As planning continues for school re-start on Monday, June 1, School District No. 83 (North-Okanagan-Shuswap) transportation department has important information for the parents of any child who will be riding the bus.

Student pick up and drop off times will remain the same for their return to school on June 1st. However, due to lower ridership, parents are requested to please have their children at the bus stop a minimum of five minutes early in the morning.  In addition, some high school students may return home a little earlier in the afternoon because fewer people are riding the bus.

Parents who have indicted their child will be riding the bus to school will be receiving an email directly from the SD83 Transportation Dept. with finalized information, later today or early Saturday. Please keep an eye out for it.

Drivers please be aware school zones are in effect. For the safety of all, we ask that everyone remember the importance of stopping for a school bus with red lights activated (We Stop – You Stop), please don’t rush the bus, and ensure you not driving distracted around our students or the bus.

Thank you!

With many student returning to Bastion Elementary during the week of June 1st – 5th, we would like to share our new protocols and procedures to help reduce the chance of our students or staff members becoming ill.

Our goal is to implement various practices and procedures to maintain a safe and healthy learning and working environment.

Below is a video for parents to watch with their children, so our students can see what to expect when they are at school. 

 

Please click on the link below to read a document that outlines the various safety measures we are implementing at Bastion Elementary.

Letter to Families_Regarding School Health and Safety

A Note About Class Placement Requests…

We would like to start off by saying, Class Placement Requests are not a necessary part of the process.  Bastion has a history of accepting numerous placement requests, and moving forward we would like to work towards minimizing the number of requests received.  Class placement requests should focus on the child’s placement based on educational reasons.  Please read the following carefully prior to submitting your request.

In June, the School-Based Team (SBT) will meet and discuss the class placement of each student. Tentative classes for September 2020 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 (Please note… requests based on friendships must be reciprocated and submitted by all families involved in the specific request);
• Teacher-learner compatibility;
• Class size (room to accommodate new students).

Student placement requests for September 2020, will be accepted starting May 13th. Requests must be submitted by May 29th, in order to be considered.

If parents or guardians have a specific request for their child(ren)’s class placement for September 2020, please submit a letter to Mr. Menzies (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.  We are unable to guarantee specific placements, as we must consider what is best of all 380 students and we cannot guarantee that all teaching assignments will remain the same.

Thank you.