Dear Falkland School Families;

As the 2020-2021 school year comes to a close, I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to our families. The support you have shown our students and staff in this very unique year has been appreciated. I hope that you received the parent appreciation letter sent home with your child(ren) at the end of last week in place of our usual Parent Appreciation Spring Tea. In the envelope was a berry flavoured tea bag, a small token of our appreciation keeping in line with our strawberry theme.

At this time, we have 14 students registered for kindergarten for the 2021-2022 school year. If you have a child going into kindergarten or know of a family in the area with a child turning 5 before January 2022, please encourage them to contact our office at 250-379-2320 to register. Anyone new to the area or thinking of moving to the area should contact our office. Thank you for helping get this message out. The first day of school for our kindergarten students is Wednesday, September 8th. CLICK HERE to access the kindergarten gradual entry schedule for the first couple weeks of September 2021.

A reminder that the last day of school for students is on Thursday, June 24th. Dismissal time is at 10:18 AM - 4 hours early. Busses will make their usual stops, just 4 hours early. This is a change from the 3 hour early dismissal communicated previously. The district announced this change late last week in the most recent Community Connections.

If you are wondering about what school is anticipated to look like in September regarding Health and Safety Protocols due to COVID-19, you can read more in the K-12 Education Recovery Plan and the Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools: Outlook for the 2021-2022 School Year. In short, we are planning with normal in mind, but will receive confirmation from the Ministry of Education in August. CLICK HERE to access the 2021-2022 SD83 calendar.

Keeping parents informed is important to us at Falkland School. There are several ways we keep parents informed of the happenings at our school: e-newsletters, weekly emails, our website, and Facebook. Posts on our website automatically go on our Facebook page so please LIKE or FOLLOW US on Facebook. You can always call myself or Dani at the school (250-379-2320); we are more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Cull
Final Report Cards - available Thursday, June 24th
Our third formal report will be made available to parents through Parent Connect on Thursday, June 24th. Students will bring their Self- Assessment of their Core Competencies home for you to view.
Please celebrate your children's learning and accomplishments with them. If you have questions about your child's progress or educational program, please contact your child's teacher. Teachers will be available on Friday, June 25th. Mrs. Cull can be reached over the summer through email scull@sd83.bc.ca. Keeping you informed is important. Here is the summary page that can be found at the end of the report card. Please reference it for a description of the proficiency levels that are now used throughout the province and information on the Core Competencies.
Student Placement for 2021-2022
At this time our current configuration consists of six divisions with approximately 119 students. Staff work very hard, given the constraints of class size and composition, on a variety of scenarios to best meet the educational needs of our students school wide.
When one grade is split into two classrooms, we work hard as a staff to consider the best learning environment for your children. Our goal is to create balanced classrooms taking into account social emotional factors, friendship issues, sibling issues, class size, and the strengths and needs for the overall composition of the class. Academic reasons are also considered, however, learning outcomes from all the grade levels in a class will be addressed. Providing a rich, meaningful educational experience is important in every classroom at every grade level. Thank you for your trust in our staff and their rationale for student placement. Classroom placement is a complex process; meeting the needs of all students while building balanced classrooms.

Based on our projections at this time, the following grade configurations are most likely to occur. This information is different than what was communicated in our May newsletter due to students moving and new student registrations. It could easily change again with additions or losses to our student population.

Division 6 (Grade K/1 )
Division 5 (Grade 1 and 2)
Division 4 (Grade 2 and 3)
Division 3 (Grade 4 and 5)
Division 2 (Grade 5, 6 and 7)
Division 1 (Grade 7 and 8)

Parents of students in classrooms where a grade is split, will be contacted about placement prior to school starting. We are hopeful that we can start on September 7th in assigned classes. However, if things look uncertain, students may be asked to go to their last year's class for the first day of school until student enrollment and/or number of divisions can be confirmed with greater certainty. The office will be contacting families early in September with more information about our start up plans.

Again, if you are planning on moving or know of someone new to the area with school aged children, please contact the school 250-379-2320. This information is important so we can plan with greater certainty and get students into their assigned class for the year as soon as possible.
Farewells - Staff and Students
I wish to take this opportunity to inform you of staff that will be leaving us mostly due to changes to their assignment in the district or temporary contracts ending. Regardless, I wish them all the very best. We say good-bye for now to the following: Christy "Conch" Konschuh, StrongStart facilitator; Jocelyn Duncan, Speech Language Pathologist; Donna Greggerson, Indigenous Education Worker; Brianne Mooney, Teacher; Amber Gudmundson, Teacher; Melissa Hansma, CEA; Joe Wood, Custodian; and Nancy Nedjelski, our Friday LHS. I would like to point out that Nancy has been working at our school since September 2006. We are very sad to say good-bye to all theses fabulous people that helped to make our school a wonderful place to work and learn.

