A New Beginning

The new school year begins!  We have a lot of things that are different—naturally because of the World Pandemic—but we are finally in a stage where we are starting to get a little closer to what is normal (and FUN!) about school. 

I am excited to be at Upper Sumas Elementary! It is my sixth school in Abbotsford, and my second school as a full time Principal. Can you guess which ones I’ve been at? (read to the bottom if you want to find out) As far as I’m concerned, this is a new school, because my last school was 140 years old, and Upper Sumas is barely one hundred!  Old schools have awesome history, and I am looking forward to hearing stories from parents who were former students here, and of course, getting to know  all of YOU better during the year. 

What is the same for September? Well, if you’re an adult or in grade 4/5, we still get to wear masks in school most of the time. We still have to do our daily health checks, and stay home if you are sick. Social distancing will still be encouraged, especially indoors. And we have to wash our hands—ALL the TIME.  Yes, it takes time, but last year proved it helped to keep us safe as well. 

What is changing? We get SPORTS back!  Volleyball, Basketball, Soccer, Handball, Track and Field…and many more.  I don’t remember my best Math lesson, but I remember the final winning overtime point in every sport I played or watched. Assemblies in person will start again; smaller at first, but hopefully all together before the year is out. We get to play TOGETHER on the playground, before, during and after school. And Food!  We get to start bringing food back into school (with restrictions).   Yum.   There will be more events and other things that are slowly moving back to normal, but it will take time.  Thanks again to all of you for your continuing patience—we keep needing a lot of that these days. 

Let’s get Started! 

Abby Chan
Principal (aka the new guy) 

(answer: MEI, Rick Hansen, Eugene Reimer, Clayburn, Mt. Lehman, Upper Sumas)