Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope you had another great weekend, the weather has not been disappointing this September!

We had a wonderful Terry Fox Event on Friday. Please see the message and picture collage in the newsletter below. Thank you to everyone who supported this great cause!

It was also great to see some new faces at our first School Council meeting of the year last Thursday. If you didn't get a chance to come to the meeting either in person or virtually, it's not too late and we would love to see you at the next meeting. More information regarding school council is also in this newsletter.

This week all students will take part in a Bus Safety Presentation with "Buster The Bus" in our gym during last learning block. This annual event reminds students of the importance of being safe while on school buses whether they take a bus daily or just on school trips.

Also this week, we hope to see all our families at the Roger Neilson PS Open House on Thursday between 5:30-7pm. Classes will be open for the first 30mins and then school council will have some pizza and drinks for sale if you miss dinner! A reminder that Friday is a PA Day for all students! We hope they enjoy the longer weekend!

Finally, we have free tickets to the Petes home opener on Thursday, September 26th! (Right After Open House). We will be handing them out at a first come first serve basis starting on Monday! There is a limited amount available so if you would like to attend please contact Ms. Lutz in the office.

Take care,

~Mr. Coulter

Sept. 24th - Bus Safety Presentations in our Gym: 2pm - Primary, 2:45pm Jr. Classes

Sept. 26th - School Open House - 5:30-7pm - See below for information

Sept. 27 - PA Day - No School For Students

Sept. 30 - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - Orange Shirt Day

Oct. 2nd - Jr. Soccer Area Tournament

Oct. 11th - Picture Day

Oct. 14th - Thanksgiving Holiday

Sept. 22 - Mabon/Fall Equinox (Pagan)

Sept. 25 - Franco-Ontarian Day

Our first school council meeting was last Thursday and at the meeting, the following positions were determined. Chair: Amanda Bush, Treasurer: Julia Wiegard, Secretary: Brooklyn Sinclair

Teacher (ETFO) Reps: Dawn Barry and Angela Hibbs, (CUPE) Rep: Tara Lutz, Community Rep: Torri Schapp

Our next school council meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 17th at 5:00pm in our school Library. Any parent interested in being part of school council is welcome to attend this meeting. We are always looking for new members. We meet once a month and there are a variety of roles and tasks that we need support with. Some don’t require much commitment at all. We will also offer a virtual drop in if you can meet the first meeting via "Microsoft Teams" as the platform. If you do not have the use of a computer, a free app can be downloaded to most Smart Phones. To access the meeting, please use this link: RNPS Virtual Council Option at 5pm on the 17th.

If you have any questions please contact Mr. Coulter. We hope to see you!

-We are happy to announce that World’s Finest Chocolate is returning to Roger Neilson

-Cases are available for pick up from Oct 8th until Oct 21st between 3.30pm and 5.30pm daily,

1 case per family at a time

-Funds are being raised for a new buddy bench for both the kindergarten and big kid yards, as well as Jimmy Chapman visits.

-For every case sold there will be a ballot for a chance to win some cool prizes.

This year we will offer, through Lunchbox on School Cash Online a different “hot lunch” every Wednesday. It kicks off with Pita Pit on September 25th, Subway on October 2th and Papa John’s on October 9th. All money raised from our hot lunch program will go to our school nutrition program. LINK TO SCHOOL CASH ONLINE

"Terry Fox certainly modeled the following values: heroism, strength, perseverance, courage, determination, integrity and most of all hope." Our students were reminded of this on Friday when we recognized everything Terry Fox did with our own assembly and walk/run in his honour. It was a fantastic afternoon and we are excited to announce that we surpassed our $500 goal and were able to collect $585. If students would still like to bring in a donation on Monday, that would be great! We will be sending all money to the Terry Fox Foundation soon. I believe you can still donate through school cash online or even the Foundation website at: RNPS Link

We would like to invite all families to see their children's classrooms this Thursday Sept. 26, 2024. This is an opportunity to meet school staff and put a face to a name! Classrooms will be open for visits between 5:30 - 6pm and then school council will be selling pizza slices and beverages outside in the back school yard between 6-7pm. If it is raining, we will transition to inside our school / gym. We hope to see you there!

