Welcome to our Information Page! Please look at the sidebar for registration and busing instructions. We've also posted our school supply information, notices, sports offerings, and permission forms here.
We have also set up a DEWDNEY UPDATES page to give parents a weekly snapshot of what's happening as well as a listing of upcoming event. Feel free to give the office a call or drop by the school if you have any questions or require further information. We email notices and reminders out to parents on a weekly basis, so please make sure we have your up-to date email address in order to receive our electronic mail outs.
General Information
Student Absences
If your child will be late or absent from school, please call the school office at 604-826-2516 or send an email to Administrative Assistant Debbie MacLean at debbie.maclean@mpsd.ca before 8:30 am. We have an answering machine in the office, so feel free to call at any time to leave a message.
Bell Schedule
- Warning bell: 8:15 am
- Classes begin: 8:20 am
- Recess: 9:50 to 10:05 am
- Lunch: 11:35 (eating till 11:50) to 12:20 pm
- End of Day: 2:13 pm
Parking and Drop Off/Pick Up
Please pull in through our farthest entrance from Dewdney Road and exit via the closest entrance to Dewdney Road. In essence, treat this loop as you would for any roundabout. Students are expected to exit vehicles quickly and cars then move out of the loop. As the front cars leave, the whole line continues to move up. Buses also use this loop, so it is appreciated when vehicles quickly vacate the area. If the drop off will take longer, please pull into the parking lot or the side roadway. Do not idle or leave your vehicle while in the loop. Students are expected to leave their bag at their designated class entrance doorway and then proceed to the playground (back of school). This system is in place to keep all students and adults safe. Please be patient and respectful to each other and the volunteers/staff who are helping to maintain it.
Communication
We regularly update our school website with announcements, relevant upcoming dates, school policies, and events. Please check out the "Dewdney Updates" tab each week too for current happenings. There is also a school calendar that families can subscribe to on the homepage. As needed, school-wide or class/grade specific emails will be sent from the office or school Principal to our Dewdney families. Students may phone home with permission from their child's teacher but using the office phone to arrange playdates is discouraged.
Cell Phones/Smart Watches
Students are not permitted to have cell phones or smart watches on school grounds, during school times (including before and after school) or during any school sponsored event. This is part of the new Provincial Legislation. If a student needs to contact a parent/guardian they can use the school phone with permission.
School Food Programs
We are lucky that the Mission School District will continue to provide hot lunch choices to our families three days a week this year (M, W, F). Information about ordering can be found on the MPSD website under the “Feeding Futures" tab. Monthly menu options are also listed. The Campus Code for the Simply Foods access is "Dewdney".
The Breakfast club will now be funded for Tuesday and Thursday mornings beginning in October. We would love to expand this program to five days a week again but will need more adult volunteers to do so. If you are interested and have Food Safe Certification (or are willing to take it), please contact our PAC or the office.
Important Reminder: Dewdney Elementary is a Nut Free school.
Food brought into Dewdney for class events or in student lunches needs to be NUT FREE. We have several children with anaphylactic reactions to nuts in our school population. School lunches and snacks should not contain any nuts (peanuts, sesame seeds, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts etc.)
Access to School Grounds During the Day:
Our school playgrounds are closed to the public (including Montessori families) while school is in session. This means that we ask parents/community members to visit our school via the office entrance at these times. Non staff members or non enrolled children (Montessori or siblings) are not permitted on our playground equipment or on outside play areas from 8:00 am to 2:30 pm. We enforce this rule to ensure safety for all our children in our care and is a District policy. If you need to pick your child up at recess or lunch, please come to the office and we will bring your child to you. Thank you for helping us protect our children.
Dewdney's School Closure Procedure
The school district will usually decide on closures due to snow/ice by 6am. They will announce the decisions on the radio, twitter, and our District Webpages.
However, if Dewdney Elementary, specifically, has a power outage or a severe weather change, we may decide to close but other schools in the area may not. In this case, Dewdney would use the following procedure:
- First, all youngest or only bus students' families will be contacted via phone or email.
- Our school phones stop working quickly after a power outage so you may receive a call from a “blocked" or “unknown" number which may be a staff member's cell phone. At this time, we would also contact our PAC to inform them of the outage/closure and they will then update their PAC Facebook page.
- Next, we would begin to call our non-bus youngest or only students.
- Our buses will come early to collect students, but your child will not be allowed onto the bus unless we know that an adult will be at the drop off point.
- All parents/guardians need to inform either the teacher or the office if they are picking up students. Please do not go directly to the classroom doors, but instead go to the office and then we will bring the child to you.
- The principal will remain at the school until all staff and students have safely left.
