Posted: September 8, 2024
Families of Shortreed,
We hope your child had a positive first week of 2024-2025. We loved getting to see the kids again! We also enjoyed seeing some of you at the Cruise-In event this past weekend! We know it is a bit more challenging in the first week as they move around with groups; however, this helps us prepare and placements for this year and gives us some time while we wait for the district to confirm the number of divisions we have. This week will all be about routines in their new classrooms.
This is the first of our weekly newsletters, which will be published on Sunday evenings. It will be emailed earlier if information is needed more urgently for Monday.
We hope you enjoyed our Welcome Back video! If you have not yet seen it, you can watch it here.
We spent much of last week placing our students in classes. I thank our dedicated staff for their collaborative efforts and care in these class placements. Staff spent many hours (outside of the time spent prepping and planning) looking at each child’s placement and the overall picture of our classes. We even had teachers on mat leave or no longer on our staff return to help!
We did not have any changes to our classroom numbers, so we could keep our classes the same as we designed them throughout last week. Students will go to their homerooms again tomorrow morning and then be moved to their new permanent classes afterward. At the end of the day, they will be moved back to their homerooms so you know where to pick them up (the same place you dropped them off… for one final time). They will have a slip of paper with their new teacher and division on it, so please check their backpacks. If you have your school supplies, students can bring them on Tuesday. If you ordered online and they have been delivered to the school, we will bring them to your child’s class. If you ordered after August 1, there may be a delay, but they will arrive soon.
Please know that teachers have put in MANY hours considering many different variables to put students in classes that we think are best for ALL our students. You might not get the teacher you hoped for, and this is ok! We know your child will get a true, wonderful Shortreed experience with all our teachers.
As was mentioned above, teachers and staff have spent many hours considering the needs of every single student in the school and then trying to balance individual needs with the needs of the entire school to create effective class placements. Because we have spent so much time on this and have no space in our grade 1-5 classes, they cannot be moved once students are placed in their new classes. Many students will be excited, but we also know that some will have a different teacher than they hoped or will not be with the one friend they hoped (but they will be in with other friends). If your child is feeling a little low because of this, please support them and let them know that they will get through it and both you and the school will help; they will make new friends and really learn to love their new classroom. In my 17 years in admin, I have been asked numerous times to move a child after the first day; my response is always to give it some time. In almost 100% of the requests to move, a few weeks later, the child has completely settled in and does not want to move. Part of growing is meeting new people and learning to adapt to new situations, so the best thing we can tell our kids is that it might be hard right now, but we will be there to support them through this transition. As a school team, we will support students as they move into their new classrooms. We do have some combined-grade classes again this year. If you have questions about this, please read this post I wrote a few years back but is still relevant today – Will My Child Be Ok in a Split Class? If you have questions about combined-grade classes, please discuss this with your child’s teacher so they can provide answers and ease some of your concerns.
Our kindergarten students will continue their gradual entry schedule.
We want to welcome Ms. Bozzard, Ms. Latreille, Ms. Wu and Ms. Reimer to our team. They are SEAs hired last week, and we are thankful to have them on our team! We will be adding 4 more SEAs over the next couple of weeks to support our students best.
A heads up that Photo Day is coming up soon on Wednesday, September 18. Don’t forget to RSVP to our Welcome Back BBQ (Sept 19) form that was sent out last week (you can also click here).
As always, we want to acknowledge that we do our important work to ensure every child belongs on the unceded ancestral territories of the Màthxwi (Matsqui) First Nation. We acknowledge this to honour the land and the people and share our commitment to learning in our journey for Truth and Reconciliation. September is a significant month of learning on our journey as we lead up to National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30th. We encourage our students and staff to wear orange shirts on Friday, September 27th. Throughout this month, teachers will be reading stories and having discussions (in an age-appropriate manner) about Indian Residential Schools and Indian Day Schools. We have students in our school who experience the generational impact of these schools (and the devastating policies); numerous people on this land have shown and continue to show incredible strength and resiliency in growing, leading, teaching, and supporting families and community members. At Shortreed, we are committed to focusing on education to move us forward and better understand the truth so we can create necessary positive change.
