PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Greetings to our Learning Community!

The new academic year 2016-2017 is upon us.

On behalf of myself and the staff of Morin Heights Elementary School (MHES), I extend a welcome back to the families who are returning. I hope you have had a wonderful summer with your families! We are happy to have you back with us. To our new families, we extend a very warm welcome. We hope that you will become as proud of this wonderful school community as we are.

Best wishes for a successful positive learning journey throughout the 2016-2017 school year.

School Organization:
As of today, we have 10 homerooms, from Kindergarten to Grade 6.

It has been quite a first week what with anticipating the Kindergarten to split, with the new grade 3 to prepare for and the extra teachers to hire to complete the workloads. We now welcome Ryan Whitehouse back. We still have one teacher part-time workload to fill. We are all looking forward to a fruitful year of learning and growing together.

MHES Teachers:
Kindergarten: Lee Ann Mascis

Lisa Loveland
Grade 1: Esther Tousignant

Grade 2: Jaime Alfonso
Grade 3: Ilona Lajko

Elaine McDonald
Grade 4: Anne Cuvillier

Grade 5/6: (3 classes)
Patrick Laverdière
Kelly Fahey
Ryan Whitehouse
Phys Ed: Mary Antioco

Resource: Lise Gauvreau

Julie Demerise-Poitras
MHES Support Staff:
Secretary: Caroline Timmons
Daycare Tech: Tanya Conklin

Attendants: Fiona Pattulo
Jeanie Waterman
Jennifer Barnard
TBD: Special Ed Tech (Behaviour)
Some attendant hours

Lunch Ladies: (Catering Service)
Gillian Hartley and Dolores Wilson
Please note:
We have returned to our calendars of 5 days, Monday to Friday week. We will be adjusting some of the days so that we do not miss all the PED Day schedules and all days will have an even number during the year. A calendar of days will be posted on the website shortly.

Daily Schedule:

School begins at 8:30am and ends at 3:00pm. Lunch is at 12:20 to 1:20pm. There is a morning recess of 20 minutes at 10:20am.

Hot Lunch:
We offer a catering service with a monthly menu e-mailed to you. Your child will also be able to buy some other food items, if you so wish: drinks, sandwiches, cookies, soup, salad, etc…

SCHOOL HOURS/BUSSING

Morning supervision begins at 8:15am as buses begin disembarking.

The start-up of the school year often involves some transportation glitches. The most important thing for all of us is SECURITY and having your child arrive and return home safely. It is for this reason that bus rules MUST be respected.

Please inform Andrew Robinson at extension 1420 (Transportation Department of the school board)if there are difficulties with the bussing. Bus drivers are NOT responsible for the routes and are not authorized to make changes.

Again, for the safety of the children, we do not allow changes on the buses. If you need your child to go to a friend’s house, please make the transportation arrangements.

Corn Roast/BBQ: September 8th, 5:00pm.

We will have a welcome back Community get-together in the playground on Thursday evening.

Hot dogs and corn will be served in the cafeteria. We hope to have salads to accompany our meal.

Parents, old students! Come one, come all!

CURRICULUM INFORMATION NIGHT

  • September 14th - 6:00pm – 9:00pm
  • General Assembly - Governing Board Elections will take place at 7:00pm

This is an important evening. Please make every effort to attend. You will have anopportunity to meet your child’s teacher as well as become familiar with your child’s class

routines and curriculum. It is also a night that provides some information about the school and its organizations. I urge you to participate actively in your child’s school life.

Please make every effort to have your child come to school on time. This sets the tone for the day and demonstrates the importance of commitment to your child’s academic success. Also, important information is given during homeroom time at the start of the day.Students who come in late often feel disoriented for the rest of the day.

Nutrition:

Please take note that our nutritional policy does not allow chips, candy, chocolate, and/or

soda. We may allow these items on special occasions but junk food will NOT be tolerated on a daily basis. Students who have any “junk food” items will be asked not to have them again.

Please understand that healthy nutrition will help enhance your child’s capacity for learning. Healthy snacks such as fruit, raw vegetables and yogurt are highly recommended. We ask that you support our healthy nutritional policy so that we can work together on fueling your children to success.

STUDENT ALLERGIES

Several students suffer from allergies which we must be informed about and take responsible actions to ensure their well-being.

We have some staff and students who have severe allergies to PEANUTS and/or NUTS. The allergies are life-threatening if they come into contact with these food substances. For this reason, we ask for the cooperation and understanding of ALL parents - do not send any foods that may contain peanuts or nut products. Thank you for your commitment to this requirement.

Safety with Medicines:
We do not have the authority to administer ANY kind of medicine unless we have a prescription and written permission from the parents, depending on the medicine involved. Please make sure you do not giveover-the-counter medicine to your child. We will be happy to administer medicine to those who need it after the safety protocol has been followed.

Note: If your child requires medication during the school day, you must complete a MEDICAL AUTHORIZATION FORM. Pleaserequest this form from the school office.

STUDENT AGENDA

It has come to my attention that many parents are not checking the agendas. It is very important that you supervise your child, making sure s/he is giving you the papers that go home, ensuring that you write in the agenda if you have any comments or questions. This is an important communication tool.

Please use the agenda to write messages for your child’s teachers. It is the best place to send any messages that require a change at the end of the day (bussing, daycare, or pick-up).

Parents and students are asked to sign to the effect that you have read and understand the information. Students should be reminded of the importance of the agenda for both home and school. I cannot stress enough, how important it is to use it.

Please remember to sign the consent form for Parental Authorization regarding walking activities as well as photos posted on the school web site and newspaper.

BEHAVIOUR

Our values of Respect, Responsibility & Safetyare of great importance in everyday school life at MHES.

Our Positive Behaviour Support Program helps the students with empathy and conflict resolution. Our behaviour system is based on making the right choices and behaving appropriately at all times.

We can all be working together to help our children learn to make the right choices and deal with social issues in a positive manner.

Our Special Ed (behaviour) tech is with us for 15 hours every week and helps with issues that often come up.

DAYCARE

Due to a decrease in the number of students in our daycare, Tanya Conklin, Daycare Tech, will be our regular daycare educator at all times. On days when we have 21+ students in the daycare, we will add another daycare educator.
Please take note that the Daycare Service is available from 7:00am – 8:15 and from 3:00pm – 6:00pm.

Please register your child(ren) before September 30th to avoid late registration fees.

If you need information or want to register your child, please contact Tanya:

At school, extension 6220

By phone, (450) 275-4873

Students MUST be registered in order to use the daycare services, even if they are not attending on a regular basis.

New Entrance for Daycare and LaRochelle Pre-School:

Please note that the Daycare is now situated in our newly renovated basement. Daycare and pre-school parents can enter through the door nearest to the parking lot. The security system will be in place at that door and you will not have to come to the front door.

Friendly Reminders - Please return as soon as possible the following:

Medical Emergency Information Sheetwith complete information on emergency contact numbers.

Student Fees

Note: Please do not send cash with your child.

September Dates to Remember

8th – BBQ/Corn roast; 5:00pm – 7:00pm

14th –School Photos

Curriculum Night; 4:00pm – 7:00pm

16th – PED Day

Hope to see you all at the BBQ/Corn Roast!

Thank you.

Grace Courey, Principal

Please see the information regarding the La Rochelle pre-school on the next page.