Rosser Elementary School Handbook 2011 - 2012 in pdf format
NUTRITION AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITY BREAKS
PICKING YOUR CHILD UP AT SCHOOL
VISITOR PARKING WHEN SCHOOL BUSES ARE PRESENT
The purpose of this booklet is to acquaint parents with the school, its staff, programs and general procedures.
If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding the school or your child, please feel free to call us at 467-2717.
Ms. W. Rutherford - Principal
8:25 am - 8:50 am Doors open & buses arrive
8:55 am - Assembly.
9:00 am - Classes begin.
10:40 am - 11:25 am Morning Nutrition Break & Outdoor Activity Time
11:25 am - 1:05 pm Classes Resume
1:05 pm - 1:50 pm Afternoon Nutrition Break & Outdoor Activity Time
1:50 pm - 3:30 pm Classes Resume
3:35 pm - Grosse Isle Bus Students and Rosser Town students are dismissed.
4:00 pm - Rosser Bus Students are dismissed.
Please advise the school if your child will be absent or late for class.
As we are now an Earth 4 School, we are reducing the amount of paper used in the school. Each month a school calendar and newsletter with school events listed will be emailed to each family. Paper copies of the calendar and newsletter may also be sent home if you do not have access to email.
The school calendar and newsletter are also available on our school website: www.isd21.mb.ca/~rosser
A list of daily activities is posted on the Rosser Elementary School website each week. “This Week at Rosser School” will keep you up-to-date on what your child/children are doing. Just click on the little red school house at the top of the home page. We also send a copy via email only to all families on Friday afternoon to help you plan your week.
Our school operates on a 6-day cycle with Wednesday, September 8 as Day 1on the cycle. Kindergarten students attend school on Days 1, 3 and 5 for a full day.
Outdoor breaks are provided so that the students are able to get some fresh air during the school day. If it is absolutely necessary that a student must remain in for a day or two, please send a note regarding this with your child. Generally, if children are healthy enough to be in school, then they are healthy enough to go outside.
Students are not permitted to leave the school grounds during nutrition and outdoor breaks unless they have written permission from their parents.
As a precaution and a concern for the safety of the staff and students of Rosser School, please read the following policies.
If a relative or friend is picking up your child/children, please write a note to the teacher indicating this and including the person’s name. If the person is unknown to staff, this person will be asked for identification. E.g. Jane Doe will be picking up my children after school today. It would be helpful if you would also make these people aware of the policy.
Due to staff cutbacks there is the possibility that there will be no one in the office after 2:00 pm. Usually we check phone messages before the buses to see if there are any home time changes. We understand that some changes in your days happen unexpectedly and late day phone calls are necessary. However, we would appreciate home time change calls before 2:00 pm to ensure that all messages get passed on to the children before they leave the school.
There are times during the day when there will be no one in the school office who can monitor arrivals into the school. For added safety and security, the front doors will be locked. If the door is locked, please ring the buzzer in the upper right corner of the door and we will be pleased to come and let you in.
If you are in the school during school hours to deliver items to your child or pick your child up, please check at the office first.
Reports will be sent to parents in November, March, and June. Parent-Teacher conferences will be held in November and March. Student-led Conferences will take place on Thursday, April 26, 2012. Parents are encouraged to contact the school at any time should there be a concern regarding their child’s progress.
It is the school’s policy that students must remove their footwear when entering the school and put on their indoor shoes. Please make sure that your child has indoor footwear so that our school can be kept as clean as possible. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Be sure to purchase indoor shoes with non-marking soles. This can be checked by dragging the outside of the shoe’s sole along the floor.
Volunteers are very important to our school program. We hope that we can count on you for help during the school year. We will be sending out a letter asking for volunteers in the Fall. All new volunteers are required to attend a volunteer orientation meeting. Division policy states that all volunteers undergo a security check as well before working in a school.
Students are encouraged to take out books from the school library. All classes have at least three library classes in a six day cycle. Each student is given a heavy duty zip-lock bag for their library books. They must return their library books to school in this bag. These bags protect the books from leaking lunch kits, wet mittens, etc.
Should a book be lost or badly damaged, there will be fee based on the age and price of the book. Wherever possible, the cost of the new books has been entered into the computer, which will help with replacement cost calculation. We hope that you will support us as we try to encourage students to read for fun as well as for information and to be careful and responsible with their books.
The South Interlake Regional Library’s Bookmobile visits Rosser School every 3weeks allowing students in Grades 1 - 4 to borrow books. This service is free to those students who live in the R.M. of Rosser and R.M. of Rockwood. There is a $0.25 fine for overdue books. If your child loses or damages a book, they will be charged for that book.
The Rosser Elementary Parent Advisory Council (R.E.P.A.C.) provides a hot lunch program during the school year. They offer hot nutritious lunches on a volunteer basis. Watch for the forms and please ensure that your order is in by the due date.
The R.E.P.A.C are always looking for people to help with the pick-up and the distribution of lunches.
Milk is available to those students who preorder and prepay their milk for the month. The cost of milk is .50¢ for chocolate or white milk. Order forms will be sent home before the beginning of every month. Please ensure that these are back by the due date.
Due to the difficulty in finding a reliable provider for milk delivery, the school is purchasing milk in bulk (4-litre containers) which is both an environmentally friendly and a much cheaper option. The children may purchase milk for either or both nutrition breaks. Glass cups will be supplied, and we have a dishwasher at school which ensures the cleanliness of them.
