Dear families,

This email is for families with children who require school bus transportation for Royal Bay and Belmont only.

Due to complexities involving the new secondary learning model this year, school bus transportation will be delayed for both Royal Bay and Belmont students.

Our Transportation Department is working very hard to come up with a schedule that will be able to accommodate student pick up and drop off twice daily at secondary schools. As of right now, there will not be school bus service for Royal Bay and Belmont students on Monday or Tuesday, September 14 & 15.

We understand the strain this puts on families. As we continue to work to figure out what this might look like for classes on Monday and Tuesday, please consider the following:

• Car pooling (wearing masks of course)
• Public Transit

Above all, we want to ensure you that your child’s learning will not be impacted by this. They will not fall behind.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. While we did have routes finalized at the end of August, learning model changes caused 100% of routes needing to be re-created.

If anything changes before Monday morning, we will let you know.

A kind reminder, school bus transportation is for registered riders only.

Thank you and have a great weekend,

SD62 Transportation

Hello All students, parents & guardians;

We are very excited to have you back in our school.  Please watch the video presentation https://youtu.be/lIwfnoprHMk that explains the student entry points, and other Covid-19 expectations. The link is also available on the Royal Bay Website.

When arriving at Royal Bay, students will need to find their proper entrance and proceed to it directly. Staff will be waiting to receive them. Signs on each entry point have maps, entrance numbers and classes listed. Students are asked not to gather at the entry points and to don a mask if they cannot physically distance and as they enter the school. Students will all be provided with a cloth mask from their teacher.  The AM/PM information can be found on the MyEd Portal or on the website.  Please know that the most up to date class information will be found on the MyEd Portal, as some class changes have occurred this week.

When arriving at school please make sure to wear a mask, physically distance while following all COVID 19 related safety measures.  The same expectations will apply when in the school and in the common areas.  We ask that you arrive 15 minutes before the start of the scheduled class and proceed to your designated entry point.  Once in the building a mask should be worn when in common areas while to you proceed to your classroom.  Staff will be at each entry to help you get to the right spot if you have questions.  The front door is for staff.

We are looking forward to seeing you on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Thank you,

Royal Bay Admin.

Map of Entrances

Student Entry

Dear RBSS Parents and Families

The Daily Student Health Assessment information has now been added to the online consent portal. All parents/guardians must carefully review this information and agree that they will perform daily health assessments as outlined in the Daily Student Health Agreement prior to the child attending school.  This must be done by all families and guardians.

Parents or guardians wanting to set up a meeting with counsellors or school staff will be required to set up a pre-arranged meeting time.  We would love to meet in person, but we are unable to accommodate drop in visits or meetings.   Parent/guardian meetings will be conducted through MS teams or by phone calls.    

If you are planning on making an appointment please contact 250-474-2377 or royalbay@sd62.bc.ca to set up an phone or MS teams appointment. 

If you have an in-person meeting for extenuating educational needs that cannot be met through a phone call or MS teams meeting you will need to complete the following checklist found at https://www.sd62.bc.ca/visitor-health-check-consent.  

We have published DRAFT grade lists for students to view their Block A class and whether they are in an AM or PM learning group. Please double check your schedule on your MyEd Student Portal on Wednesday, September 9th  at or after 4:00 PM to confirm any changes to these DRAFT lists.

Some of our new students and their families will not have access to the portal until we provide you with their ID and passwords (later in September).

Any students unable to access their course schedule on MyEd BC should refer to these grade lists.

They contain the following info as a reference:

§  Student first name & last initial,

§  Grade

§  Block A only – AM or PM Learning Group

§  Block A teacher

§  Block A Classroom

§  Door entrance

Grade 11 and 12 Students please take a moment to familiarize yourself with you’re A Block Class and what Entrance you are assigned to for Monday, September 14^th.

We are excited to welcome our students back to another great year at Royal Bay.

Grade 9 list

Grade 10 list 

Grade 11 list- revised

Grade 12 list – revised

Student Entry

Dear RBSS Students and Parents/Guardians;

I hope that this email finds you and your children all well and enjoying the beautiful weather we are experiencing. There really is nowhere on earth as amazing as Vancouver Island on warm summer days! I’m sure that you are all eagerly awaiting news as to what the September startup will look like here at Royal Bay Secondary.

At the school level, we are working hard behind the scenes to finalize our localized plans which include health and safety measures specific to our Royal Bay setting. We will communicate these plans to our students and families by mid-week next week.  It has already been a very busy August, and we are hard at work ensuring that the startup in a couple weeks is as seamless as possible.

It has been a long stretch with a lot of uncertainty but are more than thrilled to be welcoming students back to RBSS this September! While school operations will look a little different than they have before, we remain committed to providing the best possible learning environment to all RBSS students. I am grateful to staff, as well as our Parent Advisory Council, for taking time away from their summers to brainstorm about how we can service our students this year.  It has been a pleasure to work with the partner groups in creating a safe, welcoming and student focused school – we are lucky to have such a committed and caring community.

By now you have already received information from the District that outlines basic scheduling and provides links to the Sooke School District FAQs and Provincial Documents. Below you will find a few more details regarding school start up at RBSS. Next week, you will receive additional information regarding student schedules, and updated bell schedule and cohort placements.

