It might be hard to believe, but the back-to-school season is once again upon us.
With the Labour Day weekend only a few days away, it’s time for all the youngsters in Osoyoos to sharpen their pencils, strap on their backpacks and get ready to learn as they once again hit the books come Tuesday, Sept. 4.
“We’re looking forward to the start of a new year,” said Glen Heinrichs, principal at Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS). “There’s new energy and there’s new enthusiasm. We look forward to meeting new students. That includes the Grade 8 students and students who are new to our school.”
Besides the regular runabout of activities and learning opportunities that come with the fresh start of a new year, Heinrichs said this year he is particularly looking forward to seeing the school’s two new academies in action.
“This year we’re going to be offering both a hockey academy and a golf academy, so we’re kind of excited about that,” he said. “There are always lots of opportunities for kids to get involved in sports and clubs and we encourage them to get as involved as they can because they get out of their high school experience whatever they put in.”
Over at Osoyoos Elementary School (OES), vice-principal Shendah Benoit said she too is looking forward to a new year, and in particular, she is looking forward to the implementation of the new 21st century classrooms.
“I’m looking forward to the two classrooms (Grade 5-6 and Grade 6-7) that are going to be focusing on implementing the five tenants of the B.C. Education Plan as best they can,” she said.
Without going into too much detail (see a full story on the 21st century classrooms on pages 2-3), the five tenants of the B.C. Education Plan include personalized learning for every student, quality teaching and learning, flexibility and choice, high standards and learning empowered by technology.
Benoit said the two tenants OES students are going to be focusing on are personalized learning and learning empowered by technology.
“We’re very excited by the initiative,” she said. “It’s recognizing the skills students need to be successful in the 21st century.”
Even though school doesn’t start for another couple of days, Benoit said she would recommend getting the young ones into a solid routine as soon as possible.
“Establishing family routines as early on in September as they can will help the kids make the transition to their back-to-school routines,” she said.
The two routines Benoit recommends highest are the meal timetable and a reading ritual in the evenings.
“With our early ones, that would maybe be reading with them, and with our older ones, providing them a quite environment,” she said. “There are lots of books in our library. We purchased over $3,000 worth last year. The public library has lots of beautiful books. There are plenty of books for kids to be reading in Osoyoos, right here locally.”
Heinrichs also said that before the students get back into the thick of it, it would be great if as many families as possible would provide the school with their email address, if only for the monthly newsletter.
He also said he would like to remind parents that a Parents Advisory Council (PAC) meeting is held on the last Tuesday of every month and there is always room for parents to volunteer at the school, so if anyone is interested, please get in contact with the school at 250-495-6559.
Finally, Sgt. Kevin Schur with the Osoyoos RCMP said it is important for everyone to take note that school is starting up again and that means it’s time for all motorists to use extreme caution and slow down, especially in school zones.
“Everyone’s been used to the summer rush and whatnot, so they’re not used to paying attention to school kids in school zones,” said Schur. “So it’s always very important at the beginning of the school year that everybody does slow down and realize that there’s not only children that are going to be running in and out of cars and whatnot, but there’s also more traffic flow around the schools.”
“And not just school zones.  Lots of kids walk home and back from school, so just basically all around town in the morning, lunchtime and at the end of school, everybody be aware that there is more pedestrian and vehicle traffic.”
Schur said the school zone limit in Osoyoos is 30 km/h.