This Week at WMES
February 7th - 11th

Dear Families:

Please use the Covid19 Daily check before sending your child to school each day.  Thank you for helping us all stay safe and healthy this year.

COVID-19 Close Contacts - UPDATED INFORMATION
Instructions for close contacts have been updated  by Public Health.  Information about isolating has changed based on whether the positive case lives in your household, and whether you have symptoms. https://www.nshealth.ca/information-covid-19-close-contacts/. 
Please be sure to review this information asap.

Some updates for this week:

• Have you been following along with our African Heritage Month and Random Acts of Kindness challenges this month?  The calendars are located on our webpage if you want to join us: https://wms.hrce.ca/calendar
   
• We will be participating in Winter Walk Day  on January 17th (weather permitting).  Classes will be encouraged to get out and walk around our school neighborhood.  (Bus Loop to the sidewalk on Rocky Lake Drive up to School Street and then back in our upper parking lot). 

• This week we will be holding our second Lockdown Drill of the school year. Please find a letter attached explaining the Lockdown Drill. 

It's time to register Pre-Primary and Primary students for school!

• HRCE begins the registration process in February so that schools are ready to welcome your child in September. You can find everything you need to get started here: hrce.ca/registration .

We would like to take an opportunity to clarify a few of our school rules and expectations regarding technology use at WMES.

The Provincial Code of Conduct requires that all students:

• use information and communications technology, including the Internet, digital resources, and e-communication, and all forms of social media in a responsible and acceptable manner consistent with the Nova Scotia Public School Network Access and Use Policy and the Cyber-safety Act (2013)

At Waverley Memorial Elementary, technology is frequently used as a tool to enhance learning experiences at all grade levels.   The Acceptable Use of Technology Guidelines are reviewed regularly, and any staff member in the building can request to see what students are doing on their technology at any point during the school day.   

At no point are students permitted to take photos or videos of themselves or others to post on personal social media sites.

Please take a few minutes to review this policy with your child if they are bringing their own devices to school.  Any students who are unable to follow this policy will not be permitted to have personal technology devices at school and may lose the privilege of using school technology as well.

We would also like to encourage you to take a few minutes to sit down with your child if they are using social media sites and review the content that they are posting, and that they are being exposed to, as well as to check their settings to see if their accounts are public or private. With students spending an increasing amount of time online it is so important to ensure they have the tools/ information they need to stay safe.

Thank you for your continued support.

Resources
What can a parent/guardian do to keep their child safe on the Internet? - link
A Role for Parents/Guardians
A Role for Students

To learn more about bullying and what you can do to help, contact your child's school, or check out these resources:

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868
www.kidshelpphone.ca

Bully Hotline, Halifax Regional Police
Phone: 902-490-7283
Text: 902-233-SAVE
E-mail: bullyhotline@halifax.ca

Provincial School Code of Conduct - link

Safe Schools, Halifax Regional Centre for Education - link

Nova Scotia Anti-bullying Website - link

https://www.cbc.ca/keepingcanadasafe/m_blog/keep-kids-safe-online

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/family-life/social-emotional-learning...

https://privacycanada.net/online-esafety-guide-for-kids/

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/net-safety.html
 

Have a great week everyone. 
Please reach out if you have any questions / concerns.

Karla Wolfe
Principal WMES

Our webpage can be found at:  https://wms.hrce.ca/
You can also follow us on Twitter at: @WMESchool