September 20, 2019
Dear Urban Academy Families,
School routines are well established now and even our youngest and newest students are settling in well. Next week we host our New Parents’ Reception and we are looking forward to an enjoyable evening with them as we can go over aspects of the UA experience that they have not been able to concentrate on until now as they helped their child transition to a new school.
Orange Shirt Day is approaching on our calendar on September 30, a day when we focus on the affirmation of every child counting in our society and acknowledge the work being done on reconciliation in our country, specifically in regard to the residential schools in Canada. Students are encouraged to wear an orange T-shirt over their daily uniform shirt. Any orange shirt that you have at home is fine and if your child does not have an orange shirt, please do not be concerned. The bigger teaching is in why we stop and consider reconciliation. That is what we will focus on. Our teachers teach these concepts and this work as part of the Ministry of Education BC curriculum.
The Terry Fox Run is scheduled for September 26. Students will learn about Terry Fox and his contribution as a remarkable Canadian. The run route for our students is established at Hume Park, little ones do a shorter route and older students can lap a few times, if they choose, for House points as well as contributing to the Fox tradition. Parents are welcome to join us at Hume Park, however, students will walk to the run site and back to school to dismiss. We will not dismiss to parents at the park and students will not have backpacks or homework with them. It is not a safe practice to dismiss at the park with so many students in an unstructured environment. If it is a nice day, please consider joining us as we honour Terry Fox’s memory. We will be at the park at about 1:15 pm to start the run. We do encourage “Toonies for Terry” so that we can support the Terry Fox Foundation and their work. Please feel welcome to send along a contribution and teachers will collect that for us to forward on behalf of UA students, or you may use this link: https://secure.terryfox.ca/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?TeamID=851173#&panel1-2.
Our work out front on Rousseau St to move landscaping forward is going well. The first inspections on the depth and extent of the excavation have been approved and soils on Rousseau will be next. We do hope to move on to the laneway soon. This is a complex part of the off-site work for this whole development and upgrade of this part of an old neighbourhood. It involves a great deal more than just the planting of shrubbery. We are doing well with at least seven different partners involved in the work and a tight site to work on. Thank you for your patience on Rousseau as we complete this portion of our project and our responsibilities to the site development.
Have an enjoyable weekend. See all of you on Monday morning.
Mrs. Cheryle Beaumont
Head of School
