Chief Tomat Elementary Community Connection

June 26, 2025

Important Upcoming Dates at Chief Tomat - see below for more details

Wed. July 2 and Thurs. July 3 - CTE Office Hours 9:00-2:00
Tues. Sept. 2 - First Day of School for Students in Grade 1-5 8:30 - 11:00
- Students will meet their last year's teacher on the field. A map will be sent to families the last week of August for where the teacher will be lining up

Highlights from this Week!

Here are some highlights from our week at CTE:

Our CTE students did a great job in reading 10,000 books this year and we celebrated them with a Reading Challenge BBQ! Thank you Mrs. Brew and her team for preparing a hotdog buffet for the entire school!
A huge thank you to the CTE PAC for providing each of our students with a freezie treat on the last day of school and for financially supporting the Library BBQ.
We celebrated our Grade 5s as we said goodbye to them at CTE and wished them well in middle school.
We had our final Wolverine Assembly and had students drum and sing the Okanagan song, watched a slideshow of pictures taken throughout the year, said goodbye to our grade 5s and welcomed our Grade 4s to the leadership role.
As a school we created a "Only One You" rock garden that celebrates each students' unique identity. Based on the book, "Only One You", students worked in their Family Groups to plan their rock fish and then painted them in their classes

CTE Battle of the Books - 2025/26

Chief Tomat Elementary School Battle of the Books Club will start in the fall of 2025.

If your child is thinking about joining this club, they may want to start looking at or reading the books from their grade category.

Mosaic Books in Kelowna has a list of the books selected for next year's competition.

Here is the link to the books at Mosaic Book Store:

https://mosaicbooks.ca/schools-teachers/sd23-battle-of-the-books

Happy Reading!!

Our New CTE Wolverine Logo!

Please ask your child why we needed a new logo - we are too special and unique not to have a unique logo. We love the land we live on and are very grateful that we get to learn and play on the unceded, traditional territory of the Okanagan syilx people. We needed a logo that reflected that! Coralee Miller, a Westbank First Nations member and former CTE student, worked with students and staff to come up with a logo uniquely ours! limlemt Coralee! The student reactions when they saw it were priceless!

Earworm Warning - this song sticks in your head!!!!

Our school song has been added to Spotify. You simply need to search "Chief Tomat" to hear it! Be warned - it will come with some enthusiastic singing and it's catchy!

Enrollment for the 2025-26 School Year

ONLINE APPLICATION for STUDENT ENROLLMENT begins on

Monday, February 3, 2025, at 7:00 am for 2025 - 2026 School Year

(for kindergarten, new students, and Programs of Choice for K – 12)

Please see the school's website or go to: https://enrollment.sd23.bc.ca/

Follow @sd23news on Instagram!

Please take a moment to follow @sd23news on Instagram (and the same on Facebook if you haven't yet!)

CTE School Calendar

Preschool Openings at

Chief Tomat Elementary

Practical Strategies for Parenting ADHD

Wish you could just roll with the ADHD in your family? Need practical strategies to deal with the day to day parenting of a child with ADHD? Sign up today for this FREE learning series from BC Children's Hospital.

Drive Slowly ! Working TOGETHER to keep our families safe!

For the safety of our students and school community, please make sure that you are driving slowly. The speed zone near all schools in BC is 30 km/hr.

Please note that the speed limit on school grounds (as shown) is 8 km/hr.

Many families have expressed concerns with the speed of vehicles on East Boundary. If you have a concern, please come to the office to fill out a concern form, with the license plate number.

Afterschool Taekwon-Do at CTE

Central Okanagan Public Schools
Updated Restrictions for Cell Phones and Personal Digital Devices.

For the district's updated restriction for cell phone and personal digital devices, please click here. We ask that students leave their cell phones/electronic devices at home. If they are at school, they are to be kept in their backpack or safely at the office. Please contact Mrs. Adamson at jennifer.adamson@sd23.bc.ca if you have any questions.

The Central Okanagan Public Schools’ Financial Hardship Clause

Within Board Policy Regulation 425R – Student Fees (www.sd23.bc.ca), the Board of Education has indicated “that a student will not be excluded from any educational program due to financial hardship”. This clause in the Regulations provides for the private and confidential consideration of financial circumstances of individual students and families, while preserving the dignity of families which may be unable to pay. Please contact the school Principal if you are facing a financial hardship that may restrict the ability of your child to access a school program.

