September 1, 2015
Dear Parents:
Welcome back to the 2015-2016 school year! We know the end of summer is always difficult, but we
are excited for a great year of learning at Beechy School. We need to say a big thank you to Sharron
Snow for all her hard work this summer. The school looks great! You will also notice our new gym floor
the first time you come visit, which we are very excited about (once it’s done). We would also like to
welcome our new staff members to Beechy School. Ms. Vanessa Warnock will be teaching the senior
Math, History and Science, Ms. Brooke Cardiff will be teaching grades 4-6, and Mr. Derk Clothier will be
with us on days 2, 4, and 6 teaching Kindergarten. As well, Ms. Ksashar Poulten will be covering Mrs.
Moebis’s maternity leave as an Educational Assistant.
Please join us for our Welcome Back BBQ on Thursday, September 3 at 5:30 to meet our new staff and
learn about upcoming plans for our year at BHS.
We as a school community are sharing in the sadness of the loss of Cody Sibbald this summer, and the
Sibbald family is in our thoughts as we begin the year. Please know that we will work together to
support our students through this devastating tragedy.
As you’ll see in the Student Handbook, the grade combinations and homeroom teachers are as follows:
Mr. Derk Clothier
Mrs. Lisa Grande
Ms. Brooke Cardiff
Mrs. Janis Flynn
Mrs. Becky Dubasov
Ms. Vanessa Warnock
Mrs. Leia Hey
Ms. Char Dansereau
Kindergarten
Grades 1-3 Homeroom
Grades 4-6 Homeroom
Student Services, 3/4 ELA/Math, 7/8 Math, 7-9 Social
Studies
Grade 7-8 Homeroom and various subjects, 1-12 P.E.
Grade 11-12 Homeroom, senior Math and Science
Grade 9/10 Homeroom, senior ELA, 7/8 Guidance
Career Work Experience, Careers 7-10
We also welcome back our support staff:
Ms. Kathy Redmond
Mrs. Rhonda Blenkiron
Mrs. Karen Baxter
Mrs. Karen Rogness
Mrs. Bobbi Jo Connor
Ms. Ksashar Poulten
Ms. Sharron Snow
Secretary
Librarian
Educational Assistant
Educational Assistant
Educational Assistant
Educational Assistant
Caretaker
In order to accommodate distance learning schedules and to work with timetables across the school
division, our daily bell schedule is as follows:
Period One - 9:00-9:52
Period Two - 9:56-10:48
DEAR – 10:52-11:02
Period Three - 11:02-11:53
Lunch - 11:53-12:43
Period Four - 12:43-1:35
Period Five - 1:39-2:31
Period Six - 2:35-3:27
Recess: Morning - 10:38-10:48
Afternoon - 2:21-2:31
(Please do not allow your students to be here earlier than 8:35 a.m., as staff is arriving and preparing for
their day and are not available to supervise before this time. We would hate to have something happen
to a student – i.e. on the playground – before there is proper supervision.)
The policy regarding $2 million liability insurance for the transportation of students continues again this
year. We are pleased that so many parents have chosen to add this clause to their policies; it makes
arranging student transportation to events much easier. If you are a new driver of our students or will
be volunteering in the school for the first time, you must also have a criminal records check. Please
bring a copy of your CRC into the school if you have not already done so. Thank you.
There are many forms to be filled out at the beginning of every year. Please check with your storm billet
to make sure it is okay to continue using the same billet, if that is your intention. We appreciate the
timely manner in which the forms are usually returned, as students are restricted until their forms are
in!
The newsletter format will continue to be a larger document sent home in the first week of the month.
We will include information on initiatives (such as our School Learning Improvement Plan, or A3), school
happenings, important dates to remember and other information from the School Community Council.
If you would like an item added to the newsletter, please contact Kathy at the office.
In hopes of more ongoing communication, we will be doing a few things this year. Firstly, we will be
introducing a new system this year called “Alert”. It is a notification system through PowerSchool and
can be used to email or text notifications to parents – anything from unexplained absences to upcoming
due dates or events. This will be in place by October – we will send out an informative letter when it
begins. As well, now that the glitches are all out of the new school websites, we can begin working
harder to keep the website up to date to make it a reliable place to look for school information.
Open lines of communication between home and school are vital to the success of our students. Please
contact your child’s teacher or myself with any questions you may have. The best times to call are
before 9 a.m., during lunch break, or after school. If you happen to call when we are busy with students
or in class teaching, you can certainly leave a message and we will return your call as soon as possible.
We again are looking forward to a great year working with your children!
Mrs. Leia Hey
(on behalf of Beechy School Staff)