Kings County Academy
Mike Ouellette, Principal 35 Gary Pearl Drive
Victoria Laurence, Vice-Principal Kentville NS B4N 0H4
Krista Parrish, Vice-Principal Telephone: (902)690-3850
kca.ednet.ns.ca Fax: (902)690-3864
NEWSLETTER
March 31, 2016
Hello families at home,
We currently use our new alert system on a daily basis for informing families of unexcused absences, but we also occasionally use it to provide reminders about school events. We use texts, email, and phone messages and sometimes we will only select one or two methods depending on the nature/urgency of the information. So, if you do receive a call/text/email from our system, please do not assume it is regarding attendance. It could be about an event, an important meeting, a date reminder, etc. Take a second to check, listen to, or read the message and if you have any questions after that, please give us a call.
I did a quick check of the number of late students over the last few days and we are averaging over 20 a day. A number of these are for good reason…students may be arriving after early morning appointments for example. However, the vast majority are simply arriving soon after we start our day at 8 AM. I have mentioned this in past and want to emphasize it again. It is very important that students get here on time. I know traffic is sometimes an issue and last fall I started suggesting to families that they could avoid the drop-off loop and use the soccer parking lot near our playground after 7:30 as it is supervised and relatively close to where most students start their day.
This time of year, we begin to start planning for next year. We examine enrollment, staffing needs, and scheduling as we work with the board to ensure we have the resources required to meet the needs of our school community. There is a lot of time and effort put into this work. An important finishing detail relates to the placement of students for next year.
As you know, we do not accept requests for students to be placed with specific teachers. As I stated in the past, some requests can be easy, others are difficult to follow through on based on class size expectations and configurations, as well as the changes we sometimes have to make to classes late in August with new students arriving. Trying to meet all of these requests is far too difficult. Even implementing a formal policy of allowing requests with the condition that there are “no promises” is still difficult because I think the expectation remains to meet the request regardless of the challenges.
The process for configuring classes is very thorough. Teachers, resource staff, and administration put a great deal of thought into who is placed in each class. Included in the factors that influence our decisions are: academic needs, social/behavioral factors, and peer relationships (both negative and positive).
Sometimes, there is additional information of which the school may be unaware that may help in the decision. Please feel free to share that with either your current classroom teacher or administration before May 1st. After this date, we begin planning class placements which remain in draft form until August. New students always arrive during the summer months. Once their needs have been considered, lists will be finalized and posted for families and students using student ID numbers (we are not permitted to publically post student names on these lists). No changes will be considered once they are posted unless the arrival of additional students in September forces us to reconfigure classes to meet school board and department of education class size limits.
If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to contact the school to speak with me.
Mike Ouellette, Principal
Important Dates: (A full list of KCA’s upcoming dates and class trips are available at kca.ednet.ns.ca.
- Thursday, March 31 – Gr. 6-8 Dance – 7-9 pm
- Monday, April 4 – Student-led appt. request letter home with students/Gr.6-8 Track & Field starts (2:30-3:45)/P-2 Trailblazers begin
- Tuesday, April 5 – Gr. 3-6 Trailblazers begin
- Thursday, April 7 – Report cards go home
- Friday, April 8 – Gr. 8 trip to NSCC Dartmouth (8:15-3:30)
- Monday, April 11 – Band Concert 7pm/Request for student-led appt. due
- Tuesday, April 12 – Gr. 3-8 Running Club (2:30-3:30)
- Wednesday, April 13 – Last day for donations – “Raise the Change, Change the Game”
- Thursday, April 14 – 11:00 Dismissal – Student-Led Conference Appointments (afternoon & evening) – Cafeteria Closed
- Tuesday, April 19 –PTA Meeting - 6pm
- Wednesday, April 20 – Gr. 6-8 Bands - Atlantic Theatre Festival/Final P-2 Trailblazers
- Thursday, April 21 – Gr. 6-8 Dance – 7-9 pm
- Friday, April 22 – Final Gr. 3-6 Trailblazers
- Monday, April 25 – Jazz Band – Atlantic Theatre Festival
- Thursday, May 5 and Friday, May 6 – Primary Registration – NO school for students in Mme Smith, Mme Kinsman, Mrs. E. Parsons and Mrs. Taylor’s classes.
PTA Message
We are in the early stages of planning for our annual Spring Fling, scheduled for June 1st, (rain date of June 2nd). Look for more information about the Spring Fling as it gets closer.
The movie night that was held on March 1st, was once again a fun time for all. Thanks to all the parents that helped out with setting up, canteen and clean up.
The Campbell’s Soup label campaign is growing strong. A big thank you to all who have sent in labels. Please continue to send in those labels.
We have started to collect bags of gently used clothes, shoes, books, linens and accessories for our Value Village “Fill a bag, make a Difference”, fundraiser. Thanks to everyone who has dropped off bags. If you would like to donate any of these items, there is a collection box located in the front lobby. There will be more info coming about drop off times, so please stay tuned.
Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 19th. at 6:00 pm in the art room, and as always, everyone is welcome to attend.
Anthony Sherrard
Vice President
Physical Education Department
Gr. 6-8 Track and Field will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30-3:45 starting Monday, April 4th. Gr. 3-8 Running Club will be held on Thursdays (2:30-3:30) however; our first run will be held on Tuesday, April 12 (as Thurs. April 14 is an 11:00 dismissal). After that it will be held on Thursdays with the last session held on Thurs. May 19.
Notices/consent forms for both activities have been distributed to interested students.
Paulette Schrader, Physical Education Teacher
Science Fair News
Congratulations to all Science Fair participants! We held our science fair here at KCA on March 3 & 4th with 105 projects from students in grades Primary – 7.
We would like to thank all our volunteers who helped set-up, judge and tear down here at school! With your support we were able to hold another successful science fair.
Our school was able to send 15 projects to the Regional Science Fair held at Kingstec from March 21st – 24th. Representing grades primary-3 was Eli Forse, Lucy Harland, Chase Nichols, Caden Schofield, and Jacob Seaman. From grades 4-6, our representatives were Oliver Baker, Kyle Bent, Jane Maillet, Owen Schofield and Olivia Seaman. Our students from grade 7 included, Ashley Davis, Gavin Ennis, Grace Hennebery-McNeil, Sarah Parsons, Jamal Raaki, Olivia Silver and Asya Willoughby.
The following students won awards at Regionals … Way to go!
4-6 HEALTH Category – Jane Maillet (Silver), Oliver Baker (Bronze), Olivia Seaman (Bronze). 7-12 Discovery Category (Bronze) Gavin Ennis, Asya Wolloughby, Olivia Silver, Sarah Parsons. 7-12 Health Category – (Bronze) Grace Hennebery-McNeil. Nova Scotia Community College Award Swag Bags - Gavin Ennis, Asya Willoughby, Grace Hennebery-McNeil. Nova Scotia Association of Science Teachers $50.00 - Jamal Raaki. St. Mary’s University: Swag Bag - Jane Maillet
Action Team news
We’ve decided to participate in a global action to help create an impact! Our action team here at KCA will be doing a We Create Change Campaign! We’re calling our campaign “Raise the Change, Change the Game”. The donations that we fundraise will go directly to help build a school in Haiti.
All you have to do is send in donations to your homeroom teacher before April 13th, 2016.
A little spare change can help us make a big change!
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