If you are interested in volunteering at Roger Neilson PS, this is great news! However, you do need to have a police check on file with us. These last for one year from when they were issued. We have a letter that you will need from us in the school office. The link to get a police check can be found here: Link for Police Check

We would like to thank the "Children's Breakfast Clubs" for their support with our morning nutrition program. This started last week! Each day ALL students are offered something to eat in the morning when they come into the school. Not all students choose to take something to eat, but many do. We recognize the importance nutrition has on learning. However, running a school wide program comes with a cost. We are hoping that families can donate to our program if their child is accessing it in the mornings. Look for this opportunity on school cash online this week. $5 per month, which is roughly 25 cents a day would really help us out. Thanks for considering!

VERIFICATION FORMS were sent home for families to check over to make sure we have the correct contact information in our system. It is really important for us to be able to connect with families in case of an emergency. If a phone number has changed or there are new emergency contacts, please make sure that our school office is informed. Return these forms as soon as possible.

PLAN OF CARE FORMS: (formally known as their Individual Emergency Response Plan) were also sent home with all known students with medical needs, allergies etc.... An updated Plan of Care is crucial as it provides the staff at Roger Neilson P.S. with the reasonable precaution(s) and action(s) to take to support the health and/or medical needs of your child. Please review the Plan of Care to ensure all the information is correct. After you have reviewed the Plan of Care return it to the school. We will be in contact with you to discuss your son/daughter’s medical needs if we have any further questions. Note: If your son or daughter requires a Plan of Care and he/she did not receive a Plan of Care please contact our office.

RELEASE FORMS: Will also be part of this package going home. This is where you sign off to inform us of what you are allowing your child to do or be part of (ex. pictures taken, walking trips, etc.)

The sooner we get all these forms back the better!

A reminder, if your child is going to be absent, you can use the "very user-friendly" School Messenger app (a free download), to let us know. You can also call the student absence reporting system at 1-844-434-8119. This number is available 24 hours a day. Complete attendance information can be found at this link: https://www.kprschools.ca/en/our-schools/attendance-and-absences.aspx

Our school gates will be locked in the morning and opened at 8:55am when supervision begins on the yard. Students will have an opportunity to play on the yard before entering the building at 9:10am. We kindly ask for parents and caregivers to remain off the yard in the morning.

At the end of the day, our gates will open at 3:30pm and parents and caregivers can find their child at the assigned spot in the picture below as they line up to say good-bye to staff and friends before heading home!

We recognize that our parking lot is a concern. We sometimes do not have enough spots for our staff. The bus company has also asked that we continue to have room for them to safely enter our parking lot. We kindly ask families to not enter our parking lot with your car as it becomes crowed and unsafe for our school buses. We know this is not ideal, especially in inclement weather, but we thank-you for your support with this!

Before and after school can be very busy with picking up and dropping off students with many little ones around. We have also been asked to remind everyone to watch the language we use during this time around our students. Thank-you!

Arriving by car? Cars will not be permitted in the school parking lot BEFORE OR AFTER SCHOOL. Students are to be dropped off on one of the side streets and can use the sidewalks to walk to a designated entrance.

Arriving by bus? A staff member will be at the bus drop-off location to assist students getting off of the bus and to greet students. Students will go directly to their designated entrance.

Arriving by foot? Students are to use the marked crosswalks when arriving at the school. A staff member will be monitoring the entrances.

Arriving by bike or scooter? Please park your bike/scooter at the racks on the left side of the front of the school and then proceed to the sidewalks to enter the yard. For safety reasons, students are NOT ALLOWED to ride bikes or scooters in our parking lot. Please make sure to walk them to the rack when on school property.

Late to school? If you arrive after the gates have been locked, please go directly to front of the school, press the buzzer and wait for further instructions.

