September 2023 CPE Newsletter

Get ready, get set…let’s go! We’ve kicked off the school year with a burst of excitement and activities! The first week went well with the positive energy and wide smiles helping to make students feel welcome and comfortable. Our school is getting ready to continue various September events and initiatives like the running club, PAC meetings, the Terry Fox Run, Orange Shirt Day, and class field trips. We’re feeling the anticipation of an incredible year ahead. It’s early on but there’s a great sense of unity and enthusiasm. A big part of this fresh start is thanks to our wonderful staff members here at CPE. Speaking of new staff members, let’s extend a warm welcome to Mr. Jeremy Weddell, who is teaching our grade 5/6 class this year. We’re delighted to have Ms. Alice Weber join us as our grade 3 teacher, and Ms. Pica Reeves is new in her position as grade 1 teacher here at CPE. One little bump in the road to mention: the company that supplies our student agendas and planners had a fire in their building. As a result, they have to be reprinted and won’t be available until the end of September.

Mr. Pfeiffer, Principal

September News & Events

Picture Day – Friday Sept 15th

School photos are scheduled for Sept 15th. All students will have their photo taken – purchase is not necessary. Re-take day is Oct 26th.

CPE on Social Media…Stay Connected!

Just a reminder to visit our website columbiapark.sd19.bc.ca There you can see our Google Calendar that parents can view and upload to their own devices; you can already see important dates listed such as our Early Dismissal days and our District Sports Days. Also, on the homepage is the CPE Twitter feed @ColumbiaParkSch which will give you a fun little window into the day-to-day activities here at CPE. Better yet, get on Twitter yourself to connect and see daily updates! *NOTE: Our website is in the process of being changed so there may be some features that aren’t quite working perfectly.

Orange Shirt Day – Sept 29th National Day of Truth & Reconciliation – Sept 30th – No Classes on Oct 2nd

Every year at the end of September, people across Canada wear orange and participate in Orange Shirt Day events to recognize and raise awareness about the history and legacy of the residential school system in Canada. Students at CPE will spend some time learning about the history of OSD, what it represents, and how best to acknowledge this troubled part of Canadian history. We hope and encourage all of our students to wear Orange on Friday, September 29th.

Student Verification Forms

Student Verification forms will be sent out shortly to each family. Please ensure all the information is correct, sign where appropriate, and return to your teacher or Mrs. Echlin as soon as possible.

Breakfast Club

Our CPE Breakfast program will start right where it left off last year. We’ll have Grab n Go breakfast for students every morning (“Grab n Go” means, students enter, as usual at 8:20 and there will be a table with food set out so they can just grab it and go!). Thank you to Danielle Fenrich for coordinating our Breakfast Program this year!

CPE PAC – Parent Advisory Council

The Parent Advisory Council works with the principal and teachers of the school to set goals and plan events for the School year. The PAC meets once a month to organize, review and implement any activities scheduled throughout the school year. The CPE PAC votes on an annual budget to execute planned activites at the beginning of each year as well as organizes fundraisers to help pay for the varying activities throughout the year. Some of our more notable fundraisers include: Purdy’s Chocolates – Make it Sow – Lovable labels. Some of our more notable activities and events are: Monthly Hot Lunch – Christmas Craft Fair – Winter Carnival – Sports Day Snacks – Class Field Trips. The best way to stay informed of what is happening with the CPE PAC is to join our Facebook Group: “CPE Parents”. Any and every parent is welcome! The next PAC meeting will be on Sept 12th in the CPE Library at 6:30 pm.

School Supplies and Agendas 2023-2024

Our school once again has gone forward with a bulk purchase of school supplies for this year. This means that families will not have to buy school supplies from a list; rather, supplies were bulk purchased by the school and were available for your child(ren) when they arrived in September. The student agendas will be included in the supply fee. It was decided to maintain the cost of agendas and supplies at $37. Families with more than two children are only required to pay a maximum supply cost of $74. (If possible, families often ‘round up’ and pay $40 – the extra money generated is helped to offset costs for families in need). Parents may also choose to opt out and purchase their own supplies. If you haven’t already done so, please make cheques payable to Columbia Park Elementary School and drop off with Mrs. Echlin in the office.

Toonie for Terry—Terry Fox Run – Friday, Sept 22nd

Once again, this year students will participate in our Terry Fox Run. Not only is this an important fundraiser for the Terry Fox Foundation, it’s a great time to teach students about one of our dearest Canadian heroes.

Our minimum goal is to have each student bring a Toonie to their classroom teacher as a donation. Mr. Pfeiffer says he will donate a dollar for every student who beats him on the run that day! Stay tuned to find out our fundraising total. Parent volunteers are still needed.

Please contact the school if you can help.

