Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well and enjoyed the summer.

We are looking forward to welcoming our students back to school NEXT WEEK!

Here is some important information to help you and your child transition from summer to school:

Opening Days

• You can find important information such as our school calendar, school supply list, opening days, etc. on our website here:

• The first day of school for grade 8, 11, PY3 and Centre of Excellence students is Wednesday August 30^th (these students stay home on Thursday August 31^st)
• The first day of school for grade 7, 9, 10, PY1, PY2 is Thursday August 31^st (these students stay home on Wednesday August 30^th)
• All students are at school on Friday September 1^st
• When your child arrives to school on the first day, they should go to the cafeteria to receive their schedule and to greet their teacher
• Please reassure your child that there will be many adults circulating to help!

Guidance/Administration Structure

• Tara Laine – Principal
• Kate Smith (katesmith@wqsb.qc.ca) – Vice Principal – Students with last names A-L
• Chris Byrne (chrisbyrne@wqsb.qc.ca)  – Vice Principal – Students with last names M-Z
• Holly Richardson (hrichardson@wqsb.qc.ca)  – Guidance Counselor – Students with last names A-F
• Danielle Nikota (dnikota@wqsb.qc.ca)  – Guidance Counselor – Students with last names G-M
• Franny Maloney (fmaloney@wqsb.qc.ca) – Guidance Counselor – Students with last names N-Z

Transportation

• The Parent Portal will be open at the end of the day on August 25^th until August 31^st for you to check for transportation details for your child
• I have attached a guide to the Portal to this email
• We recommend that your child arrive at their bus stop a few minutes early for the first week and to record their bus information
• We encourage families to download the Western Quebec app in order to receive notifications about late/cancelled buses (information attached)

Student Schedules

• Students will receive their schedules when they arrive on their first day
• Schedules will be uploaded to the parent portal on Thursday August 31^st

Affirming Names

• We are now able to support our non-binary and trans students by having their affirming name, gender marker and pronouns appear on school documents
• I have attached some information and a request form to this email if it pertains to your child

Baseball!

• The baseball season starts early so a fast recruitment process will take place next week
• Tryouts will be open to ALL students and practices may take place over the long weekend
• Students participating must be available for the championship weekend (September 29^th – October 1^st)
• Students can sign up for tryouts during our opening days in the cafeteria during lunch or they can email Ms. Brown (slbrown@wqsb.qc.ca) for more details

Grade Level Flyers

• I have attached a flyer with important course information for each grade level to this email

Upcoming Dates

• September 4^th – Holiday
• September 13^th – Symmes Annual General Assembly – 6pm, School Auditorium
• September 15^th – PD DAY
• September 20^th – D’Arcy Annual General Assembly – 6pm, School Auditorium
• September 21^st – School Photo Day

We are so excited to start a new school year and welcome your children back.  For all of our incoming grade 7 students and families, WELCOME!  We are so proud to be a part of this wonderful community.

See you next week!

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

Ministry of Education – Evaluation of Learning Document

• Please see the attached document from the MEQ

Covid-19 – Parent Information

• Please see the attached documents from the Centre Integre de Sante et de Services Sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO)

Resiliency Workshop

• Please see the attached poster advertising a workshop titled “How To Make Kids More Resilient By Not Over-Protecting Them”
• The workshop is virtual and takes place on January 19^th, 2023 from 7pm – 8:30pm
• To register – simply click on “register now” at the top of the poster

Upcoming Dates

• December 2^nd – PD Day – No school for students
• December 26^th – January 6^th – Winter Break
• January 9^th – PD Day – No school for students

Thank you to all the parents who attended our Parent-Teacher Interview evening.  It was so nice to host this event in-person again.

Have a nice weekend.

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

Remembrance Day

• On Remembrance Day, we honour those who gave their lives to serve our country
• By remembering, we pay tribute to members of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP who served to defend our values and freedoms
• We also honour those who continue to serve our country today
• All week, students have been viewing educational videos and tributes
• You can view the videos here:

Term 1 Report Cards

• Report cards will be published to the Parent Portal on Friday November 18^th
• Term 1 is worth 20% of the final mark

Parent-Teacher Interviews

• In-person Parent-Teacher interviews will take place in the gymnasium on Thursday, November 24^th from 5:30pm-8:30pm
• D’Arcy parents can arrive and line-up to speak with the teachers they would like to meet with
• Symmes parents will receive a form next week to sign up for timeslots

College, University and Trades Evening

• Information booths and kiosks will be set up in our cafeteria during Parent-Teacher interviews
• Please see the attached flyer for more information
• Our school council will also be holding a bake sale to raise money for student activities – cash only!

EPCA Survey

• In order to understand concerns, priorities and opinions, the English Parent Committee Association of Quebec (EPCA) is inviting parents to respond to the following survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S7YFWCN

Upcoming Dates:

• November 14^th – PD Day – No school for students
• November 18^th – Term 1 report cards
• November 24^th – Parent-Teacher interviews
• November 25^th – PD Day – No school for students

Have a great weekend!

