Welcome back everyone!A school is not a school unless there are students in it. This week we were excited to see all of those "eyes" (not completed faces, but we'll take what we can get)!! Our staff worked very hard to ensure we made our students feel welcome and safe. We had to balance teaching and learning the new protocols in place as well as establishing our normal routines and getting start on academics. Our first week is complete and we believe that everyday got a little better for the majority of our community. We will work on improving some aspects of our day, but overall Morris School appreciates our students and staff for how well they have adapted to what has been placed in front of them. As our days progress, we will all be more comfortable and clear about what is expected and then we can start looking at what else can be done, beyond the basics, as a school community. We appreciate everyone's understanding and patience as we continue to navigate through this together. Way to Go, MAV's!! Mystery artist(s) gr8tly appreciated!!Sometime between 4 pm Labour Day and 8 am Tuesday, September 8th we had an artist or artists invade our school grounds delivering positive messages for our students. We appreciate your kind and warm salutations. It can be said that many students and staff noticed this gesture. Thank you for making our school a better place!! Maverick Media kicks off at Morris School!Our school has an exciting new venture to announce. Based on some feedback and guidance from our neighbouring school in Rosenort, we have launched Maverick Media to the world this week. We've started with some basic announcements, but the plan is to do our first live, student announced show on Monday morning (September 14th). As you can also tell by the image associated with this article, we are working to develop a logo for our new undertaking as well as many other aspects to be unveiled as the school year progresses. Under the leadership and guidance of Mr. Tony Lopez as well as the Grade 9 and 10 GCT class, and the on air talent of our Grade 7 & 8 students, our Maverick Media outlet is looking to give ownership to our morning announcements to our students, highlight people and programs within our school community, and to bring some additional school spirit to our day! If you feel you have a Maverick Media worthy story, please see Mr. Lopez (or any staff member for that matter) and we will do our best to pursue it and get it to the "masses" within the Morris School community. Maverick Media can be accessed by clicking HERE. Our daily telecast will occur immediately following O'Canada in and around 8:51 AM. If you can't catch the live show, all shows will be archived on our Youtube channel. From our Guidance Counselors...Dear Families, On behalf of the Morris School Guidance Department, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome you and your children back to school! We are looking forward to working with each of them. As the past 6 months have brought much uncertainty for our families, it is our belief that social emotional support systems will be more important than ever this school year. As Guidance Counselors, it is our primary responsibility to support the social-emotional development of all of our K to 12 students. Our goal is to advocate for all students in the K to 12 community and to support them with counselling to work through overwhelming feelings. We hope to help our students continue to develop strategies to build greater resiliency. Kindergarten to Grade 6 Guidance - Amy Charron: I am so excited to return to the role of K-6 Guidance this year, in addition to my role as Kindergarten Teacher! Some of you I have met in the past two years while I have been working in Morris School in different positions, and I look forward to connecting with you again. For those of you I have not yet met, I wanted to reach out to let you know I am available and eager to support you and your families. Grade 7 to Grade 12 Guidance- Laurie Edel: Many of you know me from school and community. I have taught and supported students as our grade 7-12 Guidance Counselor for the past six years. Working with students in career and mental health supports are my primary roles. We are so excited to work with your children, and we are looking forward to having a great school year! If you ever have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call or email one of us at any time. All the best, Amy Charron Lauren Edel K-6 Guidance 7-12 Guidance [email protected]a [email protected] 204-746-2612 ext. 3294 204-746-2612 ext. 3227 Drop Offs & Pick upsAs we start the new school year, there have been many changes to ensure we are following Provincial and Divisional protocols. One thing that hasn't changed, but may be new for some members of our school community is our Kindergarten to Grade 4 drop-off & pick-up procedures. A number of students are driven to school. In order to maintain a good flow of traffic, our school relies upon the circle at the end of Toronto Avenue to remain clear. Those who stop there to "quickly" drop off their students disrupt the traffic flow significantly. We would ask everyone to keep the circle clear. You can achieve this by not parking any further east than the east end of our school building. That will ensure everyone can access the circle turnaround freely. The start to our mornings - a new normalAs per our Return to School plan, we would ask that families to ensure they are screening their students prior to bringing/sending them to school. Please access the Shared Health Screening tool at https://sharedhealthmb.ca/covid19/screening-tool/ to conduct a daily screening. By completing this on a daily basis you will keep all members of our school community safe AND receive guidance from trained professionals on next steps if (we hope there never is an IF) you need to take further action. Morris School - Cash onlineWe want to apologize for the delay of placing specific fees on our Cash Online system. With suspension of some activities and adjustments to others, we wanted to ensure we got it right. It is anticipated that more and more fees will be placed online as the month progresses and we make decision on the programs that are running and what charges will be associated with them. As per our blog entry at the end of the last school year.... A variety of fees will be due during the upcoming school year (Student Fees, Art Supplies, Band Fees, Hockey Academy, Sport Team Registrations, etc.) at Morris School. The Red River Valley School Division has an online payment system that can be accessed via the school's website (https://morris.rrvsd.ca) to conveniently pay for these fees. You can find it under the For Parents menu item. It is called School Cash. Your ability to pay online assists our front office staff as it reduces the amount of cash (bills & change) and cheques on a daily basis. This allows our front office staff to directly serve our students and staff more effectively. In addition, due to the most recent COVID-19 health & safety recommendations, our previous encouragement to use the School Cash payment method as your main method of payments has been adjusted to a requirement. We don't want to have our staff handling cash or cheques in the office. The School Cash allows us the opportunity to follow those protocols. Please contact Mr. Watson if you have any questions or would like some assistance getting set up on School Cash if you are not already. Breakfast club starts MondayThanks to the generosity of our benefactors, our vendors, and our school volunteers, we are happy to start up Morris School's Breakfast Club program again this year. Our school's belief is in line with the Breakfast Club of Canada's... We Believe We believe all Canadian children deserve an equal chance at success. We believe a child can not learn on an empty stomach. We believe a healthy breakfast can change a life, a journey, a society. With the changes to some health and safety protocols, we have adjusted how we will deliver our program this year. As we are experiencing with a number of program deliveries this year, how we do things may change, but what and why we do it will not. Our school's canteen is also looking to open soon as well. Stay tuned for more information as the days progress. A message from canadian optometristsPresent research confirms the importance of vision and eye health on students’ learning. According to statistics provided by the Canadian Association of Optometrists, four out of every ten school-aged children have a vision problem that may negatively affect learning. Children who cannot see the board clearly, focus on a picture, or follow words in a book may not be able to reach their full potential. Manitoba Health covers the cost of children’s comprehensive eye examinations, therefore all families can access this free service. If you don’t currently have a family optometrist, you can find one by going to the MAO website at http://optometrists.mb.ca/find-an-optometrist.cfm and selecting Find an Optometrist, or call the Manitoba Association of Optometrists @ 204-943-9811. Voluntarily student accident insuranceThree attachments have been added to the email that included the link to this week's blog. The attachments were a Voluntary Student Accident digital brochure, as well as a letter to parents and a sheet of plan highlights to share. Social Media WarningOur school received the following email from our Divisional Student Services Administrator, Jaclyn Koskie this week... I want to bring to your attention a disturbing video of a suicide that is currently circulating on TikTok and other social media platforms. The video is extremely graphic and the content is highly distressing. Social media platforms are warning people not to watch a video that begins with the image of a man with a grey beard sitting in front of a desk. Additionally, the video clip has also been hidden inside other videos that appear unrelated so exercise caution watching any video content. TikTok and other social media platforms are working to remove the video and to prevent sharing. Comments are closed.
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