HALLOWEEN PROTOCOLS

Monday October 31st, at Templemead School – Halloween Protocols

“Halloween is quickly approaching and for many of our students it is a time of excitement. This year, however, we are forced to once again recognize our unique circumstances and we must respect the Board and Public Health protocols that are in place to ensure the safety of all of our students, staff, and community members. This year, our Halloween protocols will be as follows:

•  Students who plan on dressing in costume must arrive in costume at the beginning of the school day and remain in costume for the entire day. Time will not be permitted to change in or out of costumes throughout the day.
•  As always, no weapons, no masks that impede vision, no inappropriate images or slogans.
• To support the daily functioning of the school:
•  No costumes are to be dropped of at the office for the purpose of being delivered to students in class. The school will not be accepting costumes or items dropped off throughout the day.
• No caregivers will be allowed in the building to help dress students
•  Students are allowed to bring individually packed ‘treats’ for themselves. Please don’t pre-prep goodie bags as this requires a lot of additional handling of many items within the bag.
• Students can bring purchased, individually wrapped treats (e.g., mini chocolate bars) to share with others in their own class/cohort. This does not include items such as: a package of muffins, cupcakes, or cookies (these are not individually wrapped)
•  Home baked items that are wrapped individually (home-baked items are not allowed due to our nut free protocols)
• Items not adhering to protocols will be sent home at the end of the day

Please keep in mind that we are a nut/peanut free school as we do have many students with allergies. And many of these allergies extend beyond into things such as dairy, eggs, gluten, etc. Please help us to manage the sharing of food items by not sending your child with giant bag of chips.

Weather permitting, we will be having an outdoor parade at which time parents can view students in costume. Should it be raining, we will simply be holding indoor events for students only.

We are sensitive to the fact that not all students celebrate Halloween. Keeping that in mind, educators will have alternate orange and black, and Autumn activities prepared for students should they choose to not participate in Halloween activities.

Halloween and Cultural Appropriation

When choosing a costume, we want to remain respectful of everyone’s race, culture, ethnicity, religion and/or belief system. Cultural appropriation means taking or borrowing a look or trait from a culture that is not your own. Costumes that are based on people’s culture can unknowingly be offensive, harmful, or insensitive. The following are suggested questions to reflect on when choosing a costume to avoid being disrespectful or offensive:

•  Is my costume making fun of a group of people, their culture, religion and/or belief systems?
•  Does my costume reinforce jokes and stereotypes about certain groups, cultures, religions and/or belief systems?
•  Am I altering my skin colour, facial/body features to make it like a particular race, ethnicity, or cultural group?
•  Am I dressing up as a culture or borrowing from a religion that is not my own or is not part of my background?