Health & Safety

New signs help establish a bike route to Ross Road

/ Ross Road PAC

Dear Ross Road parents,

Some of you may have noticed the new signage to control the flow of traffic down Kilkenny during the busy morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up times.

My daughter, Sadie, and I ride bikes to school almost every day, and we’re happy to see them.

The engineers at the department of transportation at the District of North Vancouver took an opportunity to install new “Do Not Turn” and “Bicycles Excepted” signs in early February.

The signs may have changed but nothing has practically changed for motor vehicles coming to the school.

  • Motor vehicles are prohibited from turning westbound onto Kilkenny from Hoskins and must get to the school by turning onto Bushnell from Ross Road.
  • What is different is that bicycles have been clearly and officially excepted from the turn restriction. This establishes Kilkenny as the preferred route for bicycles to get to and from Ross Road. See map below.
  • Drivers of motor vehicles should please note that while you cannot turn onto Kilkenny during the restricted times, Kilkenny remains a two-way street. You should be prepared to share the road with bicycles.
  • Bikes should come to a complete stop at the intersection of Bushnell and Kilkenny.
  • Parent volunteers with the Valet Service will stop motor vehicle traffic from making the turn so cyclists can safely cross Bushnell to the school grounds.

Sadie and I hope to see more bicycles joining us on the road, especially as the weather starts getting warmer. And drier.

If you need a little extra encouragement, you might find it in a new study [http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/02/kids-who-walk-or-bike-school-concentrate-better-study-shows/4585/] released last year. It found children who walked or biked to school performed better on concentration tasks than kids who didn’t. The effects lasted for up to four hours after school began.

Thanks for driving safely, and for sharing the road.

– Blaine Kyllo
(Ross Road parent)

Ross-Road-bike-route-map

Saleema Noon: Parent Night – Tuesday, Oct 16 – 7:00-8:30pm

/ Ross Road PAC

Dear Ross Road parents,

The PAC is excited to announce that Saleema Noon, sexual health educator, is coming to our school next week! In advance of her student presentations next Wednesday and  Thursday, we are pleased to invite Ross Road parents to her parents’ session on Tuesday, October 16th, from 7:00 – 8:30 pm in the school library.

Click for more info about Saleema Noon

On Wednesday October 17th and Thursday October 18th, she will give presentations to the students in smaller groups (K-1, Grades 2-3, Grades 4-5, Grades 6-7).

The parent night will include the following topics:

  • Reasons why we need to talk to children about sexual health at a young age
  • 5 stages of sexual development children progress through on their way to becoming sexually mature adults
  • What children should know at each stage, with specific examples of ways to explain body parts and processes
  • How to provide information to children in a way they will understand and remember (and minimize embarrassment for the parent!)
  • How to effectively answer the questions children ask
  • How to reduce risk of child sexual abuse
  • What will be covered in Body Science sessions for students
  • Time for open discussion and questions will be included. Saleema Noon will bring a display of books and other resources.

Parents’ session description taken from her website:
saleemanoon.com/workshops/elementary-program/elementary-outline-a/

Hope to see many of you there!

—Ross Road PAC

IT Cheque-writing Campaign, School Directory & Lice 911 Workshop!

/ Ross Road PAC

Hello parents at Ross Road,

A few quick notices to help you stay organized in this busy month:

  1. IT purchase cheque-writing campaign: A few people have very sensibly asked us who to write the cheque out to…thank you to those discerning parents! :) Our apologies for not writing this info on the form! Please make cheques payable to ‘Ross Road School PAC!’ We would like all payments to come in before February 20, so we can purchase the equipment and be ready to use it after Spring Break. Donations can be deposited in the locked PAC drop box in the lobby or handed in directly to the office.
  2. School Directory: Just a friendly reminder to those of you who would still like to donate a small amount for the School Directory (suggested donation $5). Donations can be dropped off in the locked PAC drop box in the lobby.
  3. Lice 911 Workshop: Whether or not you’ve experienced the dreaded “LICE” in your household, please come to this FREE workshop to find out more about how we can PREVENT the spread of Lice in our children’s hair. Until we ALL know how to look for lice and do it frequently, this problem will not stop.
    • Wednesday, February 15th
    • 7:00 pm
    • in the library

Many Thanks,
Ross Road PAC

Safer Internet Day (Feb. 7th) & Anti-Bullying Day (Feb. 29th)

/ Ross Road PAC

BCCPAC would like to remind its members of important events of interest occurring in February to support keeping our kids safe. We hope you find the following information and links to resources helpful.

Safer Internet Day 2012 – Tuesday February 7 2012
THE CANADIAN CENTRE FOR CHILD PROTECTION:
WORKING WITH PARENTS TO INCREASE THE ONLINE SAFETY OF CHILDREN

On February 7, 2012, Safer Internet Day, countries around the world will be promoting safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people. In Canada, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has created a unique, one-stop Internet safety website – The Door that’s Not Locked – to help parents, teachers and anyone else with children in their lives learn about ways to keep kids safe.

Visit www.thedoorthatsnotlocked.ca for more information.

Bullying Stops Here – Wednesday February 29th is Pink Shirt Day – Anti Bullying
BCCPAC has parent resources on the topics of Bullying, Intimidation & Harassment in schools.  Click the links below:

Safe Arrival (Call-back) Reminders

/ Ross Road PAC

To ensure every child arrives safely at school, parent volunteers and office staff check attendance against parent phone calls every morning.

To help this program run smoothly, please:

  • Call 604-903-3755 by 9:00am if your child is going to be away
  • Report holidays to the office & teacher (specify the first & last day of absence)
  • Do not ask for homework to be sent home on the Safe Arrival Line; send a message to the teacher via e-mail or by calling the main office (604-903-3750)
  • If a child needs to be picked up for an appointment, notify the teacher in advance via agenda or a note

Thank you very much for your cooperation,
—The Safe Arrival Team
Click here for more info about the Ross Road Safe Arrival program.

