Harris Mill Public School

Getting Started at Harris Mill PS – September 2023

Posted August 31, 2023

Welcome to the 2023/2024 School Year

Bonjour and welcome to Harris Mill Public School! I hope that you have had a wonderful summer and have had some relaxing time with family and friends.  My name is Chad Guyitt and I am the new principal at Harris Mill Public School. I have been a principal at many schools in the UGDSB over the last 10 years and I look forward to working with the amazing students and staff at Harris Mill PS! If you see me at the school please feel free to introduce yourself and have a chat. I look forward to making connections with all the Harris Mill families 

The upcoming school year would not be possible without recognizing the efforts of some very important people. We need to thank the amazing Ms. O’Malley and her wonderful, hardworking, team of custodians who worked diligently through the summer cleaning every corner of the school and setting up desks. Also Ms. Evans, our fantastic Office Coordinator, has put in many hours getting all the paperwork ready for school opening and last but least all of our teachers and staff have done a wonderful job creating warm, welcoming spaces in their classrooms for every single Harris Mill student. “THANK YOU” everyone for getting us started so well!

As we head into a new school year at Harris Mill we want you to know that we value parent and community involvement.  With this in mind, we look forward to having you join us for our Open House from 6:30-7:30 pm on Thursday, September 28th. I extend a special welcome to families who are joining us for the first time to this special event. Also a reminder there are lots of ways as parents and guardians to become involved in our school community including volunteering your time and joining our great School Council.

Below is an outline of “Things to Know” as we jump back into another school year, so please read carefully. Feel free to also check out the UGDSB’s website for more back to school 2023-24 information by clicking here. 

 Looking forward to a great school year!

Chad Guyitt

Principal

Important Forms and Notices

There are a number of forms and notices that will be coming home the first day of school.  Several of these forms need parents’ signature, updated information and they need to be returned to school.  Please sign and update forms and return to the school by Monday, September 11, 2023.

 Staff Changes

This year we welcome new staff members to Harris Mill School.  We are pleased to welcome: 

1. K. Daniels – Kindergarten
2. E. MaWhinney – Gr. 3/4
3. A. Artuso – Planning & Library
4. S. Hill – Planning
5. C. Jarman – Planning
6. A. Fiorino – EA 
7. E. Sampson – Gr 2/3

First Day Procedures

Please arrive at the school between 8:15 and 8:30.  We ask that parents walk their children to the tarmac (kindergarten at the kindergarten gates).  Teachers will direct your child to the appropriate grade level signs.  If it is raining, students are advised to dress for the weather and bring an umbrella.

If your child takes the bus:

• Your child will be greeted by a staff member who will unload buses one at a time.  That staff member will ensure students know where they are meeting their teacher and will support by  finding non-classroom staff who are available to help them if they become unsure of where to go.
• For more information, visit the STWDSTS website at https://stwdsts.ca. 
• If you are opting out of taking the bus, please ensure your choice is updated with Transportation. 

Students Who Are Late or Picked Up Early

If your child arrives late we ask that you phone the school upon arrival and check in at the Office before going to class.  We would ask that if your child(ren) are to be picked up early that you send a note or leave a message on the answering machine, x 100, letting us know the time you will be picking up your child.  Your help in ensuring that students arrive at school on time would be greatly appreciated.

School Hours

Our daily timetable follows the balanced day model with the following schedule. We appreciate your efforts to have children arrive at school before the entry bell.

Lunch Procedures

• Wash hands before and after eating.
• No sharing food.
• Use water bottles and filling stations.  
• Students eat at their individual station in their classrooms.
• At this time, students will not be permitted to go off-site for lunch.

Litterless Lunches

We will be promoting a litterless lunch model and using the boomerang model that helps to reduce garbage in the school.

Visiting the School

All parents and visitors must:

• Sign in at the office and receive your visitor’s badge if leaving the main foyer area
• Wait to be escorted or met by a staff member to go to a classroom 
• Sign out at the office upon leaving
• Visitors/volunteers working with students should have a criminal background check 
• Visitors are bound by relevant school policies
• Privacy should be protected when working with students
• In the event of an emergency that requires the building to be evacuated, assemble at the designated place which is displayed in each room 

Thank you for abiding by these steps as they are in place to ensure the safety of all students.

