Important Links:

Revised Term 2/3 Dates:

Term 2 end date and reporting will move forward one week to accommodate the delayed start to school this month. See revised dates below:

February 1 – Term 2 Marks Cut-off
February 7 – Term 3 Starts
February 10 – Report Cards Out
February 11 – NIS (No school)
February 14 – 18 Parent Check-ins

This information has been distributed by email, FB (PAC and GRSS FB pages) and here on our main webpage.

UPDATE: Friday, January 14, 2022 – Week of January 17th to 21st

Fieldtrips, extracurricular activities, sports teams, and community use of the school continue to be paused until further notice. Students volunteering in the community as school activities also paused until further notice.

Visitor access continues to those providing direct services to students. All others can call the school to make a phone or Zoom appointment to meet.

Please contact the school with your concerns or questions at (250) 283-2538 or grssadmin@viw.sd84.bc.ca. Individual student concerns will be directed to the principal.

UPDATE: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 – Power Outage – We are open this afternoon

Watch for the bus at Tsaxana starting around 12:30pm for a pick up for school this afternoon.

Reminder: Visitor access to schools is limited at this time to those providing services to students. Please call the school by phone if you want to ask questions or make an appointment to have a phone or Zoom meeting with a member of the staff.

District Update: Monday, January 10 , 2022

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are looking forward to welcoming all students back to school on Monday, January 10. As you are no doubt aware we faced a number of challenges with preparing for a return to classes including extensive power outages and poor weather all last week. What you may not know is that we have also had a number of building issues related to power and weather and are still working to correct a few of these. Despite these issues, staff have been working hard to prepare contingency plans for how we will continue to provide learning if large numbers of staff or students are sick because of COVID and the Omicron variant.

What follows is our best information as of today, but throughout the pandemic we have all had to be flexible, and that is expected to continue.

Potential School Closures
School districts, like other employers, have been told to anticipate many absences as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 becomes more widespread.

There are two types of closures that could impact our schools:

a health closure, determined by Island Health, due to unusually high student absences; or
a functional school closure when there aren’t enough staff to provide proper care and instruction for students.

If a school must be closed for either of these reasons, the school will announce the closure to students and families through their regular communication methods as quickly as possible. During the closure, the school will transition to temporary at-home learning and teachers will communicate with parents directly on their class/subject and share materials.

The length of a functional school closure is likely to be about a week, but could be shorter or longer as staff absences are re-assessed. The length of a health closure would be determined by Island Health. We encourage families to start planning now for how they will manage if their child’s school needs to be closed.

Unfortunately, support for children of essential service workers or children with complex needs will not be available during a closure.

Transportation Disruptions

If there is a shortage of bus drivers some routes may need to be cancelled. If that happens, schools will stay open, but students who take the bus will have to find their own way to and from school.

Daily Health Checks & Face Masks

Daily health checks are still the most important thing we can all do to help keep our schools open and students and staff healthy. Anyone who is feeling unwell or displaying symptoms needs to stay home. Please use the K-12 health check app each day before coming to school: https://www.k12dailycheck.gov.bc.ca

The provincial order requiring all students from kindergarten to grade 12, staff, and visitors to wear masks in all indoor areas, including while at their desks/tables and on school buses, is still in effect. However, medical professionals are now recommending 3-layer masks and so we ask parents to send their child back to school with a 3-layer mask, if possible. We will still have masks available in school offices for those who need them.

Visitors

Visitors will not be permitted in our schools until further notice.

Please know that we will continue to try to have schools open and students learning in-person as much as possible. Closures will be a last resort and we will try to get students back in class as quickly as possible. Should you have specific questions or concerns, please contact your school principal.

COVID 19 Update: As per an Order from the Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the resumption of all K-12 classes in BC will occur in a phased approach with all students returning to school on Monday, January 10, 2022.

Updated Information (Posted Friday, January 7, 2022)

Monday, January 10, 2022

Regular bus times
Regular bell schedule
Morning homerooms to review COVID guidelines and expectations

Visitors

Phone to make a phone or zoom appointment.
Call to make an in-person appointment.
Ring buzzer at front door and wait to be admitted
Confirm self-health check prior to entry
Sign in and provide contact info for tracing
Wear mask at all times and follow all GRSS Communicable Disease Plan (available to download from school webpage).

