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Welcome Back Information

September 1, 2023
By Dean Morrow

Hello Lakeview Families,

Welcome back to another school year! I hope you’ve all enjoyed your summer and that you had an opportunity to do some of the things you love to do as a family. We’re looking forward to a great year at Lakeview and hope to be able to provide even more fun activities for students throughout the year and of course wonderful learning activities. Below is some information that may help you better understand the first week of school. Please also take some time to review the documents regarding province-wide changes to our reporting policy, the district communication protocol and Fair Notice regarding the District Threat Assessment Protocol which are posted to our Facebook Page and in your email.

As much as we would love to be able to start our school year with a class assignment for our kiddos we won’t be able to do so. Our registrations have seen many changes this week and will likely continue to change next week as we receive new registrations and transfer requests. As a result, we are very close to having to make significant changes to how our divisions are set up. To set the classes on the first day would likely result in having to make huge changes and shuffles, which would result in a lot of big emotions and frustrations.

In order to avoid this, we won’t be assigning students to classes until Friday morning at our assembly. On Wednesday morning, students will be assigned to a temporary homeroom teacher (in most cases it will be their teacher from last year). This is a low-stress way to make comfortable connections after a long break. They will meet with their ‘homeroom’ teacher after each natural break (morning, recess and lunch bells), but then move to a different teacher within their age range (primary/intermediate) to do a fun activity.

Wednesday

  • Grades 1-7 only

  • Early Dismissal Day runs from 8:30-11:38. Buses will run and your child will arrive at their bus stop 3 hours earlier than normal

  • Students will go directly to the gym at 8:25 (bell) for a small welcome assembly and be assigned to a group for Wednesday and Thursday.

  • For Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, students will be grouped with their previous year’s class and teacher as a homeroom for the week.

  • Do not bring school supplies

Thursday

  • Full day for grades 1-7

  • Half day for Kindergarten group A (8:30-11:00). Pick up from school will need to be arranged (no busing for Ks today). CHEQ survey for K parents at 8:30.

  • Students will rotate with their group through a number of stations run by different teachers (primary students will circulate through primary teachers and intermediate students will circulate through stations run by intermediate teachers).

  • Do not bring school supplies

Friday:

  • Full day for grades 1-7

  • Half day for Kindergarten group B (8:30-11:00). Pick up from school will need to be arranged (no busing for Ks today). CHEQ survey for K parents at 8:30.

  • Students will meet with their ‘homeroom group’ in the morning

  • Assembly at 9:20 for grades 1-7 to receive class assignments

  • Bring school supplies

Parking/drop off/pick up

There have been some small, but hopefully helpful changes to our parking lots and drop-off lanes. New signage is currently being installed to help inform drivers of this process. Please take note of the signage (fingers crossed it's in place by Wednesday).

Key points:

  • No Parking in the staff parking lots (upper and lower)

  • The church parking lot has parking available

  • The opposite side of the highway near the tunnel has parking available

  • Road parking is available in some places near the school (obey signage)

  • Morning drop-off coming from the south heading north (towards town) will be able to enter the bus lane (from the front side of the school - obey signage) between 8:00 am and 8:30 a.m. This will be used as a one-way drive-through drop-off area. Please drop students at the far end of the bus lane near the lower entrance

  • Morning drop-off coming from the north, heading south will continue to be a drive-through drop-off in front of the school. PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN THE DROP-OFF area before 8:45 am.

  • NO U-TURNS

  • MUST drive slowly in the school zone

  • Because we don’t have crosswalks, please stop to allow children to safely cross the road

Be Bear Aware

Quesnel’s influx of bears this year is unlike anything in recent memory. School is starting next week and we know that many students walk or bike to school. This is a good time to have regular conversations with your children about bear and wildlife awareness. Some tips are for kids to walk directly home after school to check in with you, to walk in groups, to make noise and to not eat snacks while walking or riding. Children should not approach any wildlife.

I look forward to connecting with you over the course of the year.

Regards,

Dean Morrow (Principal)