Week at a Glance April 26 – 30

Dear DG Families,

Class Photos – new date

The weather next week is calling for rain!  Due to the current health and safety protocols, our class photos need to take place outdoors, with students socially distanced.  As such, we have moved the class photos date to May 11th, weather permitting (it will need to be canceled this year if May 11th is a rainy day).

Should you want to ensure you get picture memories of this school year, be sure to order a yearbook (the only way to get one).

Yearbook pre-ordering is done through the online hot lunch ordering system (https://devonpac.hotlunches.net/). Books will be delivered and distributed before the last day of school in June. Pre-ordering will be open until Friday, May 7. Cost is $20 per yearbook. If you wish to have this keepsake please pre-order. There will be no extras available for purchase later

 

Next School Year

We know that it is still April, but we are already busy looking at numbers for the next school year.  If you plan on moving over the summer, the school would like to know as soon as possible.  Please email the school at devongardens.elem.cims@deltasd.bc.ca

2021-2022 Class Placement Information

In the coming weeks, we will start to look at next year’s organization and class placements for students.

Some Things to Know about Our Process:

Class placements are important decisions and something that teachers consider very carefully.

FACTORS & CONSIDERATIONS: Assigning students to classes is a very complex task that takes into consideration a variety of factors, including: learning styles and strengths, what a student is able to achieve in relation to the goals of the curriculum, degree of independence in work habits, social and personal needs, age and physical maturity, previous placements, gender balance of class, etc….

The number of staff members assigned to our school is decided by the Superintendent’s Office and is based on projected student enrolment. Enrolment estimates and class size guidelines affect the configuration of classes, which may also necessitate a particular organizational configuration (i.e. whether or not we have combined or “split” classes and the number of students, per grade, in the class).

SCHOOL-BASED DECISIONS: The professional staff is in contact with children in the school setting for 30 hours a week. Your child’s present teacher, along with other educators who work with your child, have a year’s worth of current, rich information and insight about the conditions under which your child learns best. Therefore, decisions around where to place students are determined through school-based, team decisions, based on their recommendations.

INPUT FROM PARENTS: As our partners in education, parents may also have important information to assist us with the placement of students. Parents are welcome to share with the school personal, educational, or social information that could affect their child’s placement. Our staff will keep in mind this information, along with the above considerations, when building classes.

If you have information about your child and the kind of learning environment in which she/he best works and learns, and you would like to share this information with our staff, please fill in the “Parent Information” form by clicking on the link below.   Please complete the form no later than Tuesday, June 1st. 

It is important to note that it is not possible for parents to choose their child’s teacher or make requests regarding other students. Teachers who are currently on staff may not be here next year, may not be assigned the same grade, or may not teach a class configuration that meets your child’s learning needs. Whatever the scenario, we strive to place your child in a warm, caring environment that will maximize his/her learning potential.

Should you have information you wish to share with us, please fill in the form by Tuesday, June 1st.  Please fill in 1 form for every child.   Please note, parents are not required to do this.  It’s optional.

 

 

 

 

 

New Email Addresses Coming

The Delta School District is transitioning to Microsoft Outlook for emails and Teams over the next number of months. Some of our staff members have transitioned to Outlook already and all our staff will have transitioned to Microsoft Outlook by the end of this month.

From Outlook, our emails will end with @deltaschools.ca instead of the @deltasd.bc.ca  If you are sending an email to a staff member, forwarding from @deltasd.bc.ca has been arranged for the rest of the calendar year so there is no need to worry that your email did not get to us.  Our intent in letting you know is so that you can be aware that emails sent to you by school staff members will be coming from @deltaschools.ca address.

Student emails will not be affected at all as Delta is keeping Google and @deltalearns.ca as the primary platform for students.

 

Crossing Guard Schedule

Please see the schedule listed for crossing guards until the end of June!