Rosser School follows the program entitled "Creating Safe and Caring Schools". The outcome of this model is children who are respectful, responsible and resilient citizens who have the capacity to overcome challenges and lead productive, meaningful and happy lives.
Many of the factors that contribute to this are already in place at Rosser School. The eight factors are:
- School success
- Increased academic achievement
- Sense of self
- Safe, secure, and nurturing environment
- Healthy lifestyle
- Positive family and school relationships
- Respectful and caring relationships
- Connection to caring adults
We begin every year with each class completing Respect Agreements. These agreements consist of four or five sentences that state what is important for the respectful behaviour of all the students in that class. As a staff we look at these agreements and write up a School Wide Respect Agreement. A copy of this will be sent home in the October Newsletter.
Disrespectful behaviour will be dealt with in a number of ways:
Direct the student to a place where he/she can “cool-down: and refocus (“time-out”)
Complete the time-out
Refocus
Demonstrate the correct behaviour
Provide a “Reflection/Think Sheet” with a P-chart to review behaviour expectations and/or identify an individual Respect goal
Complete the sheet
Set a goal
Follow through by demonstrating the correct behaviour
Ensure the student makes up the lost class time in a productive manner
Complete unfinished work from that class
Practice demonstrating the correct behaviour
Work with the student to review the Respectful Classroom Agreements in depth
Make a plan to prevent the behaviour from reoccurring
Demonstrate the correct behaviour
Communicate with parents (e.g., phone call to the parent, or have the student make the phone call)
Explain his/her behaviour to the parent and the steps he/she will take to correct the behaviour and prevent it from happening again
Work with the student to create a behaviour contract
Give input into the contract
Sign it
Honour it by demonstrating the correct behaviour
Most models of discipline deal with consequences to negative behaviours. They focus on external management dealing with excuses, apologies, fault, shame, and blame. Restitution is interested in the fixing of the behaviour of the perpetrator and the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. This is very different from previous models and has been used successfully in vandalism at our school. We would like to begin to use this model at Rosser School to fix damaged relationships. If children do not feel that they belong because of their actions, they become more and more isolated and often their behaviour escalates. It is not about the doing (“I’m sorry”) but about the being (what kind of person do I want to be?). It involves thinking about what was done and how it can change. Often negative behaviours are a result of children wanting to be friends or to be part of the group. Welcoming children who are struggling to be part of the group is also part of the model.
We hope you will be patient as we work on this new way of looking at discipline. It may appear that nobody is “getting into trouble” when they break a rule. This is not the case. Once children begin to think about fixing a situation, less time will need to be spent working through difficulties.
Nevertheless, there are “bottom line” behaviours that will be dealt with, with consequences. Fighting, violence of any kind and inappropriate language will still have immediate consequences, as does name calling.
The first stage of bullying is name calling. In order to address this before it becomes a problem, students who call others names will be asked to phone a parent and inform them of their actions. If you should receive such a phone call we request that you express your disappointment and ask your child to apologize. The phone call home is considered to be the consequence.
If we all work together, your child will have a successful and rewarding year. Cooperation and support are the keys to this success.
The following is the School Board policy regarding the administration of medication:
Non-prescription drugs are considered to be medication and should not be administered by school staff.
If, under exceptional circumstances, a child is required to take prescribed medication during school hours and the parent cannot be at school to administer the medication, the principal or his/her designate only will administer the medicine in compliance with the procedures that follow:
1. A written authorization by the parent or guardian is required before prescribed medicine can be given during the school day.
2. The medicine bottle must carry the official label from the pharmacist stating the child’s name, physician’s name, the name of the drug, the dosage to be administered and if possible, the time of day it is to be given.
3. It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to see that the medication is delivered safely to the school office.
4. The medication must be kept in a safe place in the school and administered by the principal or his/her designate.
5. We encourage asthmatic students to keep and be responsible for their own ventilators.
Every year, Rosser receives at least one Tornado Watch/Warning. Recently we have had more than one. The “relocation” of Rosser into a bit of a Tornado Alley has necessitated a more comprehensive evacuation plan. We have a weather radio at the school which broadcasts watches and warnings.
In the event of a Tornado “Watch”, we monitor the weather both visually and with Environment Canada. When we receive a Tornado “Warning” we evacuate the children from the school. Evacuation consists of all children and staff relocating to the basement of the Rosser United Church. We carry cell phones and are in communication with: The Interlake School Division Senior Administration, Grosse Isle School, RCMP, Rosser Municipality Office, and often the Division Bus Garage, depending on the time of day of the warning.
In discussions with Emergency Measures personnel, we determined that the church is the safest place for your children. We can move everyone from the school into their safe positions at the church in under 5 minutes. We practice this drill every year in both the fall and the spring. If the evacuation happens during the day and there is time, we will send a letter to you explaining what has happened. We will not be communicating directly to parents during the evacuation unless we are unable to send the children home on the bus.
Parents are reminded that vehicle movement in the parking lot is prohibited when school buses are present.
If you need to pick your child up at the end of the day please park your car by the curling club or the parking lot entrance. Then walk to the school to collect your child.
ALL TRANSPORTED STUDENTS WILL BE SENT HOME ON THE BUS UNLESS PARENTS NOTIFY BOTH THE SCHOOL AND THE BUS DRIVER BY NOTE IN ADVANCE.