Cougar Tracks
Friday, October 15, 2021
Principal's Message
Happy Friday Everyone!
We are very excited to be able to announce that we now have a School Resource Officer (SRO) working at Sherwood Heights! Constable Hani Sawan will be working at Sherwood Heights, Salisbury Composite and Lakeland Ridge. The SRO program was an invaluable resource for schools for many years and we are so grateful to have it be re-introduced to our school. Const. Sawan will be out and about in the school getting to know our students and staff. Please see below for more information on the SRO program.
A reminder to parents and guardians that we will have Parent Teacher Interviews on October 28th and November 2nd. More details regarding booking times to come!
There is no school on Monday, October 18th due to EIPS Staff PD day. Have a wonderful long weekend!
Welcome Const. Hani Sawan to SWH!
The Strathcona County RCMP, EIPS, and Sherwood Heights are pleased to announce the return of School Resource Officer Program to the community starting in October 2021.
There will be five School Resource Officers (SRO) that will be working cooperatively with school administration, staff, students, parents, and the community. The SRO’s will help to proactively identify and address school concerns and to build relationships between communities, schools and the police. We would like to welcome Cst. Hani Sawan to Sherwood Heights.
The SRO position is a very rewarding experience for police members, as friendships develop over time with both students and staff. No two-resource officers are the same, but each SRO will spend their time overseeing and participating in a myriad of different activities for the school. Our resource officers will be committed to fostering partnerships among the students, the school and surrounding community and ensure a safe environment is available to help build successful students. The SRO program provides a valuable link to existing Strathcona County Family and Community Services staff working with parents and students to share community-based supports and resources.
The School Resource Officer Program will fall under the reintegrated Community Policing Unit. The SRO’s will also be responsible for community policing initiatives such as community presentations, red serge requests and police presence at community events.
Strathcona County Enforcement Services will also be working closely with the Community Policing Unit to build community engagement, implement, and promote safety initiatives.
“The health, safety, and well-being of youth in our community is a priority for this detachment and the RCMP,” say Superintendent Dale Kendall, Officer in Charge of the Strathcona County RCMP. “The SRO program builds long lasting, meaningful relationships with our students. It provides an opportunity to interact with a police officer in a positive, non-confrontational way that humanizes the uniform and lets them see our officers as an adult they can trust.”
School Bus Safety Week - October 17 to 23, 2021
Schools throughout Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) are celebrating School Bus Safety Week October 17th to 23rd. The theme: Bus Rules Rock!, which focuses on the importance of being a responsible rider. Throughout the week, various activities are planned, including information sessions and bus-safety lesson plans. Sherwood Heights successfully completed our bus-evacuation drill on Friday, October 8th, and the students did a fantastic job!.
As part of School Bus Safety Week, Sherwood Heights reminds students and families all Division school buses are equipped with a bus-pass scanner, GPS technology, the Child Check-Mate system and surveillance equipment, which allows Student Transportation to better monitor and manage its more than 160 buses. Families and students also have access to the Traversa Ride 360 app, a mobile tool to help determine the location of a bus, projected arrival times and when a child is scanned onto a bus.
For more information visit EIPS Student Transportation or contact 780- 417-8151.
SWH Staff Contact Information
We recently made changes to how families can contact Sherwood Heights Junior High staff.
If you’d like to reach out to your child’s teacher directly, simply log in to your PowerSchool Parent Portal or your Brightspace Parent & Guardian account. From there you can find the email contact information for all your child’s teachers and reach out to them directly as needed.
To connect with school administration and main office staff, refer to the online contact form to send an email to the applicable person directly. From the online contact form, you can also send an email to report your child’s absence.
If you’re having trouble with your PowerSchool or Brightspace account, contact the school office. And, of course, we’re always just a phone call away if you have questions or need assistance, 780-467-5930.
Parent to Parent – Finding Digital Balance, Cyberworld: What Happens when youth press send? – For Parents and caregivers for youth grades 6 and up.
For more info, please click here.
Pay School Fees Online
School fee information for the 2021-22 school year has been posted on the PowerSchool Parent Portal. All fees are due within 30 days of being posted. To access your fee information, simply log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal and go to “Student Fees.” There you can view your fees and pay online using Visa, MasterCard or debit card—when available from your financial institution.
Don’t forget to log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal regularly throughout the year. Fees are often added to your child’s account to cover the cost of certain school activities such as field trips, class projects, athletic-team fees and more. Additionally, junior high and senior high fees can change as courses are added and deleted.
If circumstances exist where you’re unable to pay your school fees, you can apply to have fees waived by submitting an Application for a Waiver of Fees. The application deadline is December 15, 2021.