Jesse Miller discusses internet safety and social media awareness with Ross Road Students and parents

/ Ross Road PAC

Last week, Jesse Miller of Mediated Reality came to speak to Ross Road parents and intermediate students about internet safety and social media awareness. He had two sessions with the students on Thurs, Oct. 8th: one with the Grade 4-5 students and one with the Grade 6-7s, and a presentation for parents the night before – thank you to those parents who joined us on Wednesday evening! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. In fact, we liked his presentation and main message so much that we would like to share a few details from the student meetings:

Among the Ross Road Grade 4s and 5s:

  • About 25 to 30 students are on Facebook, despite the fact that you have to be 13 years old to sign up. Several volunteered their ‘Facebook age’ to be 13 (most of them), but a couple of them are 15 or 19 on facebook. This means they will read ads appropriate for 18 and 19-year-olds on the sidebar of their Facebook wall.
  • About 10 of them had experience chatting live with strangers through their Xbox/Playstation headsets.
  • About 15 had experienced being woken up at night by the sound of an incoming text message – someone got woken up at 3 AM the other night!

Among the Ross Road Grade 6s and 7s:

  • About 50 are on Facebook. They are a bit closer to the ‘legal’ age, but about 10 of them are signed up as students at Argyle. Most of these students reported having between 100 and 300 ‘friends’ on Facebook.
  • About 15-20 of them declared that they post photos on Facebook or the internet.
  • 2 students had been on ‘Formspring,’ an online chat site where you can chat and ask questions anonymously.
  • About 10 students said they had written ‘inappropriate’ text messages that they would instantly delete, if they thought their parents would see them. These students didn’t know that these texts are saved for 90 days by law and that their parents could, in fact, ask the provider for a print-out of these same text messages for any given period. There were some pretty shocked faces in the crowd when Jesse Miller told them this!

Jesse Miller also shared with the Grades 6s and 7s, how easy it is for a stranger to simply look up someone’s name on Facebook, then Google the name to find personal information about them such as phone numbers and photos.

Jesse’s general message was to encourage the students to always think about safety and privacy when going online on whatever social media they choose. “If something would feel weird, bad or inappropriate if it happened in real life, then it’s weird, bad or inappropriate on the internet as well” was his key message. He thereby emphasized the importance of applying the same rules for social interaction in real life and on the internet. Stop and think before posting or texting anything! Pretty simple, really!

If parents or students have any further questions they would like to ask Jesse Miller, please contact him directly:
www.mediatedreality.com/
and mention that you are contacting him in connection with his visit to Ross Road. The PAC will also be happy to forward questions to him, if this works better for you.
Email us at: rossroadpacweb@gmail.com

Reminder: Jesse Miller Internet Safety Presentation, Wed. Oct 5th

/ Ross Road PAC

We are very privileged to have Jesse Miller from Mediated Reality come to our school this Thursday, October 6th, to give our students from Grades 4 thru 7 a presentation on internet awareness and responsibility.   

Jesse will be presenting to parents the evening before – on Wednesday October 5th from 7-9pm in our school library.  We encourage all parents with students in these grades to attend as it will be an eye-opening evening.  Please feel free to bring a friend or two!  It is suggested that this is a “PARENT ONLY” evening.

Click here for more information about Jesse Miller and the presentation.

Jesse Miller Internet Safety Presentation – Wed. Oct. 5th

/ Ross Road PAC

JESSE MILLER
Internet Safety/Social Media Awareness Presentation
Wednesday October 5th
7:00- 9:00pm in the School Library (parents only)

Join us on Wednesday, October 5th for this FREE, PAC-sponsored presentation with Jesse Miller of Mediated Reality. Jesse Miller is a national speaker who has addressed thousands of participants over the past three years.  Presenting and consulting to schools and companies across British Columbia since 2007, Jesse is in high demand as a keynote speaker on the topics of social media awareness, social networking behaviour and online content evaluation.

Jesse’s presentations have received rave reviews from the many parents who have seen his presentations at other schools. The presentation is geared towards parents of Intermediate students but parents of children in younger grades are encouraged to attend. Parents from other schools are also welcome to come to the presentation.

Wednesday evening’s talk will give parents background information on the presentation that Jesse will be sharing with Intermediate students (Grades 4-7) on Thursday, October 6th at school.

MORE ABOUT THE FOUNDER OF MEDIATED REALITY
Using behaviour-changing presentation techniques, Jesse has an un-matched ability to motivate his audience to evaluate their online profiles and how to assess privacy and connectivity issues. As a public safety innovator, Jesse combines a diverse background in community policing, volunteer management, behaviour analysis and social media connectivity to develop unique presentations and awareness based solutions for his clients.

The approach designed through multimedia based awareness campaigns delivers a measured response to an audience who previously had no idea of their vulnerabilities when participating in online environments. Jesse is a trusted resource to numerous school districts in British Columbia who use his expertise to address issues that occur in school hallways and through social media requiring online evaluation and investigation. Jesse uses this skill set to benefit companies that need evaluation of their social media footprint and current connectivity to clients. He has been featured in numerous publications and articles as an authority on the topics of Internet safety, social media, and mobile-application based technology.

– Excerpted from Jesse Miller’s website at: www.mediatedreality.com

Oh no, not lice again!

/ Ross Road PAC

Once again we have quite a few cases of head lice at Ross Road. Please check your children’s heads! If you haven’t had experience with lice and/or nits, ask a Pharmacist or a friend for help and suggestions about treatment options.

The school administration and the PAC also have resources and on-line links that may assist you. Click here to view the PAC’s “Lice Advice” page.