Wednesday 5 September 2018

Welcome!


Hello Romeo Dallaire Families:

Welcome to the beginning of our new school year!  It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces on the first day of school.  We are looking very forward to working with your children this year. Below are a few updates as we get back into school routines.

Forms:
As you have likely noticed, there was a Start-Up Package sent home yesterday with students containing forms to be returned to school. The forms are brightly coloured. Please return these forms by Friday, September 14, or earlier.  Some students in Grades 6-8 are eager for permission to go out for lunch. If you choose to grant your child permission to leave school property over the lunch hour and the forms have been returned to school this week, our office staff will work to create a master list of these students for sign-out purposes. If forms are submitted in a timely manner this week, we plan to have this operational by next week.  Please refrain from sending notes each day, as the bright pink permission form will suffice.  

Heat:
In May – September, we sometimes experience very hot weather and we encourage students, families and staff to be mindful of this throughout the day. To address this fact, we have a Have a Hot Weather Action Plan in place. 

The Weather Action Plan comes into effect when:

      the humidex reaches or exceeds 35°C;
      Environment Canada issues a Heat Warning (issued when two or more consecutive days of daytime maximum temperatures are expected to reach 31°C or warmer and nighttime temperatures are expected to fall to 20°C or warmer OR 2 or more consecutive days of humidex values are expected to reach 40°C or higher)
      York Region issues an Extended Heat Warning (Heat Warning extends beyond two days).

Within this plan, we encourage students to drink plenty of water and wear breathable clothing. During recess times, students are encouraged to find a shady spot along the building, wear sunscreen and sun hats, and refrain from strenuous physical activities. In our classrooms, lights will be turned off where possible, fans will be turned on, classes will be relocated to a cooler location in the building when possible and physical activity is kept at a minimum.

Buses:
As the school year begins, bus drivers work through their routes the best they can.  Sometimes buses are late for a variety of reasons. In the event of a late bus, office staff will send a mass e-mail to all families by 4:00 pm or shortly after. For further information about buses, please visit schoolbuscity.com. Here is a message on their website:

“Parents should understand the need to make alternative arrangements for their child/children if the school bus is late. Parents are reminded to refer to the Late Bus Report on the Student Transportation Services website at www.schoolbuscity.com prior to leaving for the bus stop in the mornings and afternoons. 

Parents should arrive at the bus stop five minutes prior to the regularly scheduled pick-up and drop-off times (10 minutes during the first week of school).  
Parents should know their child/children’s route number. 
Parents should know their child/children’s bus stop location. 
Parents should know the school and bus company phone number in the event of an emergency.”

Communication:
Please note, Roméo Dallaire is moving away from using blogs as a method of communication and we will soon be transitioning to Edsby. As more information becomes available, we will share it here.