September 2nd, 2022

We are very excited to welcome back the Voyageurs to Westvale! We look forward to a school year that helps our students to be the best they can be in all areas of their lives. We are also grateful for the opportunity to work with your children.

We would like to introduce some new staff members to Westvale. Tim Fangrad is a new Educational Assistant, Sumbul Akhtar is the afternoon Early Childhood Educator in K1, and Lauren Morton has joined us as the Child and Youth Worker supporting our Integrated Support Program.

This message is going to give a few reminders about how we are operating on a daily basis at Westvale and outline some upcoming events in early September. 

COVID-19 

Each morning before school, parents are encouraged to continue to screen their children for COVID-19. The Ontario school and child care screening tool may be found on our school website under the red Ontario School Screen button or at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/

Please follow the directions of the screening tool and do not send your child to school if the tool indicates that possible symptoms indicate they should not attend.

Late Arrivals

Please buzz the front door and our office staff will assist students and parents. Sign in for lates and early pick ups for appointments will all be handled by our secretaries in the front office. 

Scent Free Hand Sanitizer

Many of you may want to purchase personal hand sanitizers for use at school. Please remember that it must be scent free, absolutely no scent at all as we have students and staff with sensitivities. 

Peanut Free and Scent Free School

Please do not send food products containing nuts nor scented products to school. We have students and staff with peanut and scent allergies.

School Supplies

You may be wondering about school supplies. We suggest you consider a water bottle, a ruler, pencils, erasers, crayons, markers, or pencil crayons and glue sticks. Items will not be shared between students. These items will stay in each individual student’s desk / container. Indoor shoes should also be brought to school. Teachers will share more specific details in their introductory letters to their classes.

Please greatly limit what is brought from home and stick with the essentials for learning! 

Mask Use

Students may choose to wear masks indoors. We will support our students to show empathy and understanding in the personal decisions that we are now making for mask use.

If you would like to send in a couple of extra masks in a paper or cloth bag, please feel free to do so. Names on the masks would be useful. 

Nutrition Breaks

Students will eat for the first half and go outside for the second half of break. We will continue to support students in their hand hygiene routine of washing their hands before eating and washing/sanitizing when they come back inside.

If you know you are going to pick up your students for appointments during our nutrition breaks, please try to do so during the first 20 minutes when students are indoors eating. Our break times are 11:00 am – 11:40 am and 1:40 pm – 2:20 pm.

Entry/Exit Doors

Class line up locations have been shared in the Westvale Plan for the First Day website post. Please see the map at https://wsv.wrdsb.ca/about/line-up-locations-22-23/ to remind yourself where classes meet and leave from each day.

Coming on School Property 

If you are a parent of a student, you are welcome to come behind the school to drop off at the beginning of the day and/or meet your child at the end of school.

We will remind you that the school property should not be accessed for other purposes during the school day. Classes go outside for outdoor learning activities throughout the school day. Please do not come onto the school property to play on the creative equipment or use the fields during school hours. We want to make sure our students feel safe when learning outdoors.

At no time should dogs be in the school yard. Some students and families may be afraid of dogs and we don’t want someone stepping in what may be left behind. Thank you for your consideration.

Meet the Educators and School Council Meeting – September 14

On Wednesday, September 14,  we invite parents and guardians to come to Westvale to meet your children’s educators. Westvale School Council has arranged three food trucks to begin serving food for purchase at 4:45 pm on the tarmac. Food will be available for purchase throughout the event.

The school building will open at 5 pm for parents and guardians to meet their children’s educators in their classrooms.  The “Meet the Educator” event will end at 6:30 pm as the next event begins.

The first Westvale School Council meeting will begin at 6:30 pm on September 14 in the Library. We encourage parents to attend the school council meetings and become more involved with our school community.

Online Information Package – Back to School Forms

We will send further information next week regarding the collection of  forms that would normally come home or be filled out online on the first day of school. There is a delay due to the cyber security incident over the summer and they will be shared at a later date.  

If your child has a severe medical condition, please contact the school at wsv@wrdsb.ca to share urgent information.

Travel to School

The Ministry of Education is recommending active travel to school (cycling, scootering, walking) as a safe and healthy option that will help to  boost immunity, provide fresh air, build lung capacity and health, contribute to mental health, and increase focus in the classroom. If families feel they must drive, please consider the dangers of traffic congestion at the school, and plan to park a short distance away to ensure the space around the school is safe for all our students. 

The parking lot is not available for parent parking.

We have bike racks in front of and behind the school. Students may lock their bicycles and scooters on these racks. For safety reasons, these vehicles cannot be in the building.

Nutrition for Learning

We will notify parents when Nutrition for Learning will begin. Please make sure your child’s lunch has adequate food and drinks for two breaks. At this time, no additional food is available at the school.

We are so excited to see all of our Voyageurs! Enjoy the Labour Day weekend and see you next Tuesday!

M.S. Meredith – Principal

Categories: Schools