Communication Plan

All information will be posted to our school webpage
Notifications of updates to the website with links will be posted on our school FB page, the PAC page, the Village page, and the MMFN page. We will also send out an email to those families that have addresses in our school database.
Please call or send an email to grssadmin@viw.sd84.bc.ca when you have questions or concerns.

Expectation of Return to School

Students are expected to return to school on Monday, January 10, 2022. If you have individual concerns, please call the school or send an email to request a meeting with the administration. If you have not met and discussed the individual concern with school administration, then absences will be recorded as “unexcused”.

Spacing Expectations (Exiting/Entrancing /Transitions)

First class of the morning and first class after lunch will be open five minutes earlier to keep traffic down in the hallways and foyer and prevent gathering.
At dismissal for lunch and after school, classes will leave the building in staggered times to reduce traffic and crowding in the hallways, foyer and at the main entrance.
Noon hour supervision will be temporarily limited to students from Tsaxana and students who are unable to go home for lunch.
Students are expected to listen to staff and comply with requests to disperse or provide more space
Physical contact continues to not be permitted

Continuing Expectations

Hygiene (cough and sneeze into your elbow)
No sharing of food or drinks
Handwashing
Wearing Masks
Personal Space
Health Checks
Stay home if sick

Updated Information and Links (Posted Wednesday, January 5, 2022)

Please click on the link below to see revisions to our Communicable Disease Plan (changes/additions are highlighted in yellow).

Staff worked this afternoon to connect by phone with students and their families. We will follow up with anyone we could not reach tomorrow.

Fieldtrips, extracurricular activities, sports teams, and community use of the school are paused until further notice.

Visitor access will be limited and phone or zoom meetings will be encouraged. Visitors to the school must have completed a self-health check and sign in at the front desk. See our plan for more details.

Arrangements for students of essential workers under the age of 12 can be directed to the elementary school. As we connect with families today and tomorrow, we will find out what other support needs there are that can be addressed at school this week.

Please continue to do self-health checks before coming to school. There is a link below to an online app to help with this. If you are sick, stay home. Call 811 for more information.

Please call the school or email grssadmin@viw.sd84.bc.ca if you have any questions or concerns.

Check this website regularly for updates

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

No bus this week. Staff will report to work at their usual times. Staff will meet in the morning to review and plan for the week. In the afternoon, the school and the staff will communicate out to students, families and communities. Please wait for an update tomorrow afternoon. The power outages have made it difficult to send emails through the district server. Thank you for your patience.

Tuesday, January 4, 2022 – Power Outage

Upcoming Dates:

Friday, November 19^th – Pro-D Day (NIS)
Monday, November 22^nd
- Homeroom – issue revised schedules
- Report Cards Issued
Wednesday, November 24^th – Early Dismissal for Parent-Teacher – Dismissal at 11:48am – modified bus schedule
- 1 to 4pm / 6 to 8pm
- Call the school and book an appointment (phone appointments are an option)

Revised Schedule:

We are making some technical changes to our schedule. The bell schedule (days, hours, classes, etc.) will not change. We are just moving some courses around in our class schedule. This will be communicated to students and then we will have a homeroom on Monday morning to review and issue the new schedule.

Report Cards and Parent-Teacher Meetings:

Term 1 reports will be issued at the end of the day Monday, November 22. There will be an early dismissal on Wednesday, November 24^th to host parent-teacher meetings (see time above.) Please call the school to book appointments to meet with teachers.

Update on COVID Tracing and Course Work (November 16, 2021)

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We wanted to reach out with an update and let you know school is safe, and we would like students to come back. We miss our students!

We have not had any contact or direction from Island Health since November 2^nd. We continue to follow our school Communicable Disease Plan. Students are returning to school and attendance has increased significantly this week. At this point, the expectation is that students return to school to continue their studies. Sending work home does not replace the instruction that is missed. It is just a stop gap measure to prevent students from falling too far behind. Continued absences affect student success.

