Dear Parents/Guardians of Current Grade 1 and 2 Students,
You are receiving this update as a parent or guardian of a child moving into Grade 2 or Grade 3 in the 2023-2024 school year. We wanted to provide notice regarding a change to the class composition for these grade levels, which goes into effect September 2023.
For the last several years, we have run two Grade 2/3 combination classes. This decision was made to support our students’ developmental and academic needs at that time. It was acknowledged that it would:
- Support the school in balancing class sizes
- Give teachers more opportunities to collaborate and share skills and resources
- Provide the flexibility to balance challenging relationships that begin to arise at that age
As we have continued to grow and double-track our classes by adding in a new class each year, we foresee that we will have two classes at each of the Grade 2 and 3 levels by September 2024. With double-tracking, we still have all of the opportunities provided above, as well as greater opportunities to focus on further developing the grade-level specific needs of each class.
With the changes coming as a result of construction next year, the leadership team, in consultation with the Grade 2/3 teachers, have decided to reimplement two Grade 2 classes and one Grade 3 class starting September 2023. There will no longer be a combination group of Grade 2/3 students.
The Grade 2 teachers for next year will be:
- Mrs. Lori Born – Mrs. Born will be moving from her part-time Grade 2/3 teaching position into a full-time Grade 2 position.
- Ms. Jillian Yan – Ms. Yan comes to us from Abbotsford Christian School, and brings with her a great amount of experience in collaborating with a team of teachers. She looks forward to working with Mrs. Born and her students in a collaborative sense.
The Grade 3 teacher for next year will be:
- Mrs. Grace Newbigging – Mrs. Newbigging has significant experience teaching Grade 3 and is looking forward to teaching a core Grade 3 class next year, before welcoming a new team member to the Grade 3 level in September 2024.
Class composition for the two Grade 2 classes will be decided by the teaching team in consultation with our Director of Student Support, Mrs. Wiersma. If you have any questions about this change, please contact me at . Thank you for your continued support of our teachers and programs.
Sincerely,
Stacy Sowerby
Acting Assistant Principal K-12