Parent Peek at the Week
Week of November 30th, 2020
Important Dates
Monday, November 30th - Day 3
- Continuation of our Kawartha Heights Cougar Kindness Challenge (see below)
- Progress Reports will be sent home over the course of the day (electronically)
Tuesday, December 1st - Day 4
Wednesday, December 2nd - Day 5
Thursday, December 3rd - Day 1
Friday, December 4th - Day 2
- Festive Friday #1 - Fantastic Plaid Friday
- Fabulous Dance Party Friday at recess
- Certificate of Cougar Celebration Awards
December is here!
Festive Holiday Fridays!
Inclement Weather School Closures
The KPR Board has made an important change to how we handle inclement weather days (snow days) this winter. We wish to let all families know that schools will be closed on inclement weather days this year, to protect student health.
We know school closures are an inconvenience and hardship for parents and families. Ultimately, however, we must ensure student well-being at all times. To meet public health requirements and maintain student health, we are not able to combine groups or “cohorts” of students who attend school when buses are cancelled. We also cannot ensure that our schools would have enough staff on-site during snow days to safely supervise the much smaller groups of students in their existing cohorts.
Therefore, if all buses are cancelled to a school, a region of schools or all schools board-wide, those schools will be closed for the day.
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.
When only a few buses are cancelled, or buses are delayed, schools will remain open.
Schools will provide learning for students to work at home on these days in a variety of ways, either through previously assigned or new work through the classroom teachers’ regular communication platforms, based on the age and grade of the students. Virtual elementary and secondary school programming on snow days will continue as normal.
We will inform families of school closures on snow days in several ways, including local news media, on www.kprschools.ca, through our social media channels (@kprschools on Twitter and Facebook), and by email or text from SchoolMessenger.
Please ensure that your school has up-to-date contact information for you, so that we can text or email you directly about what is happening at your child’s or teen’s school. You can sign up for our direct text service by sending a text message to 978338 with the message of “Y” or “Yes”.
For further information, please see the letter emailed to all families November 25 from Director of Education Jennifer Leclerc, or visit www.kprschools.ca
Parent Reaching Out Survey
We would love your ideas and input! Over the next week, please take a minute (and I really mean it will only take a minute at the most) to complete the following survey:
https://forms.gle/e4FZstk7WPgLHccu6
We have a few ideas for you to think about - but we'd love more. We value your input!
Did you know.....
For more information, here is a short video to get you started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjzw9xv4Fuc
Progress Reports and Interviews
Last week I let you know that Progress Reports were to be sent out to you this week. Change of plans! Please note that due to the volume of work at the board level to send out Progress Reports electronically, the board is having to now send them on Monday, November 30th instead of Thursday, November 26th. They are coming - you'll just get them on Monday instead of Thursday. Please note that reports will be sent out centrally throughout the day - so some schools (maybe even ours!) won't get them until later in the day.
In addition to Progress Reports, you should be hearing from your child's teacher this week about setting up a time for a virtual or telephone interview. Please respond by letting us know the best days and times to connect with you.
Kawartha Heights Cougar Kindness Challenge!
From the 15th of November until the 15th of December we are launching the first KH Cougar Kindness Challenge! Families are encouraged to complete acts of kindness, marking the daily progress. At the end of the challenge you can submit your family calendars (with one or one hundred hearts of kindness!) and be entered into a draw for one of several family prizes. When submitting, please take a picture of your calendar and email it to Mrs. Sampson at jennifer_sampson@kprdsb.ca.
NEW: A big thank you to Mary Brown's Chicken and Domino's Pizza - all families who submit their calendar will be entered into a draw for a 9 piece Family Feast from Mary Brown's or a Family Pizza Night from Domino's Pizza.
This challenge is open to all online and face-to-face families. Hopefully we'll have great participation! 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.
All you need to complete the challenge can be found below. We look forward to seeing how our families rise to the challenge!
Online COVID-19 Screening Tool
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.
Important Pieces of Information
1. Presents for Staff: I've had many families contact me recently, inquiring whether they can send in presents for staff. First of all, please know this is not necessary and how much we appreciate your kindness in asking! If you feel you want to recognize a teacher, you can send in a present. We kindly request that you don't send food - any presents will be quarantined for 3 days and then they can be opened.