Family Update – May 9th

Dear Ancaster Families,

Today we celebrate the sunshine!

Please find below a number of brief updates.

EQAO 

All grade 3 and 6 families will be receiving a letter regarding the Provincial EQAO Assessment.

The schedule for the assessment is: 

 May 16th – May 20th: 5/6A and 6A

May 30th – June 2nd: 6/7A and 6/7B

June 6th – June 10th: All grade 3s

 

Lunchbox 

Ancaster Meadow Home & School is happy to announce that Thursday Lunches will be starting back Thursday, May 12th. Orders must be placed by the Sunday before the Thursday delivery at noon. Please see the Welcome Back flyer and ordering instructions that were sent out last week.  

Kindergarten Orientation 

On May 25th, from 4:00 – 5:30 pm, we invite all of our new kindergarten families to attend an in-person kindergarten orientation. There will be a brief presentation sent out to all families to view and a tour of the classrooms. We’ll have our Umbrella Family before and after care partners available, along with our Reading Specialist. This is a great opportunity to ask any questions you might have. 

 Storytime Trails 

We’ve been enjoying tours of our Storytime Trails book Where Oliver Fits by Cale Atkinson. The trail will be available again this week in the kindergarten playground by the side of the school for the month of May. 

Entry/Dismissal 

With the warmer weather hopefully staying a little longer, we certainly encourage walking to school. Our parking lot continues to be closed from 9:00 am – 9:20 am, and we’ve recently experienced an increase in the number of 9:20 am (and later) student drop-offs. When students enter the classroom late, it often means that they’ve missed instruction/directions for work, and is disruptive to the class. Please remember our entry is at 9:15 am, and students entering after this time will be recorded as late.  

If you need to pick your child up prior to the end of day dismissal time of 3:35 pm, please pre-arrange your child’s dismissal through School Messenger. We need to maintain the instructional time with limited interruptions to student learning. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. 

Neighbours 

We are all neighbours. Unfortunately, there are a number of neighbours on Springfield Blvd. who have been struggling with the congestion at the end of the day. Please do your best to space your parking as much as possible, and please be mindful of blocking driveways, parking in front of the fire hydrant, or walking across the lawns. 

Emergency Procedures 

Last week we had our first of three spring fire drills. The entire building evacuated in under 3 minutes! Over the next few weeks, we will be conducting the following, along with two more fire drills: 

1. Shelter in Place is used for an environmental, or weather-related situation, where it is necessary to keep all occupants within the school to protect them 
2. Hold & Secure is used when the school is secured due to an ongoing situation outside and not related to the school and requires all persons to remain in the building. The school is most likely to be notified by the Hamilton Police Services. 
3. Lockdown may be initiated for several reasons and is usually initiated by the principal or school personnel. A lockdown is defined by police as the restriction of movement during the time of a potentially serious violent threat or incident that would endanger students and staff. 

Lost and Found

We have so many lost items that would love to be found. Please encourage your child to explore the lost and found, and be sure to let us know if you notice something that belongs to your family! We will be donating “unfound” items in a couple of weeks.

Thank you,
KDunford