Crossing Guard Schedule

 

 

Navigating Adolescence Presented by Safeteen

As parents and educators we may feel afraid and, at times, powerless as our children move out from under our protective wing and begin to navigate the dangerous terrain of adolescence. Sex, drugs, violence, eating disorders, bullying, suicide, drinking and driving…and the uncharted territory of the Internet. We are holding our breath, hands over our eyes, peeking out between our fingers. We can see our teenagers teetering on the brink of a precipice, arms outstretched. Our media and TV-culture fed youth are perched in precarious denial armed with the “Immortality Syndrome” (That could never happen to me!). It is clearly not enough to tell our teens over and over that violence is not acceptable, and to advise them to report it, to just walk away…(the two things that teens tell us they won’t do!) It is clearly not enough to say, don’t do drugs, abstain from sex / use condoms / stop bullying. We need to be able to teach our children how to negotiate these potentially life-altering moments – how to say ‘no’ and handle peer pressure. How to walk away without giving up their dignity. How to access the part of themselves that can make wise choices, even in the heat of the moment.
The focus of this presentation for parents and professionals will be to give you an overview on the skills which we pass on to your teens and pre-teens in the numerous programs which we deliver. Skills which empower and enable our youth to cope with the verbal, emotional and physical threats that they are exposed to every single day.

 

When: April 29, 2021 6:30pm – 8pm

 

Register in advance for this workshop:

 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the workshop.

How Youth are Effortlessly Lured into the Gang Lifestyle

Gangs are recruiting youth at a younger age in ways that our communities have never seen before. Parents will leave this COMPLIMENTARY presentation with a greater understanding of what they can do to prevent their child from getting involved in gangs and other harmful activities.
KEY SPEAKERS:
JORDAN BUNA
Jordan Buna has presented both provincially and nationally on the topic of youth gangs. He works with Safer Schools Together, delivering training sessions with Gang Reduction through Informed Practice(GRIP). Jordan’s presentation focuses both on his journey into gangs as a young person as well as his successful exit as an adult.
DR. KEIRON MCCONNELL
Dr. Keiron McConnell has worked within the criminal justice system for the last 30 years in a front line capacity. Specifically, in this work, he has worked exclusively in gang prevention, intervention and suppression for the last 15 years with a variety of police gang units.
Parent Session
Thursday, May 13 (Online Event)
6:30 – 8:00 pm
TO REGISTER, PLEASE VISIT:

 

 

Next PAC meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 26th at 7:30pm. Details and agenda will be shared on April 26.

Voting in of PAC executive positions will be at the Annual General Meeting scheduled for Monday, June 21st. Below is a list of PAC executive positions, with years served and intention to continue for the next school year. A call-out seeking nominations for all positions will be sent out in early June. Please consider joining. Any parent or guardian of a student registered at Devon Gardens Elementary is eligible to hold a position. For questions, please email pacdevongardens@gmail.com.

 

PAC Position Name Years in Position Returning for 2021-22
Chair Varinder Khaira 3 No
Vice-Chair Jennifer Iachetta 1 Yes
Secretary Janelle Lindahl Many No
Treasurer Carolyn Stanley Many Uncertain
Gaming Rep. Cleo Yeh 1 Yes
DPAC Rep. Vacant    
CFP Rep. Katrina Smyth 1 Yes
Member at Large BJ Dhaliwal 3 No
Member at Large Jana Methven Many Yes

 

In a continued effort to raise funds to support our kids and school, below are the Spring PAC Fundraisers and a reminder of the on-going year-round fundraisers. This school year has been challenging on many fronts but even with the limited fundraising to date, with your support, PAC recently purchased 10 Chromebooks and a Chromebook cart for the school.

 

Yearbook Pre-Order

 

The end of the school year is fast approached and our annual Devon Gardens yearbook is being put together by two dedicated parent volunteers (Jennifer Iachetta, our PAC vice-chair and Corrie Ashton).

In order to have a better idea on how many books to order, PAC is launching pre-ordering through our online ordering system (https://devonpac.hotlunches.net/). Books will be delivered and distributed before the last day of school in June. Pre-ordering will be open until Friday, May 7. Cost is $20 per yearbook. If you wish to have this keepsake please pre-order. There will be no extras available for purchase later.

Questions? Send an email to pacdevongardens@gmail.com

 

Regards,

Devon Gardens PAC

 

Monday, April 26th:  PAC meeting 7:30 p.m. via Zoom

Friday, May 7th:  Neufeld Farms delivery

 

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