Parking

The parking lot continues to be opened to the families of kindergarten students.  Due to the limited spaces in the lot, our youngest students will be prioritized. Please understand that entering the parking lot does not ensure a spot to park as there is limited space.  Only staff members, cars with accessibility permits, and cars carrying a kindergarten student are permitted to park in the parking lot. Once parked, kindergarten students must be accompanied by an adult to the kindergarten gate.  If you have students in both Kindergarten and grades 1-5 please walk both students to the sidewalk using the crosswalk.

In the interest of student safety, it is imperative that the following safety guidelines be adhered to.

• Cars must be parked in a parking spot

• All students must be accompanied by an adult and walked  to the kindergarten yard

• The crosswalk must be used, do not cross between buses

• Vehicles must yield to buses

Families of students in grades 1-5 please continue to pick up and drop off your children on Parkinson Drive or Wheeler.

Communication with the School

Communication between school and home will continue to be very important.  We will use the school website, email and phone call out as a means to share important school and board information.  As items come up, they will be posted in our News and Announcements section of the school website.  Our website and the school board is an important link to have in your favourites.   Please check it often at https://www.ugdsb.ca/harrismill/  and https://www.ugdsb.ca/.  We will also use twitter as a means to share information. There is a link on our website to follow us on Twitter (@harrismillps).  As well, please consider learning more about and downloading the UGConnect from the App Store/Google Play.

We will be sending home our regular package of information by the end of the first week of school.  Please return all the completed forms to your child’s teacher as soon as you can.

Classroom teachers will be using GoogleClassroom to support home and school communication. Teachers will be providing specific details on this with you.

September Class Placements

As in recent years, classroom organizations and student placements during the first two weeks of school will be tentative until enrollment numbers are confirmed. Please note the following message from the UGDSB’s Human Resources Department:

Message from the Human Resources Department

Re: School Organizations

Schools have built class lists based on their tentative organizations. Changes may be necessary at your child(ren)’s school in order that our Board remain compliant with Ministry parameters (see below). Any changes would be implemented by Monday, September 19th. Principals do not have the option of changing the school organization that is set by the District Staffing Committee of the Board. If changes affect your child(ren), you will be informed by the school.

Ministry of Education Parameters

*Full Day Kindergarten Class Size Average for the Board is 26 students

*90% of the Board’s primary classes with 20 or fewer students

*10% of the Board’s primary classes up to a maximum of 23 students

*Grade 3/4 classes have a cap of 23 students

*Junior/Intermediate Class Size Average for the Board is 24.5 students to 1 teacher

90% of Full Day Kindergarten classes with 29 or fewer students

10% of Full Day Kindergarten classes up to a maximum of 32 students

under certain circumstances

School Supplies

All regular school supplies are provided to students by the school and it is not necessary to purchase anything. That being said, some children prefer to have their own materials. In this case, we suggest that you keep it simple with materials such as a pencil case, crayons, coloured pencils, glue stick, markers, scissors, etc.

The only items children need to bring from home are extra shoes for indoor use, a backpack, and a lunch box.

Medication at School and Students with Life-Threatening Medical Conditions

Please drop off any plans of care and or medication to the office.  If you require a plan of care please access this link: 

https://www.ugdsb.ca/board/policy/policy-518-students-with-life-threatening-medical-conditions/

***NOTE***

UGDSB Policy 518: Students with Life-Threatening Medical Conditions, outlines the roles and responsibilities for all in the educational community to support students with possible life-threatening medical conditions.  The prevalent medical conditions covered under this policy are Asthma, Anaphylaxis, Diabetes and Epilepsy/Seizure Disorders.  If your child has one of these, or any other life-threatening medical condition, please visit: https://www.ugdsb.ca/board/policy/policy-518-students-with-life-threatening-medical-conditions/  or contact the school as soon as possible.  We will work with you to develop a Plan of Care to support your child.

Life-Threatening Allergies

We have children in our school with potential life-threatening allergies (called anaphylaxis) to various foods and other materials.  Anaphylaxis is a medical condition that can cause death within minutes.  In recent years, anaphylaxis has increased dramatically among students. Although this may not affect your child’s class directly, we are letting you know so that you are aware that we aim to create an allergy safe environment at our school. If your child is in a classroom with an anaphylactic child, or your child has anaphylaxis, you will be informed by the classroom teacher. Our school has procedures in place for the prevention and management of anaphylactic reactions. If your child has health concerns of any kind, please tell your child’s teacher or the office and we will take the necessary health protection steps. Thank you for your understanding in ensuring an allergy-safe environment for all of our students.

