Updates For December 5-11, 2021

Posted December 9, 2021

Good day Alma PS families!  Here are the 5 things you need to know this week:

  1.  As the heat comes on in the school and things get warmer, we are noticing that students are a lot thirstier these days.  Our bottle filling stations are up and running well.  Please ensure your child has a labeled bottle each day to use.  If you’re looking for a good gift idea this holiday season, this might be one if they need a new one.  We do have cups in the office for emergency situations where bottles are forgotten.  We’ve noticed a lot of students are asking for these lately.  Please remind your child to bring their bottle each day as it is great for the environment and promotes healthy habits too.
  1. The UGDSB sends out monthly communication letters to families.  They are posted to the UGDSB Connect App each time they are sent.  If you’d like to find them on your own without the app, they are available for your viewing pleasure, including archived ones, at HTTPS://WWW.UGDSB.CA/COMMUNITY/COMMUNICATIONS/COMMUNICATIONS-NEWSLETTER/.  This month there is important information about international travel requirements, input opportunities on the new School Volunteer Policy draft (which includes a need for volunteers to have a vulnerable sector police check), and an update on the semester setup in our Secondary Schools.
  1. We are very blessed here at Alma PS to have such wonderful support from our surrounding community.  We have had two amazing donations this month.  Firstly, our local Optimist Club ran a fundraiser for our school selling Kitchen Kuttings items.  They have made a very generous donation from this fundraiser to support in-school programming and other needs in our school.  Thanks go out to the many community members and school families who supported this amazing initiative.  Also, Alma Bible Church has also made a very generous donation to our school’s snack program.  We are very grateful for their support and I have sent a thank you card to them on behalf of our community.  It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child and this community is doing an amazing job of raising all of our children.  Thanks for letting the staff at Alma PS be a part of it.
  1. This month as we gather around our Christmas tree and learn about the variety of holidays celebrated across the UGDSB, we are watching our collection of food items grow.  Please feel free to continue sending in items and we will donate them to the Food Bank.
  1. In an effort to promote a safer return to the classroom after the winter break, the province will be providing take-home rapid antigen screening kits to every child who attends a publicly-funded school in Ontario.  We will be sending these kits home on Monday after school with a letter explaining the steps to follow over the holidays.  This is voluntary.  If you do not wish to have the letter and kit sent home, please contact the school as soon as possible.  We will spend some extra time during the last period on Monday ensuring the kits are safely placed in backpacks and teachers will remind students that the kits are to go straight to parents at home.   Please look for the kits.   They are being sent home in sealed envelopes labeled with your child’s and your names on them.  The kit includes the pre-packaged test kit, as well as a letter from the UGDSB about the process.

 

As we approach the holidays, we know this is a time of joy and excitement but also a time of stress and anxiety too.  If there’s anything we can do to help, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Jason Boyce

Principal Alma PS

Categories: News