SCHOOLS CLOSED – Thursday Jan. 6, 2022

January 6, 2022 / School News

Due to significant snow accumulation, SD62 schools are closed to all staff and students today.

IMPORTANT: Nature K Registration Info Sessions (Jan 6th & 8th)

January 4, 2022 / School News

NOTE: Parents/Guardians MUST attend a MANDATORY information session in order to register their child(ren) for the Nature Kindergarten lottery.

CLICK HERE for SD62 Nature K Information

Nature K Information Sessions: January 6th & 8th, 2022

Nature K registration: January 10-14, 2022

Nature Kindergarten is available at the following schools:

To register, children must turn five years of age by December 31 in the same calendar year that they begin school.

Lottery system for kindergarten registration

Due to high demand for Nature Kindergarten, if a school receives more registrations than the number of available seats, a lottery will take place. The lottery will follow the unique enrolment priorities for Nature Kindergarten and students will be placed in the order in which they are drawn.

Out-of-district requests will be considered only after in-district requests.

How to register:

1. Attend a mandatory Nature K online parent information session prior to registration. Parents/Guardians must attend the entire presentation. Click a date below to attend one of the online meetings held at either Sangster Elementary or Saseenos Elementary.

Sangster Elementary School

Saseenos Elementary School

2. Read the Registration Guide to make sure you have the required documents ready to upload during registration. Please upload ALL required documents. Registration will be incomplete until all documents are uploaded. Due to the pandemic, we will not be accepting documents brought in-person.

Uploading Documents: Don’t have a scanner? Please provide CLEAR photos of the documents. If the document cannot be read clearly, it will not be accepted.

Students will not be officially registered until all documentation has been uploaded.

Registration Checklist – click and print!

3. Online at registration.sd62.bc.ca

NEW SASEENOS LOGO – Welcome “River Runners”

December 17, 2021 / School News

Attention River Runner families,

Our school has a NEW LOGO, designed by a local T’Sou-ke Nation Artist, the amazingly talented Jordanna George! This logo was specifically made for our wonderful little school. Our student population helped decide on our new population name, and have chosen “Saseenos River Runners” to represent our pride and achievement!

Below is Jordanna’s inspiration and purpose behind the new logo!

I chose to depict salmon using formline shapes because of how important salmon are to traditional T’Sou-ke life, and because I remember learning about salmon life cycles as a student at Saseenos. I wanted to include one large salmon and two small ones not just for composition, but also to show how important a sense of community and mentorship is in any learning environment. I also found a bit of humour in it, with a group of fish being called a “school”.

River Runner Weekly Parent/Guardian Update – Nov. 26

December 17, 2021 / School News

Good afternoon everyone, I hope this correspondence finds you well. Here we are at the last Friday in November, as our school year continues to pass us by. We have enjoyed another fulfilling week here in the land of all that is Saseenos. This place remains so full of love, kindness and general compassion—it is a true pleasure to be a member of a caring community.

As I alluded to in last week’s version of my Weekly, we have now unveiled a new logo and nickname for Saseenos. I’ve attached a copy of this beautiful logo below, and we are honoured to be a part of such a rich learning experience. I shall elaborate on the reasons behind this alteration. In terms of the logo, which has been a piece of our school for an extended period of time, some of the specific shapes within were not representative of our indigenous roots. We ignited the ‘no time like the present’ philosophy in this regard, and began our search for a new logo. After launching an ‘announcement of submissions’ to the local T’Souke Nation we were graced with three uniquely beautiful submissions. After much deliberation, we chose the design you will find below. This particular composition was created by Jordanna George, a former student here at Saseenos. The beauty and theme choice are a perfect match for our precious little school.

As for our nickname, this was a very rich process. The adults in our building narrowed the options to two fabulous choices and then we placed the final decision in the hands of our students. After counting the ballots, we will now be known as the Saseenos River Runners. We are excited at this rebranding for our school and look forward to creating some spirit wear in the New Year!

As I have mentioned throughout many previous editions of the Weekly, kindness is a much promoted value within our school. To honour the many acts of kindness witnessed throughout our days and weeks, I would like to present an addition to this weekly correspondence. The ‘Caught Being Kind Catalogue’ will provide an opportunity to share but some of the kind acts here in the land of the River Runners.

Here are the recognitions for this week:

Jonas H-B, Sophia H-B, Reid and Addison K—cleaning garbage on the playground

Jamie—Always being so kind to and helpful with our Kindies

Emily L—always greeting people with a very engaging smile

Airlie & Coral–taking time out of their afternoon to collect recycling for the entire school

Please keep your keen eyes peeled for more acknowledgements as we wind our way through the school year!

Please remember that the Purdy’s orders are due on November 27 and the last day for Stick in the Mud orders is November 30. Thank you for your support with these!

In lieu of an article, I decided to pose a question to some of our River Runners. My question was, “What is your favourite thing to do on a rainy day?” Following are their genuine responses:

Aubrey White-Davis Play a board game

Reid Have an inside recess

Gracie M. Play inside

Parker M. Jump in puddles

Samantha Jump in puddles with my muddy buddies

Hazel Jump in big puddles

Finley A. Jump on my trampoline

Taylor Playing board games

Nixon Play out in the rain

Evan Play in the puddles

Sophia S. Play outside with my brother

Anna-Nora Go outside

Will Play soccer

Isla Play soccer

Dania Play inside

Cecily Go outside

Evie Walk the dog

Sorelle Jump in puddles

Kip Stay out of the rain

Baxter Jump in puddles

Almost needless to say, but they are very well practiced with these activities as of late!