Open House

Our first special event of the year.  Our Open House will be an opportunity for families to visit the school and meet with the teacher.  This is a wonderful chance for you to request a meeting should you wish to discuss your child(ren)’s strengths and areas for growth.  Our Open House will be taking place on Thursday, September 28th at 6:30-7:30 pm.

Dress for the Weather

September weather can be unpredictable. We plan to go outside for every recess break and some physical education classes, unless there is heavy rain or the threat of a severe storm. Children should have a sweater or light jacket in their backpacks to wear outside if necessary.

All children need to have two sets of footwear, one for indoor use and the other for outside. The best choice is running shoes, which can double as gym shoes. For safety reasons, flip flops and other shoes without backs are not suitable for school.

PA Days 

Please note that this year we have the following full Professional Activity Days: 

MONDAY SEPTEMBER, 18TH

FRIDAY OCTOBER, 27TH

FRIDAY NOVEMBER, 24TH

FRIDAY JANUARY, 26TH

FRIDAY APRIL, 19TH

FRIDAY JUNE, 7TH

FRIDAY JUNE, 28TH

School Photographs

This special day has been booked for Wednesday October 18th, 2023.  Remind your child(ren) to wear their smile(s)!

Harris Mill School Council   

Every publicly-funded school in Ontario has a School Council, whose mandate is to act in an advisory capacity to make recommendations to the Principal and, as appropriate, to the Board. The overall goal of the Council is to support the school in improving student achievement.

Harris Mill  School Council will hold its first meeting of this school year on Tuesday, September 12th, from 7:00-8:30 p.m.  School Council elections will take place at this meeting. All parents and guardians are welcome to attend. Please consider joining the School Council and become more involved with our vibrant French and English student community. It does not need to be a lot of time nor a long term commitment.  There is something for everyone who wants to participate.  Please join us in the work we do for our students!

To find out more about our School Council, please contact([email protected]).  Join us for the first meeting of the school year and find out how you can make a difference in education at the Board level!

Accessibility and Equity

There may be times throughout the year when we will be asking for parents to send in money to cover the cost of field trips, pizza, special events etc.  We understand that for some families these funds may cause financial hardship.  We don’t ever want a child to miss out due to financial hardship.  If ever you are in this situation please just contact Mr. Guyitt and he will make arrangements to have the school cover the cost.

Smoke–Free Environment

The Upper Grand DSB provides a smoke-free environment for its students, staff and others while on school Board property, in accordance with the Smoke-Free Ontario Act.  This policy refers to all forms of tobacco, and any processed form of tobacco that may be smoked, inhaled or chewed, including e-cigarettes.

Smudging is the tradition of using sacred smoke from sacred medicines (e.g., tobacco and sage) that forms part of the indigenous culture and spirituality. Smudging is allowed in schools under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. Parents will be informed using the school’s usual forms of communication when smudging is going to occur in our school.  Participation by staff and students is optional in a smudging ceremony.

Video Surveillance

Harris Mill Public School is monitored by 24 hour video surveillance. Security cameras are in operation for the safety of the students, staff and the school community and for the protection of the Upper Grand District School Board property. For additional information please contact the Principal (519-856-0309) of the school or contact the F.O.I. Co-ordinator at the Upper Grand District School Board office at 519-822-4420.

Pets

If you bring your dog during drop off and pick up please walk them along the grassed area on the opposite side of the parking lot (rather than the sidewalk).  There are students and adults who are not comfortable around pets. We appreciate your support with this.  These measures help us to ensure that our community members feel safe at school.

UG2Go

Our board has a wonderful resource for all of our students that can be accessed 24/7 from school or from home. It’s called UG2GO and includes Learn 360 (educational video streaming), Student Link (a site children use at school that gives them access to websites that are kid friendly and relate directly to their current units of study), Tumblebooks (a site that has hundreds of books children can click on and have read to them), Overdrive (eBooks and audiobooks), and much more.

 When students are at home they can go to this URL:

https://www.ugdsb.on.ca/ug2go

They will be prompted to enter the same Windows username and password that they use at school to get onto the school network. Once they enter their Windows username/password they will enter the site and they can then click on any of the resources and be taken directly to the individual resource without the need for any additional passwords.

Please take a few minutes to explore the site with your child. It is an important tool that will aid them in their education, and may make your life easier when it comes to homework and projects. We are excited that students will be able to access information from anywhere and at any time!

Looking forward to a fun filled year!

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