All busing information and issues happens through STSCO. Please use the link below if you have any questions or concerns. REMINDER - ALL STUDENTS WHO QUALIFIED FOR A BUS HAD TO OPT-IN TO RIDE THE BUS THIS YEAR THROUGH THE PARENT PORTAL.

Please ring the buzzer when arriving at the front door of the school and sign-in at the main office. We kindly ask that parents and caregivers not be in the hallways or going to classrooms during school hours unless they are volunteering.

Should you wish to speak with a teacher regarding your child’s progress, an appointment can be made by contacting the office or the teacher directly by email. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation. Your child’s safety and education is our number one priority.

Thanks to the generosity of the United Way. We still have some backpacks available in the office with start-up school supplies. If you are interested in obtaining one for your child, please contact our office and we are happy to help!

All students should bring a refillable water bottle to school labelled with their name. We have water bottle filling stations and drinking fountains throughout the school. We have few water bottles available for those students requiring one, but supply is very limited.

Most communication from Roger Neilson and our KPR board office is delivered via text messaging or email. If you have not opted into these services and would like to, please do so. For text messaging, your cell number must be in our system. You can opt into text messages by simply texting the word “yes” to the number 978338. If your phone number or email is not registered in the school system, or you have changed your number, please call the school to update: 705-745-6456.

This Weekly Newsletter will be sent via email every Sunday evening, please check it for weekly updates!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the first phase of the Peterborough City and County Accommodation Planning consultation. Feedback was carefully reviewed and considered as we move into the second phase of this process. School board administration is presenting two refined Accommodation Concepts for further consultation. To review the new concepts, along with the updated background information, the summary report of the feedback received to-date, and information about upcoming opportunities to share feedback, please visit kprschools.ca/ptbo-accommodation.

As you may have already heard, new provincial government legislation has resulted in changes to the use of mobile devices in schools. A mobile device is any personal electronic device that can be used to communicate or access the Internet, such as a laptop, cellphone, tablet or smart watch.

In order to ensure a focused and engaging learning environment in our classrooms, we will require all personal mobile devices be stored out of view during the school day (elementary) or during instructional time (secondary). As always, students who may need to use their phones are asked to speak directly with an educator so that we can work together to find an appropriate solution. Please know that while we certainly understand that these changes may be difficult for some students, creating and maintaining a protected space for learning in our classrooms remains our priority.

If your Junior or Intermediate child is bringing a cell phone, it is expected they will follow the educator and school direction on their use, and where these are stored. Our school will be following these new guidelines. RNPS is not responsible for any loss or stolen devices. We ask that Primary students NOT bring Personal Electronic Devices to school at all.

Junior students must ensure their phones are off or silenced and out of sight at all times (ideally kept in backpacks). They are NOT allowed to use cell phones during the day, nor during nutrition breaks, recess or in the washroom. If communication with home is required, all students will do so via the office. If parents need to contact a student, please reach out to the office.

As with all aspects of our school's code of conduct, progressive discipline will be in place for the misuse of cell phones. We strongly ask parents/guardians to please review these new expectations.

Here is a link to our: School Code of Conduct

8:55am - School Gates Open and students can enter yard

9:10am - Morning Bell - Students Enter School

10:50 - 11:30 - Nutrition Break #1

1:10-1:50pm - Nutrition Break #2

3:30pm - Leaving Bell (Gates Open for Parents to Pick Students up on Yard)

Principal, Roger Neilson Public School

Email: kevin_coulter@kprdsb.ca
Website: rogerneilson.kprdsb.ca/
Location: 550 Erskine Avenue, Peterborough, ON, Canada
Phone: 705-745-6456 Twitter: @rogerneilson_ps

RNPS School Council Chairs 2024 - 2025:

Amanda Bush

Superintendent of Student Achievement:

Jodi Sepkowski

(705) 742-9773 ext. 2061

jodi_sepkowski@kprdsb.ca

Trustees:

Rose Kitney

rose_ kitney@kprdsb.ca

Steve Russell

steve_russell@kprdsb.ca