Hello Wildflower Families

Before I jump in I just want to give huge props to all the families that came to the Wildflower garden party on Friday. The garden is looking great, and ready for some spring planting. This is a long email and I apologize for its length but there is a lot of important content I want to highlight. If you don’t want to read the whole think just skip to the end and I have highlighted the key points.

In my last email I discussed Wildflower’s personal digital device policy. This spurred conversation amongst the Parent Advisory Council (PAC), and amongst the teaching staff. In this digital society, we are starting to have a good idea about the impact of cell phones and at Wildflower I feel like we have a solid plan for limiting their impact on student well-being and learning. One area that we as a school are trying to get a better grasp around is the use of smart watches.

Smartwatches in schools pose increasing challenges, particularly in relation to student anxiety and the impact on teacher-student attachment. While these devices offer convenience and allow for easy communication between parents and children, the constant connectivity that can heighten anxiety. Students, especially when their parents text them, feel pressure to respond immediately or may be exposed to emotionally charged messages during class time, disrupting their focus and emotional regulation.

They can also undermine the development of strong teacher-student relationships. At Wildflower, we prioritize building secure attachments between teachers and students, believing that meaningful learning happens best in environments grounded in trust and emotional safety. When a problem occurs, we want students to reach out to their teacher so they can help them work through the issues that arise. When students turn to their watches for reassurance or habitually text parents at the first sign of difficulty, it weakens their ability build strong problem solving skills and also impacts their trust in their teacher. Over time, this reliance on external problem solving can erode the sense of safety and support that is vital to learning and growth.

We are asking that when at school, that the ‘smart’ features of a watch are disabled so it is just a watch or, that these watches are either put into your child’s backpacks or given to their classroom teacher. As I stated, we understand that sometimes you need to get a message to your child while they are at school. The office is happy to make sure that messages are passed on. As it recognized the impact of digital devices on learning, the Ministry of Education and Childcare, required all schools to have a digital devices policy, and while this was seen mainly as a cell phone, it includes all digital devices. If smart watches are continually a problem for a student we can and will ask the student to hand the device into the office.

Wildflower Swag! 

A couple of individuals have asked about Wildflower shirts, hoodies and bags. Our wonderful Anne, has put together a collection of Wildflower swag that you can purchase. We have tried to keep the prices low, but are also using this opportunity as a fundraiser as well. The proceeds will be going towards buying new library books, and also purchasing uniforms for our sports teams. 

You can purchase swag here: https://wildflowerschool.square.site/

by nick and easton