School Policies

Punctuality and Tardiness

Why should we arrive to school on time?

• To help establish good routines and habits.
• Punctuality is a life skill that is necessary to develop at a young age. It is important to learn to organize ourselves according to the schedule of the external world and not just one’s own timetable. 
• Late arrival disrupts your child’s ability to transition smoothly into the classroom routines: 

• Your child’s learning experiences will be disjointed and rushed; confusion about expected behaviour, what is happening and what to do.

• Your child is at a learning disadvantage as lessons have already begun.

• Late arrivals significantly disrupt the attention, concentration and learning experiences of other children.
• Late arrivals take the teacher’s attention away from the needs of the group.

For fairness and respect to the learning process of all the other children in the class who are arriving on time, ready to learn, children will only be granted entry into the classroom for 10 minutes after the commencement of class. If your child arrives more than 10 minutes after class has begun, you will need to return home and try again the next day. In unusual circumstances, help us understand what is happening for you by sending us an email or text to let us know if you will be arriving late due to unforeseeable issues.

School Commencement Hours (Ensure that your child is ready and lined up):

Ark Elementary: Line up at 8:40 am
Morning Preschool: Line up at 8:55 am
Afternoon Preschool: Line up at 12:25 pm

It is important for a child on an emotional level that parents demonstrate that they are ready to pick up their child when the session is over, as well as allow teachers to prepare for the next class and following day’s work. It is painful for a child to feel as if their parents have ‘forgotten’ them. Should parents fail to collect their child on time on more than three separate occasions, they will be required to pay a late fee of $30.00.

Student Records & Information Sharing

The Ark shall provide personal information and student records, as required by professional persons or bodies, for the delivery to students of health services, social services, or other support community services..

Active Play

The Ark adheres to the BC’s regulated “Active Play Policy” standards.

Active play helps to promote healthy growth and development and supports body control and movement.  Active play builds strong bones and muscles, improves balance, coordination and assists with the development of gross motor and fine motor skills using physical energy.  It also helps to promote children’s confidence, improves concentration, thinking and learning skills and provides opportunities to develop social skills. Body smarts help to develop social smarts, such as creativity, conflict resolution skills in peer groups, social interaction skills, conquering fears and building resilience in the face of future challenges.

In a half-day, children should accumulate 60 minutes of light to vigorous physical activity while in school. Active Play activities at Noah’s Ark even occur during the daily course of working with the classroom Montessori materials, as well as, movement and music, and are also provided through outdoor and indoor facilitated and un-facilitated play through programs such as:

• Gym organized activities and child led free flow play

• Outdoor games/sports

• Outdoor playground experiences

• Local park and forests walks

• Field Trips

Wellness: If you feel that your child is not well enough to engage in outdoor activities, then it is a signal that it is best your child remain at home with you.

Guidance and Behaviour

The goal of a behaviour management policy is to assist children in learning self-mastery, gain confidence and develop social sensitivity in their interactions with others. We encourage children to talk through their conflicts with peers and demonstrate how it is possible to get their needs met while still respecting the boundaries of others. Through positive role-modeling, storytelling, setting firm limits and demonstrating clear expectations, children can learn how to make appropriate, safe choices and make compromises to reach mutual social goals. This process takes a long time for a child to internalize and there are many bumps along the road which often reveal that what makes children happy in the short-term, doesn’t always prepare them to be courageous, empathetic, engaged adults. In the early years, firm consistency is key.

Young children need to be guided through many experiences in this process to gradually learn to be more independent in this area as he or she matures. If a child appears to be unable to cope with a situation, the teachers will intervene and guide the problem through to resolution, emphasizing perspective-taking and empathy. The teachers will role-model and reinforce the appropriate language for the desired social outcomes.