Please Be Sure to Highlight the Following Dates on your Family Calendar:

Sat, Nov 27 Last Day for Purdy’s Orders

Tue, Nov 30 Last Day for Stick in the Mud Orders

Fri, Dec. 3 Report Cards Go Home

Fri, Dec. 17 Last Day Before Winter Break & Cozy Friday

Tue, Jan 4 Schools Re-open

Thank you for your continued support for all that is Saseenos. With only but three weeks to go until Winter Break please remember to count your good fortunes and prioritize time for those that matter most to you in this world. Regardless of the challenges currently present in our world, we truly do have much to celebrate.

Please stay safe and have a wonderful weekend.

Gord

Sea Wolf Weekly Parent/Guardian Update

November 25, 2021 / School News

Good afternoon Sea Wolf families and welcome to another Friday on our school calendar. What a week that has just come to a conclusion–from the wild weather to the apparent gasoline availability, we have seen it all! Throughout all of the challenges in our world we continue to strive and locate success here in the land of the Sea Wolves. We have many exciting initiatives in the works here as we continue to reach for those so-called stars…

Thank you for your involvement in our recent Parent-Teacher Conferences. This virtual/phone format is not our preferred option, but I thank you and our staff for their accommodating nature in this regard. Traditionally we would approach this informal reporting procedure with an Open-house format. I particular look forward to this type of event, as it promotes a sense of unity within the school and allows parents a real sense of daily life as a Sea Wolf. I definitely look forward to reinstating this much-appreciated event!

Thank you for your attention to our recent alteration in the drop-off/pick-up procedures here at Saseenos. My intention is to make this ‘user-friendly’ for our parents and as distraction-free as possible for Sandy, our staff and students. I’ve attached a copy of my correspondence to this email. As always, please reach out to me should you have any questions and/or concerns. Thank you for your assistance with this one!

Student Pick-Up.docx

I am sure many of you have noticed the addition of some caution tape to our previously named ‘Water Works’ area near the main playground. Unfortunately we are going to need to find a new locale for our future engineers and city planners, but I am actively searching for a solution. With the recent downpour we quickly realized that our water workers have created a natural path for collected water to divert directly towards our school! The end result was a rather large gathering of water near the west side of the building, with some water finding it’s way into our crawl space below the school–the power of nature was on full display on Monday! Regardless of the outcome, the ingenuity, teamwork and general work ethic on display in that area of the playground has been nothing short of impressive! Now to find an alternate solution, which is a welcome challenge for us!

We have some exciting news here at Saseenos, as we will be shortly unveiling a new logo and nickname–and yes, it will take me some time to not think of us as Sea Wolves! The transition to a new nickname and logo has been a rewarding process, as our aim is to honour our local indigenous culture and this beautiful land that has been gifted to us courtesy of the T’Souke Nation. We have a virtual assembly planned for Monday morning at which time I will be unveiling the new logo to the students. As part of the process our little ones will be voting on the new nickname, which will be an exciting process around these parts. I will save the family unveiling for next week, so please stay tuned for this one.

You will notice on the updated calendar below that our Picture Re-take day has now been officially confirmed! I apologize for the unconfirmed nature for these re-takes, but this one was out of our control. Lifetouch will be here next Friday, November 26. As you will see below, this is also Cozy Friday. Please feel free to send your little one in their cozy clothes for the photograph, or just have them in the back-pack for a quick change once their photograph is complete. The photographer will be here bright and early and we should be able to accommodate all photos before our first recess break. I will check in with each of our classes on Friday morning and we will coordinate from there. Thank you for your patience and understanding with this one!

A reminder that our Purdy’s drive is running until November 27. To order at https://fundraising.purdys.com/ you’ll need to enter the customer number 41053 to join our campaign. The last day to order is Nov 27th. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Liv at livsalo@yahoo.ca My thanks to Liv and our amazing PAC for continuing their fundraising efforts throughout the unique landscape resulting from our ongoing pandemic.

I’ve again attached a brief and interesting article to this version of the Weekly. As always, any shared article has piqued my attention and is being shared as a point of interest. This particular publication is a short read and brings up some interesting points. If you have an extra moment, please take a read in the next few days.

Parenting-the-big-picture.pdf

Please Be Sure to Highlight the Following Dates on your Family Calendar:

Fri, Nov. 26 Picture Re-takes and Cozy Friday!

Sat, Nov 27 Last Day for Purdy’s Orders

Fri, Dec. 3 Report Cards Go Home

Fri, Dec. 17 Last Day Before Winter Break

Tue, Jan 4 Schools Re-open

The sun is shining through my office window as my fingers transfer my thoughts in this correspondence. Let’s hope for this weather trend to continue for the weekend, thus allowing us to explore our beautiful outdoor environment without those umbrellas and rain gear..

Please take a moment to consider our good fortunes in this crazy world, and have a wonderful weekend.

Gord