Monday, December 6th - Day 3

• Last day of our Scholastic Book Fair!
• All day - Jimmy Chapman Breakdancing (see info below)

Tuesday, December 7th - Day 4

• Subway Hot Lunch Day

Wednesday, December 8th - Day 5

• All day - Jimmy Chapman Breakdancing (see info below)

Thursday, December 9th - Day 1

• Boston Pizza Hot Lunch Day

Friday, December 10th - Day 2

• Cozy PJ Friday (see below)
• Cougar Courage Awards

Upcoming Dates:

• December 20th - 31st: Holidays!
• January 10th - School Council meeting
• January 31st - PA day
• February 7th and 10th - Jimmy Chapman
• February 17th and 18th: Rocks and Rings
• March 30th - Picture Day

It's time for a little Kawartha Heights fun!

Over the next 2 weeks, let's take some time to enjoy some festive time, with Festive Fridays. Please see the information below - and this week let's show our Cougar spirit by wearing our cozy PJ's on Friday!

It is with much excitement and lots of sadness that the Kawartha Heights staff would like to share the upcoming retirement of Mrs. McCabe at the end of this month. Mrs. McCabe has worked with SO many of our students over the years in her role as Educational Assistant. We are having trouble imagining our school without her, but look forward to her future visits and hearing all about her new adventures with her grandchildren.

Congratulations Mrs. McCabe and best wishes for a restful and exciting retirement!

As I'm sure you're aware, things are more unsettled now with the emergence of the Omicron variant. Case numbers are rising in the province and in Peterborough and more and more classes and schools in our region are being affected. Although vaccines are now available for our 5 - 11 year olds, the current vaccination rate for our area for children remains very low.

The Peterborough Health Unit is asking us to be extra diligent in following protocols right now - remember our goal is to NOT have to go online this winter. As tiring as it is, please reinforce with your children the importance of mask wearing and 6 feet distance at all times. This is really the best way we can ensure this air borne disease doesn't spread.

A reminder that it is extremely important for you to complete the Covid screening tool for EACH of your children EACH morning. Coming to school feeling unwell is never a good idea, but it is critical right now to be extra cautious. The school screening tool can be found here: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/

Next week, every student will be sent home with Rapid Antigen Test kits to be used at home, should symptoms present over the holidays. We expect to get the kits this week and they will be sent home with every student next week. For your information, the letters we will be sending home with the kits are attached below.

Finally, our Local Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Thomas Piggott, will present a free, online information session for parents and guardians about the paediatric COVID-19 vaccine. This live information session will take place on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. on Peterborough Public Health’s YouTube channel. Please see more information listed below.

Get your breakdancing shoes on!

School Council has kindly agreed to fund 3 different "movement" events for us this year...Jimmy Chapman's Breakdancing, Rocks and Rings Curling and National Lacrosse. They will also be funding an arts day - more details once the committee has figured that one out!

So.....Each class will have one 50 minute period with Jimmy on either December 6th or December 8th. He will then be coming back in February to give each class a second go at it.

There is a good chance we will be breakdancing outside - so please make sure your children come to school dressed for the weather this week!

Please see the schedules listed below.

This is the last chance to support our Kawartha Heights Book Fair and our school library!

Tomorrow (Monday) is the last day of our book fair - let's go out with a bang. The more we sell, the more books we can purchase for our library.

Thank you for your support with this great cause.

A big thank you to Ms. Landry and her class who are taking the lead on our Salvation Army Food and Toy Drive. We are excited to continue this week and the drive will last until December 10th (this Friday is the last day!).

As of last Monday, we had collected 110 food items and 10 toys. I know LOTS more came in last week, so stay tuned to Twitter and Instagram for updates as we aim to reach our goal of 500 food items and 50 toys.

We can do this! Please help support this great cause!

Secondary Programming

As we have shared, the province has announced that boards may return to the normal semester system in high schools, with students once again taking four courses a day starting in February. We appreciate this return to semesters will be welcome news to some students and staff, and for others, it represents further change and cause for some stress and anxiety.

I want to reassure you that that we are actively working to ensure staff and students are supported through this transition.

Our ongoing planning prioritizes the following considerations:

• the mental health and well-being of all students is a priority
• specific timetable concerns will be addressed on a student-by-student basis at the school level
• the possibility of implementing culminating tasks instead of final exams will be considered for all subjects
• student timetables with specialty programs, such as Co-operative Education, Dual credits, Specialist High Skills Major programs and eLearning conflicts will need to be prioritized
• students with graduation requirements and/or program pathway prerequisite requirements will be prioritized to ensure they have their required courses
• additional resources will be allocated to support schools with unique needs.

We are confident that, working together, we will successfully return to semesters in February.

Vaccination Clinics

Families can now book appointments for children ages 5-11 to be vaccinated against COVID-19. We are working with public health units on plans for many school-based vaccination clinics. Please note all clinics in our schools will take place after the school day or on weekends, for families to attend together. Parental consent will be required for children to be immunized. Please visit our Youth Vaccination web page for details on clinics being offered by the four health units in the KPR area. Families can book appointments at https://covid19.ontariohealth.ca or by calling 1-833-943-3900, and at select pharmacies. Children must turn 5 years of age by December 31 to qualify for vaccination.

2022-23 School Year Calendar Survey

KPR wants your input on two options for the 2022-23 school year calendar. The only difference in the options is timing of the 2022 Winter Break. Please the survey (linked below) by Monday, December 13 to let us know if you would prefer next year’s Winter Break to be held either December 19-30, 2022, or December 26, 2022 - January 6, 2023.

https://www.kprschools.ca/en/our_schools/resources/schoolcalendars.html

Rita Russo

Director of Education