School should be a place for positive experiences for all, and while the world does not always cooperate with what a child may want, he or she must learn to manage it in a positive way. No child will be permitted to hurt him or herself, hurt others or damage property/the environment in any way, at any time. In the event that a child makes a choice to do so, the teachers will employ strategies such as:

• Setting clear, defined limits which are consistently and positively reinforced

• Redirection of a child’s focus

• Helping the child express feelings verbally or through creative expression

• Offering appropriate alternative choices

• Role-modelling problem-solving skills out loud and demonstrating resolution through action

• Using logical and reasonable natural consequences to help the child understand causality

• Demonstrate appropriate words and actions to ‘fix’ hurt feelings
  

At no time will a child be subjected to:

• Pushing, spanking or any other form or corporal punishment

• Belittling treatment which would humiliate the child

• As a form of punishment,be confined, physically restrained of kept without adult supervision, apart from other children

• As a form of punishment be deprived of meals, snack, rest or the use of the toilet

We work hard to build an ongoing dialogue with parents in all matters of their child’s development and education. Throughout the process, we work collaboratively to discover possible issues which may have been overlooked and uncover the underlying causes or, as needed, make referrals to outside support and intervention.

Families need to be on-board in forming a collaborative parent-school model for positive intervention and growth. Parents are consulted when a child is struggling with behavioral responsibility at any given level, and a plan to work with boundaries at home and at school will be put in place together. In the case that a child is unable to develop the self-regulation and responsibility required to participate in our school program, parents may be asked to keep their child at home to take the time to work through behavioral expectations while keeping other students safe. If a child were unable to acquire those skills within a reasonable period, he or she may be asked to seek an alternative program where an environmental change may help break a negatively entrenched behavioural cycle. Every child’s developmental needs are unique and must be managed in an individual capacity with patience and perseverance.Our goal is to set children up for success on all levels of interaction at school. Using positive guidance and consistency to develop inner discipline, we seek to encourage the personal growth of children who are self aware and socially responsible; who have an awareness of personal values and who are able to move through their life experiences with confidence, compassion and integrity.

Children may not always be happy with feedback and limits, however, social boundaries are a necessary part of living in a healthy way within society and among others.  Our teachers are continually working towards guiding the students towards reaching the goals of self-control and self-discipline with self-esteem intact.  Please feel free to talk with us if you have any questions or concerns regarding our approach to guidance and behaviour management.

Screen Time

Noah’s Ark School understands that TV and other screen time can get in the way of playtime, physical activity, and interactions with others, which all contribute to learning and healthy physical/social development. Children must be protected from marketing and product advertising.
Screen time includes the use of television, tablets, smart phones, videos, computers, and video games during school. Because we care about the health and well being of the children in our charge, we follow best practice recommendations regarding screen time:

• Children under 3 should have no screen time

• Children age 3 and over should watch less than 1 hour per week at childcare. Less is best.

Therefore, the school will restrict screen time by adhering to the following guidelines:

• We allow no more than of 1 hour per week of educational, age appropriate, skill-building or imaginative screen time.

• We do not permit television or movies to be left on as background noise.

• We do not have television or movies playing during mealtimes.

• We do not offer screen time as a reward.

We ask also that Noah’s Ark School community parents carefully consider the amount of exposure to screen time permitted in the home. At home, screen time is a sedentary activity with few benefits. Too much screen time has been linked to obesity. The more TV a child watches, the greater his or her risk of becoming overweight. Having a TV in a child’s bedroom also increases this risk. Children can also develop an appetite for junk food promoted in TV commercials as well as overeat while watching television. The more TV children watch, the more likely they are to have trouble falling asleep or to have an irregular sleep schedule. Sleep loss in turn can lead to fatigue and increased snacking. Excessive screen time leaves less time for active, creative play which is so important for developing young minds.

