New gate and new Kindergaraten Fences

Today was a busy day for the construction at Parkview.

The gate that will allow students and parents to travel from the rear yard to the Kindergarten area was completed:

You may now enter the yard through this gate. As before, please close it behind you if school is in session.

The construction zone in the Kindergarten area has now been cordoned off by a long span of fencing from the old Kindergarten school entrance to the rear hardtop. There seems to be plenty of space left for our students to run and play.

As you can see the trees behind the fence will be removed (4 are beetle infested and two would not have survived the construction) and after the construction is completed 8 similar sized trees will be replanted to replace them throughout the yard.

The old Kindergarten exit has been closed off and the windows on the construction side of the building will boarded up to ensure the safety of the glass and our students in the classroom while the construction occurs. Not all windows will be covered, just the windows in the construction area.

Again Mr. Prince and myself would like to thank all of our families for their flexibility and support during our construction. Thanks also to our staff and the construction workers who have been working together to keep our students safe and learning.

Kindgergarten update/correction

Starting today, rear access to the kindergarten pen will be blocked. It will however be re-opened early next week as a temporary entrance through the back is being built so that parents can walk through the back field to the new K door on the west side.

The current gate will be moved close to the back yard fences of the houses. A protected walkway has been built between the construction road and the back yards to allow access to the K yard.

Please see photos below:

Thanks to Emillio our site foreman for coming up with this great alternative to walking around to the front of the school.

Have a wonderful weekend! More updates to follow next week!

The gates are open....

The gates are now open.
We currently have two gated areas that students can cross over from our field to:

The soccer fields:

The parking lot at Crosby Arena:

They will be open from:

8:10-8:40 AM

12:20-1:20PM 

2:50-3:20 PM

Starting next week, there will be no access to the kindergarten yard from the rear of the school. The only access will be from the south west (front) side of the school.

Also we would like to thank everyone for their flexibility as we have moved through the transition of building this temporary road on our field. Our site supervisor Emilio, has bent over backwards to ensure that our kids are safe and that we have the best possible access to the routes that we take walking to and from school. 

Our students, staff and parents have also been amazing in terms of their positive attitude when it has come to dealing with all of these changes. Parkview really is "the best place to be" because the people here make it special!

The trucks are coming!

Starting tomorrow the fencing that will be surrounding the construction road will be up. Trucks will not be using the road until all of the fencing is completed. The gates will not be in place until later in the day, however, by the end of the day, students will have to walk through the fence through the gates located at the east side and the north of the field closest to Crosby Arena.

The gates will be open from :

8:10AM to 8:40AM (Starting on Thursday)

From 12:20-1:20PM for students who go home for lunch

and from  3:00 to 3:20 at the end of the day.

There will be staff at the access point until 8:30 in the morning and at 3 in the afternoon to assist students. 

The construction crew will open the gates for the neighbours to have access to the field after tier work hours and on weekends and holidays.

Starting tomorow morning (Wednesday April 23) all kindergarten students will be no longer accesssing the school through the door in Ms. O'Zazdi's class. They will be entering the building at the west door:

They will still be encouraged to play in the kindergarten playground prior to the bell and will line up in that area in order to prepare to move as a class, in through the west doors above.

Due to the encroaching construction equipment and space we will be continuing our staggered recesses for the remainder of the school year. This will continue even after the yard is dry and ready to play on. We want our kids to be able to have fun and be safe during their recess and outdoor play times.

Thanks for your support and patience as we work through the process of making Parkview an even better place to be!!!

Recesses, Roads and Trees!

Staggered Recesses

Due to the restricted space on our hardtop due to the presence of a construction equipment pen and the wet conditions of our field, we have decided to move to staggered recess time. We have chosen to do this because students are finding the restricted space increasingly crowded. In addition some students have experienced minor injuries as a result of collisions on this smaller space.

     The following staggered model that we have chosen is based on feedback from other schools who have noted that younger primary students often eat more and function better in class when they reverse their activity and eating times: 

     AM Recess:

     Primary students (up to and including grade 4) are going outside for 15 mins at recess and then come in for the second 15 mins to have their snack.

    Junior students (Ms. Kuczynski's class and grade 5 and up)  are in for the first 15 minutes and then they go out for the second 15 mins.

    At lunch the same pattern happens:  

  Primary students are outside first and then come in to eat after 30 mins outside on the hardtop. 

    Juniors eat and then go outside for the last 30 mins of lunch.

	Primary to Grade 4	Ms. K and Grade 5 and up (J/I)
AM Recess (10:10-10:40)
10:10-10 25 (15 mins)	Outside on hardtop	Inside eating snack
10:25-10:40 (15 mins)	Inside eating snack	Outside on hardtop
Lunch Time  (12:20-1:20)
12:20-12:50 (30 mins)	Outside on hardtop	Inside eating lunch
12:50-1:20 (30 mins)	Inside eating lunch	Outside on hardtop

  Today we tried this model for our lunchtime and we had a great deal of positive feedback from our students and staff about the increased space and safety that this rethinking of our recess has provided them. Tomorrow we will be rolling this new recess routine at AM recess as well as lunch. This will continue until we are able to fully utilize our field once it has dried out. 

We do ask that parents encourage their primary students to eat more of their food at first recess (as they have dedicated time) so that the slightly later lunch time will not result in them feeling hungry.

     Roadway construction

    Now that the weather is improving, the roadway along the outside of our field will start to be constructed this week. At this point the plan is for the trucks to enter the road  from the first 2 spots in the north parking lot. This will preserve more spots in both the upper and lower lots.  Large locking gates surrounding the road will be going up to protect our students from the construction machinery and traffic.

 Tree removal

After much study it has been determined by the city and the engineers that all six trees in the Kindergarten pen next to the newly renovated Kindergarten rooms will have to be removed.

  Four are damaged due to beetle infestation and two will likely not survive the construction

The board will be replacing the trees with 8 like sized trees after the construction has been completed which will be placed in a more organic configuration throughout the Kindergarten play area. They will be a mix of coniferous and deciduous trees. Ms. Kimmel's tree will NOT be affected by the construction.