This week at WMES

November 16th, 2020

Dear WMES Families:
 

COVID-19 Assessment Checklist each morning – As cases of COVID-19 continue to increase in the Province, we would like to take a minute to remind families how important it is to do the COVID-19 checklist each morning before sending your child to school.  We so appreciate the efforts you are all making to help protect our school community and our shared health.  Thank you.

Here is a link to a Nova Scotia Health Authority flow chart that illustrates how Public Health officials respond to reported cases of COVID-19 in a school community: http://www.nshealth.ca/sites/nshealth.ca/files/contacttracing_schools_2020_10_26.pdf

Masks - Please pack an extra mask in your child’s backpack each day if at all possible.  Masks sometimes get wet, soiled or lost and having an extra will be helpful.

Please label all items coming to school.  With the colder weather students are bringing lots more to school each day (sweaters, coats, hats, mitts, etc.). Many things get left behind.  Items that are labelled are much more likely to make it back to their rightful owner.  Thank you.

Assessment Day on Friday – This Friday, November 20th is an Assessment and Evaluation Day for teachers.  There is no school on this day.  Teachers will be working on report cards, which will be emailed home the first week in December.  A big shout out to our teachers for all of the exceptional work that they are doing. 

Parent Teacher Interviews – Parent/Teacher interviews will take place on December 3rd from 1 – 6pm.  All interviews will take place virtually (either by phone or video conference). Your child’s teacher will be in touch soon to begin scheduling these appointments.

School/Bus Cancellations and Delayed Openings
The Halifax Regional Centre for Education takes great care when making the decision to cancel schools and/or buses, or delay the opening of school, in the event of severe or inclement weather. When these situations occur, the information is posted on the HRCE’s website at www.hrce.ca, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/HRCE_NS , recorded at 902-464-INFO (4636) and communicated to local radio stations. Families can also subscribe to receive notice of cancellations and delayed openings by e-mail or text message by following the link on the front page (left side) of the HRCE website.

If weather conditions warrant, the HRCE could implement a delayed opening. Delayed openings would be considered when a weather event has concluded but snow clearing or other operations require additional time. Delayed opening may also be considered when the physical plant is experiencing an issue such as a power outage or loss of water and additional time is required to prepare the school to open. If this was to occur, school and Pre-Primary would be delayed by two hours. In our school, this means school would start at 9:55am. If school buses are operating, the expectation will be that students are picked up two hours later than their regularly assigned time pending any weather-related delays.
Our lunch and dismissal times will remain at their regularly scheduled times.
The EXCEL program will be cancelled for the morning only.

The weather in Nova Scotia is unpredictable so it’s always a good idea for families to have a back-up plan for child care when school is cancelled. To learn more about the process on how decisions regarding closures and cancellations are made, visit: https://www.hrce.ca/about-our-schools/parents/inclement-weather .

Have a great week everyone.  As always – please reach out if you have questions / concerns.

Take care & stay safe

Karla Wolfe
Principal WMES