News From Royal Oak Middle School
April 27, 2020
Dear ROMS Parents and Guardians,
It is hard to believe it’s been 6 weeks since students and teachers were last together at Royal Oak! So much has changed in the world and in the way we do school since then. We often talk about the importance of teaching our children resilience - this is certainly a time that is testing the resilience of us all.
This week at ROMS we have found that most students are settled into the routines of remote learning. While we understand that this is not ideal, we are glad that most students are engaging in learning on a weekly basis. Teachers are connecting with students in a variety of ways including Google Classroom, MS Teams, classroom websites and email. We now have our Education Assistants working with students and will continue to add in supports for students who need it over the coming weeks. Our district has also started a food distribution program for families who are in need.
Below you’ll find some updates on a few important things:
All COVID-19 District Information - This information is available on the district website. https://www.sd63.bc.ca/COVID-19
Non-Instructional Day Mon, April 27 - Just a reminder that teachers will be participating in a wide variety of virtual professional learning opportunities on Monday this week.
Parent Input into Class Placement - see below
Entering the School - For everyone’s safety, we are trying to minimize access to the school for the time being. If your child is in need of an essential item, please email our vice principal, Mr. Mark, at dmark@saanichschools.ca to make arrangements. Band students have been given the opportunity to come to the school to pick up their musical instrument/music on Tues, April 28 from 10-2.
ROMS Clubs - Just a reminder that we have the second week of ROMS Clubs offering on our website. These offerings are a great way for our students to engage in some neat activity, connect with our school community and share with their peers (if they want).
Student Devices - chromebooks are still available for students to borrow on a first-come, first-served basis: Tuesdays from 9 to 2 at ROMS (go to the lower parking lot).
ROMS Yearbooks Update - we have ordered some extra yearbooks! Please email Ms. Cottier to reserve a yearbook at: ecottier@saanichschools.ca
Parent Input into Class Placement for 2020-21
Every year we embark on the complex process of building classes for the coming school year. In doing so, we gather input from students’ current teachers as well as considering many other factors including the academic, physical, social, and emotional needs of our students, as well as balancing the strengths and challenges in each classroom.
With so many factors to consider, class building is a complex process only made more complicated by a high volume of parent placement requests. It is our belief that, by middle school, students should be open to forming new peer relationships and that it’s important for students to develop the skills to work with a wide variety of peers beyond their current social circle. We want to help our students develop the resilience they need to thrive by teaching and encouraging flexible thinking and adaptability. We believe that our students are capable of working with and learning from the different personalities and styles of varying peers and teachers throughout their many years of schooling. Through such an approach, we are striving to meet our students’ long-term needs as well as furthering Royal Oak’s positive culture as an inclusive learning community built on our ROMS core values of curiosity, compassion and resilience.
Once again this year, we ask that parents only make a class placement request in extraordinary situations warranting special consideration.
In such extraordinary cases, please send your request by email to Karen MacEwan, Principal, at kmacewan@saanichschools.ca by our deadline of Friday, May 8, 2020, including:
o 1. Your child’s name, current grade and current teacher
o 2. The nature of your placement request
o 3. The extraordinary learning, social-emotional, and/or other needs warranting such special class placement consideration
Please note that no requests are guaranteed, but your request and rationale will be considered during our class building process if submitted by this deadline.
Thank you for the trust you place in us each and every day. We know how important communication is between home and school, and we want to continue to work with you to support our students in navigating the challenges they face during the middle years. We believe that creating balanced, diverse classes will help our students learn how to work successfully with a variety of peers, develop their capacity to cope with challenges, and become more resilient learners.
Karen MacEwan, Principal