Welcome Back to the 2022-2023 School Year!
We hope you are all enjoying these final days of the summer holidays! We will be back to school on Tuesday, September 6th for Grades 1-7 from 8:45 – 10:00am.
We have put together some information below to help you get started with the year ahead.
First Day:
- Students will return to their last year’s class and will meet their teacher on the field upon arrival. The students will see their teacher’s name on a large sign. Students can head to the sign and line up with their teacher. While most of our teachers are returning to Signal Hill Elementary, we will have some new teachers holding up the signs. The teacher holding the sign will be their teacher for the first week of school.
- We will do a quick welcome and then drum the students to their classes.
- Any students that are new to the school can come to the office upon arrival. A staff member will bring the student out to the field to join a group. They will then head to the library to be assigned a class.
- Students will be dismissed at 10:00am. The buses will leave shortly after dismissal.
Kindergarten:
- Gradual entry will begin on Wednesday, September 7th
- Families with Kindergarten students should have received an email indicating the gradual entry plan for Signal Hill Elementary and to sign up for your child’s first one-hour time slot for either Wednesday, September 7th, Thursday, September 8th or Friday, September 9th. Please call the school at 604-894-6378 if you have not signed up or have any questions regarding Kindergarten.
First Week:
- Students will remain in their classes from last year for the first week of school.
- Students will arrive to school for the remainder of the week (Wednesday – Friday) at the exterior door of their classroom.
- We hope to have students in their new classes by Friday, but this may happen the following week on Monday. We will keep you informed as things unfold.
- Kindergarten students will begin full-time on Wednesday, September 14th, and will know which class they will be in prior to this.
- A reminder that class placement is a complex and thoughtful process. We cannot guarantee all requests, but we work as a team to make placements that create balanced classes.
- Please bring water bottles, indoor shoes and dress for the weather each day (more info to come on what specific teachers will want you to bring when classes are made).
- Pack in and pack out –snacks and lunch waste –let’s try to go litter-less!
Bell Schedule:
- We are back to one recess and lunch! We can always go back to the 2 group system if the Health protocols change throughout the year. Please see the attached schedule.
- We plan to offer extra-curricular activities during break time to allow for more space on the playground and to build a fun, safe, and caring school culture at Signal Hill!
School Supplies:
- School supplies have been purchased by the school again this year. We are asking that parents not send supplies from home so that all students have the same supplies that the teacher needs to run the class. You can purchase your children’s supplies through our Cash Online Program. You have received an email (or if you are a new student) you will receive an email within the next two weeks requesting to pay for your child’s school supplies. If you do not see an email for Cash Online, please check your junk/spam folder and give permission to your email program to receive emails from us. Thank you!
- If you have not yet set up your Cash Online account for your children, please go to https://www.sd48seatosky.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1093692&type=d&pREC_ID=1369077 to set up your account. If you do not set up an account, you can pay at the office with cash for your children’s school supplies.
Calendar:
- Please see the attached Signal Hill Calendar for the 2022/2023 school year.
- The school district will be facilitating a calendar consultation process for the next 3 school years. Stay tuned for more information later this year.
Truth and Reconciliation:
- The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is set for Friday, September 30th. We will focus our learning and activities around Truth and Reconciliation leading up to this day.
- At Signal Hill we are committed to reflecting upon and learning about the Truth of our history and how to move forward in a good way. We will also continue to fly our Canadian flag at half-mast in support of the community and our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. We will raise our flag when we are able to raise The Survivors’ Flag at the same time. We hope to have more information out soon.
Communication:
- We will send out a Daily Announcement to help families keep up to date on the daily and weekly events taking place at Signal Hill.
- Our Signal Hill Circular will be published every Friday. Here, our focus is on keeping our families informed on the learning and events taking place at Signal Hill. We also offer safety tips and education advice to help students and families navigate through the school year.
- Your child’s teacher will set up a system of communication once the school year begins.
Please let us know if you have any questions. The school will be open on Friday for any families that need to register or have any questions leading up to opening day.
Enjoy these final days of the summer holidays and we look forward to welcoming all of our students and families back to Signal Hill next week!