Cordova Bay Elementary School

Dear Cordova Bay Elementary Community,

For those of you who tuned in to Dr. Bonnie Henry yesterday, she invited us to ask ourselves - What can I do to make a difference? Her plea was to focus on the intent of stopping transmissions. Today I share some of my takeaways from her update yesterday and how they apply to our school community:

• Continue to be kind, calm and safe. Our students are looking to all of the adults to model this and we can be very proud that this motto guides us in all we do. Thank you!
• Work together as a community to follow the newly implemented guidelines. As Minister Dix pointed out, we can't negotiate with the virus and workarounds and ways to circumvent guidelines will not get us where we need to be, but we can work together to reduce social interactions with people outside of our immediate family. Thank you to everyone who has reduced social interactions, respected physical distancing and wears a mask when necessary, especially before and after school at pick up and drop off and during play on the school playground. Dr. Henry has encouraged no playdates for the next two weeks, in order to get control of the virus. Your child will likely see this as a very big challenge, but perhaps, as a family, you can find ways to celebrate on Dec 7th (the end of the two week deadline she has given), if you are able to meet this tough challenge!
• Enjoy the beautiful outdoors for your physical and mental health. Our nature playground is the beach, the woods, the trails and the parks surrounding our school community. I am so grateful for these calming spaces where we can pause, reflect and connect with what's important. 

As Dr. Henry highlighted, the finish line is not quite in sight. Although this really does feel like a marathon, Dr. Henry says that it is more like an iron man with 3 legs. We have done the 1st leg, the swim, and now we are on the second leg, the biking, with some very large hills ahead (this is our sign to slow down and steadily grind our way to the top so we can relish in the whoosh of the downhill). Next, comes the last leg which is the run and Dr. Henry, full of hope, tells us that although a vaccine awaiting us at the finish line is not quite in sight, she has every faith in our ability to push through - together! 

With gratitude for our Cordova Bay Team,

Mrs. ML Heron

Principal