Parent Peek at the Week
Week of April 5th, 2021
Important Dates
Monday, April 5th - Day 0
- Happy Easter Monday!!!
Tuesday, April 6th - Day 4
- All day - World Autism Day (celebrated by KPR)
- First block - Mrs. Beaton's class in Outdoor Ed with Nature Art
- Second block - Mrs. Rutherford's class in Outdoor Ed with Nature Art
- Third block - Ms. Tourloukis' class in Outdoor Ed with Nature Art
Wednesday, April 7th - Day 5
- First block: Ms. Baker's class in Outdoor Ed with Endangered Species
Thursday, April 8th- Day 1
Friday, April 9th - Day 2
- Cougar Courage Awards
- Fantastic Dance Party Friday
UPCOMING:
April 12th - 16th: April School Break
April 19th: 6:30 School Council
April 20th: Family Virtual Paint Night
COVID Safety during a lockdown
- students wearing masks at all times (except when eating) in Kindergarten - Grade 6; most students in Kindergarten are arriving at school with a mask, so we ensure that they are wearing them all day long
- no cross cohorting of classes; each class has their own designated bathroom time and designated outdoor area
- we socially distance as much as possible, given the size of our classrooms and hallways
- we ensure hand washing and hand sanitizing is happening on a regular basis
- staff wear masks and face shields when they are around children or each other
- we strongly encourage all parents/guardians to please wear a mask when dropping off or picking up your child(ren). It can get crowded at drop off and pick up time and keeping 6 feet away from others is often impossible
In addition, here is some further information to remind you of what our restrictions are outside of the school day setting:
The province wide emergency brake puts in place time-limited public health and workplace safety measures to help to stop the rapid transmission of COVID-19 variants in communities, protect hospital capacity and save lives. Measures include, but are not limited to:
- Prohibiting indoor organized public events and social gatherings and limiting the capacity for outdoor organized public events or social gatherings to a 5-person maximum, except for gatherings with members of the same household (the people you live with) or gatherings of members of one household and one other person from another household who lives alone.
- Restricting in-person shopping in all retail settings, including a 50 per cent capacity limit for supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, indoor farmers' markets, other stores that primarily sell food and pharmacies, and 25 per cent for all other retail including big box stores, along with other public health and workplace safety measures;
- Prohibiting personal care services;
- Prohibiting indoor and outdoor dining. Restaurants, bars and other food or drink establishments will be permitted to operate by take-out, drive-through, and delivery only;
- Prohibiting the use of facilities for indoor or outdoor sports and recreational fitness (e.g., gyms) with very limited exceptions;
- Requiring day camps to close; and,
- Limiting capacity at weddings, funerals, and religious services, rites or ceremonies to 15 per cent occupancy per room indoors, and to the number of individuals that can maintain two metres of physical distance outdoors. This does not include social gatherings associated with these services such as receptions, which are not permitted indoors and are limited to five people outdoors.
On the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, all Ontarians are asked to limit trips outside the home to necessities such as food, medication, medical appointments, supporting vulnerable community members, or exercising outdoors with members of their household.
Daily Online Screening
Just a little reminder to please ensure you complete the COVID screener daily with each of your children. If one of your children does not pass, everyone must stay home. Then follow the instructions on your screen. The screener can be found at: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/. If you would like a paper copy of the screener, please see the attachment below.
Autism Awareness Month
Leading up to World Autism Day on April 2nd, students at Kawartha Heights began learning about famous people who have the super power of autism. We will also be participating in the Raise the Flag for Autism Day, being celebrated in Ontario on Tuesday, April 6. The purpose of this special day is to increase awareness, understanding and highlight the work that still needs to be done to remove systemic barriers and help children, youth, and adults on the autism spectrum live their best life.
From the Board Office.....
On Thursday afternoon, the provincial government announced that schools will remain open next week, April 6-9. Both online and in-person classes will continue as usual from Tuesday, April 6, to Friday, April 9.
In addition, Spring Break will go ahead as scheduled, April 12-16.
The government indicated they continue to monitor this situation. We will share any information on possible future provincial decisions regarding schools, as soon as we’re able.
Current COVID-19 protocols will remain in place when schools are open next week. We remind everyone that the following requirements will continue next week:
- Before going to school each morning, please self-screen for signs of illness at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/. The screening questions also are posted in 19 languages at Download COVID-19 screenings | COVID-19 (coronavirus) in Ontario
- Stay home if you have even one new or worsening symptom listed in the screening tool. You can return to school once you receive a negative test result or alternative diagnosis from a health care provider, or 10 days after your symptoms began, if you feel better.
- All adults and siblings in the same household with someone who has COVID-19 symptoms must self-quarantine. They cannot return to school until the person with symptoms receives either a negative COVID-19 test result or alternative diagnosis.
As more information becomes available, we will continue to keep everyone informed.
A few important pieces of information.....
2. Our Family Virtual Paint Night is coming! We are in the midst of creating the kits and hope to start sending them home with students by the end of this week. Worst case scenario, they will be sent home on Monday, April 19th.
3. Many parents of Grade 6 students have been wondering what the end of year celebration will look like this year. The honest answer is .....we just don't know. Until it is closer to the end of the year and we have a better understanding of what our restrictions will be, we are unable to plan ahead. However, I can reassure you that there will be a celebration - stay tuned for more information!