Rock City Elementary School
3741 Departure Bay Road V9T 1C5 Nanaimo, BC, Canada

I hope that you are all enjoying the snow (well sort of :-)). The information below has already been sent out in the February newsletter (phase 1) while the second part (phase 2) was alluded to in the letter from Dave Hutchinson, the superintendent of school for the Nanaimo/Ladysmith Public schools that was sent home earlier in the month, but I am sending it out one more time: Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools has adopted a framework for Professional Learning Communities. P...rofessional learning communities are recognized as one of the most effective strategies schools can use to improve student outcomes. The PLC model for our district includes a combination of professional collaboration and learning to address provincial, district and school goals. In order to effectively establish our Professional Learning Community, a two-phase implementation plan has been designed. Phase 1: In the spring of 2014, students will be dismissed sixty minutes early three times (March 31, April 28, and May 12, 2014). The three sixty minute blocks will be used to identify schools’ collaborative vision, establish team norms and plan for our fall assessment work. Phase 2: Beginning Fall of 2014, students will be dismissed sixty minutes early each Monday from all Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools. Staff members will be engaged in professional learning and collaborative meetings to promote improved student learning during this time. Bus schedules will be adjusted according to the one hour early release schedule. For families who cannot arrange for care during PLC time, supervision will be available. Please contact the school if you have questions or would like additional information.

I would like to clarify a story that has been making the rounds on social media. On Monday, we had a young student make the choice to leave the school and go home without permission or the school’s knowledge. This young student had been given permission by his teacher to go to the washroom (please note that the washrooms the students use during class time are all inside the school building) and was seen by two staff members (one of which was me) leaving the washroom. In a... short time period after these sightings this student decided to go home and he left the building. Once it was discovered that this student had not returned from the washroom, staff members spent a frantic 10 minutes looking for this student before his mother phoned to let us know that he had come home. Total elapsed time was less than 20 minutes. Schools are not locked down facilities. By this I mean, all doors are locked except the front entrances for safety reason to prevent people coming into the school without our knowledge (this is why we request all visitors to sign in at the office) but people can exit the building through these locked doors. I am sure you understand why this is people have to be able to quickly exit the building in case of emergency. Students who have a history of being runners are not allowed to leave the classroom without supervision. This young student had no such history. We, as a school, take the safety of your child(ren) very seriously and do our best to ensure their safety but ultimately any students who decides that they are going to leave the building in situations such as the above one (i.e. having permission to go to the washroom), there is very little the school can do to prevent this. If this student had not been located as quickly as he was, the school would then have phoned home, searched the surrounding area, and if necessary, phoned the authorities. Would you please speak to your child(ren) and reinforce with them that they are not allowed to leave the school property without the school’s knowledge/permission. With your help, we can hopefully avoid a similar incident in the future. Thanks.

The Nanaimo Clippers visited the school today - going around to classrooms and playing the grade 7 boys in a game of ball hockey.

Just a reminder that there is a PAC meeting on Thursday, January 9th at 7:00 in the library. Child minding is available.

Bottle Drive - Monday January 6th Rock City School Grade 7 Students are doing a bottle drive Monday January 6th from 9 am-1 pm to raise money for their year-end camping trip. You can drop off your bottles Monday January 6th in front of the school or send Jason Bradley your address via email [email protected] to arrange a pickup. Thank you for your support (PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE)