebooks.

With everyone’s continued support while following Public Health Protocols and the Back to School Plan we can continue to keep everyone safe and in school.

If your student is going to be absent, arriving late or leaving early please remember to send an email to Ms. Reid cpjh@hrce.ca or call the office 902-457-8930.  The office phone is not checked for messages or answered from 11:15am– 12pm.

Students will begin Monday with a review of enhanced health guidelines. We know this is an extremely challenging time for our students and community. We want you to know that all measures we are taking are in an effort to ensure everyone’s safety.

We look forward to learning with students in person.  Thank you for your continued support as we navigate through this school year.

Stay Safe!

Sincerely,

Trina Canavan – Principal & Alana Conrad – Vice Principal