Homework

We recognize each child has unique needs and abilities. At Noah’s Ark, we believe the main purpose of homework at the elementary grades is to promote your child’s organizational, planning and goal setting skills, rather than implementing homework as a means of accelerating academic learning. Your child’s teacher will aim to assign homework that is appropriate both for the class and your child and in a manner that will encourage your child’s development of planning and time management.  If, despite your support in helping to manage his or her time, your child is overburdened with the everyday challenges of school and/or outside commitments to the point where homework is not contributing to your child’s development in a positive way, then please communicate your concerns to your child’s teacher.  Conversely, if you feel your child needs more to do at home then you may wish to encourage your child to do “crossword puzzles, scrabble, math games, lego, building models, cooking and other self-directed activities which require thinking and the application of basic academic skills while promoting persistence and attention to detail.” (District Homework Guidelines) Primary level homework tasks consists of a regular assignment of literacy activities (home reading, spelling, reader’s response), numeracy activities (counting, observation, object collection) and often research and investigative studies. Homework should require no more than 15 minutes per day on the average. As students progress in the primary program, other forms of homework may gradually be added. As students are able to accept more responsibility, the time may gradually increase by Grade 3 to no more than 30 minutes in any one day three or four days in a week.

Parents must:

1. Ensure that there is a calm designated physical space for homework to take place in, with readily available supplies dedicated to your child’s work.

2. The television and radio must be turned off.

3. Homework must be gently supported and supervised and completion verified by initialing next to the work assignment written out in your child’s daily planner.

4. Give your child lots of regular verbal encouragement and warm praise around being organized, writing in the planner and getting the work done. Smile and makes lots of eye contact and help make your child feel absolutely terrific about their progress. Make this time as part of your special one to one ‘quality’ time ( really valuable where there are other siblings who may compete for parent time). Leave your own homework judgements, expectations and history in the past to create new opportunities for growth for both you and your child.

Allergen

Noah’s Ark School is an Allergen-Sensitive Environment. We have students who are highly allergic to specific foods. This allergy can be Life-Threatening. A reaction can be triggered by Taste or Smell. Given that the children are of a very young age, your own child may have a significant allergy that you are not aware of just yet. Let’s be extra-careful.

This means keeping away snacks or prepared food containing tree nuts or nut ingredients. This means that peanut, walnut, hazelnuts and almonds and their by-products, such as almond milk, are not okay at school. Seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds are fine. Please read the ingredients on products, as some foods state that the product may have come into contact with nuts or may contain traces of nuts. Keep in mind that we needs to recognize the effects of other common allergens such as perfume, pollens and seafood and keep these triggers away from school. Some healthy snack suggestions are vegetables, fruit, seaweed, beans, crackers, muffins, cheese, yogurt, dry cereals or homemade dishes made with no nuts or nut oils.

Illness

Understanding Health, Risk and Safety

The Richmond Health Department Guidelines for exclusion to preschool centers and school environments is observation and symptom based. Generally, medications suppress symptoms temporarily and the child remains ill and likely still contagious. If treatment of any kind needs to be given, a child needs to stay at home. Whether a parent chooses to seek treatment or dispense medication or not is at the parent’s discretion.

Just because a child can move about, it does not mean they are well enough in any way to attend successfully. If they are fatigued, lethargic in any way, unusually uncommunicative and out of sorts, a child is not well enough to attend school with an alert and positive manner.

It is important to remember that sick attendance undermines a child’s positive perspective of school, as children are not always sure why they are feeling the way they are about things; thus sick/uncomfortable feelings are directed to others, their own performance and the school experience as a whole. Keep your child’s school experience a successful, happy and safe one!

You are required to keep (or take) your child home when the child:

• is suffering from one or more of the above symptoms

• in not well enough to take part in the regular program

If your child is absent:

When your child has been absent from school, you need to provide a letter outlining the reason for the absence. According to new Environmental Health Department requirements, a description of any and all specific symptoms of illness that you may have observed must be noted. Remember - your child need to be symptom-free for 24 hours before returning to school. You may write your own note or simply print out this form and give it to the teacher upon returning to school.

Download a form here (click to download)

ANY Absences: please notify the teacher if your child will absent; if it is due to illness let us know the symptoms.  Noah’s Ark School phone number: (778) 990-3520

Medication

As the time spent in class is short, the school will not dispense any prescription medications, ‘over-the-counter’ drugs or homeopathic medicines. If a child should become sick during school, the child will rest in the quiet room until the parents or authorized adults are contacted and arrive to take the child home.