Families:

As part of our preparation for the reopening of school, I am pleased to share the following information:

Busing The Transportation Team will be providing an update to families on busing this week.

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 sanitizing stations have been installed at entrances and in hallways, and there will be hand sanitizer in classrooms.

We will also be working 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.

Breakfast Programs 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.
Students will have items delivered to their classroom every morning. They will have a choice of 2 items such as muffins, yogurt tubes, cereal, cheese strings to name a few.

Lunch Students will be eating lunch in their classrooms. Please ensure their lunch is something they can manage independently to avoid unnecessary handling of items by others.
Lunchtime will be staggered at 11:30 to 11:55 a group of three classrooms will be outside in separate areas while the other group of three classrooms eats. At 11:55 to 12:20 the groups will switch. Reminder we are a nut free school.

Recess is going to look different this year in order to limit interactions among cohorts and social gathering. Students will have breaks with their class on a staggered schedule. Similar to lunch a group of classrooms will go outside from 10: to 10:15. The other group of classrooms will have their recess from 10:15 to 10:30

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.

Childcare The EXCEL After School program is operating. EXCEL will be communicating directly with registered families.

This information will also be posted on our website at: https://dts.hrce.ca/

I will share other updates Thursday.

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Together we got this!

Sincerely,
Terry Barro