Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a restful break, and that you stayed healthy and managed to connect with friends and family in whatever ways you could. This certainly wasn’t the break that most of us imagined in November, even. I offer you all my wife’s Grampa Bill’s traditional New Year’s toast: May your worst day in 2022 be better than your best day in 2021!

Delayed Start to School

As you have no doubt heard, schools will not be opening as expected on January 4. Please see full information here. From January 4 to 7, we will be supporting only the children of essential services workers, and those with diverse needs as required in person. We look forward to welcoming back all students, with enhanced safety measures, on January 10.

Safety Measures – a reminder

When children do come back to school, please remember that the daily health check requirement and mask expectations are still in effect. It is critical, if we want to keep schools open and running, that people (kids or staff alike) do not come to school when sick, even just a little. Anecdotally, I have a number of acquaintances who had relatively minor symptoms (‘It’s just a little cold’) but tested positive for COVID. Given the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, that ‘little cold’ could turn into a widespread event if it came to school, and while the original person had mild symptoms, someone who catches it from them could become quite ill. I would be so upset to learn that our school was the path that allowed a family member who has avoided COVID all this time to become critically ill. If your kids have any symptoms, keep them home. We will be vigilant and will call parents to pick up kids who become sick at school.

My Tween and Me

Parenting pre-teens is like no other part of the parenting experience. My Tween and Me is a program for parent and child. Every parent I know who has done the program has reported it is fantastic. Click on the picture below to go to the registration link. And click here to go to online registration for Safer Space, a 1-session learning opportunity about keeping kids safe online. It hits significant (and a bit scary) topics for parents.

BCCDC Vaccination for Children Aged 5-11

The COVID-19 vaccination is now authorized by Health Canada for children five and older. Getting young people vaccinated helps protect them and the people around them. The Langley Schools District is supporting the efforts of public health and is sharing this resource from the BC Centre for Disease Control COVID-19 Vaccination for children 5-11 years old here. You can also review an Immunize BC FAQ resource here.

Parents can register their child in the Get Vaccinated System to be notified of when their child can get vaccinated. The vaccines are free and children do not need BC Care Cards to receive them. If you have any questions about your child’s health, please contact public health or your medical provider.