Dear Hillcrest Families,

I hope this message finds everyone happy and healthy after a nice summer.

Yesterday our Staff gathered to prepare for the first day of school – and we are all very excited to welcome students back for the 2022-23 school year!  Each new year is a great new opportunity.

The first day of school is Tuesday, September 6, 2022. Teachers will be ready to greet all students on the playground at 9:10, ready for our first day of learning. If you do not know who your child’s teacher is yet, please log onto the Parent Portal, as that is where that information is available. If you are still unsure, don’t worry – just look for the Staff Members wearing their orange vests on Tuesday morning – and they can help direct you to the correct class and teacher.

If you have a child in Kindergarten the start-up routine will be different, as our Junior Kindergarten students will have their short school visits on Sept 6^th – meaning that our Senior Kindergarten students will not be starting on that day. Wednesday September 7^th is the first full day of school for all Kindergarten students.

As many of you know, the Health, Safety, and Well-Being of our Hillcrest Students, Staff, and Community are of great importance to us. As we still continue to see cases of COVID-19 in the community, we ask that everyone please continue with daily screening to ensure that students are coming to school healthy and feeling their best. If a student becomes unwell during the school day, we will be calling for a pick-up, and if they are unwell before school, we ask that you please keep them home until they are feeling better.

In the days and weeks to come I look forward to sharing details about School Council, Meet the Teacher, Fundraising, the return of our Breakfast Program, and other important items that we look forward to having back at Hillcrest. Until then, I encourage everyone to subscribe to updates from our website and the HWDSB website. There is also a new HWDSB App that provides a clear access point for updates from the system.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your child’s teacher or the office for support. We are here to help!

I hope everyone has a wonderful long week and I look forward to seeing everyone back to school next week!

Mr. C. Blunsdon

Principal ~ Hillcrest Elementary