One of our grade 5 students was featured in a shoot by an Indigenous Marketing company selling orange shirts. You can order one here if you want to purchase one and support Indigenous artists and causes. You can also order through Lower Fraser Valley Aboriginal Society whose office is in Langley City.
The Week Ahead
Monday – Start and end in homeroom; students spend the majority of the day in new classrooms
Tuesday – Students start in new classrooms
Saturday – Kindergarten Playdate! (2:00 on playground)
Shortreed Calendar: Did you know Shortreed has a digital calendar to view and subscribe to? Once you subscribe, you will get all our school events right to the calendar on your phone and/or devices at home. Click here for more info. You can also connect with us on Instagram and Facebook and join the PAC Facebook Group.
Month at a Glance
Tuesday, September 17 – PAC Meeting 7pm
Wednesday, September 18 – Photo Day!
Thursday, September 19 – Back to School BBQ (5:00) and Meet the Teach Night (6:00)
Friday, September 27 – Orange Shirt Day (School event for NDTR)
Monday, September 30 – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Schools not in session)
Friday, October 4 – School Improvement Day (no school for students)
Saturday, October 5 – World Teachers Day
Friday, October 11 – Terry Fox Run 1:15
Information and Reminders
- Parent Consent – Each year, Langley Schools asks families to complete a set of parent consent forms for their child. These consent forms are required by our schools to ensure the health, safety, and security of all students. Langley Schools uses a secure web form to collect this information. Beginning mid-September, please watch for an email request (subject Parent Consent Request) that contains one link for you to submit consents for all children in your family attending any Langley School. If your email address or contact information has changed, please call your school to correct it in our files. If you have not received an email regarding Parent Consent Request by the end of the month or have any questions/concerns, please contact your school administrator.
- SchoolMessenger in the Langley School District – The Langley School District uses a notification system called SchoolMessenger to communicate information to families. As we welcome our new families to our schools, some parents/guardians may receive a text message notifying them about SchoolMessenger. For more information about the system and how to opt-in to receive text messages, visit the District webpage here.
- Strive for FIVE Days (or Less) – Attendance plays a crucial role in your child’s learning as it helps with academics, social-emotional well-being, and peer connections. We understand children get sick but please send them to school as many days as possible and strive for FIVE or less!
Attendance/Absence – If your child is going to be absent, arriving late, away or leaving early due to an appointment, please notify the school of your child’s absence by emailing SCEAttendance@sd35.bc.ca or calling 604-856-4167 and state the following information:
- Student First Name and Last Name
- Grade
- Division
- Length of Absence
- Reason (illness, late, appointment, vacation)
- If your family needs support for breakfast before school, our breakfast program runs from 8:20-8:35 each day. Students must register and come every school day.
- Our school parking lot is closed between 8:15-9:00 and 2:00-2:45 (other than daycare, buses, and vehicles for people with a disability). The church across the street graciously allows us to use their parking lot for pick-up and drop-off so please park there or along 28th Ave. Do not park in the “no parking” (coned) areas along the yellow curbs. No u-turns.
- West Coast Recess – As we have done over the past few years, every day is an outside day at Shortreed. Unless there is a severe rainstorm (or snowstorm), we will be heading outside. Please make sure your child has a coat to wear outside. We have a good selection of coats in our FREE Coat Exchange near the office, so come by and check them out.
- We all know kids love juice boxes… but these are often extremely high in sugar and can cause a sticky mess in classrooms. Please opt for water as much as you can.
- A reminder that we are a “nut aware” school and have some students with life-threatening allergies to nuts. Please avoid packing snacks or lunches with nuts as the oil from a student’s hands can be enough to create a significant medical incident.
- Please bring inside shoes for your child. This helps to keep our school clean and dry. If you need some help with shoes, check out our FREE Shoe and Boot Exchange at the office.
- Be sure to check out the Back to School Guide from Fraser Health, which has some important reminders and advice.
PAC Info
Welcome new families and students! We look forward to seeing you at the Back to School BBQ on September 19th at 5:00. It is a FREE event, but donations are greatly appreciated. Please fill out this form before September 11.
Our first PAC meeting is Tuesday, September 17 at 7pm. All parents/caregivers are welcome!
Community Events and Information
