Chief Tomat Elementary Community Connection Newsletter
June 28, 2024
Chief Tomat Elementary Community Connection Newsletter
June 28, 2024
This week we celebrated what a wonderful year of learning we had, and what an awesome school CTE is! We said goodbye to our Grade 5s who are headed to middle school, reminisced about wonderful experience and celebrated all of the many accomplishments. THANKS Wolverines for such an amazing year!!
This week we said "good-bye" and "see you soon" to some of our staff who will not be returning next year. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors and you will be missed at CTE!
We look forward to welcomming back our students and families on Tuesday, September 3rd. It will be a short day, with a 11:00 dismissal time. On Tues, Sept. 3, students in Grades 1-5 will meet their last year's teacher on the back field. There will be signs and a map to follow at the end of the summer. New classes will be finalized the first few days as we look at students who have moved in or out of CTE. We hope to have students in their new classes by Thurs., Sept. 5.
More information will be sent out at the end of August.
Dear families, it's hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the school year. Just a few things to note:
Thursday, June 27th is the last day of school for students. It is a full day from 8:30-2:30.
If your child does not attend the last day, please come and pick up the learning updates and any items during the summer office hours, Tuesday July 2nd from 8:00-2:00 or the last week of August.
If your child is not returning to CTE next year, please let the office know as soon as possible. This does NOT apply to grade 5 students.
LOST AND FOUND - We have many items in our lost and found. We will display them outside on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week (around the back of the school). Anything not picked up will be donated by Friday, June 14th.
** Please note we will update this information as more becomes available**
You may have heard that the provincial government has announced an expansion of Chief Tomat Elementary School in West Kelowna. The province is spending $10.5 million on a prefabricated addition to the school that will add 165 students spaces for 2025. To read more, please see the Castanet article. As we learn more about what this look like, we will let you know.
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.
It is hard to believe that we are heading into our last month of school already this year. We have been busy preparing for a successful year and giving a lot of thought, care and consideration as we build classes. However, these often change over the summer as new families move in and families move out of CTE and new staff is hired. For this reason, we will not be sharing class information for next year until the first week of school, when classes are reviewed and confirmed. We will send out 'back to school' information the last week of August and look forward to welcoming students and families back on Tuesday, Sept. 3 from 8:30 - 11:00.
2024/2025 Chief Tomat School Calendar
Click here to see the 2024/2025 CTE school calendar.
Phones offer both communication and safety benefits for parents and kids. However, like most technologies, they also pose some safety risks to adolescents. In order to better protect your child, it’s important to know the steps you can take to make their phone use safer. Click here to learn more.
As a parent/guardian, it is important to remain informed about the spaces online where your child may be negatively impacted. The following tips (click here) are designed to inform any conversations you may wish to have with your tweens/teens regarding apps.
Over the past few years, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has witnessed a marked increase in reports to Cybertip.ca from youth ranging from 13 to 17 years of age. A large percentage of these reports are with regard to sexual images/videos being created and distributed among their peers via the Internet and/or electronic devices, sometimes as a form of cyberbullying. Educators, school-based resource (liaison) officers, families and the community-at-large play a fundamental role in assisting and supporting youth who are cyberbullied. If you are concerned that your child may be affected by cyberbullying, consider the following strategies. Click here for WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS BEING CYBERBULLIED.
Ms. Sikora's Grade 2 class wrote and shared with Mrs. Adamson all the many ways that makes our school so special. Many of the grade 2 students shared their writing and pictures. They had many reasons why CTE is so special: we get to make so many great friends; that everyone is kind and respectful; we learn something new every day; amazing teachers and staff; kindness tickets; wolverine days, assemblies and family groups; we are caring and welcoming wolverines; we have caring hearts; and the playground, the Gaga Ball pit, dances and the Hot Dog days all because of our great PAC. We are proud Wolverines and as the grade 2s wrote "We wolverines are really lukey to be at this school!" "Our school is jest awesome!" and "CTE is AMMASING!" I couldn't agree more! I feel very lucky to be the Principal of CTE!
One of our school priorities is that "All students will grow in their reading skills and read at grade level." To help your child reach this goal and read at grade level, please have them read every day! If you want to know more about how to do this, please email Mrs. Adamson!
Thank you PAC for all that you do and for all the opportunities that you provide our students! Families, please consider supporting the CTE PAC as everything they do, helps you child!
The Boys and Girls Club runs a preschool out of Chieft Tomat and they have space for 3 and 4 year olds on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Preschool is a great way to prepare your younger children for Kindergarten. If you are interested, please contact Christine Crumb at 250-862-6165 or ccrumb@bgco.ca
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.
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.