Winchester Public School, UCDSB
547 Louise Street South K0C 2K0 Winchester, ON, Canada

Our grade 4/5 Core and 4/5 IMM participated in a presentation with Candace Lloyd. Students learned about the process of creating Métis Dot Art, where dots were applied in lines in a bead like formation. A key part of our lesson was the ‘spirit bead.’ A spirit bead is a misplaced bead in a pattern. Throughout our student samples you will find a spirit bead intentionally placed by the student. This might look like a line of white with a pink bead in the middle.

Good morning all STEO has informed us that bus 4118 better known as the red bus will be 1 hour late...STEO has indicated that parents have been contacted. If you have any questions please give us a call Hope the rest of red bus folks' day is better than the start of it

Zach and Makynlie were the Perseverance Award recipients from Mrs. Ouderkirk's homeroom. Fantastic job- we are so proud of you both!!

Matilda received the perseverance certificate for the grade 4/5 class. Congratulations!

Thank you to all families who have already completed this survey. The #UCDSB is very interested in parent/guardian perspectives of the 2020-2021 school year so far, especially your child’s program experience and how they are coping with the important COVID-19 precautions put in place. If you have not had a chance yet, please take a few minutes to complete this survey: http://ow.ly/20Cf50Cyt5E. It closes on Dec. 9.

Good evening Asynchrounous Learners Non-Digital Learners The paper packages for the next cycle are ready for pickup Monday Dec. 7th Please drop off any work from the previous package at the time of pickup... Digital Asynchronous Learners you will be invited to join a Onenote file for Cycle 5 by Sunday evening

Good afternoon all Since we were unable to have our first newsletter go home I would like to bring your attention to the allergies we have in the school. First, however I would like to thank everyone for being so diligent in helping keep allergen foods out of the school. I do know that this does require lots of attention and creates some difficulty when packing lunches ! This year as in the past we have peanut allergies,tree nut allergies, sesame and a kiwi allergy. Many m...anufacturers change packaging often so we do ask that you check labels for these products. Keep in mind peanut free products sometimes do contain tree nuts. Thanks as always for helping to keep our children safe Have a great weekend See more

Good afternoon Sorry for the late notice on this. We have been advertising in school but just realized I forgot to post that tomorrow September 25 th is Franco-Ontarian Day, a time to celebrate our Francophone community and history. ... Children who wish to recognize this day can do so with wearing green and white ! See more

In-person learning, synchronous learning, digital and non-digital asynchronous learning these terms are new to a lot of people and so are these learning models. This video will help explain what each model is about and what to expect. #remotelearning

Make health screening part of your morning routine using the new provincial COVID-19 health screening tool. This interactive tool is voluntary, but can help parents decide if their child should attend school: https://bit.ly/33GzbHS.

Hi folks I hope everyones morning is going well. Below is a bit of an update regarding asynchronous learning and some updated Covid information Hope everyone has a great day

Heres an update on back to school in the UCDSB, including the new provincial health screening tool: https://bit.ly/35YjxKT.

Good evening all, Thank you to those folks that have been letting us know of some COVID symptoms with your child. The Ontario school self assessment tool is very informative, in the event you are uncertain about whether your child can attend school or not. More importantly it provides you with your next steps. The link is https://covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment/ Information is evolving each day and we will continue to post as we get the info. I realize it is a very con...fusing time for us educators so i can't imagine how parents are keeping things straight--so I hope this tool helps somewhat. Of course contacting the school to ask your questions is always welcomed Take care karen

Good morning all, Happy Friday and end to the first week of school! Looking for a way to get more involved with your childs education? School Council is an excellent way to do just that. Our school has an elected school council that is an important forum for involving all members of the school community in issues that affect the education of students. The school council is made up of an elected committee of parents, staff, appointed community members, non-teaching staff, stu...dents (optional for elementary) the Principal, and a general membership which includes all parent of children attending the school. The school council is an advisory council on topics such as student achievement, curriculum priorities, school safety, after school activities, and fundraising activities. School Council has historically been successful in their fundraising efforts and this in turn allows the school to bring in many different opportunities for the children. It also allows us to make resource purchases, helps to offset the cost of sports and club trips, purchase of Phys. Ed. equipment and much more. Given the current restrictions regarding access to the school, we will be starting our School Council year off with a virtual meeting. Hopefully later in the year we can have F2F meetings. The first item of order will be to dissolve the 2019-2020 council (which did an awesome job!!) and nominate/vote in the new council for 2020-2021. We will host a TEAMS virtual meeting on Oct 6, 2020 at 6:30pm to take care of these items and discuss future points of interest. If you do not have the TEAMS platform and wish to attend the meeting please let me know and we can troubleshoot to ensure you are involved. If you wish to nominate anyone or put your name forward for the positions listed above can you please forward to me ([email protected]). If you are aware of anyone that may not see this notice and would be interested could you kindly pass along. Wishing everyone a restful and healthy weekend!

