Central Weekly Memo – Sept 19-23, 2022

Central Families,

Thank you to all staff, families and students for helping to make our first couple of weeks so successful and enjoyable.  Our staff are excited to meet new families and happy to have very brief discussions with families at pick up or drop off however, please be mindful that our teachers are supervising 20 or more students at this time so lengthy distractions can take them away from safely supervising students and their teaching responsibilities. Our school day begins at 8:45 am and our staff do need to get in to their classrooms to start teaching. Please continue to have regular communication with your child’s teacher either by email, calling the office at 905 522 9690 or setting up appointments to discuss any concerns you have. Thank you.

At the start of each year, schools are required to establish a School Council with the following membership:

Parent members must form the majority of the membership

Principal or Vice-Principal

At least one Community representative appointed by the School Council

School Staff representatives including one teacher and one non-teaching staff member from the school)

An election of parent members of a School Council shall be held during the first 30 days of the school year. This year, elections will take place at our first meeting on Tuesday, September 27th at 6:00 pm at Central Elementary and remotely for those wishing to join. Please contact our school office at 905 522 9690 if you would like to attend the meeting or if you would like an invite to attend remotely.

For those wishing to be a member of our school council or to nominate someone to be a member please print and complete the nomination form here and return to the school office

NOMINATION FORM

You may also scan and email to our school at [email protected]. If you have any questions please contact our school office at 905 522-9690.

For more information on the requirements and process related to School Council elections, please refer to the HWDSB School Council Handbook: Guide for Parents/Guardians and School Administrators School-Council-Handbook-Oct-2021-edition : School-Council-Handbook-Oct-2021-edition-2 and/or the Ministry School Councils: A Guide for Members School councils: edu-school-councils-guide-members-en-2022-03-07

A reminder that as we settle into the school year there are potential changes that can occur given class sizes and enrollments. Our numbers will be monitored and during this time called reorganization families will be notified if there are any changes to their child’s class or the teacher. This will take place during the last week of September. Further details will be shared with you over the next couple of weeks. If you have any questions about the reorganization process please contact the school.  Please be sure to check your child’s backpack for important memos and read emails sent to you from the school or register on our website to receive notifications to stay updated.

We have supervision on the playground from 8:30am until entry at 8:45am and then again at the end of the day from 3:05 until 3:20pm. Please be sure to pick up your child from the playground at the end of the day. Students not picked up at 3:05 pm will gather in the yellow box by the entrance off the parking lot. If not picked up by 3:20pm students will be escorted to the office where phone calls will be made to alert parents that their child has not been picked up.

Students in grades 4 or 5 that have permission to walk home must have a letter signed by their parent/guardian indicating that they are able to walk home.

We also invite families to keep up with communications from HWDSB by subscribing to email updates by going to our school website at [email protected] or following HWDSB on social media. Please reach out to our school at 905 522-9690 if you have any questions.

Here are some important points to remember as students prepare for the start of the school year:

Thank you to all families for ensuring safety and exercising caution in our parking lot which becomes a very busy area during arrival and departure. As we have families that need to park in our Accessible Parking spots to drop off students please be sure to not park in these designated parking spots and do not block other vehicles in. If you are dropping off or picking up students please do not block the driveway (either park in a spot or drop off and then exit as soon as possible. Please drive in from Bay St. and make an immediate right turn and follow a circle around the parking lot as it is one way traffic only. Drop/pick up students, make sure that they get to the playground/to your vehicle safely and then circle around the parking lot to exit on Bay St..  Please avoid backing up as this creates a lot of congestion and can be unsafe as many students enter the school through the Bay St entrance. Dismissal is at 3:05pm so please be sure to be at the school to pick up your child or children on time. The alternate is to park on Park St. as there is a 10min drop off zone.

Please contact the school using SafeArrival   (click for instructions) to report student absences or if you need to pick up your child from school early for an appointment. If you require assistance accessing the SafeArrival app please contact the school at 905 522-9690. We are unable to release students before the dismissal bell unless you have entered the dismissal in Safe Arrival.  Thank you to Ms. Gaston, our office assistant for all of her support with monitoring student attendance and calling families to ensure the safety of all of our students on a daily basis. This is a big job and takes up a lot of time in the morning so please assist us by using the Safe Arrival app or phone number to report absences. Contact the school if you require support with this.

A reminder that our school day starts promptly at 8:45am. If students are arriving late they must enter at the parking lot doors by ringing the doorbell and waiting for a staff member to escort them to class. If you are late, please do not send children in without calling the office and do not drop off in the Kindergarten area as we must ensure supervision of all students at all times and we do not want to  disrupt the learning of the other classrooms or take staff away from their supervision and teaching responsibilities. Please be sure to connect with your child’s teacher if there are any concerns about your child while at school. You can do this by setting up an appointment with your child’s teacher in person, through email or by contacting our office at 905 522-9690.

Addressing a Concern

Students and families with classroom concerns are encouraged to contact their student’s classroom teacher. School-wide concerns can be addressed by the principal. Addressing a Concern (PDF).

We know the return to school, especially for those who had been learning remotely, can be stressful for some students. We are here to support every student. If you think your child might struggle with school, please let your child’s teacher / DECE know.

Sincerely,

Mr. G. Carey

Principal – Central Elementary School