Welcome back Emily Carr P.S. families!  Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year!

A Bit About Me:

I am a retired Principal in the TVDSB, and I am very excited to be filling in for Mrs. Agar this year.  This is my 34^th year with the board, and as an administrator, I have worked at many schools, as well as online last year in Full Remote Learning (which was a huge learning curve for everyone!)  I am amazed at the resiliency of our Emily Carr students, as well as their enthusiasm, respect for others and their excitement to be back at school.  Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.  Our administrative staff is here for our students and families!

Sincerely, Maria Wilkie

We would like to thank everyone for making our first week back to school such a huge success!  It is so wonderful to see many of our students in person, and we are excited to house 29 in person classes and also three virtual classes this year at Emily Carr (Grade 3, 6, 7!)  The time, effort and extreme patience that our entire community has dedicated to our safe return to school is evident and is greatly appreciated.  Please find below a summary of the many new and important procedures that as a school community we will be following during this time of Covid-19.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.  It is appreciated!

Building/Portable Access:

Please note that exterior doors to the school continue to be locked.  The school is limited to students, staff and support workers.  Unfortunately, parents, guests and volunteers are restricted from entering.  Therefore, hot lunches, fundraising and field trips are on hold until further notice.  In the event that you need to drop off an essential item to your child, please call the office ahead of time and ring the doorbell upon arrival.  We will then arrange for our admin support Mrs Kay or Mrs Goudge to meet you at the door and will deliver the item to your child on your behalf.

Late Arrival/Early Dismissal:

In the event that your child will be late for school or will be picked up early, please enter this information into the School Messenger attendance system and call the school upon your arrival.  JK-SK students should be dropped to the Kindergarten areas at the front door of the school.  Gr. 1-8 students can be dropped off at the Kiss and Ride and walk to the back school yard to line up with their class.  Students who are late will ring the doorbell and wait outside while maintaining physical distancing until a staff member comes to receive them.

If you are picking up your student early, please call the office upon arrival and we will call your student out of class to meet you outside.  To contact the office call: 519-452-8160

Updated Information:

The following information for each student must be updated at the beginning of each year.  Please access the Parent Portal to confirm:

• contact information (this includes any approved caregivers who might be picking up/signing out your child) 
• update medical information and IPOC's (Individual Plan of Care) if you have a child with a medical condition 
• student permissions
• Student Health Agreement

We still have a number of students that do not have this information completed.  The access in the portal will close soon so please don’t delay! Thank you for completing September forms through the Parent Portal and for the school.  All forms must be completed and/or returned ASAP. 

Contact Information - current contact information is extremely important in case of accident or injury as well as communication with teachers.  All of our In Person Learning teachers will also have an online platform (Brightspace or Google Classroom), in case it is needed this year.  They will contact you with access information as they set up one of these online programs for their students.

Masks: 
The Ministry of Education requires all students between the grades of 1-12 to wear a non-medical mask while indoors during the school day and any time a child is indoors at school.  Students in Kindergarten to Grade 12 have been directed by the TVDSB Board of Trustees to wear face masks while indoors at school.  Those students who require a medical exemption to wearing a mask need to go through the Mask Exemption Review Process, and an exemption form can be obtained through the school administration.  All students riding a bus, must wear a mask while riding to/from school.  Students must put their mask on prior to boarding the bus.

Things to think about regarding masks.

• Have more than one on hand in case one becomes soiled.  Reusable masks should be washed regularly at home.
• Students will have many opportunities during the day to remove their masks (outdoor learning times and recesses).
• Students will not be required to wear a mask outdoors.
• Students may remove masks during lunch as they will be eating at their desks.
• Students must wear their mask until they are outside. Think about how students will keep their mask safe and clean once it is taken off. Pockets are great; however, many outfits do not have them. Some parents have opted for Fanny packs or break-away lanyards so students can ensure masks stay connected to the student when not being worn. There are mask protectors that can be purchased and clipped to a student as well. Some families are opting to attach their child's mask to a hat with buttons.   Be creative!
• Please label your student’s mask so if it falls from a pocket or out of a backpack we can return it to the appropriate student.

