Dear Parent and Guardians,
As you may have heard, Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer and Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Education, made a joint announcement today, October 1, 2021, about extending the requirement for children in schools to wear masks. This requirement to wear masks now includes all school-aged children from Kindergarten through to Grade 12 while they are in school, including while at their desks and while on the bus.
We have received the information from the Ministry that this extended requirement will also apply to child care facilities located on school grounds. This means students in Kindergarten and up attending child care on school grounds must wear a mask indoors. Children who are not yet in kindergarten are not required to wear masks.
Effective starting Monday, October 4th: All children, staff and visitors of WCAS must* wear a mask when inside our facilities and other School buildings.
*Exemptions remain in place for students or staff who cannot wear masks or for times when masks may temporarily need to be removed. This includes when consuming food and drink, when actively engaging in an activity that requires temporary removal of the mask (e.g. when playing a wind instrument), when communicating with or providing a service to a person with diverse needs who may depend on visual cues or facial expressions, when a person cannot put on or remove their own mask without assistance, when needing to quickly identify a person, when speaking through a barrier, or when a person cannot tolerate a mask*
Our child care centres will continue to follow the Public Health Guidance for Child Care Settings and the additional information for centres operating on school grounds, please also refer to the Public Health Communicable Disease Guidance for K-12 Schools, which have both been updated as of October 1, 2021.
We ask that you please speak to your children about this new rule within our facilities over the weekend to help prepare them for the change and as always we thank you for your understanding and cooperation with this.
Please reach out to either myself at director@wcass.com or your facilities Team Coordinator with any questions or concerns that you may have.
Kindest regards,
Candace Beswick Director of Program's Westminster Children’s After School Society (WCAS) 604.540.1688 www.wcass.com