The #UCDSB will be using MS Teams and D2L-Virtual Classroom for learning in classrooms. This letter explains how these tools will be used and how staff will be protecting the privacy of our students: https://bit.ly/35PuUEP.

The COVID-19 Screening Tool, created by our health units is a helpful tool to work into the morning routine. Use the online version (https://bit.ly/2RrGRYP) or print the PDF (https://bit.ly/3c0Zb4v).

Working with our local health units & families will be an important part of keeping our students safe. Please read the parent/guardian letter from the Eastern Ontario Health Unit and The Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit. It has some helpful info on what families can do to keep their child safe, what to do if someone becomes ill or tests positive at school, and who to call with questions: https://bit.ly/2FwVGH0.

This is what happens when Mrs Paterson and Mrs Bain stay late and are given spray paint !!! Excited to see some of our families today and have our halls filled with young voices!!!

Class lists are finally in the hands of the teachers. You will either receive an email or phone call soon. Thanks for your patience.

IMPORTANT OFFICE INFORMATION Good evening all, Our office staff this year will be assisting with dismissal. Please note that if any last minute changes to your child's dismissal needs to occur this must be communicated by 2 pm. In the past, our parents have been very good to adhere to this timeline and we appreciate that!! We cannot guarantee the phones past 3:10 pm will be answered as Marie will be announcing the dismissal process to the staff and children.

Hi everyone, I want to first thank all of our parents for the great deal of patience you have given us as we sort through our process and procedures.Over the next couple of days we will be reposting some of our new procedures. I will keep the post separate for various topics so you can trace back if you are getting overwhelmed with so much info Dismissal For Walkers and Pickups Grades 1-6 We will start this process at 3:20 as it will take some time to dismiss and the gate ar...eas are always congested. Please have your child picked up no later than 3:35. As the children exit the building from their various exits, staff will direct them to lines that are colour coded for their class (we are using colours to identify class and exits to eliminate children crossing each other) Staff will direct parents to come to the gate and we will hand off your child. Please pay attention to the social distancing markers. Older children who walk on their own home, will have a designated gate away from the large gatestaff will assist in this BUT the independent walkers will not be dismissed until 3:35 unless a parent sends a note indicating they can go at 3:20 Walkers/Drop offs Kindergarten We will start this process at 3:20 as it will take some time to dismiss and the area is always congested. Please have your child picked up no later than 3:35. Children will be in lines in the kinder yard according to class. Parents will approach the gate, provide the childs name and a staff member will bring the child to their parent. All of our kinder staff is returning and they are familiar with the parents so this should help speed things up slightly

REMINDER: We are welcoming students back to school this week! See the calendar to double check your start date. Find more information on the #UCDSB Return to School plan here: https://bit.ly/30U4BdI.

Good morning all, hoping everyone is enjoying the long weekend.. This info will also be sent via email for our MFR families The excitement if building as we get ready to welcome back the children on Friday September 11th. A few quick points that are relevant to our start. 1. As you know it will be a staggered start for the first three days of school, in order to get students and staff familiar with the new protocols and routines. September 11th is for children with surname...s from A-G, September 14th is for children with surnames H-P, and September 15th is the start date for the remainder of our children. 2. You will be contacted by STEO over the next few days regarding your childs bussing information. You can check at https://www.steo.ca/student-information/find-bus-stop/ 3. This past Friday our entire staff do a practice run of our new routines. Now we need the children to see where we need to improve! Please be patient as these routines, in particular, arrival and dismissal will take more time than usual. I will resend the previous correspondence that related to arrivals and dismissals later in the week in a separate note. 4. Now that we have our list of remote learnings the class lists were finalized late Friday. Staff will be reaching out either by phone or email to introduce themselves and share important startup information. 5. The traditional bundle of paperwork we send home in the first week, will not occur this year as we need to limit the paper going back and forth. What does get sent home, please complete ASAP and return(if requested) as these papers need to sit for some time before we can access them. 6. As a reminder, please register your email with My Family Room. This is the vehicle our Board will use to ensure you get information as quick as possible. They, along with us will also continue to post on our FB and website 7. Mrs. Jane Bain will once again be joining the administration team in support of my partial medical leave. Mrs. Bain was with us last year and has a great knowledge of our children and school. This year will be different but the one thing that remains at the forefront of our work is to ensure our childrens safety and to help our children emotional deal with the long absence of school. We have been spending our days working hard and following the numerous directions to ensure the safety of the children, staff and our families. We appreciate your patience. Take care and more to come See more

We are just a week away from welcoming students back to school and we are excited for their return. There's been lots of work happening behind the scenes within the UCDSB and with our public health units to make sure the return to school is a safe one. Read today's update to parents/guardians for details: http://ow.ly/oBzW50BiGFD

We couldnt be more excited to welcome our students back to school next week. Here's a sneak peek of what you'll see! You can get more info about school routines and practices on our website : https://bit.ly/356OSuf #MyUCDSBFamily

The updated Return to School Guide is available on the #UCDSB website. Theres now more info on: remote learning (section 5.3), parent screening tool (section 3.7), lunch routines (section 4.9) and secondary sample timetable (section 4.2). See the full updated guide here: https://bit.ly/30U4BdI.