Dear Families,
I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

Grade 9 Vaccines

• Reminder that a team of CISSSO nurses will be at school on Friday November 11^th to administer regular vaccines (tetanus booster, meningitis) to our grade 9 students
• I’ve attached a letter to this email with more information

Webinar

• Please see the attached flyer for an upcoming webinar on online hate presented by Connexions

Term 1 Report Cards

• Report cards will be published to the Parent Portal on November 18^th

Parent-Teacher Interviews

• Parent-Teacher interviews will take place, in-person, in the gymnasium on November 24^th from 5:30pm-8:30pm

Upcoming Dates

• November 14^th – PD Day – no school for students
• November 25^th – PD Day – no school of students

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

Smoke Free Family

• Please see the attached documents regarding this Provincial campaign
• There are resources available in both French and English here:

https://famillesansfumee.ca/outils

WQSB Mobile App

• The WQSB has a mobile app available for free
• This app provides information regarding bus delays as well as cancellations due to inclement weather and other useful information
• We encourage you to visit the app store and search Western Quebec,  the icon looks like this:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/western-qu%C3%A9bec/id1325727053

Prom Committee Fundraiser

• The 2022-2023 Prom Committee will be selling hot dogs and pop at lunch during Monday’s fun rugby tournament
• Cash only!

Have a great weekend!

Vaccination for the Grade 9 students will take place on Friday, November 11.

Remember to :

• Bring your vaccination booklet
• Wear short sleeved top
• Eat a good breakfast that morning

You will be called alphabetically to the library where you will receive your vaccines.

You are invited to the library to receive information even if you refuse the vaccination.

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

Homework Club

• Interested students are invited to the library on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school until 4:30pm
• This is an opportunity to access a quiet location with teachers present to assist with homework completion/studying

Grade 9 Vaccinations

• On November 11^th, a nursing team from CISSSO will be at school to administer planned vaccinations (meningitis and tetanus booster) to grade 9 students
• Please refer to the attached document for more information
• Students will also view a virtual presentation next week in class

Weed Out The Risk – Grade 8

• During the week of November 14^th, Grade 8 students will participate in a workshop presented by MADD Canada
• Please refer to the attached document for more information
• The workshops will be presented during your child’s English class

Upcoming Halloween Activities

Fright Night!

• Students can purchase a ticket in the cafeteria next week for $7 to experience our spooky hallway and scary movie in the auditorium in the evening on Wednesday October 26^th

Symmes Dance

• A Halloween dance will take place in the auditorium during periods 3 & 4 on Friday October 28^th – this is a free event
• There will be additional spaces (games room, quiet location) for students not interested in dancing

D’Arcy Dance

• 7pm on October 28^th
• Tickets can be purchased for $5 in the cafeteria next week

FUN Rugby Tournament

• On October 31^st,the  Pontiac High and Philemon Wright Rugby teams will be competing against us in a fun tournament on our synthetic field during the day
• Students are invited to watch during lunch
• The Prom Committee will be running a BBQ outside with proceeds going towards the 2023 Prom Event

School Activities/Events

• A reminder that our daily video announcements are posted to our website:

• If your child would like to participate in an activity and you are unable to arrange transportation afterwards, please reach out to me – we can work together to find potential solutions

Have a great weekend!

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

Reminders

• October 10^th is a holiday
• October 13^th & 14^th are PD Days
• Student progress reports will be published to the parent portal on October 14^th
• I’ve attached a guide to this email to help you create an account if you don’t already have one

Because next week is so short, I will not be sending a weekly update email.

Have a great long weekend!

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

• This is a day to honour the children who never returned home and the Survivors of residential schools as well as their families and communities
• Staff and students wore Orange Shirts today as a way to recognize Canada’s difficult history with our Indigenous Peoples and to continue to commit to reconciliation
• Here is a link to a virtual assembly that our students watched today:

Information Session

• The Direction de santé publique of the CISSS de l’Outaouais and the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health are inviting parents to a session on teens and vaping
• The session will be held virtually on MS Teams on October 12^th from 6:30pm – 8:00pm
• There will be a Q & A period at the end of the session
• If you are interested, please register here (ctrl + click):

• Following your registration, you will receive a Teams link to join the session

Upcoming Dates

• October 3^rd – PD Day – no school for students
• October 6^th – Photo Day
• October 13^th & 14^th – PD Days – no school for students
• October 14^th – Student progress reports will be published to the parent portal

Dear Families,

I hope you are doing well.

Here is some information for this week:

Thank you to all of our Symmes parents that participated in our Annual General Assembly and Meet-the-Teacher evening earlier this week.

D’Arcy McGee Annual General Assembly

• Wednesday September 21^st, 6pm in the Auditorium
• The Annual General Assembly will take place from 6pm-7pm and will be followed by our ‘Meet-the-Teacher” event from 7pm-8:15pm
• The purpose of the AGA is to inform parents of the structures and routines of school as well as to elect the parent representatives to our Governing Board

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – Orange Shirt Day

• September 30^th is a day to recognize the difficult legacy of the Canadian Residential School System
• Our FNMI committee will sell Orange Shirts again this year to raise money for future events aimed at Indigenous awareness and education  
• Orange shirts will be available for purchase ($20) in the cafeteria at lunch starting on Tuesday, September 20^th until they sell out

Covid-19 Information

• Please see the attached updated Covid-19 information

School Fees

• Parents/Guardians are now able to pay school fees
• Please see the attached document that provides information on cost/payment options
• Please contact Ms. Nadine Plourde if you have questions: nplourde@wqsb.qc.ca

Connexions Webinar

• Please see the attached flyer for an upcoming webinar
• The targeted audience is parents/guardians of middle school children

Transportation Information

• Many of the bus routes have been modified since the start of the school year with new additions and changes
• Instead of sending out multiple new bus postcards, the WQSB has decided to open the transportation information in the Parent Portal again for the week-end
• Starting at the end of the day today (around 4pm) until Monday morning (around 8:00 am), parents will be able to view the recent transportation information

Have a great weekend!