Welcome back to our students! We are excited to see them in person. Our teachers did an amazing job of online teaching and our students had a high participation rate.  

With the return to in person learning, we recognize that there is a lot of uncertainty and unease. Please know that our staff follows public health protocols to keep your children and our staff safe.

We will be enforcing wearing of masks. Masks are to be worn inside at all times other than when students are eating or are in the gym being active. If the children are listening to instructions in the gym, they must still wear their mask (as per public health directions).  

Public health says 3 ply masks should be worn indoors. Each student will receive a mask on Monday Jan 17th when they return. We will work your child, however, a child who refuses to wear a mask may be sent home for the day.

We will cohort children as much as possible during the day and ask students to stay to the right when walking down the halls to minimize mixing. 

We will also be having students sanitize and/or wash their hands frequently. This includes when entering a classroom or other new space. Please go over with your child the importance of washing/sanitizing their hands before and after eating or going to the bathroom. Continue to practice this at home. 

If your child is unwell or has symptoms as outlined in the daily covid checklist , they will have to stay home.  A child displaying symptoms (as per the COVID checklist) will be sent home if they are at school.  Please have a plan for this as we will need the child picked up as soon as possible.  

When you come on to our school property, we ask that you socially distance yourself from other families.  It  is also encouraged for the grownups to wear a mask outside when they are picking up or dropping students off.  If you are going to be talking to a staff member, a mask must be worn.

Information was sent out last week from HRCE regarding the different measures continuing to be in place. You can find information here: https://backtoschool.ednet.ns.ca/returning-to-class 

Re: Absenteeism - (from Public health) https://backtoschool.ednet.ns.ca/public-health-guidance 

Families should report absenteeism to their school and may choose to report positive results.
Public Health is no longer contact tracing in school settings and schools are not expected to take on contact tracing or issue exposure letters.

We are all trying to do the best we can with keeping our staff and students healthy and able to come to school. Please remember that your child's teacher is working very hard to teach and care for your child in a challenging time. We are very fortunate here at Ocean View Elementary as our school community has supported us throughout this pandemic.  We hope we can continue to count on this support. Kindness, grace, and compassion are always welcomed for all of our staff. 

We also would encourage you to use kindness, grace, and compassion with each other - as part of our school community.  

Entry into our building is restricted to staff and essential workers.  We are not inviting visitors into the building at this time. 

Please check HRCE website as well as our website and Twitter feed often for school updates.  

If you have any questions, please reach out to your child's teacher directly. 

Thank you for your support!