The Week Ahead for April 22nd – 26th

jmenzies83

Hopefully all of our families had a wonderful long-weekend!!

It’s a short week, but we continue to be busy doing great things at Bastion.

Thursday, April 25th
Bastion Mini-Boogie. All of our students (even the ones who are not on the cross-country running team) will participate in the Bastion Mini-Boogie. This is an event where all of our students can challenge themselves to do their personal best! The event will start at 12:45, and our first age group will be the Kindergarten students. Please ensure your son/daughter has appropriate running clothing and a pair of runners. A healthy lunch and bottle(s) of water will be a great idea. The event will run rain or shine, so the students should be prepared for the weather.

Friday, April 26th
Arts Center Field Trips. Mrs. Isaac’s class and Mrs. Smith’s class will be visiting the Salmon Arm Arts Center. The students will be viewing the exhibition called Flight, which focuses on the disappearing songbird population and features 2D and 3D work from local artists.
SMS Scouting Trip. Five of our Grade 5 students will be visiting Shuswap Middle School to “scout out” where they will be attending school next year. Our “scouts” will have a tour of the school and meet some staff members, as they take pictures and ask questions. The “scouts” will then come back to Bastion and tell the rest of the Grade 5 students what they learned about life at SMS.

A Note About Class Placement Requests…

In June, the School-Based Team (SBT) will meet and discuss the class placement of each student. Tentative classes for September 2019 will be created in June, then finalized during the first week of September. The SBT consists of the outgoing and potential receiving classroom teachers, Learning Resource Teacher, Vice-principal and Principal. The SBT looks at the strengths and needs of the children and the team will make decisions based on the following:

High Priority Considerations
• Instructional groupings;
• Class composition, including special needs requirements;
• Social/cultural issues (independence, interactions, leadership);
• Behavioural/social concerns;
• Diversity in development (academic, social, emotional).

Middle Priority Considerations
• Groupings in previous years;
• Dominant grade grouping;
• Physical/social maturation;
• Learning style;
• Siblings and relations.

Lower Priority Considerations
• Friendships;
• Teacher-learner compatibility;
• Class size (room to accommodate new students).

Student placement requests for September 2019, will be accepted starting May 13th. Requests must be submitted by June 3rd, in order to be considered. If parents or guardians have a specific request for their child(ren)’s class placement for September 2019, please submit a letter to Mr. Menzies (dropped off at the main office or emailed directly to Mr. Menzies at jmenzies@sd83.bc.ca). The letter must clearly outline the request as well as provide specific educational reasons for the placement request.

When creating tentative classes, parent requests will be considered. However, we are unable to guarantee that requests can be fulfilled.