Dear Maple Grove Parents,

It was nice to see so many familiar faces (many were masked) this past week. I want to take this opportunity to say that we are happy to be welcoming staff and students back to school. (Please note that while schools remain closed to the public- this includes parents- parents may make appointments to enter the school by calling the main office 604-713-5356. We apologize for the inconvenience- but this is a public health order from the BCPHA. I also want to extend that welcome to our families that have chosen Options 2, 3 and 4. Even though, you have chosen an option that works best for your family at this time, we want to acknowledge and welcome all of our families to a new school year.

I also would like to acknowledge that for many in our school community, the past 7 months have been challenging financially, socially and emotionally. I would like to assure you that there is no judgement from the school, and that we are adept and experienced working with families who have been through difficult times.

We have written a lot about H+S matters, PPE and protocols, so this quick blog post will not focus on those matters so much. This week’s post is to update you on an adjustment to our playground and the scheduling of kids.

Playground

The school would like to inform all parents that we met with teaching and non-teaching staff regarding our original playground plan. And while we initially carved the playground up into small playing spaces, and scheduled small groups to only play in the small assigned space, we have taken a second look at that system and have realized that it might impractical to implement.

Therefore, in consultation with our Supervision Aides, SSA’s, teaching and non-teaching staff, we are moving to a more normalized playground set up.

We feel confident that for the time being, this new playground set up will allow for distancing on the playground due to our reduced numbers of students attending.

• Maple Grove is running at 60%. Instead of 500 students attending, we have about 350 students attending.
• The school has closed its driveway at the front of the school AND the staff parking lot in an effort to increase space for students to move, play, and for the flow of student movement on the grounds.
• Instead of one RECESS, Maple Grove now has two separate RECESS breaks. Primary students will have their own RECESS and access to the whole playground. The other break is for intermediate students to have the playground to themselves.
• In other words, RECESS is staggered.
• Lunch breaks will also be separate.
• Lunch Break runs from 12:00 to 12:45
  • Primary students will eat from 12:00 to 12:25 then go outside to play. While Primary students are eating, Intermediate students will get to play on the playground.
  • 12:25 Intermediate students come in to eat; Primaries go out to play.
• Lunch ends at 12:47 (same as last year).
• Students will get to play: Front of the school- including the flag post area and driveway, the front grass, the Primary Adventure playground, the staff parking lot, the tennis courts, the primary all weather field, and a section of the Magee field.

We will watch and monitor the traffic, distancing and play of students and may make adjustments if we see the need. We follow the BCCDC guidelines and know that cohorts are for the learning environment only and are not applicable for outside areas. Further, we acknowledge that students socialize and that staff are working through safety orientations in these first weeks back and will be discussing with students the need to decrease physical touch outside and be mindful of distancing while on the playground.

Gradual Entry for NEW Kindergarten students

We would like to take a moment to welcome our new Kindergarten families to Maple Grove. The new K’s start their gradual entry to schooling this coming week and we are thrilled to welcome them to the Maple Grove family. We support all families, regardless of their decision to either attend or do the transition to school program, and we are looking forward to a time in the future when we can have all our new K’s in the building at one time. We’re so lucky to have super fantastic, awesome K teachers who know how to work with all students and families to make the start of schooling positive, engaging, fun and memorable.

More to Come

We have hired some new staff, and we will be sharing a lot more school information in Friday’s regular blog post. For now, please know that we got this! Have an enjoyable weekend.

In addition, we hope to have our weekly blog sections up and posting as per normal by next week.

Thank you everyone! It’s been a very different start to the school year… but as we know… we will all get through this by, “being safe, caring and kind.”

Thank you!
Your MG Admin Team