We are eager to welcome back our students to in-classroom learning for the first time since March 2020.  All our lives were affected greatly by the Covid-19 pandemic and we are more excited than ever to get back to the daily business of learning together at Peacock Collegiate beginning September 8.  I sincerely hope that everyone had an enjoyable summer break and were able to direct time and energy as some things you enjoy doing.

So, here we are at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. It is the beginning of another fresh school year full of promise, opportunities, and future memories.  Despite any restrictions and adjustments we make for the safety of our students and staff, at the heart of the work we do is ensuring the best possible teaching and learning occurs each day.  You will notice many changes to how we operate; masks, block system schedule, noon hours, extracurriculars, lack of lockers, safety protocols, and more. However, the core work that our teachers and staff do each day will remain the same as we focus on learning together.  Some things will be different this year and some things will remain the same.  For some this will be an easy adjustment and for others it may be harder. However, I am confident we will figure out the best way to keep everyone safe, and ensure optimum learning will occur.

You should expect more communication from the school this year as we use My School Sask more regularly in classrooms and as we provide weekly updates to all families each Friday  in the “Friday Updates” email. We encourage you to contact us when you have questions, or suggestions, as we value your feedback and are constantly looking to be a better school.

Please know that if I can do to assist you during your time at Peacock Collegiate do not hesitate to contact me directly. My phone number is 306-693-4626 and my email is swanson.dustin@prairiesouth.ca.  There are many ways to stay connected to Peacock through our web site (www.peacockcollegiate.ca),  twitter (https://twitter.com/AE_Peacock) , Facebook, and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/aepeacockcollegiate/).

Thank you to our fantastic facility operator staff for all their efforts over the summer season. While most staff and students are on summer break our facilities people are busy cleaning, restoring, and preparing the entire school for the upcoming school year. Many classrooms, doors, lockers, and corridors were painted this year as well as a few surprise custom updates were done in the student concession (Al’s Lunch). I’m sure students will notice the change once back to the school.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to working with you all over the year ahead!

Welcome back!  I sincerely hope that everyone had a wonderful summer break! Here we are at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. It is the beginning of another fresh school year full of promise, opportunities, and future memories.  I sincerely hope that for all our students your previous memories have been positive and that you are looking forward to making new ones. To all parents and students if there is anything I can do to assist you during your time at Peacock Collegiate do not hesitate to contact me directly. My phone number is 306-693-4626 and my email is swanson.dustin@prairiesouth.ca.  There are many ways to stay connected to Peacock through our web site (www.peacockcollegiate.ca),  twitter (https://twitter.com/AE_Peacock) , Facebook, and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/aepeacockcollegiate/). There is much to know and be involved in over the school year.

For this year starting blog I want to focus on the importance of regular school attendance and of getting involved in school extracurricular activities. Research and experience make it clear that both are critical to success in high school.

There is a well known phrase in the education world known as “Attendance Matters”.  It is a statement and phrase that our students, staff, and parents heard often last year.  It means that each and every school day is an important one and that we want students here each and every day. We know that students will get ill or have appointments or incidents which do affect their ability to attend every single day. However, as a general expectation we think that 95%+ attendance is a reasonable goal for all students. Of greater concern sometimes are the absences that can be avoided by some planning and focus. We believe that teachers are the simply the best at helping our students to learn and are available to help student catch up when absent. However, the discussion, presentations, activities, and overall learning that happens in a classroom with peers can’t be replicated through a homework sheet. I’m asking that should parents have a choice of keeping your child at school as opposed to pulling them out of class that you opt to keep them at school. Simply put, attendance matters. Last year we had some incredible school growth in regards to attendance. In fact, we achieved our target of 90% overall attendance for the entire school throughout the year!  Thank you very much for all your support and we look forward to keeping the trend for this school year!

We have a very hard working staff and community volunteer base that volunteer thousands of hours so that students can have extracurricular activities. I’m a firm believer that some of the most important life lessons happen in the gym, on a stage, or the sports field and strongly encourage all students to get involved. We have a wide variety of sports, fine arts, and clubs available to students. During the first week of school there are sign-up sheets in the main office so we hope to see everyone down to sign up for at least one activity this year. For students who are returning don’t forget that you are never too old to try something new! The Wayne Gretzky quote on my office wall is there as a reminder for us all that “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.  Make sure that this is the school year you take your shot!