Centre Mountain Lellum Weekly Newsletter

Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022

Hello Families,

We are getting closer to our move to Centre Mountain Lellum and we are all very excited to finally get there. This week, we have scheduled many delieveries, including all the student desks and chairs. It will finally look real to have our new desks and chairs set up in these beautiful classrooms. Other delieveries include office furniture, Library furniture, staff room furniture and supplies, music equipment, and all the PE supplies.

Over the next week, our custodians will be working in the building cleaning up the classrooms and getting the school ready for our staff and students. Farmer is putting the finishing touches on the classrooms and they will continue to work on some areas of the school. We do not have final occupancy yet, but any staff who complete the safety orientation course, will be able to access the building with the proper safety gear. Once we have final clearance from the City of Langford and the Fire Department, we will be able to come and go without the personal protective equipment.

We know there will be some definciencies when we move in, but the school will be operational and safe for all the staff and students. As it stands right now, there will be a few rooms on the lower level that may not be ready, but they plan to complete these rooms shortly after we take full possession.

We will be sending a map to all families outlining the bus zones, the parent pick up and drop off areas and the walking route for our students. We hope to get this map out within the week.

Centre Mountain Lellum PAC

Our PAC had a meeting last week and hope to see some new PAC members join in for the next meeting. Our PAC hold their meetings on the last Tuesday of the month, so the next meeting will be scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022 at 7:00pm at Centre Mountain Lellum.

Routines and expected behaviours at Centre Mountain Lellum

Over the next week, we will be scheduling grade assemblies at each school to chat about our transition to our new school and discuss some the expectations we will put in place from day one. Some discussion items will be as follows:

• All students will be outside in the morning until the bell rings. We will have dedicated doors for each classroom to avoid a massive crowd in the foyer. These locations will be discussed on the first day of school.
• Day one we will be meeting all students on the turf field behind the school. We will have signs on the fence with 6-1, 6-2, etc. Once all the students are accounted for, teachers will lead their students to their dedicated entrance and go right to their new classroom.  We realize that students will want to see the whole school right away, but we will spread out the tours throughout the day to avoid a crowded hallway.
• Similar to the other middle schools, students will not be using their cell phones inside or outside from bell to bell. Students will be expected to keep their phones turn off in their backpacks and kept in their locker.
• There will be absolutely no food or drinks allowed out of the classrooms. Keeping our environment clean and garbage free will be a priority from the day we arrive.
• Respect for our space. With this amazing new building, we want all staff and students to feel proud of our school and our community. We will all do our best to keep this school clean inside and out.
• All students will be outside for the lunch break – rain or shine. The exception would be to participate in clubs or using the gym for inside activity.
• Giving students a variety of options at lunch would be a great way to build relationships and have students make connections with others. We are hoping to start up a few lunch time activities and clubs, so please have you child listen to announcements so they do no miss out on these opportunities.
• Our school has 3 levels with lots of stairs and open spaces to the lower floors. In some areas of the hallways, you can see the lower level and in some areas, you can see the first floor from the third floor. It is important for all students to understand that nothing is thrown over the railing in the hallways. We will be letting our students know that this is unexpected behaviour and all staff will be strictly enforcing this rule.
• Lastly, we will be letting our students know that all staff members of Centre Mountain Lellum are very excitied about this move and we are all very lucky to have this amazing opportunity.

Please watch for further information .

Sincerely,

Michaela Mistal, Glenn Bedard and Darren Russell

Vice-Principals and Principal

Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School