September 17, 2021
It’s been an exciting week at Blacklock and I’m pleased to report that all of our students seem to be settling well into the new school year. We appreciate how you’ve done your part to help us get off to a good start by completing your online consent forms, returning the brown envelope, completing a daily health check with your child, paying for school fees, and ensuring that your children are set up for success each day by sending them with appropriate clothing, nutritious food, and a water bottle. Keep up the good work!
Health and Safety continues to be our top priority. Please read the Daily Health Check Form (by clicking on this link Health Check Form – Revised 2020Sep) and use it as a reference before sending your child to school. Please remember to advise the office if your child will be late or staying home for any reason. We ask that if your child has thrown up, has diarrhoea, or a fever, that you keep him/her home for 24 hours after symptoms have disappeared. This is critical in preventing the spread of illness in our school. Any visitor who enters the building must wear a mask, hand sanitize, and complete the sign in log at the Office.
The parking lot continues to be an area of concern. We all need to work together when dropping off and picking up our children. The drop off lane is exactly that. It is not a place to park (even if you’re sitting in the vehicle) while you wait to drop off or pick up your child. When vehicles do this, they impede traffic flow as well as block the vision of pedestrians trying to safely go to their vehicles. Thank you for your cooperation in this.
If your child rides a bike to school please ensure that they have a bike lock to safely lock it up on our bike rack, located near Door B. For safety reasons, students can’t park their bikes inside the school as this is causing problems with access to various parts of the school. Helmets are required for anyone who rides a bike or a scooter. If you have financial difficulties in providing this, please reach out to me.
On Monday September 20th, many of our school gyms across the District will be used as federal election polling stations from 7am – 7pm. As guided by Section 81 of the Election Act “accommodation in a school that is the property of a board of school trustees under the School Act must be made available by the board for use as a voting place.” As always, the health and safety of our students, staff and school community is a priority. With COVID-19, we understand this may raise some questions and concerns about the use of District property.
In an effort to be transparent with our families, we want you to know the following:
- 28 school sites will be used. Please see full list on our District website here.
- Gymnasiums will be used. No public access to other parts of the school.
- Set-up will occur early morning on election day.
- Elections Canada staff will follow their own cleaning protocols on election day.
- District custodial staff will be cleaning sites prior to school opening on Tuesday.
- Please take note of extra traffic in the area of these sites on election day. It may be helpful for families to give yourself extra time for drop-off and pick-up, or consider walking to and from school to avoid congestion, and to keep everyone safe.
Teachers are excited to provide an opportunity for you to meet them and to see your child’s classroom. This year, to ensure that we are compliant with COVID protocols, teachers will be reaching out to you with information about how this will happen. This does not include Kindergarten families who have already had their meeting with the teachers. As we are in the process of staffing two classes, there may be a delay in when the ‘Meet The Teacher’ event occurs.
I am excited this year to welcome ‘Made The Grade Photography’ to take our school portraits on Tuesday, September 28. They are encouraging all parents to pre-register for picture day using the link below to ensure your gallery is e-mailed to you the moment it’s live.
Link: Made The Grade Registration
Access Code: BLACKLOCK
There are two other avenues a parent can use to pre-register. They are the QR codes on the takehome flyers (which were sent home this week) and the QR codes on the school posters hung up around the school entrances.
As students will be outside as much as possible, please ensure that your child has appropriate footwear and, in the case of inclement weather, rain jacket, boots, hats, etc.
Have a great weekend!
Susanna Eppich, Principal
CALENDARHere are the upcoming calendar updates:
September 23 – Terry Fox Run
September 24 – School Improvement Day – No School for Students
September 28 – Individual Photo Day @ 9:00am
September 29 – Orange Shirt Day
September 30 – Truth & Reconciliation Statutory Holiday
October 7 – Retake Photo Day @ 9:00am
October 11 – Thanksgiving Day – School is Closed
October 20 & 21 – One Hour Early Dismissal at 1:35pm for Parent Teacher Interviews
October 22 – Professional Development Day – No School for Students
For access to our District Community Bulletin Board, please click here: Community Bulletin Board. There are always new flyers that may be of interest to you.