Posted: January 16, 2022

Information

Kindergarten Registration

Kindergarten registration across the Langley School District runs January 17, 2022 – March 31, 2022. If your child will be five years old by December 31, 2022, you will be able to register through your catchment school. Registration will take place online via email to the school. Our school will have site-specific instructions posted on our website once registration opens. Please understand there is no advantage in rushing to register your child in the first few weeks of the registration period. Families have until the end of March to secure a space for their child. That said, in the busy Willoughby slope area, the sooner and the more we know, the better we can plan for September at RBE. For information on what documents you need and instructions on how to register, please visit the District webpage here. To learn more about Kindergarten in the Langley School District, read our brochure here.  

COVID Procedures for Managing Illness

To help students, staff, and families in the weeks ahead, the District is sharing this document outlining information and public health guidance regarding COVID Procedures for Managing Illness. This highlight is probably the most important for you to know that students need to meet all three of the criteria below before returning:

At this point, since no students are fully vaccinated, their isolation periods would be 10 days.

Daily Health Check

A friendly reminder to everyone to conduct the daily health check before coming to school or boarding a bus. Please note, the Ministry is currently updating the K-12 Health Check App, to reflect the current COVID-19 landscape. Students, staff, and visitors are asked to use the Thrive BC COVID-19 Self-Assessment Tool until further notice. The District will provide an update as soon as information is made available.

Reporting School Absences

The school appreciates the work of families in following our processes when it comes to reporting student absences. As per Ministry guidelines, students and their families are being asked to indicate if the reason for the absence is due to illness. As per Ministry guidance, students do not need to disclose if their absence is specific to COVID-19; however, those who test positive for COVID-19 should be diligent in ensuring their school is aware their absence is illness-related. Providing us with accurate information regarding the reason your child is away, is extremely critical in helping keep our school community safe. This data will help our school, the District, and Fraser Health work together to assess and make decisions about closures which could impact operations and student learning. The attendance information families provide remains confidential, will not be shared, and is only used for reporting and planning purposes. If you have any questions about reporting absences, please feel free to contact the school. 

Musc Request

“Diversity makes beautiful music” – DJ O Show.  We would like more diversity in the songs we use for Music class.  The students at Richard Bulpitt Elementary speak 38 different languages.  Unfortunately, Ms. Knuttila only speaks English.  She needs your help!  Can you please recommend some some songs to us? Do you have a favourite song performed in your language(s)?   Please let Ms. Knuttila know using this form and she will be able to play the songs for all of our students.  Thank you for your assistance!!!

Safety Measures – COVID-19 (repeat)

1. Health Checks – This one is first, as it is the most important. All students and staff must complete the daily health check every day. If your child has symptoms, do not come to school. While missing a day (or five) might be inconvenient, it’s not as inconvenient as finding out on short notice that we’re moving to remote learning due to high rates of transmission or inadequate staff available because everyone got sick. Hint: if a child needs Tylenol to get here in the morning, they’re too sick for school. We will be calling parents to pick up kids who develop symptoms at school. Also, please remember that if your child is waiting on COVID test results, the Fraser Health requirement is that they are self-isolating.
2. Masks – We will continue to require mask wearing inside for students and adults alike, with no changes from previous practice. Please send your child with a mask or three in their backpack. While we do have emergency masks to provide, we go through them awfully fast, as kids drop or forget their masks regularly. While masks are not required outside at playtime, many students and staff choose to wear them there as well.
3. Hands – As before, wash before school, wash at school (so many times), wash after school! I know that I’ve caught myself drifting back to old, pre-COVID habits of washing in way less than 20 seconds, and so we’re re-emphasizing our hand-washing routines at school, and are tightening up our personal habits as well.
4. Space – We will be moving back more firmly to some our spacing measures for the foreseeable future. Students will travel one-way paths to and from library, music and PE, and numbers in washrooms will be limited. In classes, we have rearranged furniture and seating wherever possible to reduce face-to-face seating and to increase the spaces between students. We will also continue with split recess and lunch playtimes so that crowding is reduced in play areas.
5. Visitors – Visitors inside the school will be limited for the next while. We will be unfortunately unable to do Noisy Reading, Hot Lunch, or other activities that have multiple visitors and aren’t in direct support of curriculum will be stopping for now. This also means that parents will not be invited into the school past the front counter until further notice. Please stop there and wait for assistance. It’s not that we don’t like you, remember.
6. Attendance Monitoring – We will be reporting unusual attendance patterns to Fraser Health going forward. This makes it critical that we know if your child is away ill, or for another reason. Please make sure to log your child’s absences.
7. What can parents do? We would ask that, whenever possible, parents drop students at the curb and let them line up without accompanying them to the lineup. If you must go to the lineup, stay well back from the school doors, and do your best to stay spread out from each other. Same goes at pickup time. We understand that the youngest ones need to be met, but older kids could be going to a pre-determined meeting spot to find a parent waiting there. Just advise your child’s teacher if you’ll be changing from an earlier plan.
8. Work together! – Remember we’re helping ourselves by helping each other. 

For parents of Grade 5 students – Bulldogs Basketball

Basketball is here. While COVID restrictions have made inter-school competition impossible this year, we will have 5 or so in-house teams at RBE. Many grade 5 students signed up on Thursday, and our first practices are this week. While spectators are not currently allowed at school sports events, we’ll hopefully go long enough into the spring that the restrictions can lift in time for you to see a game. And no, it’s not too late to sign up!

PAC News

Unfortunately, current COVID restrictions and safety procedures mean we will have to put Fun Lunch on hold for the next few weeks.

Quote(s) of the week

Something to read (or watch)

Your kids will tell you Mr. Oliver loves math, and he hopes that they, and you, do too! Check out MathForLove, a website with resources and activities for kids and adults.

I could use this training, particularly when I’m putting this page together each week. Talk about fragmented attention! 4 simple exercises to strengthen your attention and reduce distractibility. I suppose that being hyper-aware of what’s going on around is an excellent trait if you’re under threat from predators, the way chickadees are from my neighbour’s cat, but it’s not so helpful when you’re trying to get something done.

Things to remember from the calendar

Monday, January 17

• Kindergarten (and other new-to-school) registration for September 2022 opens

Tuesday, January 18 

• Boys’ basketball practice after school 2:45-4

Friday, January 21 

• Girls’ basketball practice after school 2:45-4

Tuesday, January 25

• Girls’ basketball practice after school 2:45-4 

Wednesday, January 26

• Boys’ basketball practice after school 2:45-4

Thursday, January 27

• Girls’ basketball practice before school 7:30 

Friday, January 28

• Boys’ basketball practice before school 7:30