Silver Creek Elementary School

Under the advice of the Ministry of Health & Education, the daily health check list which parents have asked to do each day has been updated, and School District is adopting the new check list for Tuesday, October 13th.

Superintendent/CEO Peter Jory notes, “A number of symptoms have been dropped from the revised list, as these were determined to have little or no statistical connection to the frequency of positive COVID-19 tests.”

He adds, “Some districts went to the new form right away. We did decide to delay for a couple of weeks as some parents and staff were attached to the previous list, and we wanted a just little more time for stakeholders to hear and digest the provincial messaging”.

Our schools and the Parent Connect interface will be using the updated check lists starting on Tuesday. Parents and guardians are asked to review this information daily and respond appropriately.

The new check list is as follows:

If you answered “YES” to any of the above symptoms, and they are not related to a pre-existing condition (e.g. allergies), your child should NOT attend school.

If only one symptom (excluding fever) is present: your child should stay home and can self-monitor/be monitored for 24 hours from when the symptom started. If the symptom continues past that window or worsens, seek a health assessment. If the symptom improves, your child may return to school when they feel well enough.

If your child has a fever, or if two or more key symptoms are present: seek a health assessment. A health assessment can include calling 811 or a
primary care provider like a physician or nurse practitioner – the assessment will determine whether a COVID-19 test is recommended.

2. International travel
Have you returned from travel outside Canada in the last 14 days?

3. Confirmed Contact
Are you a confirmed contact of a person confirmed to have a case of COVID-19?

If you answered “YES” to questions 2 or 3, or if you’re worried about new symptoms you’ve identified, use the COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool or call 811 to determine if you should seek testing for COVID-19.

After a period of illness, when is it safe to return to school?
If a COVID-19 test has been recommended, follow the guidance provided by the health professional you’re working with (guidelines also listed in BC
Centre for Disease Control link below). If a COVID-19 test is not recommended by the health assessment, your child can return to school when symptoms improve and they feel well enough to do so.

SD83 would like to make our parents and communities aware that any notification and tracing of COVID-19 would be done by the health experts at Interior Health.

Interior Health has many resources on their website which parents may wish to view including:

Trusted Information about COVID-19

A list of public COVID-19 exposures in Interior Health

A list of school exposures

Protocols for school and district administrators to follow if there is a confirmed cases have been detailed by the Ministry of Education. Click here to view.

Ministry of Education Management of Illness and Confirmed Cases

Information from the BC Centre for Disease Control

 SD83 Kindergarten Registration 2021-22 

To Parents/Caregivers, 

We are looking forward to welcoming you and your child to North Okanagan School District No. 83! Due to COVID-19, there are some changes to the Kindergarten registration process this year: 

1. Kindergarten registration will open at 9am on Tuesday, October 13th and remain open for the rest of the school year. 

2. You may choose to register in-person at the school or online. 

3. Registering in-person: Please phone the school and make an appointment to come in and complete the paperwork, as only one family at a time can be in the school office area. 

4. Registering online: Please email the school to request the online registration link. 

5. You will need to register at your child’s catchment school (based on your physical address) or specialty school (Bastion – Early French Immersion or South Canoe – Outdoor Learning). To access our catchment school locator tool or find out more information about our specialty schools, Click Here. 

6. Any parents/caregivers requesting a cross-boundary consideration will need to follow these steps:

a. Register at their catchment school (in-person or online) 

b. Complete a cross boundary request form 

c. Have the form signed by the catchment school’s principal 

d. Take the form to the principal of the requested school (for cross-boundary consideration in the spring) 

7. All Kindergarten registrations completed on Tuesday, October 13th are treated as “equal”, so there is no need for line-ups on that day. Registrations received after October 13th, will be date/time stamped and treated on a first come, first served basis. This information will be used to determine placement IF catchment area schools or programs are full. Students with siblings already registered in a Program of Choice (French Immersion or Outdoor Learning) will be given priority if there is limited space.

If you have any questions about the Kindergarten registration process, please contact: Jennifer Findlay, District Principal, at jfindlay@sd83.bc.ca 

Our PAC has just launched a well loved fundraiser from Scoops Gourmet. Get your pail of cookie dough and cheese cake and stock up your freezer! Proceeds are going towards the purchase of more computers for our school along with a variety of other programs and projects. Thank you for supporting our amazing school!

Contact Jessica Penner for more information. : 250.804.8522 or penner.jessica@gmail.com Etransfer is encouraged.

We are looking forward to welcoming our North Okanagan-Shuswap StrongStart families back to our programs starting on Thursday, October 1st. StrongStart is a free early learning program for preschool children, 0 to 5 years old, and their parent or caregiver. There will be COVID-19 guidelines in place at all programs to ensure the safety of our families, StrongStart educators, and school community. 

REGISTRATION: 

• Registration for all SD83 StrongStart programs will open on Thursday, September 17th, 2020 and will be ongoing 
• If your child was previously registered in a StrongStart program in our district, please call the school to indicate that you and your child are interested in attending the StrongStart program again this school year 
• If your child is new to StrongStart, please phone the school to request a time to come in and complete the registration process 
• Interested families will need to choose one program to attend as we will not be supporting participation at multiple programs due to COVID-19 

Click here for complete information

School will begin for students a little later this year and their first full day will be Thursday September 10. Staff will be meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday to go over site safety plans and prepare their classrooms for the new protocols due to Covid-19. Buses will be running as usual. School begins with a warning bell at 7:55 and  dismissal will be 2:02.

Families have different views about returning to regular face to face instruction and some families may wish to keep their child home for a while to see what  happens with the pandemic. There are a few more options available. Please read information from Superintendent, Peter Jory.

Parents are always encouraged to have their students attend their neighbourhood school. Extensive planning has gone into making our school safe in this context, and this is by far the richest environment for most students to develop their academic and social skills. Please reach out to us if you would like to know more about what our school will look like for your child this September. We recognize that while most parents agree that attending their neighbourhood school in person is the best option, some have indicated that they are still nervous about sending their students to us on opening day. The Ministry of Education has temporarily softened our standard enrollment process to support families who wish to delay their start by a number of weeks but still retain their child’s seat in class. Again, reach out to us for more information on our new “Soft Start” option. A number of parents have also indicated that they would like to register their students in an online program. While we are reopening our Kindergarten through grade eight program, note that once you have registered with our Education Online Program (EOP) or with another education provider, your student’s return to our school will be dependent on available seats, and may be delayed until the following school year as a result. As our staffing model is dependent on student registration, students departing a school for other options may also cause the number of available seats in our school to be reduced. Some students in grades ten through twelve have indicated an interest in enrolling in a combination of online and in-person schoolings. This practice has been permitted in the past and will continue to be an option in our current context. However, students in Kindergarten through grade nine will have to choose between online or in-person schooling and participate in that program full-time, and the same goes for families who pursue a Homeschool option. If you have learned everything you need to know about online learning and still wish to register, please let us know about your decision and we will support you with next steps. If you wish to know more about our district EOP, please contact the program principal Mr. Rob Macaulay at rmacaula@sd83.bc.ca. Again, we will continue to encourage students to attend their local school, as we believe that is the best option for the vast majority of students. We hope that you will agree and we look forward to seeing you next week. Looking forward to seeing all our amazing students and families soon. Kirsten Mazur, Principal at Silver Creek Elementary