September 10, 2021
Dear Parkland Students, Parents and Guardians:
We wanted to start by welcoming everyone back to school. Each year the start of school is an exciting time for students, staff and parents, and even as we deal with the complexities of restarting school in these challenging times, this statement is still true. We look forward to working with the Parkland staff in welcoming our returning students, and we are excited about meeting our new students and helping them become Panthers! In addition to the upcoming grade 9 students from NSMS we have 54 international students from 13 different countries and an additional 40 new students who have moved into our community. What a great opportunity to make some new friends. Please reach out and help us welcome these people.
As Henry Ford says, “Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Parkland prides itself on being an innovative, inspiring and inclusive learning community. This can only happen if students engage in learning opportunities from academics to extra-curricular activities. The beauty of a small school is that there are lots of opportunities for all students to get involved. Pick something to get involved in at school and we will work with you to help you find success. Let’s make your high school experience valuable and memorable.
We have been told by the Ministry of Education that school will return to normal as much as possible. We are back in a semester system and the return of school athletics, field trips and clubs. There are several health and safety procedures that will continue to help us remain safe and allow us to continue to participate in normal school activities.
Health and Safety Routines
We are fortunate at Parkland to be a smaller school, which is helping us significantly in developing safe routines and schedules. We also know that the Peninsula has the highest rates of vaccinated students between ages 12-17 on Vancouver Island with over 86% of teens vaccinated. The combination of these two facts helps is advantageous in keeping everyone safe. That being said, we still need to be careful and we will be following these routines at school:
Regular hand washing and hand sanitizing.
Encouraging giving people 6 feet space when possible.
Requiring masks to be worn at school unless eating or drinking.
Staying in one spot while eating or drinking.
Students and staff are asked to do a self-diagnostic daily health check and stay at home if they are not feeling well.
Once again we are excited about the upcoming year. Please continue to check out our website for information and upcoming opportunities at Parkland Secondary. Let’s make 2021-22 a fantastic school year!
Sincerely,
Kal Russell Jason Earnshaw
Principal Vice-Principal