The Central Okanagan Public Schools’ Appeal Process

Policy 460 – Appeals states that “A student or a parent of a student who is entitled to an educational program in the Central Okanagan Public Schools may appeal a decision of an employee of the Board of Education which significantly affects the education, health, or safety of the student”. For a complete description of the Appeals Policy along with the recommended steps to follow in attempting to solve a problem, please refer to Policy 460 – Appeals that can be accessed from the Policies link under the Board of Education heading on the Central Okanagan Public Schools homepage at www.sd23.bc.ca.

Accident Insurance

Central Okanagan Public Schools does not insure expenses for student injuries that occur on school grounds or during school activities. Parents and guardians can voluntarily purchase private accident insurance. The Kids Plus Accident Insurance Program that was previously offered to our students was discontinued in 2019. The IA Financial Group now offers the Family Accident Reimbursement Plan (FARP) which is a voluntary plan that provides coverage for students and their families against accidental injury, unexpected medical expenses, and critical illness. To apply for the Family Accident Reimbursement Plan or to find out more, click HERE.

Please Be Nut Aware

A reminder to all of our CTE Community that we are an All-Nut Aware School. As we have students and staff with life threatening allergies to nut products, we ask that families are extremely vigilant in ensuring that nuts or food containing nut products are not sent to school. Thank you for being proactive in your decision on what your child can bring to school.

Biking to School

If your child rides to school on a bike, scooter, or skateboard, please have a conversation with them about traffic safety. Thank you for reminding them to walk (not ride) their bikes, scooters, or skateboards on school district property and for walking up and down the hill until they reach the road. While travelling to and from school, students must wear a helmet. Bikes should be secured with a good lock in our bike racks located at front of school. Thank you for your help in keeping our students safe.

Indoor Shoes

Thank you for sending your child to school with a pair of indoor running shoes. By changing into their indoor shoes as they enter their classroom, students can help ensure the cleanliness and safety of our school building. These shoes need to be ones that your child can independently put on and take off.

Volunteers

Parents, caregivers and families are always welcome at CTE. Many have expressed interest in volunteering at our school. All volunteers must have a criminal record check completed through our school district. The process is free and criminal record check forms are available at the school office. A successful criminal record check is valid for four years. Please note that criminal record checks that are offered for a fee on various websites are not accepted by the school district, and neither are criminal record checks done for other organizations. If you have had a previous criminal record check and want to see if it is still valid, or have any questions, you are encouraged to contact the school office.

Parent Advisory Council (PAC) - Get Involved with the CTE Community!

PAC is the acronym for the Parents' Advisory Council. Each parent/caregiver at Chief Tomat Elementary is a member of the CTE PAC. The PAC offers a great way for parents/caregivers to be involved with the school, their children, and the student body. The PAC helps the school with a variety of activities, volunteer opportunities and input.

There are a number of ways to connect with the PAC - including their Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/chieftomatelementarypac/

We encourage everyone to attend monthly meetings to get up to date information on what is happening around the school and give input on how PAC funds are spent. Please check the school website and Weekly Community Connections Newsletters for meeting dates and times.

Chief Tomat Elementary is fundraising with Mabel’s Labels! If you’re not familiar with Mabel’s Labels, they are personalized, durable, waterproof labels. They are great for everything from shoes, clothing tags, water bottles and backpacks. You can
customize them with your name and a design, and they are dishwasher, laundry and microwave safe. Added bonus: 20% of all sales are returned to CTE and go toward activities, events, and gear for your child!

Mabel’s Labels also offers clothing stamps, silicone bands for water bottles and medical alert labels. This is a great way to ensure your items don’t end up in the lost & found or mixed up. To reduce the spread of germs, we highly recommend labelling but they are also useful for everyday life.

To support our school, click here and select Chief Tomat Elementary. You can pick out whatever labels or product you want, and it will ship for free directly to your house!

Savings Tip: If you haven’t already joined, sign up to Mabel’s Labels mailing list and receive 20% off you next order. Unsubscribe at any time!

Thank you for supporting Chief Tomat Elementary!
Chief Tomat Elementary PAC & Students

*Please remember to enter Chief Tomat Elementary as the organization you are supporting so that we can earn money for our students.

CTE PAC Meeting - The next PAC meeting is will be in September in the library.

We'd love to see you there!!

All CTE parents and caregivers are welcome to attend!!

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