I would also like to wish any students moving away from Falkland the very best at their new school and in their new communities. Please keep in touch.

I wish a very special farewell to our grade 8 graduating class of 2021. May you continue to thrive on your next adventure in high school. Congratulations Jade Poirier, Pheonix Borden, Jaelynn Gillman, Grace Jones, Infinity Brosnan, Aiden Tress and Zach Pruner-Cuthill. You all will be missed dearly.
Information from PAC
Thanks to the following parents for taking on executive positions with PAC this school year.

President: Adina Clements
Vice President: Megan Jackson
Treasurer: Mami Peterman
Secretary: Rebecca McDougall
Directors: Trisha McLean, Shelby Jacobi, Jodi Boland
DPAC rep: Jill Pruner
Hot Lunch Coordinator: Trisha McLean

Please contact Adina Clements (250-463-5750) or Shelly Cull (250-833-2806 or 250-379-2320) to discuss ways you can get involved with PAC and contribute to your child's school experience.
Our PAC group and staff are working to raise money to improve our outdoor space. We are looking to expand the seating area at the front of the school to include 2 more blue tables. We are looking to resurface our basketball court, build a covered structure as well as naturalize some parts of the play area. If you have ideas to improve our space or suggestions on grants or fundraising ideas, please contact Shelly Cull or Adina Clements, our PAC President.
PAC MEETING DATES:

Wednesday, September 15 - ELECTIONS

PAC FACEBOOK PAGES:

CLICK HERE for information specific to parents - parents only page.

CLICK HERE for PAC's community page - anyone can join.

Tell your Friends and Family....
If you shop at Cobs Bread in Vernon and mention that you are supporting Falkland School, 5% of your purchase will be donated back to Falkland PAC.

FLIPGIVE

Looking for an easy way to support the PAC? Try online shopping. Download the FlipGive app and continue to shop at your usual favourite stores. Join our team now using our invite code KBQVBV in one of two ways:

  1. Click here to download the FlipGive app.
  2. Click here to Join online or to acquire more information.
Our PAC meeting agendas, minutes, Treasurer's Reports and Principal's Reports can be found here.
2021-2022 School Fee Notice
2021-2022 Bell Schedule
Please view our bell schedule for next school year. You may notice that each year, our bell schedule changes a little bit. This is because we have a required amount of instructional hours to fit in between the first day of school (after labour day) and the last day of school for staff (the last Friday in June). Grade 8 have more instructional hours that are required which is why their instructional day is longer. CLICK HERE to access the bell schedule for next school year.
2021-2022 School Calendar
CLICK HERE to access the district calendar for the 2021-2022 school year.

Due to the fewer instructional days between our start day on Tuesday, September 7th and end day on Thursday, June 23rd, in order to meet the required minutes of instruction schools will need to add a few minutes to their bell schedule. Our 2021-2022 bell schedule will be shared with families once it is finalized with staff.
Falkland School Virtual Talent Show
CLICK HERE to access our Showcase Finalists from our virtual Talent Show. Submitting videos instead of performing live allowed for some very interesting talents to be showcased. Thank you to all the students who entered.
Fun Day at Falkland School - June 22
All students participated in a 9 hole mini-golf putting course on our field. Thanks Floppy Shots for the water bottles for all our students. Thanks also to PAC for the freezies; they helped to keep us cool on this very warm day. The school provided pizza for students.
A special thank you to all our parent volunteers for providing additional activities for students outside and helping with handing out the pizza and freezies. The obstacle races and tug of war was a lot of fun.
Lost And Found - available Friday, June 25
We currently have many items in our lost and found. It is currently out for students to view. On Friday, June 25th our plan is to put the remaining items on a table in the gym for parents to browse. Parents are welcome to come to the gym and look through the lost on found anytime on Friday between 7:30 and 2PM. Please check in at the office when you arrive. Any unclaimed items at the end of Friday, will be taken to a thrift store.
No DOGS Allowed on SD 83 Grounds
Dogs are not permitted on our school district grounds at any time - even while on a leash. Signage will be posted soon.

We are noticing more messes recently and we are hopeful that this reminder will help keep our fields mess free and ready for our students and their play.

While this has always been the expectation, we acknowledge that appropriate signage and enforcement has been inconsistent.
FALKLAND SCHOOL  | 5756 TUKTAKAMIN ROAD, FALKLAND BC

250 - 379 - 2320| fal.sd83.bc.ca | fal@sd83.bc.ca