Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

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:

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
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.