Parent Peek at the Week
Week of December 14th, 2020
In case you missed it.....
Important Dates
Monday, December 14th - Day 3
Tuesday, December 15th - Day 4
- Last day of our Kawartha Heights Cougar Kindness Challenge (see below)
Wednesday, December 16th - Day 5
Thursday, December 17th - Day 1
Friday, December 18th - Day 2
- Festive Friday #3 - Festive Holiday Sweater Friday
- Fabulous Dance Party Friday at recess
- Certificate of Cougar Celebration Awards
December is here!
Festive Holiday Fridays!
Cougar ROAR Challenge
This week was the week we made our goal!!!! It was a lot of hard work and energy, and we're so proud of our students for reaching their goal of 1,000 points. We are all looking forward to receiving our plush animal and adoption card in the new year - in recognition of all the hard work that happened these past months. Way to go, Kawartha Heights Cougars!
Kawartha Heights Cougar Kindness Challenge!
Any families who have participated - even if it was just one act of kindness, are encouraged to take a picture of their family calendar and email it to Mrs. Sampson at jennifer_sampson@kprdsb.ca in order to be entered into a draw for a family prize.
A big thank you to Mary Brown's Chicken - all families who submit their calendar will be entered into a draw for a 9 piece Family Feast from Mary Brown's!
This challenge is open to all online and face-to-face families. Remember - it's not about how many acts of kindness you do, it's taking the time to intentionally work as a family to show kindness in our community.
Send those calendars in to Mrs. Sampson by the end of the day on Tuesday, December 15th in order to be entered into the draw!
Online COVID-19 Screening Tool
As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise locally and provincially, it is critically important that students who are not feeling well, remain at home.
A reminder that we are kindly asking all students and staff to complete the online self-screening tool daily, before coming to school. We know it can be confusing when your child isn't feeling well - what should you do? By completing this simple online tool, you will be given easy to follow directions on next steps. Please keep this website handy:
https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/
If you prefer to print and keep the screening tool at home on paper, please see the tool listed below.
From the KPR Board Office
To All KPR Families,
The past week has marked several important human rights observances: the International Day of Abolition of Slavery on December 2, International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on December 6, and International Human Rights Day on December 10.
These observances are not one-time events at KPR. They are connected to our year-round efforts to foster equity, inclusion, kindness, respect and dignity for all. While we have made progress in this area, we believe much more can, and must, be done to achieve a truly equitable society.
We offer our sincere thanks to everyone who participated in our online ThoughtExchange to help us prioritize our equity, diversity and inclusion efforts. Approximately 900 people shared their thoughts, and applied over 22,000 ratings to other participants’ comments, in the ThoughtExchange. We are now collating and capturing all of that information to help inform our goals and objectives. Watch for more information as we move forward.
In the meantime, here is other significant news.
School closures on snow days
An important reminder: KPR schools will be closed on inclement weather days this winter, to protect student health.
More specifically:
- when ALL buses are cancelled across the entire board, ALL schools will be closed for the day
- when ALL buses are cancelled within a specific geographic region of the board, such as the Municipality of Clarington, Northumberland County or Peterborough County, schools in that region only will be closed for the day
- and, finally, if ALL buses are cancelled for a specific school or group of schools, only that school or group of schools will be closed for the day.
Students will learn at home on inclement weather days. When only a few buses are cancelled or delayed, schools will remain open. Stay tuned to local news media, social media, kprschools.ca, stsco.ca or direct emails/texts from SchoolMessenger for updates on whether your school will be open.
We know school closures are a hardship for some families. Ultimately, however, we cannot combine cohorts of students who attend school on inclement weather days, and we cannot guarantee we would have enough staff onsite to safely supervise students in their existing cohorts.
Transfers to Virtual Elementary School
The next opportunity to transfer students from in-school learning to KPR’s Virtual Elementary School (VES) will be early in the new year. This will allow teachers to finish student assessments before students transfer to the VES. More specifically:
- an Opt Out portal will be open on kprschools.ca from January 13-22 at 4 p.m., for families to complete if they wish to transfer their children to the VES
- the first day of class for new VES students will be Tuesday, February 2 (February 1 is a PA Day)
- VES teachers will contact families of new VES students beginning January 28.
Until February 2, students will continue to attend their home school; parents can discuss other learn-at-home options with their home school principal, if they wish, until their children start the VES classes February 2.
Watch for more information about the Opt Out portal soon.
Winter Break
The last day of school before Winter Break will be Friday, December 18. Students will return to school after the holidays on Monday, January 4.
Self screening
As we see the number of COVID-19 cases rise locally and globally, I remind you once again of an important website: Coronavirus (COVID-19) school screening (ontario.ca) . There, you will find an online assessment to complete for your children every morning, to ensure they do not attend school if they have symptoms of COVID. This information is available in English, French and 18 other languages.