Return to School - January 10

Dear Swift Families,

We hope that you are well, safe, and healthy, and that you enjoyed your holiday time together.  As we prepare to come back to school, we find ourselves in yet another challenging situation with the Omicron variant that is circulating widely in the community.  With it, we will need to be prepared to be flexible as the situation changes, be patient with each other and most importantly show what it means to be part of the caring Swift community.

The Ministry of Education and the BCCDC have provided some additional guidance for ways we can help each other and slow the spread of the virus in three areas: Personal Safety, Crowding in Common Spaces, Visitors. All of these things we have been doing all year or have done in the past. Here is what it looks like at Swift.

Focus on Personal Safety

• Students from K-Grade 5 are required to wear masks indoors.  Please ensure you are sending at least 2 masks to school daily – one simply does not last the whole day. If you are using cloth masks – please send clean ones each day!
• We will continue to remind students to be mindful of personal space and limit physical contact. Classroom configurations have been adjusted to reduce face-to-face seating, and allow for as much space as possible.
• Hand Hygiene will continue to be done frequently throughout the day – both through hand washing with soap and water and sanitizing when entering and exiting different spaces in the school and/or when soap and water aren’t available.
• Families should be completing a daily health check with their child each morning.  Here is a link to the BCCDC School Health Check.
• All students and staff need to stay home when sick. Please know that should a child become sick during the day, we will call a parent or an emergency contact to support picking them up.

Limit Crowding in Common Spaces

• We will continue to use the exterior classroom doors to avoid congestion in the hallways. Any movement in the hallways as a group will be led by teachers and will include using different doors or routes to alleviate crowding.
• We ask that at arrival and dismissal parents wait away from the doors in order to limit crowding – please spread out on the field, tarmac, playground, or garden. Picking a “meeting spot” with older students will also help alleviate crowding. The arrival and dismissal areas for some classes might be changing – you will be directly contacted by your teacher if this is the case.
• Arrival at school will be a “soft start” – meaning students can arrive anytime to their classes between 8:30 and 8:40. We hope this will alleviate some of the gathering around the classroom doors as well as in the cul-de-sacs (which currently are very snowy and messy!) Please use the drop off lane in the morning where possible.

Limit Visitors

• We are sorry to say that we will limit visitors to those that are supporting student learning – practicum students and itinerant support staff. At this time parent volunteers will not be able to work with students in the school – only if there is an outdoor activity (ie: Nature Walks or Activities)
• At this time we will be pausing Hot Lunch and other PAC events. We will reassess at the end of January and make a plan for moving forward when it is safe to do so. Please know the January PAC Meeting will still occur – just in a virtual format. Details will follow later this month.

As we return to school, there are many things you can do to support your child and the whole Swift community:

• Model and encourage healthy hand hygiene.
• Ensure they have a well-fit mask – or 2!, that is worn properly.
• Monitor both their physical and emotional wellness.   
• Report absences to the school with any information about the nature of the absence (appointment, illness, etc.) using SafeArrival or by calling the school
• If you have questions about your child’s health, please contact your doctor or call 811.

Little eyes are always watching, as adults, please help us keep the community healthy by modelling proper mask wearing, not gathering in groups, and staying away from the school if you’re sick.

I have quickly learned and seen the strength and care of our community and am certain that we will get through this next challenge together, thank you for all that you do as you continue to support your child and the broader school community.

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to chat and provide any answers that I can. And for the answers that I don’t have – I will work to seek them out for you.

Take care, stay well, and we will see you on Monday January 10th.