VCSS Email

Greetings!

We can see the dust start to settle as we get used to the idea of being back in school.  I hope the excitement about new courses and opportunities remains fresh.  Volleyball is underway and the mountains around town are changing into their fall colours.  At this beautiful time of year, we have much to be thankful for.

Meanwhile, some school issues require our attention.

If your child is not able to get onto MS TEAMS, or be added as a member to a Team, it is likely because a form hasn’t been signed.  Several grade 8s and those who have arrived from out-of-territory need to sign a Cloud Services Form.  I’ll ensure that each student who has not signed this form will have a copy given to them in first period on Wednesday.  Bring it home, sign it, and send it back to the office.

The office will send out information packages to every family this week.  There are two packages.  The white-paper package is information to read over and keep at home, this includes such items as attendance expectations and procedures, direction to read over specific policies in the school handbook (at vcss.ca), evacuation procedures, internet use guidelines, and what happens should behaviour become worrisome.
The second package will be on brightly-coloured paper, and this contains forms that need to filled out, signed, and returned.  Bring these completed forms back by October 5, and your name will be entered in a draw for a $250 VISA gift card.

This week grade 8 and 9 students will be participating in the DART, which stands for District Assessment for Reading Team.  This activity will have students meet with a teacher one-on-one and perform a reading assessment that will then help teachers to direct their class-wide learning activities.  We call it assessment for learning.  Ask your student how they felt it went.

Last in the list, students, staff, and guests are still required to wear masks when in the hallways.  Please ensure your student has a mask with them when they leave home.  We don’t have a budget for masks any longer, and our supply is dwindling rapidly.

Finally, an old friend of mine, wise to the ways of the wilderness, loved going to the Tombstones at any time of year, each time being as beautiful as the next.  The landscape had only changed its clothes.  The constant beauty remained no matter what the outward appearance.  In 1 Peter, the author writes:

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

Even though the mountains are in their full flowering of beauty, let’s remember true human beauty comes from within.

God bless,
​
Kyle Janzen, Principal