To access our School Improvement Plan in full, click here.
REMINDER FOR LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
Thursday, June 27th is the last day of school. We have our year end assembly at 9:00AM. Parents are always welcome to our assemblies. Also dismissal is at 10:11 AM. Busses will be making their usual stops, but 4 hours earlier.

Click here to access our website to keep informed of our upcoming events.
Staffing Information
We have two staff members who will be moving on to new opportunities next year. A big thank you to Wes Sandy, our Indigenous Support Worker, and Ms. Smirl, who taught Explorations and a variety of different subjects in Div 1, 2, 3, and 4. We wish them both well as they pursue other opportunities. Our Indigenous Support staffing allotment at our school has increased to three days a week next school year and unfortunately for us, he cannot fit another work day in his already 5 day work week. We will be piecing together a posting for a part time teaching position starting in September.

Cathy Steigleder accepted our StrongStart facilitator position on a regular basis. Congratulations Cathy!
Information from PAC
Many of the PAC executive positions will be available. If you are interested in putting your name forward or nominating a parent, please come to the meeting in September.
President: Yvonne Logan
Vice President: Adina Clements
Treasurer: Jill Pruner
Secretary: Rebecca Budac
Directors: Jodi Boland, Karoll Brosnan, Christine Leclerc
DPAC rep: Yvonne Logan and Jill Pruner
Hot Lunch Coordinator: Jodi Boland
Next PAC meeting is Wednesday, September 11th at 2:30 PM in the Staffroom. All parents welcome and babysitting will be provided.

We thank our fabulous PAC for all they have done this school year in support of our school, our students, and our staff.
Classroom Configuration and
Student Placement
Click here to access School District 83's calendar for the 2019 - 2020 school year. Thanks for the feedback you provided to the district.

So far we have 14 students in kindergarten registered and 103 students total for next school year. If you have plans to move away over the summer, please contact me. If you know of anyone new moving to the area with school aged children, please contact me. The more accurate our numbers are, the more secure we can be with staffing, classroom configurations and student placements.
So far, our class configuration looks like the following: k/1, 1/2, 3/4, 4/5/6, 6/7/8.

Thank you to the parents who contact me about their child's placement. The due date for this was June 14th. These class configurations can change with student movement in or out of the school. There is a possibility we will have a 1/2/3 class with a very small number of grade 3s.

When a grade is split into two different classrooms, the placement of students is a complex one and takes a lot of thought and careful consideration by staff. In our small school, we get to know our students well in a classroom setting. We consider academics as well as social emotional development. We consider placement of siblings and the number of years already with a teacher. Having said that, we are required to balance the student needs in each class and also work within the limits of the Collective Agreement concerning class size and composition.
First Day of School
The first day of school for students in grades 1 - 8 is on Tuesday, September 3rd. Dismissal is at 11:11AM on this day. Busses will be making their usual runs but 3 hours earlier.

Students will be going back to their previous year's classes until we are confident with our numbers. Any new students to Falkland School will need to report to the office.
Kindergarten Gradual Entry Schedule
Please click here to access the information shared at our kindergarten orientation on June 5th. It contains some very useful information to assist your child in starting kindergarten.
School Supplies
In consultation with PAC and staff, our school will again be purchasing supplies for student use in the classroom and recouping a fee of $35.00 from parents. We kindly ask that you do not buy school supplies for your child. This option has many benefits. In addition to the individual student supplies purchased as part of the $35.00 fee, the school purchases classroom supplies for communal use (eg. scissors, rulers, calculators, etc.). These items belong to the school and get reused from year to year, which means less items are purchased by parents unnecessarily year to year. These communal items, kept in the teacher's care, are also less likely to go missing. Students seem to have what they need when they need it. All items are purchased with a clear purpose by the teacher. We can ensure quality, uniformity and consistency in product. This helps both the teacher and student with organization to maximize instructional time in class. We thank you in advance for your cooperation with this. If you require further explanation, please contact me. More information will be included in our 2019-2020 fee letter.
2019 - 2020 School Fee Notice
Please find our updated fee notice for the 2019-2020 school year. Our fee letter for the 2019 - 2020 school year will be sent home soon by email. As mentioned in previous communication, you will notice some increases in areas such as Cultural Performance, but decreases in amounts for school supplies, especially for students in grades 5, 6, 7, 8. We will no longer be charging art, exploration and band fees. Additional funds are being released to schools from the district to help offset supply costs. Our school does not charge an Activity Fee upfront like other schools as payment requests are made throughout the year for optional programs like Winter Rec, swimming k-5, and other field trips outside of the curriculum, if students choose to participate in them.
Minutes of Instruction
We are required to provide a minimum amount of instructional hours in the school year. In kindergarten, the minimum hours are 859 in the year. This is less than other grades in order to accommodate a gradual kindergarten entry. In grades 1 - 7, the minimum hours are 878. In grade 8, the minimum hours are 952.

The number of minutes per day is dependent on the number of calendar days there are in the school year. In order to meet the minimum requirements, next school year we will need to add 2 minutes to each school day. Also, in order to provide blocks of time to fit district wide agreed upon music time, our break times have been adjusted. Please see the following bell schedule proposed for 2019-2020 school year. In order to promote a classroom community in Division 1, home of grade 8s, all students in the class follow the schedule set out for the grade 8 students. This helps to build a more cohesive classroom culture.
2018-2019 Falkland School Yearbooks
We have a few extra yearbooks for purchase. They are $20.00 each. Please contact Dani if you would like more information.
Farewell Grade 8s - Information for Grade 9
On Wednesday, June 26th, we celebrated our grade 8 grads and wished them well as they move to highschool. Best wishes to you all - you will be missed.

Students visited PVSS on Tuesday, June 25th and learned that student schedules will be emailed or can be printed off from Student Connect. Student counsellors will be available on Monday, August 26th through to Thursday, August 29th from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. Services are provided on a first come, first serve, basis. Course changes must be done in person with parental consent.

On the first day of school, students in grade 9 will gather in the main common area when they arrive to school to wait for instructions. Students will be assigned a home room (called TA for Teacher’s Advisory) and it is mandatory that students attend advisory each day.

The teacher in the TA will have locks for students to purchase for $5.
Upcoming Events at Falkland School
Please click here to access our website for our most recent upcoming events. Please take note of the upcoming events pertinent to your family and record them in your calendars. While an email is sent home weekly as a reminder of upcoming events, this list will always be much more comprehensive.  
FALKLAND SCHOOL  | 5732 TUKTAKAMIN ROAD, FALKLAND BC

250 - 379 - 2320| fal.sd83.bc.ca | fal@sd83.bc.ca