Teachers have made course work available to students for the past couple of weeks. No more work will be made available unless:

a parent/guardian contacts the school to directly discuss why the student is unable to attend school and the circumstance is explained
an individual circumstance has been considered, all the previous work has been completed and returned to the teacher(s) for assessment

If there is no communication from a parent/guardian, then a student will be marked as “absent without excuse”, no more work will sent home and the principal will contact the family to follow up.

Please remember that it is your responsibility to notify the school if your student is absent. We require communication so that we can keep our attendance records accurate and complete, and also support with course work if that is necessary.

November 8th, 2021 – Aboriginal Veterans Day

The flag at the school will be flown at half-mast today to commemorate and pay respect to our Aboriginal Veterans who have served and continue to serve to protect our rights and freedoms. Many paid the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. It has only been in the last 25 years that Aboriginal Veterans have begun to get the recognition and respect they deserve for their service. There is still a lot of work to be done to show our respect fully and properly.

We will observe a moment of silence today at GRSS to pay our respects. Please click the link below for some information about Aboriginal Veterans Day.

Nov. 8 marks National Aboriginal Veterans Day – Canada.ca

* Please check your email and phone for contact from teacher(s) if you have requested school work for your student(s)*

Update on COVID Tracing and Course Work (November 5, 2021)

As of today, we do not have any current or specific direction from Island Health to follow. We continue to follow our school Communicable Disease Plan. The school is safe and it is expected that students will return to school next week. If you have any individual concerns you would like to discuss, please contact the school on Monday to follow-up.

Teachers made course work available to students this past week. Further course work will be available when:

a parent/guardian contacts the school to directly discuss why the student is unable to attend school and the circumstance is explained
an individual circumstance has been considered, all the previous work has been completed and returned to the teacher(s) for assessment

We continue to understand the heightened concern and anxiety being experienced right now and will continue to do our best to support students and families.

Please remember that if your student is absent, we require communication so that we can keep our attendance records accurate and complete, and also support with course work if that is necessary.

To provide clarity in how GRSS responds to reports of COVID at the school.

We are directed by Island Health through the Public Health Officer (PHO). We receive notification of a possible contact and questions from the PHO and we follow-up by sending the answers they require. Then we wait for their direction.

If students self-report to the school, we notify the superintendent and wait to hear direction from Island Health. Because of privacy laws, we do not share out the information if it communicated to the school. We wait until the PHO follows up and we take their direction.

If the PHO confirms an exposure, that information would be communicated out via their website and the PHO will provide letters for distribution by the school to those the PHO requires to receive them.

Below is a graphic produced by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) that explains the contact tracing procedure and how public health involves schools.

We continue to follow our Communicable Disease Plan. We understand the heightened concern and anxiety right now and support families in the decisions they make to address those concerns and anxieties.

Please remember that if you child is absent, we require communication so that we can keep our attendance records accurate and complete, and also to support with work to go home if that is necessary.

For more information, go to K-12 Schools and Covid-19.

Please call and ask to speak to Mr. Broderick directly if you have any questions or concerns.

Contact_Tracing

2021-22 Reporting Dates

Term 1: (2021)

November 10^th cut-off
18^th Report Cards out
24^th Open house – early dismissal

Term 2: (2022)

January 26^th cut-off
February 7^th Report Cards out

Term 3: (2022)

April 7^th cut-off
April 19th Report Cards out
April 21st Open house – early dismissal

Term 4: (2022)

June 15^th cut-off
June 24^th report cards out

NOTE: Revised Bell Schedule

Starting Monday, September 2oth, the bell schedule has been revised to accommodate conflicts with the bus schedule.

Friday, September 24th – Curriculum Implementation Day

Not in session – no school for students this day.

Monday, September 20th – Thursday September 23rd – Spirit Week

Monday – PJ Day
Tuesday – Decades Day
Wednesday – Celebrity & Fandom Day
Thursday – First Name First Letter Dress Up Day

GRSS 2021-22 Documents

* Check regularly for updates and additions

School Calendar (Colour)

School Supply List

Code of Conduct

Communicable Disease Plan – Key Messages

Visitors must sign in and verify health check
Staff must sign in and verify health check
Students must self-check before coming to school
Masks are required
Practice social distancing ( strict 2m distancing encouraged but not required
Practice good hygiene (hand-washing / sanitizer / etiquette)

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