October 14th: Email Update sent to Parent emails on record
Good morning, Parents and Guardians,
I hope that your Thanksgiving holiday was relaxing, filled with time to recharge, catch up with those you want to and a chance to enjoy the lovely weather we are having.
School continues to be a busy place with lots of great things happening. I am trying to keep the information coming your way, but am not sending as many updates as I would like.
This morning I am sending a few updates and reminders by email, I hope this method is working, as it is the most efficient for me to share recent news and reminders.
Staffing changes and updates:
September and early October have been a very busy time in the School and the Board for Staff changes and refinements. After the School Board completed it’s mandatory re-organization for schools (this was completed the third week of September), this created a need to re-organize staff and or restaff certain jobs in the schools across the Board. In this process, Mrs. Barroso was transferred to Victory Public School. Ms. S. Pilbeam has joined us to fill Ms. Barroso’s position in Grade 1 and planning time. We gained more staff, Ms. J. Oxenham is joining us on day 2 and day 4 in the afternoons and she is providing planning time to a couple of our classes. Also during this time, Mrs. Allen in Kindergarten A has started her Maternity leave. We are thrilled for her and her family and excited to welcome Ms. S Moddison to our KA team. Recently, we were very excited to finalize our support staff team with the addition of Ms. A. Cromwell, Mr. J. Podolak and we continue to have the support from Ms. J. Hislop. They have been welcome additions to our team of teachers and staff at Priory, our entire team continues to work hard to make our school an amazing place to learn and work each day. Thank you for everyone’s patience and support during these staffing transitions and changes. Later today, we will be updating the website with staff emails, so if you are needing to share information with them or ask them a question about your child’s learning, you can access their email either there or on your child’s google classroom.
Individual Education Plans:
If your child has an Individual Education Plan, the updated plans for this year will be coming home today. Please look for them from your child at the end of the day. If you have any questions about the plans that were created with your survey information/feedback and our fall assessment and observational data, please contact your child’s teacher and they will be able to help you with your questions. Please return the parent contact page as soon as possible to the school.
Clarification on student masking and recess.
This year we are able to access more choice in our play areas on the school yard and outside is a time that Public Health and the Ministry of Education have determined to be times students can be at school and not be wearing a mask. To clarify, here are the guidelines that we are always reminding students of, so if you are also able to help remind your child, we would appreciate it.
In the morning, before school starts we have a smaller yard area that students can be on and more parents/guardians/caregivers on our yard. We also have supervision starting at 8:30 am, but we are still encouraging you to drop your children off as close to the 8:45 am bell as possible because we have a smaller area and a lot of people to manage on the yard. We have been asking parents to walk their child to the back tarmack area with the pilons and say goodbye there, if you are coming from the back field, can you please remain behind the hill or the playgrounds, this give the students as much space to distance as we can. Once you enter the back tarmac area, all adults need to be wearing a face mask. Kindergarten parents are encouraged to enter the school yard at the north end of the school where the Kindergarten yard is, if you need to enter by the south end parking lot and walk across the school hardtop/tarmac, please remember to be wearing your face mask, as this is the main area that students are gathering. Students can be enjoying this time without a face mask, IF they are staying in their class group/meeting tree area AND staying a safe distance (an arms length) between another student. This is generally not their choice of behaviour or natural actions, so we are encouraging them to put their mask on or move back from each other. If your child is playing with students from other classes, they must be wearing their face mask.
During our outside recess time during the day, students may choose to use this time as a break from wearing their face mask, if they are staying a safe socially distance space from others, playing only with friends from their class or playing on their own. If your child is choosing to play in or on one of the shared play spaces (Climbers/Playground/sandpits/soccer field/naturalized play area) they need to be wearing their face mask at all times. We go over these expectation many times each day and would appreciate your support to help your child(ren) with these safety precautions.
We are continuing this year to have a schedule for each play structure and tarmac access so that we can limit the number of classes mixing and provide each class with a space to move more freely and have a chance with each area. These schedules are shared with each class and the teachers on duty help remind students when it is their day on the tarmac or when it is their break on the climbers. Our climbers and play structures are open only if the weather and temperature allow. As we get colder and more frosty, we will be closing or limiting access to them.
At Dismissal, all students need to meet their pick up person and/or find their sibling who they are walking home with as soon as they are dismissed and start to make their way home when the 3:15 dismissal bell rings. Students who are taking school transportation need to be at their waiting spot for their bus as soon as they are dismissed. If your child takes transportation and they are being picked up at the end of the day, if you can let the office know as soon as you know this plan, it would help us with an efficient bus dismissal. Once you have met your child at the end of the day, if you choose to stay on the yard to play, please do, we have a beautiful yard. Students who are independent walkers need to be getting along home to check in with a caregiver.
Accessing the school yard after hours. We have a beautiful school yard and it does feel like an extension of our homes and backyard for our students and families. Please know that the school yard is not a public park and if your child is returning to play after school or after dinner, please know they are here with your supervision and they are expected to follow school rules. For the safety of the school community and the school, our school yard is monitored with video surveillance. There is also no school staff to supervise, if there are other community members or members of the general public on the yard who do not know or follow the school safety rules and your child is also there, do they have a plan to stay safe? Behaviour that is in violation of the School Board/City of Guelph policies is not allowed. If you have questions about this reminder, please contact me and I will help with your questions.
I am currently working on arranging a time for school pictures to be taken and exploring a chance to purchase school spirit wear. If you have not yet set up your school cash online account and you are wanting to participate in some of these events, please consider setting up your school cash online account. If you need help with this, call the office and we can help.
Again, Thank you all for your ongoing support, the students and staff appreciate it. We are having a great start to the year.
Thanks Hanna Morris
Categories: News