For more information about school fees, waivers and payment deadlines visit eips.ca/schools/fees. Alternatively, contact Mrs. Candace Lyles at Sherwood Heights Junior High at 780-467-5930 ext. 6504.
Mask Reminders
EIPS requires that all individuals in all schools wear a mask, unless medically exempt. Students are required to bring their own masks every single day. The school has a small number of disposable masks available for emergency purposes only.
Students that are relying on the school for their mask supply will be considered unprepared for school and will be given a consequence. Make sure your child has spare masks, reusable or disposable, with them at school every day.
Updated COVID Health Checklist
The government has updated the daily health checklist. Please review the new checklist and print a copy for yourself to keep at home.
The main change relates to household contacts of COVID-19 cases.
If you are not fully immunized and are a household contact of a COVID-19 case, you should stay home for 14 days from the last day of exposure and monitor for symptoms.
A household contact is a person who lives in the same residence as the case OR who has been in frequent, long-duration, close-range interaction with a case of COVID-19. For example, someone who is a caregiver or an intimate or sexual partner of a COVID-19 case. For children, it also includes siblings, someone who slept over, or someone who provided direct physical care to the child.
If you have fever, cough, shortness of breath, runny nose, sore throat or loss of sense of taste or smell you are required to isolate for 10 days as per the current CMOH Order OR receive a negative COVID-19 test and feel better before returning to work or activities.
Proof of Vaccinations and Negative Tests for Volunteers
Please be advised the requirements for proof of vaccination and testing in the EIPS Operations Guidelines have been changed, effective today:
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Proof of Vaccination:
Unvaccinated staff may be required, under occupational health and safety requirements, to take additional precautions. Additionally, all EIPS schools require proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test result, from volunteers. The negative COVID-19 test must be a privately paid COVID-19 PCR or rapid test and completed within 72 hours. No school will accept a test result from Alberta Health Services or Alberta Precision Laboratories.
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Visitors, Volunteers and Service Providers Entering EIPS:
Visitors, volunteers and contractors are permitted in the school or workplace as long as they have a specific reason for being there and follow the site-visitor protocol—appointments are recommended. As well, anyone entering an EIPS school or building must complete the COVID-19 Alberta Health Daily Checklist, sign the visitor log and sanitize hands. Masks are mandatory in all schools, buses and EIPS-operated buildings. For deliveries, offload at the designated location.
All EIPS schools require proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test result, from volunteers. The negative COVID-19 test must be a privately paid COVID-19 PCR or rapid test and completed within 72 hours. No school will accept a test result from Alberta Health Services or Alberta Precision Laboratories.
Visitors in Schools
All visitors, couriers, and contractors must sign in at the front main doors and check-in at the office, complete the COVID-19 Alberta Health Daily Checklist, and be wearing a mask properly.
If any of the answers to the questions are “YES,” DO NOT enter the school or workplace.
Similarly, if feeling unwell or have COVID-19 symptoms—fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of smell and taste, aches, pink-eye, nausea —DO NOT enter an EIPS-operated school or workplace.
Sync the School Calendar to Your Calendar
Did you know you can sync the school calendar to your own calendar? You can! Simply, visit www.sherwoodheights.org and click on the applicable subscription option:
- Download to iCal
- Add to Google Calendar
- Subscribe to Calendar
NOTE: Options are located above the calendar.
Once you click on the desired subscription option, follow the instructions. Within seconds, your calendar will contain all Sherwood Height Junior High’s important dates including holidays, school-closures days, planned activities, events and more.
Save Your Newspapers!
Municipal Election 2021: Vote October 18
The next municipal election, which includes the election of local school board trustees, takes place on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. It’s your opportunity to get involved in public education by casting your vote for a public school trustee.
EIPS Trustee Election information
Electors can cast their votes for municipal candidates—mayors, reeves, councillors, as applicable—and school board trustee candidates—public or separate. Voting stations are typically open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Each municipality conducts the election for its residents and establishes formal voting station hours and procedures.
To learn more about election day procedures in your area, including opportunities for advance voting and voting by special ballot, visit:
Upcoming Dates and Events
October 17 to 23 - School Bus Safety Week
October 18 - PD Day - No School
October 21 - School Photo Retake Day
October 26 - School Council Meeting via Microsoft Teams at 6:30 p.m.
October 28 - Parent / Student / Teacher Interviews (Virtual) 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
October 31 - Halloween
November 2 - Parent / Student / Teacher Interviews (Virtual) 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
November 3 - Early Dismissal at 2:00 p.m.
November 6 to 14 - November Break - No School