Many events are happening over the next few weeks at St. Bernadette.
This coming week is Safety Awareness Week across York Catholic schools. All of our drills and practice procedures will align with current advice from both York Public Health and our First Responders (Fire and Police). During this week, we will be rehearsing a variety of emergency school procedures to acquaint students and staff with the precautionary steps to take in the event of such things as a warning of severe weather, an intruder, or a fire evacuation. In addition, throughout the year we will hold practice drills to acquaint students with various emergency protocols. Teachers will review these procedures with students in class prior to our practice drills.
With Halloween around the corner, families are beginning to think about costumes. At St. Bernadette, we have a long-standing tradition of inviting our students and staff to wear an appropriate costume and we will be celebrating Halloween on Friday, October 29th with fun Hallow’s Eve activities in classrooms. Parents and guardians are asked to ensure costumes follow these guidelines.
- Culture is NOT Costume: Refrain from using costumes that represent a cultural group or ethnicity. (e.g. First Nations, Chinese, Arabic, etc.)
- Masks are Discouraged (Except for PPE): Wearing masks during the school day can compromise the safety of the community. We should always be identifiable in our community so we can avoid having unwelcome guests.
- Awareness of Costume Appropriateness is Important: Discourage costumes that are not appropriate to the moral tone of our Catholic Schools.
- Awareness of Fear and Evil: Be aware that Ghoulish costumes can terrify younger students, students with special needs, or students with phobias.
- Replica weapons (sword, knives, guns etc.) of any nature are not permitted at school.
This week, volunteers from the Georgina Food Pantry picked up over 1700 non-perishable items and monetary donations for the Food Bank. This is the most we have ever collected and we want to thank all of our students for their generosity. On Thursday, October 21st, each student will be provided with a slice of Dominos cheese pizza during the lunch hour as a thank you. If you do not wish your child to have a slice of pizza, please contact the office by Thursday morning.
A gentle reminder that Portrait Day will take place this Wednesday, October 20th. A re-take day will be scheduled at a later date.