LORD STRATHCONA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

592 East Pender Street

Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1V5
Tel: (604) 713-4630 Fax: (604) 713-4633

Director of Instruction: Mr. David Nelson

Principal: Ms. Harjinder Sandhu
Vice-Principal: Mr. Jesse Brown
PAC Chairs: Ms. Francesca Benedetti & Mr. David Chen
School Liaison Trustee: Mr. Christopher Richardson

2015 September
Dear Parents/Guardians:
Welcome back to our families at Strathcona School. We are enthusiastic and excited about the upcoming 2015-2016
school year. A special welcome is extended to the many new families and staff that have joined our wonderful school
community. We hope that everyone had a safe, restful, and enjoyable summer. All of us at Strathcona are looking forward
to working together with the parents and the community to provide the best educational opportunities for our students.
We will once again be using this first week of school to focus on building a socially responsible community of learners.
Grade one to seven students will be working on various social responsibility activities, while our new kindergarten students
settle into their new school and classroom routines. All students will be practicing our school Code of Conduct: Taking Care
of Ourselves, Taking Care of Each Other and Taking Care of Our Community.
Many changes to our facility have occurred over the summer as the much awaited Seismic Upgrade Project has begun! To
keep up yourself up-to-date on the project please refer to our school website www.strathcona.vsb.bc.ca and click on the link
Updated Seismic Project Info. There will also be a display of project drawings outside the main office. Due to all of the
construction it is extremely important that everyone follow the posted rules for everyones safety. No one is to enter the
Construction Area. It is also important that everyone obey the traffic signage. There are absolutely no parking or entry
privileges into our staff parking lots for non-staff members. You cannot pick up drop off your children in the parking lot.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. We struggle with congested traffic in this area and we need to ensure
that staff can make it into school on time and be able to get in and out during the school day. A separate bulletin is attached
with a current map of our grounds, room assignments and the rules and routines that we will establish for this year because
of the seismic project.
During the first week of each month, the school prepares a Newsletter to highlight our students achievements, informing our
parents of the latest education developments, and to announce events to come. A lot of time and energy goes into the
composition of the school monthly newsletter and we greatly appreciate it if you as parents would take time out of your busy
schedules to read it. It is often emphasized in research that student success in education is dependent on their parents
strong commitment and involvement. Hence, parents being informed of the schools year around activities and projects is
one way of showing interest in their childrens school life. However, in keeping with our commitment to be socially
responsible, we are trying to minimize our paper consumption. We will be sending out our newsletters and most of our
communication via email and the school website, in lieu of printed materials.

If you would still prefer to receive print

materials please contact the office. We hope that many of you will help us in our efforts to go green.
We as a staff are energized and rejuvenated. We know many new, positive and rewarding learning experiences await! We
are excited to see where our curiosity and passions will take us this year!
Sincerely,
Ms. Harjinder Sandhu
Principal
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Mr. Jesse Brown

Vice-Principal

School Hours
8:55 am / First Bell
9:00 am / Second Bell Classes start
10:40-11:00 am / Recess
12:10-12:57 pm / Lunch
3:00 pm / Dismissal

Opening Week Schedule

Tuesday, September 8th
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Returning Students who will be assigned to Grades 1 to 7 this year
are to report to their 2014-2015 classrooms for verification. Students who had their classrooms in either the Junior
Building or E Building will report to the west side of the Gym. (The following classes from last year meet in the Gym:
(Madame Bouchard, Madame Pamela, Ms. Tam, Ms. Matelich, Ms. Sturrock, Ms. Quon, Mr. Dodd, Ms. Lynn and Ms.
Chan, Ms. Albutat and Ms. Chudnovsky).
If your childs previous teacher is in a new assignment or new classroom, please consult the table below to see
where or with whom your child will be until new classes are assigned:

Last years Class

Div. 20 Ms. Tam
Div. 19 Ms. Matelich
Div. 21 Ms. Sturrock
Div. 17 Ms. Cai
Div. 14 Ms. Lynn/Ms. Chan
Div. 12 Ms. Chudnovsky
Div. 16 Ms. Quon
Div. 11 Ms. Albutat
Div. 13 Mr. Dodd
Div. 24 Madame Pamela
Div. 27 Madame Bouchard
Div. 4 Ms. Daly

Teacher Assigned
Ms. Tam
Ms. Kantas, Mr. Larson, Mr. Grandish
Mr. Butler, Ms. Lay, Mr. Rourke
Mr. Jensen
Ms. Lee
Ms. Chudnovsky
Ms. Quon
Ms. Albutat
Mr. Dodd
Madame Pamela Buis
Madame Collette Gagne
Mr. Sherrett

New Strathcona Students Gr. 1 to 7 please report to the library

All new Kindergarten students will meet the K teachers in the

Gym on the east side

Room
D 103
E 303-4
E 200B
D 106
E 300B
A 108
D 107
E 300A
E 300C
E 300D
E 200A
A 105

Meet
In Gym
In Gym
In Gym
D 106
In Gym
A 108
In Gym
In Gym
In Gym
In Gym
In Gym
A 105

*Although we are only in session for 60 minutes, it is essential that all students attend! This
is the schools opportunity to know exactly how many students will be attending Strathcona,
something that is critical to accurately know for staffing purposes. If your child will not be
at school on this first day, you must let the school office know ASAP

All returning French Immersion students will be moved into their new classes on Tuesday
and dismissed from there.

Wednesday, September 9th - Friday, September 11

9:00 a.m. 3:00 p.m.
English Students report to the same room they were dismissed from on Tuesday (new students will be moved
in with age appropriate classes until we make the switch to our new classes.
Once we have established our new organization for 2015-2016 we are planning to place kids in their new
classes as soon as possible this week.
French Immersion Students will report to their new classes for 2015-2016.
o
See attached Staff List

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