Model for Learning

We will be following a 1/8^th model as outlined by the Sooke School District. This means that students will study one course at a time, much like in a summer school model. This model is being followed for several reasons:

• To keep cohort sizes small, maintaining a focus on health and safety
• Maintains student choice. While can never guarantee a perfect timetable, student course requests will be honoured in the same way they would in a semester system.
• Allows for focused learning. Our experience with summer school tells us that students with many learning styles benefit and appreciate this focus. This is particularly important at a time when students are experiencing change in many other ways.
• This system will allow us to provide extra support to students who are connected to our learning support teachers outside of the time of their scheduled class.
• Allows teachers and students to focus on building strong relationships with a manageable sized group. Relationships building between teachers and students will be key as students build their school routines after the interruption to regular schooling this spring.

Please note the following:

• Students will be assigned to a morning or afternoon grouping for their class. We will do our best to construct these groupings thoughtfully. Where we can keep siblings grouped together we will do so, but there are other factors we need to consider, including split grade classes. We hope to contact families by the end of next week with more information about morning and afternoon cohorts.
• Students will be expected to take part on self-directed learning during the half of the day when they are not assigned to class. Teachers will provide resources and support for this work. It is important that students schedule a time and place at home to complete this work.
• Students will be required to follow health and safety protocols. These will include classes entering and exiting through assigned doors, using assigned washrooms, and wearing masks in hallways, washrooms, busses and other public areas. All students will also be expected to complete a home health check and must not come to school if they are not well.
• For public health reasons, the public water filling stations and school microwaves are not available.  Please make sure that your student comes prepared with water and snacks for the duration of their stay.
• Students will not be permitted to loiter on or near school grounds. It is all of our responsibility to ensure that we maintain our health and safety protocols and can easily track contacts between individuals.
• Lockers will not be available for use.

Contact Information

It is important for the school to have current and accurate email and phone numbers for all parents/guardians, as well as emergency contact people in the instance that we cannot reach a parent or guardian. Please ensure that contact details are up to date in the Parent Portal (http://royalbay.web.sd62.bc.ca/parents/my-education-bc/  and contact office staff with changes. It is also imperative that all families have a pick-up plan for their children in case of road closures, inclement weather, or emergency.

Consent

Please be sure to visit https://consent.sd62.bc.ca/apps/OnlineConsent and let us know if you consent to following:

• Aboriginal Education
• General Consent for School Fieldtrips/Activities
• Google Apps For Education (G Suite) Consent
• Internet Access Consent
• Media Consent
• School Cash Online Consent
• MyBlueprint Consent
• FreshGrade Consent

Support

As always, communication is a vital component of a successful school year, once the school year begins, parents and students are encouraged to reach out to classroom teachers frequently for information and support. Students are also assigned a Vice Principal and a Counsellor:

Last names A -Har
Vice Principal: Mr. Mike Bobbitt mbobbitt@sd62.bc.ca

Counsellor: Ms. Tebeth Barbour tbarbour@sd62.bc.ca

Last names Has – Mc

Vice Principal: Mr. Martin Lait mlait@sd62.bc.ca
Counsellor: Ms. Kim Hogan khogan@sd62.bc.ca

Last names Me – Z

Vice Principal: Mr. Mark Johnston mjohnston@sd62.bc.ca
Counsellor: Ms. Wendy Cooper wcooper@sd62.bc.ca

Case Managers /  additional support

Students with Individual Education Plans, will also be assigned a Support Teacher. Please connect with your Counsellor or Vice Principal, Mark Johnston mjohnston@sd62.bc.ca if you need to be connected to a Support Teacher.

Medical Alerts

Please inform Mrs. Charlene Thomson in the front office if your child has any medical conditions of which the school should be aware. If your child is anaphylactic or diabetic, you will be contacted by the school to update your child’s anaphylaxis action plan or medical action plan. If your child requires medication during school hours, please contact Mrs. Charlene Thomson (cthomson@sd62.bc.ca)  to complete a medication administration form.  If you have any further questions, please contact Vice Principal Mr. Martin Lait mlait@sd62.bc.ca

Where to receive updates and additional information

• The SD62 Website
• Our http://royalbay.web.sd62.bc.ca/
• Download the RBSS Raven’s APP. See attached or go to https://rbss.appazur.com/app/   to set up the Royal Bay Ravens App.
• The RBSS Code of Conduct can be found http://royalbay.web.sd62.bc.ca/students/code-of-conduct. Please review this with your student. This may be updated again in September.
• The bell schedule will be confirmed as we review our plans for September based on guidance from the Province.

Sept. 8 – 14 at a glance

• Sept 8:  JOHS teams meet to review plans and make site-based adjustments, staff training in Health and Safety processes
• Sept 9: Additional safety training, continued school and classroom prep
• Sept 10 and 11: Gradual return of students in grades 9 & 10
• Sept 14: First full day of school grades 9 to 12.

Once again, our thanks for your continued support of your learners and our school community – Go Ravens!!

Mike Huck

Principal, Royal Bay Secondary School

250-474-2377 ext.1112

http://royalbay.web.sd62.bc.ca/

Families who are needing to register their child(ren) are welcome to do so over the summer break using our SD62 Registration Process:

https://www.sd62.bc.ca/schools/registration

If you register over the summer, you will be contacted after the staff return to school on August 31, 2020.