Attention parents/guardians of our new JK students, our newest Wildcats! With the delayed start, board wide, to September 11th we have now received permission to invite our JKs and parents into the school next week for a short visit. They will get to meet their teachers, see their classroom, get a bag of goodies and some other general info. We will have strict COVID screening processes and protocols in place for the visit. Your childs teacher will reach out to you soon to s...chedule this visit. One parent and your child will be permitted in the building for this brief meeting. Your child will start school full days with all other Winchester students based on published last name staggered entry. We appreciate your patience on receiving this information. As you can imagine, information is evolving everyday. We are very excited to meet your child and hoping this visit can answer any wondering about our great Kinder program at Winchester

Chair of the Board John McAllister shares these words with parents, guardians, caregivers and staff to welcome in the new school year and address concerns parents have raised. http://ow.ly/tavm50Be5Wl

ICYMI: The #UCDSB will be staggering start times in September. Clusters of students will gradually return to school starting on Sept. 11. All students will be in class by Sept.15. Check out the image below for your start date or find more information here: https://bit.ly/34HBNYo.

In response to concerns about the possibility of not being able to move between learning models, here's some additional information & clarity around remote learning and info around the delayed start to the school year. Read the full update: https://bit.ly/32u43Lq

A Message from the Minister of Education to Ontarios Parents has been posted to the #UCDSB website. View the full letter here: https://bit.ly/3gBqd3f.

Hi everyone My apologies , I sent this via email last night and forgot to also post. Just some info regarding masks that might be helpful. Also we have been working on first day procedures and I have attached. They look confusing but staff will be everywhere to assist. Have a good evening

Attention Parents/Guardians: Students may not be able to move between learning models. Remote learners may not have the same level of access to all programs. Please read this update and contact your school by Friday, Aug. 28 @ 9 a.m. if it changes your choice of learning model. The link is http://ow.ly/GB3W50B9ITP

Thank you to everyone who submitted their Confirmation of Attendance form. If you didn't, don't stress. We're here to help. Get more answers on the #UCDSB FAQ section. http://ow.ly/cQdF50B4Teu

Attention Parents/Guardians: The Confirmation of Attendance form closes tonight at 11:45 p.m. If you have not submitted a response yet, please do: https://bit.ly/3iHW57I. This information is critical to our planning. If you need to change a response, please do so by contacting your school the week of Aug. 24

Good evening everyone, I am having some tech challenges. Please excuse the poor quality. This has also been sent to emails registered in My Family Room

Thanks to all who have filled out the Confirmation of Attendance form weve heard from over 50% of #UCDSB families! If you havent done so, please be sure to fill out the short survey by tomorrow at 11:45 p.m. https://bit.ly/3iHW57I

This and many more questions are in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the #UCDSB website, and it's being updated daily. Check it to get quick answers: http://ow.ly/5ljm50B2y01

Parents and guardians will play an important role in helping students transition to a new learning environment and keep everyone safe. Get more answers in our Return To School Guide and on our FAQ page: https://bit.ly/3fMJcaJ.

Never stop learning because life never stops teaching! #MotivationalMonday #MyUCDSBFamily

Good morning all There will be lots of information to sort out and sent to you in the upcoming days. I thought I would let you know the status of school supplies as I am sure many are thinking of shopping. As always the school will supply all materials needed. However the practice of having shared bins in classrooms will no longer be done. The children will not be sharing from our classroom bins. We will have separate bins filled with supplies for each child and these bins... will remain in their desk/table. As indicated in the return to school plan for UCDSB -Students are to limit the personal belongings that they bring to school. Items that are permitted are a backpack, water bottle, sunscreen, lunch, clothing (e.g. change of clothes for Kindergarten students) Hope this info helps regarding supplies Take care

The Return to School Guide is now available on the #UCDSB website. It will provide clarity about school and classroom routines, as well as the approach to program delivery for the 2020-2021 school year. Once reviewed, please complete the Confirmation of Attendance Form (also found on the website): https://bit.ly/30U4BdI

The #UCDSB has received many questions about what the return to school will look like, and we are working on answers. Get answers to frequently asked questions in our FAQ section on our website: bit.ly/3fMJcaJ Also, keep a close eye on our social media and your email over the coming days. #MyUCDSBFamily

On Friday the board will be posting more information to the #UCDSB website about the return to school in September and asking all UCDSB families to fill out a Confirmation of Attendance form before the end of next week. Please watch for this important information. If you want this in your inbox, sign up for a My Family Room account: https://myfamilyroom.ca/Account/Login.

#FunFactFriday #MyUCDSBFamily