Early Dismissal Days – Goal Setting Conferences – Oct 25th & 26th

Wednesday and Thursday, October 25th and 26th, will be Early Dismissal Days. These days are designated for “Goal Setting Conferences” where teaching staff will meet with parents and students to prepare and set learning goals for the year. Stay tuned for more information in October on how to sign up with your teacher. This year, we have four Early Dismissal Dates as follows: Goal Setting Conferences on October 25th and 26th, and Student Led Conferences on April 17th and 18th. On these days, students will be dismissed at 12:30 PM and will not have a regular lunch break (so be sure to pack a substantial snack!). Buses will pick up students at 12:30 PM on those days.

Pro D – Professional Development Day – Oct 20th & Nov 10th

Did you know while your children have no classes, Pro-D days are a time when teachers and staff focus on their own learning and on enhancing their own practice? Friday, October 20th and Friday, November 10th will be Professional Development Days so there will be no classes these days. All of our school closures are listed on the calender at end of the newsletter.

CPE Run Club

Ms. Holmes, Ms. Kerluck, Ms. Dodds, & Ms. Sheldon are leading our group of runners again this year. Grade 4-7 students have been invited to join the running club. Run Club practices will be on Tuesdays @ CPE and FUN RUNS are on Thursdays. Our first practice is on September 14th students are always welcome to join up anytime. Parents are required to pick up and drop off their child to the different FUN Runs. FUN RUN Meet schedule is as follows:

Sept 21st @ BVE Sept 28th @ AHE
Oct 5th @ CPE (Annual Turkey Trot!)
Oct 10th @ Wrap up @ Mt. Macpherson (note: this is a Tuesday)

Indigenous Education

Indigenous Education in School District 19 seeks to improve success, deepen cultural connection, and increase the presence of Indigenous culture, languages and history for all students. It also aims to help teachers bring Indigenous knowledge into their teaching practice.

Indigenous Education in our District aligns with commitments to the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and the Draft principles that Guide the province of British Columbia’s Relationship with Indigenous people.

If your child has Indigenous ancestry, and you which them to participate in Indigenous Education opportunities, please contact the office and request a parent consent form or download the form from the SD website and return to the school.

Community School Threat Assessment: Fair Notice

Our school community is committed to creating and sustaining school environments in which students, staff, parents, and others feel safe. All reported threats and incidences of violence will be investigated.

The purpose of the threat assessment process is to use the best knowledge, skill, and experience available to assess high-risk behaviors so that appropriate interventions can be identified to protect individuals from harm and ensure a climate of safety in schools and the community.

Any student whose behavior or actions appear to pose a high risk to self-harm or who threatens harm to others will undergo the threat assessment process. This assessment will be extensive in scope and may include the involvement of community partners such as MCFD and the RCMP.

High-risk behaviors include, but are not limited to:

Possession of weapons
Bomb threats
Any threats to kill or injure others or self (threat may be written, verbal, drawn, posted electronically, or made by gesture only and may be direct, indirect, conditional or veiled).

Duty to Report:

To keep school communities safe, staff, students, parents, and community members will report all threat related behaviors to the school principal.

Ambulance Service at No Cost

Ambulance Services at the Schools – Should we need to call an ambulance for a student, and a family does not have extended health coverage, the ambulance will be at our expense.

2023/2024 School Calendar

Month	Statutory Holidays	Closures	Non-Instructional Dates	Total Days in Session	Days of Instruction
August	British Columbia Day – Monday, August 7th, 2023	School Planning Day – Wednesday, August 30th Professional Development – Thursday, August 31st		2	0
September	Labour Day – Monday, September 4th, 2023 First day of school is Tuesday, September 5th, 2023			19	19
October	National Day of Truth and Reconciliation – Monday, October 2nd, 2023 Thanksgiving Day – Monday, October 9th, 2023	Professional Development Day – Friday, October 20th, 2023		20	19
November	Remembrance Day – Monday, November 13th, 2023	Professional Development – Friday, November 10th, 2023		21	20
December	Christmas Day – Monday, December 25th Boxing Day – Tuesday, December 26th Christmas Break – December 23rd, 2023 – January 7th, 2024			16	16
January	New Year’s Day – Monday, January 1st First day back – Monday, January 8th			18	18
February	Family Day – Monday, February 19th, 2024	Professional Development – Friday, February 16th, 2024		20	19
March	Good Friday – March 29th, 2024 Spring Break – March 16th to April 1st, 2024			11	11
April	Easter Monday – April 1st, 2024			21	21
May	Victoria Day – Monday, May 20th, 2024 Professional Development – Friday, May 3rd, 2024		22	21
June	Administrative Day – Friday, June 28th, 2024			20	19

2023/2024 Bell Schedule

Event	Time
School Start	8:30 am
Recess / Break	10:00 – 10:20 am
Lunch	11:50 am – 12:40 pm
Regular Dismissal	2:30 pm

News & Events