January 10 – 14

by Melanie Sylvester · Published January 9, 2022 · Updated January 9, 2022

Happy New Year!

We hope each of you had a wonderful break. We are excited to welcome you back to campus and begin to work more closely together as an ES Team. You have a strong virtual program in place and we will now work on preparing for concurrent learning and the possibility of welcoming our ES Students back at some point. We have no timeline for this at the moment, but we will continue to do great work virtually and prepare.

This resonated with me. Let’s reach forward, together, to what is next.

We are here for you! Dan & I continue to invite you to book meetings with us, using our Google Calendars, if you would like to talk about anything.

New Faculty Welcome: It is with sincere gratitude that we thank Fabrice Bouhet for his many years of service and dedication to SSIS. Fabrice will be replaced by Mr. Conrad Gaira. Welcome, Conrad! We also welcome Ms. Michelle Ostiguy who will be taking over the EAL Grade 4 position for the remainder of this school year. Welcome, Michelle!

ES Yearbook: We are still going to produce a yearbook this year with the theme of “Zoom In, Zoom Out”. In preparation for that, I am hoping that you can drop a few photos from this quarter into this Yearbook Folder. Minh has created folders for your first SuperUnit. We will need to be creative … so we’d love to have anything you think might be usable. Parents may be able to help with providing photos of their kids working virtually as well. Thank you!

Bright Spots: Please take a moment to read the “bright spots” that were shared last week on the right side widget! Let’s continue to focus on, and celebrate, the good things.

When we do this we can share a joyful educator moment or share a shout out to a staff member who has brightened our day. You can find the form here!

Professional Development Opportunities: I have started a sidebar widget with links to amazing PD opportunities. If you know of others, please share with me, and I will continue to populate this.

Campus COVID (from Lisa C): Thank you everyone for your help in following the government regulations when coming to campus. Following up on Catriona’s email (#108 Sept 25), these are the protocols currently in place for all faculty and staff coming to campus:

Every staff or faculty member must be fully vaccinated (and 14 days after the second dose of the vaccine).
Staff and faculty members who have recovered from COVID-19 may come to campus after the nurse verifies the documentation.
No children are allowed on campus (no SSIS students and staff children EC-6G).
Follow all 5K rules while on campus (masks, hand washing, social distance, no gatherings, health declaration)
Staff and faculty must use Gate 2 and Main turnstiles (AKA ES entrance).
A DAILY health declaration must be completed by every staff or faculty member (electronically through QR code or paper method). [please note that this must be done at the gate]
Turnstiles are now working for staff and faculty with SSIS ID cards. If you don’t have your ID card then you must SIGN IN and SIGN OUT the logbook with Security.
All deliveries are at Gate 4 (lunch delivery, Starbucks coffee, parcels, envelopes, etc)
COVID testing is recommended for staff returning to campus.
Rapid COVID testing is available on campus every Tuesday morning. This is optional. SSIS nurses will do it.