You are invited to take part in A Practical Approach to Managing Anxiety in Children, an online presentation by Dr. Sean Larsen, PhD. on March 10 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Designed for parents and educators, this online workshop will give you essential tools to better understand anxiety in children, recognize when it is becoming problematic, help children build the capacity to overcome it, and create environments to foster better outcomes for those struggling.

Click here to join the meeting

Drawing on literature on brain development, emotional regulation, psychology, and years of clinical experience Dr. Larsen will help you better understand children’s anxiety and how to support them in more meaningful ways.

Problematic anxiety in childhood is common and disrupts opportunities for healthy experiences. Anxiety can influence a child’s ability to achieve academically, make friends, or find reward in the activities they take part in.

He notes that about one in ten Canadians will access mental health support for mood and anxiety disorders in their lives and a far larger percentage could benefit from these supports and a better understanding of what anxiety is and how it impacts their lives.

Pre-registration is not required to take part in this presentation. Everyone is welcome!

It was wonderful to see so many students wearing pink on Wednesday Feb 23 for Pink Shirt Day. To show our support for Pink Shirt Day and spread a message of kindness throughout our community, all Hillcrest classes participated in a Kindness Walk/Rally through our neighborhood. Our students did an excellent job of keeping the rally positive and respectful, while also working hard to “Lift each other up”.

Thank you to our amazing PAC and parent helpers who came together to cook delicious soup for 200+ students on Wednesday! Our students (and staff) were absolutely raving about it. A massive thank you also goes out to the Shuswap Food Action Society for organizing this initiative for schools.

The ingredients in the soup came from the Shuswap region, with a bunch purchased at the Downtown Salmon Arm Farmers Market! If your child loved the soup and you want to cook it at home please check out the recipe below!

LINK: Stone Soup Recipe

Don’t forget to wear PINK on Wednesday February 23 in recognition of Pink Shirt Day. To help “Lift each other up” and spread the message of kindness throughout our community Hillcrest classes will be participating in a Kindness Walk/Rally at 1:00pm on Pink Shirt Day.

If they so wish, SD83 students and staff can once again resume using cloth or non-medical face masks.

When schools re-opened in January, with the highly contagious Omicron variant spreading, SD83 made the decision to supply medical three-ply masks to all students and medical or KN95 masks to all staff, in an effort to help keep everyone healthy and schools open. With numbers now trending downwards, and as promised, this short term measure has now ended.

The district has a good supply of 3-ply children’s masks, which will still be available to students.

Thank you to everyone for continuing to do the daily health check, staying home if you are ill, washing/sanitizing your hands, and wearing masks indoors.

Play Shuswap is again hosting a fun event on BC Family Day weekend. SD83 Healthy Schools Coordinator and president of Play Shuswap, Laura Paiement, said last year the Family Day Play Challenge was such a success we decided to make it an annual event.

Join PLAY Shuswap and Salmon Arm Recreation, Enderby Recreation and Sicamous Recreation for a Family Day Weekend PLAY Challenge! Go to PLAY Shuswap on Facebook and submit a photo taken during Feb 18th-21st 2022 showing your household being active outdoors. See attached poster for fun ways to move outside with your family. There are great prizes to be won!

Thank you to the Province of B.C. for supporting this and other Family Day event.

Thanks to everyone who dressed up for Doubles Day on 02/02/2022! It was another great display of school spirit and so much fun to see all of the creative costumes.