October 30, 2020
Hello UA Parents,
The celebrations around Halloween have morphed overtime for me. Growing up I loved the ritual of dressing up and heading out trick-or-treating, and as a young adult, it was another reason on the calendar to have fun. As the years sped by the focus shifted to my children and what costumes they would wear, the annual Halloween party at school, the neighbourhood fireworks show, and trying not to eat too much of the candy myself. This year I was very excited to see what Halloween Eve day would bring at Urban Academy. It was wonderful to see all of the costumes that the kids were able to show off in their classes today. I made my rounds as a walking dance party… maybe ask the students and see what they thought.
It will most certainly be a different year, this year, for the trick-or-treaters and their parents. I want to encourage all of you to find new and innovative ways to celebrate the traditions of Halloween while ensuring that you all stay diligent about keeping your families safe and healthy over the long term. It is apparent that the second wave of the pandemic is upon us. BC is still doing an excellent job of keeping the situation manageable. We have been very fortunate at UA and have not been impacted at this point. The staff and students are working hard to keep things safe for everyone here at the school. But in the end, it is a community responsibility to make sure that when exposures do happen it does not trigger an outbreak of cases that will impact UA significantly. Please remember that in order to maintain a healthy and safe environment at UA we all have to do our part not only at school but when we are home and out in the community as well. Thanks to our fantastic school community for your ongoing diligence and care.
We are very excited with the progress to date from our annual appeal. Families are contributing and we ‘Hear You Roar!’ We have received donations from 26% of our families to date. It would be wonderful to see if we are able to bring that percentage up over the next few weeks and reach our goal of 100% participation! Thank you to all who have generously donated to the school already, we are hopeful that we are able to continue to provide the ‘extras’ that these funds allow us to purchase for the students.
I hope that everyone who wanted to meet with a teacher was able to participate in our Parent-Teacher conferences on Zoom this week. We were disappointed that we could not welcome you all into the building to meet face to face, but we are happy that we were able to find a solution that enabled the communication to take place. As always, if you have questions regarding your child please feel free to reach out to their teachers by email.
It is hard to believe that it will be November next week. With the time change, it will be darker earlier. So please be attentive as you drive in and around the school and the surrounding neighbourhood. Please also be mindful that during the construction on Rousseau Street we still need to be respectful of the parking regulations on the surrounding roads during drop-off and pick-up. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep this weekend. Now, please go and wash your hands.
Yours in education,
Mr. Slinger
