January 17: Inferno Weekly Update
Here is our weekly update of events and information for Greystone Centennial Middle School.
COVID Reporting
Parkland School Division has developed a new way to share COVID cases that are reported to the school. Each Friday, schools in PSD will update their websites with the number of positive cases per grade that were reported in the last week. To see Greystone’s latest data, please visit our website. We continue to request that families let us know if a student tests positive for COVID.
COVID-19 Information
There have been a number of changes to the COVID protocols for our return to school. For additional information, please visit the Return to In-Person Learning Update from PSD. This situation is evolving rapidly, we will update families as we receive new information.
- Masking - Masks must now be worn at all times while in school, except for a few exceptions. This is a change from previous protocols that allowed students to remove their masks when seated in their desks in rows. Teachers will be planning safe “masks breaks” as needed. Masks are not required while: outside, engaged in physical activity, or eating. Click here for more masking-specific information.
- Cohorting - Students in grades 5 & 6 will continue to cohort with their partner homeroom. Grades 7-9 will be cohorted in grade levels at this time. Options are being changed to grade-level cohorts.
- Rapid Tests - We anticipate test kits will be arriving from the Alberta Government soon. We will distribute these to students with more information when they arrive. Thank you to everyone who completed the form sent out earlier this week. If you haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet, please take a minute to fill it in now.
- It is recommended that students test twice per week, 72 hours apart (e.g. Sunday and Wednesday or Monday and Thursday). There are instructions about how to administer the test included with the test kit. Additionally, a how-to video and a rapid test program fact sheet translated into multiple languages offers tips on how to use the rapid test kits. Both are available online at https://www.alberta.ca/k-12-learning-during-covid-19.aspx.
- Contact Tracing - AHS will not be contacting the school when a student tests positive.
COVID-19 Isolation Requirement Changes
The changes to the isolation requirements are summarized in the Division’s updated Stay at Home Guide. Please keep your child home if they are ill so we can all do our part to keep our school community healthy, safe and so we can remain open.
For all the latest including links to the latest Guidance for Schools, please visit the PSD COVID-19 Info page.
School Council and FOGS Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, January 18th at 6:30 pm online. All Greystone student families are invited to attend.
The agendas and minutes for the meeting can be found on the School Council section of our website.
Google Meet Link: https://meet.google.com/mus-pysy-epo
Join by phone: +1 613-778-3313 PIN: 419 023 787#
Hot Lunch for February
Ordering for February Hot Lunch will be open Jan. 19 - Jan. 26 at https://greystone.hotlunches.net. Use the school access code: GCHL. You will need to create a user ID/account to order with payments made via PayPal.
The schedule of suppliers for the month is:
- Friday, Feb 4 - Subway
- Wednesday, Feb 9 - Dairy Queen
- Thursday, Feb 17 - Pizza 73
- Friday, Feb 25 - Boston Pizza
Field Trips and Extra-Curricular Activities
At this point, the province has not recommended the cancellation of extracurricular or field trip activities. This having been said, we are evaluating what is being offered at Greystone to limit cohorts. Here is a list of updates:
- Ski Club has been postponed until February. We are working to reschedule the days that were missed in March.
- Swim@School program (gr. 5&6) is continuing, as the trips are cohorted.
- The Community Classroom has been canceled until further notice.
- Basketball teams will continue to operate as they were before the break.
- Choirs have been canceled until further notice.
AHS Vaccination Update
The “regular” school vaccination program date (non-COVID) for grades 8 & 9 has been postponed to March 7th. Information will be coming home from the AHS Public Health Unit about this program.
- Monday, Jan. 17-Friday, Jan. 21 - Swim @ School (Group 1)
- Tuesday, Jan. 18 - School Council and FOGS Meeting (Online) - 6:30 pm