Dear ROMS families,
Thank you for your understanding as we continue to work through the new back to school protocols and settle into these new routines. Now that we are nearing Halloween, I’m very pleased to see how well our students have adjusted to the new reality of school during a pandemic. Mask wearing in the hallways, and staying in their cohorts outside at recess and lunchtime are new expectations that students have had to learn. It has been hard for students not to be able to see their friends from other cohorts at school. Please know that this is about keeping our students safe and managing/limiting the number of interactions that students have during the school day. I try to remind students that this is not forever, it’s just for now.
A couple of highlights from the year so far:
Orange Shirt Day - our students and staff wore our orange shirts to remember the many indigenous families who were impacted by residential schools and to show support for the process of reconciliation.
Terry Fox Run - ROMS staff and students raised $1100 for cancer research during our annual Terry Fox Run!
Meet the Teacher night and Parent Teacher conferences - despite being unable to meet in person, hundreds of families participated in phone calls and virtual meetings with our teachers over the past few weeks. We know that students benefit immensely from knowing that their parents and teachers are working together to support their learning. Thank you for working with us during this unusual year to ensure that these important conversations still happen.
Below you will find some important information about upcoming events at ROMS, as well as some information about our new routines:
Weather - fall is definitely upon us. Please ensure that your child has a water-proof rain jacket for school. We will be going outside at recess and lunchtime regardless of the weather.
Masks - most of our students have gotten into the routine of coming to school each day wearing a mask. Every child was given two good quality reusable masks that were provided by the school district for students to use throughout the year. During the month of September we provided students who forgot their mask with a disposable mask. After going through thousands of paper masks, we are now at the point where we expect students to bring their own mask to school everyday. If your child is finding this a challenge, please consider sending them with a box of disposable masks to give to their teacher to keep in the classroom for days they forget, or provide the teacher with a couple of reusable masks that can be stored in the classroom for this purpose. Thank you for your help with this.
Locks/Lockers - In order to lessen the movement of students in the hallways and at lockers, we did not issue students with lockers in September. Now that we have established safe routines for students to move around the school, we are slowly adding in lockers for students. We started with our Gr 8’s and have now added the students in our Gr 7 divisions. Next week we will add in our multi divisions, followed finally by our grade 6 divisions in a week or so. By the end of October, every student at ROMS will have a locker. If your child is in Gr 6, you will need to purchase a school issued lock ($9) which can be reused year after year throughout middle and highschool. Locks will be delivered to each grade 6 class and students will spend time with their teacher learning to use their lock. If your child is in gr 7 or 8 and has lost their lock or is new to ROMS, they can purchase a lock from the office. A blue notice was sent on Friday Oct 16 with more information about purchasing a lock.
Donations to PAC - if you are able to help support the many wonderful things that our PAC provides for staff and students at ROMS by giving a small donation, it would be greatly appreciated. More information can be found in the blue notice (linked).
Daily Health Check - We appreciate your diligence in doing a daily health check with your child before they come to school each day. A number of changes have been made to the Health Check Form that was sent home in September. You will find the new version of the Daily Health Check linked.
Visitors to ROMS - We are limiting visitors in our building at this time. If you are delivering a lunch/personal item for a student, please come to the office to drop it off. For all other visits, we kindly request that you make an appointment with a staff member for a phone or virtual meeting. If you do not have an appointment or need assistance, please contact the office at (250)479-7128.
Closed Campus - Just a reminder that ROMS is a closed campus which means that students are not allowed to leave the school during the school day (except when accompanied by a parent/guardian, of course). Students are not permitted to walk over to the Royal Oak Shopping Centre or any local businesses. This means that students cannot get dropped off first thing in the morning at the school and then leave the school to go to the gas station or Tim Hortons. They are also not able to leave the school at lunchtime to purchase food from the Plaza. Thank you for your support with this.
ROMS PAC - the next PAC meeting is on Wed, Oct 21st at 7pm. The meeting will be virtual - you can find the meeting invite on the ROMS PAC website.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate these challenging times. Despite the challenges, we continue to be very lucky to live on Vancouver Island . . . we have so much to be grateful for!
Karen MacEwan, Principal