Bear Blast
Week of August 25, 2020
Working together; succeeding together.
Physically distant, socially together.
A colleague recently reminded me of the importance of how we choose our words. Specifically, he was referencing the discussion we had just had as a staff about the fall. Several times throughout the conversation, I had used the term social distancing. My colleague pointed out that this term was not what I meant, rather I had meant physical distancing. I realized that, although a minor difference in terms of vocabulary, it was a huge difference in terms of potential interpretation.
Socially distant has a meaning that was far from my intent. To be socially distant means to remove relationships and engagements, not at all what we want to do right now. We do need to, for reasons of safety and health, remain physically distant; but in fact, should increase our social togetherness to overcome the impacts of physical distancing.
We, as humans, are herd animals. We have survived as long as we have, as a species, by working together, living together, hunting together, and protecting each other, essentially being together. When we are asked to socially distance, it actually goes against everything that our brains have been hardwired for. This has an impact on our wellbeing that needs to be attended to.
Coming into a new school year in such strange times we know that there is a great deal of trauma that will need to be dealt with. Our community has been blessed in that, to date, we have not been directly impacted by COVID-19 infections. However, that does not mean that we are not affected by the measures taken to prevent its spread. Those measures have been wildly successful as we continually, at the time of writing see Saskatchewan's numbers remain in single digits. However, these measures have come at a cost and taken their toll on all of use, students, staff, families, the community. I think that the reopening of the school and a return to face-to-face instruction is an integral part of the healing process that needs to occur as we move into a new sense of normal and hopefully a gradual return to what we once took for granted as normal.
At PPCS, we are working tirelessly to, first and foremost, make sure that we can ensure the health and safety of all of our students and staff. We are also working very hard, if not harder to ensure that we are ready to accept, welcome, and teach all students. We know that students will come to us in many different places. Some will have experienced trauma in various forms and to various degrees because of the pandemic. We know that students engaged at many different levels during the education shut down from March to June. Some engaged daily, some weekly, and some were unable (for many reasons) to engage at all. Our staff will be ready to support and care for all students, as we always have, regardless of where they are at. All students are our students and we will do everything with our power to ensure that for each and every students, the 2020 2021 school year is the best year ever.
Our staff has also experiencesd the trauma of the pandemic and we know that it is only together that we can get through these trying times and be successful in achieving our vision of "Working together, succeeding together." At PPCS, we may need to be physically distant to stay physically safe, but we will also need to be socially together, more than ever, to be emotionally, mentally, and spiritually safe.
We can't wait to see you all in September.
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PPCS Staff
Mr. Mielke - Principal/Bio 30/History 30/Elem PE
Mrs. Irving - Vice Principal/Grade 1
Mrs. Mielke - Diversity Education/ELA 7, Social 7
Mr. Bloski - Athletic Director/PE 7-12, Science 7-8, Health Science 20, Enviro Science 20, PAA, Health 8/9
Mr. Harbor - Guidance/Math 11-12, Science 9-10, Physical Science 20, Chemistry 30, Physics 30
Mrs. Wasyliw - Admin Assistant
Miss Irving - Kindergarten/Grade 1
Mrs. Steistol - Grade 2
Mrs. Patchin - Grade 3
Ms. Palaniuk - Grade 4
Mr. Hamelin - Grade 5
Mrs. Brezinski - Grade 6, Financial Literacy 10
Miss Wallen - Math 7-10 Health 7/8
Miss Hoffus - Elem PE, Art 7-9, PAA 7-9, Wellness 10
Mrs. Young - ELA 8-12
Mr. Riley - Social 8-10, History 20, PAA 7-12
Mrs. Siwak - Educational Associate
Mrs. Kwiatkowski - Educational Associate
Mrs. Levick - Educational Associate
Mrs. Althouse - Educational Associate
Miss Boutin - Librarian
Mr. Rye - Custodian
Mrs. Samalla - Custodian
K-1 Staggered Start
Grad 2020
PPCS Reopen Plan
Daily Screening
PPCS COVID-19 Parent Guide
Parent Survey
- Your child(ren) ride(s) a school bus to/from school
or
- You have concerns that lead you to consider an alternative to classroom learning
If neither of these apply to you, there is no need to complete the survey (unless you want to).
Welcome to #stillbestyearever
Porcupine Plain Comprehensive School
Email: ppcs@nesd.ca
Website: ppcs.nesd.ca
Location: 403 3rd Avenue East, Porcupine Plain, SK, Canada
Phone: 306 278 2288
Facebook: facebook.com/PPCS2011
Twitter: @Porcupine_BEARS