PDC January Newsletter
COVID UPDATE
We are excited to welcome back our students to school on Monday, January 11, 2021. It will be a Day 6.
As per the Minister’s directives, students in grades 1-4 will now be required to wear a face covering when in common areas and on the school bus. They must wear their face covering upon entrance from the outdoors.
The grade 5 and 6 students must continue to wear a face covering in common areas but now must also wear them in class and on the bus. We ask that you provide your child with at least 2 face coverings a day. The students should always have 2 masks with them as it is recommended to change their mask after wearing it for 3-4 hours.
Students in Pre-k and Kindergarten are not required to wear a face covering.
Students will not be required to wear their face covering when they are outdoors. The students will be asked to wear their face covering at day care if they are not able to remain 2 meters from other bubbles. This directive will also apply to the children who use the bus service.
Please view the second attachment for additional details.
We ask for your collaboration in following these government rules in order to keep our students safe.
For more information, you may view the following website gives useful information on recent Government directives:
https://www.quebec.ca/education/organisation-activites-scolaires-covid-19/
We would like to ask all parents that moving forward, if you come in contact with a person who will test positive for Covid or people in your family have symptoms of Covid, it would be recommended that your child remain at home. I would also like to remind all parents to respect social distancing when dropping off and/or picking up your children from school. Please refrain from gathering and know that the school play structures are closed.
Our main priority is to keep students and staff safe at PDC. We will continue with our sanitizing procedures and ensure the wellbeing of everyone.
REGISTRATION FOR THE 2021-2022 SCHOOL YEAR
If you have a child who will begin school next year, Pierre De Coubertin School will be having its annual Registration Week from February 1-5. Due the worldwide pandemic we are experiencing, we are waiting for further details on how we will proceed with our registration process. We will inform our community as soon as this information is made available. Please note that if you already have a child enrolled in our school, the siblings are not automatically registered.
CHESS
At PDC, we will introduce chess to all our students. It has been proven that teaching chess to children raises their IQ, increases their problem-solving skills, increases creativity and concentration in a child. As of January 13, Mr. Nicolas Metivier will be joining the PDC team every Wednesday and Friday to teach our students chess during class time. Each cycle will receive 7 sessions of 1 hour per week. Mr. Nicolas will begin with cycle 3 and later visit the other cycles throughout the year.
This initiative has been made possible with the many fundraisers we have had in the past.
GROOVE MOVEMENT
PDC will be hosting two Groove Movement Days in order to kick off the year with good health and excitement! All students will participate in a Groove for Kids workshop. Classes will come down following a schedule and social distancing measures will be put in place. January 20th and January 21st will be the two days dedicated to this activity.
AIR PURIFIERS
EMSB is proceeding with the installation of air purifiers in those classrooms not equipped with mechanical ventilation systems. Just over 800 units of the appropriate specifications have been ordered for installation in our schools. Practically all the necessary electrical and installation preparatory work has been completed. 330 units (all the EMSB has received to date) have been installed and, depending on the delivery schedule, we are on track to complete the installation of all units by the end of January, almost one month ahead of schedule. This EMSB initiative, which is estimated to cost $1.75 million, is being financed by the EMSB.
PDC will not have air purifiers installed in the school as it is already equipped with a mechanical ventilation system. Our system is equipped with MERV 10 and MERV 13 dual filtering system which meets the requirement of the Health and Safety Board.
LOANED DEVICES
If you borrowed a laptop or iPad from PDC to accommodate your child with online learning, you have received an email indicating the return procedure of these devices. Please do not forget to book your appointment for Monday, January 11, 2021. The computers must be returned by an adult. We ask that you do not place the computer in your child’s school bag.
As we are back in school as of Monday, these devices will be crucial to have for teachers to proceed with their teaching as many class activities require the laptops and iPads.
JUNE 2021 END OF CYLE EXAMS – GRADE 4 AND 6.
Our Education Minister, Mr. Roberge, has announced that there will not be any end of cycle exams this year for our students in grade 4 and 6.
WINTER WEATHER
Please ensure that your child is appropriately dressed for the cold weather. Warm jackets, snow pants, hats and mittens/gloves are mandatory. Note that all students must also have proper indoor footwear. Students are not permitted to wear boots indoors. They must wear their shoes. Labeling your child’s items is advisable. It is recommended to have your child keep an extra pair of socks in their school bag in the event their socks become wet.
RECESS
In the fall, students wore armbands in order for staff to ensure students remained with their bubbles during recess. For the winter months, students will wear a vest over their winter jacket in order for staff to identify which students belong in which bubble.
Thank you to our Staff
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our teaching staff for supporting our students virtually this week. You have all received the online schedule from your child’s teachers and their days were quite filled with meeting the students’ academic needs. The time allotted to our students was in line with the directives from our Minster of Education, Mr. Roberge. I would also like to thank our attendants and behavior technicians for placing calls to our students to ensure they were doing well.
Finally, we thank all our parents/guardians for their support during our week of online learning.
Kind Regards,
Ida Pisano
Principal
Lisa Triestino
Vie Principal
