January 17, 2021 

RE: School Community Member Tested Positive for COVID-19 

Dear Families, 

A member of the Bastion school community has tested positive for COVID-19. They are self-isolating at home with support from local public health teams. 

We are supporting Interior Health Authority as they undertake contact tracing to determine if any other members of our school community were in contact with the person who tested positive for COVID-19, and if any additional steps are required. We are following the protocol established for these circumstances: 

• The health authority is performing contact tracing; 

• The health authority will determine if anyone in the school community was in contact with the person who tested positive for COVID-19 while they were potentially infectious; 

• The health authority will determine if anyone in the school community is a close contact that is required to self-isolate. 

Only the health authority can determine who is a close contact. 

If you are contacted by Interior Health Authority, please follow their advice. 

If you are not contacted by Interior Health Authority, it has been determined that your child is not at risk of developing COVID-19. 

To ensure personal privacy rights are maintained, we will not be providing additional details. 

The safety and well-being of our students, families and staff remains our highest priority. Please be reassured that our school will continue to implement the strict protocols and procedures we have in place so that children can continue to attend school as safely as possible. 

Students should continue to come to school while contact tracing is underway. As a reminder, please continue daily health checks to monitor your child for illness. 

We will continue to work closely with Interior Health Authority to provide ongoing communication as required. 

If you have questions or concerns about COVID-19, please call 811. 

Sincerely, 

Peter Jory 
Superintendent/CEO 
School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) 

Please click here for pdf of letter

We understand that some neighbourhoods in the Bastion catchment have no power at this time (Wednesday, January 13th) due to the wind storm.

Please note: Bastion Elementary does have power and school is in session.

We understand if some students are late, due to the power outage.

Happy New Year Bastion Families!!

We hope all of our students and their families had a wonderful Winter Break!  We’re definitely looking forward to seeing the students and hearing the many stories about their holidays.

Below are a few important reminders as we head into the new year:

1. Daily Health Check.  As a school community, we must all continue to work together to ensure our learning community remains healthy.  Families have done a wonderful job of keeping their children at home when the children are feeling ill and having them return when symptoms are gone.  Let’s all continue to be conscientious and have students or staff members remain at home if they are ill.  To review the Daily Health Check, please click the following link: https://sd83.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/health-checklist.pdf
2. Visitor Check-in.  All family members and volunteers are required to wear a mask when entering the building.  If you need to come into the school, there is a new Visitor Sign-in binder (yellow) at the main entrance.  Please be sure to sign-in and sign-out if you need to come inside the school.
3. Winter Playground Expectations.  Hopefully we will receive some more snow, so the sliding hills can be refreshed.  Right now, the hills are quite icy.  We’ll have a close look to see if it is safe to open the hills for sliding.  Please remember, if students bring sliders from home, they need to be crazy carpets or foam sliders.  Hard plastic sliders or GTs will need to remain at home.  A short slide show will be posted on the Bastion website, showing all of our Winter Playground Expectations.  Please feel free to have a look so students and families are aware of our expectations.  Please ensure your children are coming to school dressed appropriately for the winter weather.
4. Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI).  Our school district participates in an annual survey, which provides the school and school district with information on how to best support our students.  The survey focuses on the students’ personal and social competencies.  Basically, we are looking at how our students are feeling about their experiences at school and in the community.  All Grade 5 students will be participating in the survey on a day in January or February.  We will inform the families of our Grade 5 students when a schedule is determined.  For more information on the MDI, please click the following link:  https://sd83.bc.ca/2020/12/02/sd83-students-taking-part-in-mdi/SD83 students taking part in MDI – School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap)
5. Foundational Skills Assessment (FSA).  Each year the Grade 4 students participate in the provincial FSA.  The students are assessed in the areas of Reading, Writing and Numeracy.  The results are used to see how we can better support our students in reading, writing and numeracy.  The Grade 4 students will participate in the FSA on various days in January and/or February.  Once a schedule has been determined, we will share that information with the families of our Grade 4 students.
6. Questions or Concerns.  Please remember that if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher.  Mme Jegues and Mr. Menzies are more than happy to connect with our students’ families and we welcome emails, phone calls or scheduled visits to talk with our students’ families.  We always want to work together to provide the best learning environment for our students.

We would like to wish everyone all the best for a great start to 2021!!

Sincerely,

Joel Menzies (Principal) and Laura Jegues (Vice-Principal)