Hand Hygiene:

Hand hygiene routines will be practiced at specific times each day including but not limited to:

• Entering the classroom in the morning and following each break
• Before and after eating lunch
• Before and after outdoor class activities
• Prior to dismissal

Break Times/Water Bottles/Indoor Shoes:

The Ministry of Education mandated that schools were to develop staggered lunch and recess breaks for students to better assist with social distancing.  This will significantly reduce the number of students that we have on the school yard during our breaks.  Grade 1-8 students will be provided with 2 lunch and recess breaks per day. 10:40 to 11:20 and 1:20 to 2:10pm. When packing your child's lunch, please be sure to pack nut-free foods in containers and packages that they can OPEN and CLOSE independently.  In addition, we are encouraging and promoting litterless lunches, so please be prepared that food packaging will be returning home with your child in his/her lunch bag.  All students are asked to have 2 clearly labelled water bottles.  Although students will have an opportunity to refill their water bottle at a refill station, we strongly encourage you to send 2 bottles so that this additional process can be avoided if possible.  This will assist with preserving instructional time and will reduce the number of students in our hallways. Thank you for your assistance. Please label all your child’s belongings. A pair of indoor shoes should remain at school.

Illness At School:

If your child becomes ill at school and displays any Covid-19 signs/symptoms, parents/guardians will be called for an immediate pick-up of the child from school.  When a student displays any signs/symptoms of Covid-19, the student will be brought to a supervised area.  The student will remain in this isolation area until a parent/guardian arrives for pick-up (either outside the front entrance on our bench, if weather permits, in our front hall, or in our isolation space, with a staff member).  Upon arrival of the parent, the student will be escorted directly to the designated outdoor pick-up area.  Parents are asked to screen their child(ren) daily, using the screening tool located in the parent portal, or by clicking below.

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/

Birthdays:

We understand and respect that our children’s birthdays are very special.  Unfortunately, we are no longer able to share birthday “treats” with our classmates.  Please refrain from sending in a birthday treat for your child to share with his/her class at this time. 

Traffic at Emily Carr:

Vehicle traffic is extremely busy. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE ALL DRIVERS TO PARK WITHIN 5 MINUTES OF THE SCHOOL AND THEN WALK YOUR STUDENT(S) TO THE PROPERTY LINE or use the Kiss and Ride supervised by school staff (8:45 am-9am, 3:30pm-3:45pm). Please keep it safe!  We do not have parking for parents in the parking lot as it is reserved for staff. In the event that you are unable to walk your child to the school, please note the following:

· The parking lot is marked ONE WAY and for staff ONLY.

· Traffic must continue to flow until there is an available space in the Kiss and Ride zone for drop off/pick-up.

· There is NO PARKING in the Kiss and Ride zone. Do not exit and/or leave your vehicle here.

Volunteers:

At this time, we are unable to have volunteers in the school building, due to Covid -19 protocols.  For future reference, once we are able again to welcome our fabulous volunteers, all volunteers are required to have a current Vulnerable Sector Police Check on file at the school.  Please complete this process ASAP if you plan on volunteering for any school events (e.g. field trips, classroom work, hot lunch program etc.). Once your background check is on file, subsequent years require the completion of an “Offence Declaration”.  These forms can be accessed through the Parent Portal or can be picked up at the office.  Thank you for your assistance and interest in volunteering!

Student Accident Insurance:

The Thames Valley District School Boards has a provider of student accident insurance. Please see this link for more information and to sign up for accident insurance for your student.  https://insuremykids.com/

Thank you for helping us to make this a very positive start to our school year at Emily Carr!  As always, we appreciate your support in creating the best learning environment for each of our almost 800 students!

Our administration team will communicate important information and special events on Twitter and via Thunderbird News monthly with School Messenger.

Thank you for your ongoing support and understanding.

Sincerely,

Maria and Jennifer

Maria Wilkie          Jennifer Tait

Principal                  Vice Principal

We hope you enjoy this video which features an introduction to our staff and a tour of the school.

Use this link to download and then view our Welcome to Emily Carr P.S. video. Please note that the video may look like it will play in your web browser, but it likely will not play.  Download it to play it on your device.

Thunderbird News - November 1, 2021

Together In The Valley - December Issue

Together In The Valley - December Break Issue

Use the following link for information regarding registering for TVDSB French Immersion programs.
http://emilycarr.tvdsb.ca/en/our-school/french-immersion-registration.aspx