Safety Plans

All schools, including Donwood School, purposefully plan for student safety in an around our buildings. These plans include:

• Emergency preparedness — including fire drills that are practised 10 times a year, along with dangerous intruder, school lockdown, and evacuation drills.
• Supervision — school grounds are supervised 15 minutes before and after school, as well as all times at recess and lunch when students are outside. School patrols and conflict managers increase safety through peer supports.
• Building — entrance doors are all locked once students enter for classes during the school day, except the front/administration doors to restrict unwanted access to our learning areas.

To help ensure the safety of our students, certain potentially dangerous areas are out of bounds. These areas are the parking lot, the outdoor power boxes, the front street, and the bus loop. Please assist us in this by picking up students on Paufeld Drive rather than Donwood Drive or the school parking lot.

Playground Supervision

School staff supervise playground activities at these times:

Prior to entry: 8:45–9:00 a.m.
Morning recess: 10:15–10:30 a.m.
Lunchtime: 12:15–12:45 p.m.
Afternoon recess: 2:00–2:15 p.m.
After dismissal: 3:30–3:45 p.m.

Accident Procedures

Minor injuries such as cuts, scrapes, bruises, etc., will be attended to by school staff. For serious injuries, proper emergency/first-aid procedures will be followed.

• Parent, guardian, or emergency contact person will be phoned to inform them of the injury and asked to transport the child to the doctor or hospital, if required.
• If no contact can be made, school staff will transport the injured child to the hospital.
• If the injury is very serious or life threatening, an ambulance will be called.

Visitors to the School

The policy of River East Transcona School Division is that:

• Every visitor to the school must first report to the school office.
• Parent volunteers and guests are asked to wear an identification card while they are in the school.
• All volunteers must complete a Child Abuse Registry check prior to volunteering in the school. These are available in the school office.
• There may be times when your child needs to be picked up from school. Please report to the office and your child will be paged. For the safety of your child, we do not want students waiting outside unsupervised.
• At regular dismissal times, parents, relatives, or friends of students are asked to wait for the children at the exits. Last-minute instructions by teachers as they prepare to dismiss their students can be unnecessarily complicated by the presence of other adults or children.

Emergency School Closure

Occasionally, because of power failure, water main break, etc., the school may have to be closed. In case of such an emergency, pupils at Donwood will be walked to Holy Redeemer Church or Chief Peguis Middle School where they will be accommodated until parents can arrange to pick them up or the usual dismissal time. If pupils have to be sent home, please be sure your child knows where to go if you are not at home.