A Slice of PIE

Volume 13, Issue 1

Welcome to the 2022-23 school year!

We are excited to see returning families and looking forward to meeting our new families. Teachers returned to their offices Tuesday, September 6th. You should have received a welcome email from your teacher as well as an initial email from me. If you did not receive either of those emails, please check your spam/junk folders and add sysadmin@myeducation.gov.bc.ca as a contact (you can make the name 'PIE') so you don't miss emails from me. If you don't yet know who your family's teacher is, please don't hesitate to contact me at stephanie.hall@sd47.bc.ca

Wishing each of you a fantastic year ahead!

Sincerely,

Stephanie

Our school district received over 300K from the province to help make back-to-school more affordable for families. Please read more here!

Powell River and area families are welcome to join us at Willingdon Beach on Friday, September 16th from 12:00pm - 2:00pm for our Welcome Back event! Staff are excited to see familiar faces and to greet new students and families! 😀

Save the date! Our Welcome Back Picnic for the Comox Valley and area families will be on Tuesday, September 27th at Selah Campground from 11:00am-1:00pm.

Staff from Comox Valley and Powell River united for two days in preparation for the new school year. They dove right into learning about Brightspace on day 1, and spent day 2 focusing on social and emotional health and the process of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is an on-going process about respect and understanding. It is complex, critical, and continuous. For more information about this process, please check out:

• The Role of Education
• Caring Society resources
• Reconciliation in Schools
• Kairos Blanket Exercise
• Michelle Stoney Colouring Pages and Art

Staff and students who take online courses will be learning how to use Brightspace this year. Those students will receive more information from their teacher soon!

In the meantime, click here to watch our "Welcome to Brightspace" tutorial video.

Members: All PIE parents!

Chair: Charlene deBellefeuille

Treasurer: Kevin deBellfeuille

Secretary: Kathleen Smith

Member at Large - Comox Valley: Dana Orrego

Member at Large - IDLC: Dawn Grigor

Member at Large - Powell River: Hayley Smisko

Teacher Rep: Lisa Taylor

Administrative Rep: Stephanie Hall

Thank you to the executive and all parents that contribute to using PIE PAC funds to add extra events and activities for PIE students each year. I'm looking forward to this year's adventures!

The next PIE PAC meeting will be held virtually on October 12th, at 4:00pm.

PIE high school students can access free online mentoring through Rural eMentoring BC. The goal of the program is to connect rural students to mentors who can help students prepare for life after high school graduation. Check it out and let us know what you think! 😀

Effective in the 2023/24 school year, all students working toward a B.C. Certificate of Graduation ("Dogwood Diploma"), in English or French, must successfully complete at least 4 credits in Indigenous-focused coursework. For more information and resources please click here! PIE currently offers the following courses that can meet this requirement:

• First Peoples English 12 (4 cr)
• BC First Peoples 12 (4 cr)
• Contemporary Indigenous Studies 12 (4 cr) ***New***

BCCDC Guidance

School administrators should ensure that staff, other adults entering the school, parents, caregivers, and students are aware that they should not come to school if they are sick and unable to participate fully in routine activities. School administrators can support this practice by communicating the importance of everyone doing a health check.

A health check means a person regularly checking to ensure they (or their child) are not experiencing symptoms of illness (including but not limited to COVID-19 symptoms) that would limit their ability to participate fully in regular activities before coming to school to prevent spread of communicable diseases, such as COVID-19, within school settings.

Schools do not need to monitor students or staff for symptoms of illness.

September 🍎

6: School Opens

23: Pro-D

30: Truth and Reconciliation Day (school not in session)

October 🌰

5: World Teachers Day

12: PIE PAC Meeting

17 - 21: Secret Path Week

21: Pro-D

November 🍂

11: Remembrance Day

25: Term 1 Submission Deadline

📸 Instagram

Email: stephanie.hall@sd47.bc.ca
Website: https://www.sd47.bc.ca/school/pie/Pages/default.aspx#/=
Location: 7105 Nootka Street, Powell River, BC, Canada
Phone: 604-485-2756
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/16157794226
Twitter: @pie_partners

We acknowledge that we live, work, and learn on the traditional and unceded territory of the K'omoks First Nation and the final agreement territory of the Tla'amin Nation. With this privilege comes the responsibility to engage in conscious acts of reconciliation.