Popcorn Sales

Holy Redeemer School will be doing a Kernels Popcorn Fundraiser.  Half the profits will go to the Grade 6 year end field trip and the other half will be donated between the Kanata Food Cupboard and the Stittsville Food Bank.

There are 5 flavours to choose from: Butersalt, Dill Pickle, Low-fat caramel, Salt & vinegar and White Cheddar.  All popcorn is gluten and nut free.

The cost is $2.50 per bag.

Orders will be done monthly. The first order will be for the following dates:    October 13, 20, 27.

To order the popcorn you will need to do so via Cash on line.  The Cash on line will go live Sept 22 and close on Oct 1.

Thank you for supporting the Grade 6 Fundraiser.

Reminder

Picture Day will take place on October 3, 2023.

The retake day that has been scheduled is November 14, 2023

Parent Council Elections

Our Parent Council elections will be took place on September 27, 2023.

Holy Redeemer Catholic School Council  

Council elections were held on September 27th at 6:30 pm. It is my pleasure to introduce to you the Holy Redeemer School Council for 2023-2024:

Chair: Allison Peterkin

Treasurer: Erin Staed

Secretary: Suzana McNeil / Mary Muneve

Parish Rep: 

CSPA Rep: Krista Blakely

Parent Reps: Kelly Bean, Emily Senft,  Debby Babarinsa, Megan Mills, Jess Hussey Best, Duane Naipaul, Amy Cummer

Principal/Vice-Principal:

Barry Oliver / Jennifer Divell

Teacher Rep:  Erin McStravick

Next Meeting:  October 18, 2023   6:30 PM Learning Commons

Pizza Ordering

Please see the following letter regarding Pizza ordering.

Mental Health Support

We are pleased to welcome Ms. Katie Willbond as our Mental Health Support Worker.  Ms. Willbond will be working with our students and staff members this year to support Mental Health.

Ms. Willbond will be presenting to Grades 1-6 classes about MAKING FRIENDS. This will occur during the afternoons of October, 11th and 17th.  We have a schedule in place to accommodate all classes.

 “Making Friends”,  is a classroom presentation designed to help students increase their skill set and confidence with making friends. This presentation explores what a good friend consists of, navigating challenging social situations, and practicing what to say when interested in getting to know someone better. 

Arrival / Dismissal Drop off / Pick up

In order to promote the safety of our students at Holy Redeemer Catholic School, we have developed and implemented a plan to ensure the safe arrival and dismissal of our children. Parents and school staff have a vital role in this process. 

ARRIVAL: Children enter the drop off zone, which is located at the West end of the school . They do so between 8:15 - 8:30 a.m. The students will then cross over the school yard line.  The Grade 1-3 students will walk to the Primary area (pavement area up to the middle door) and the Grade 4-6 students will walk to the pavement area past the middle doors and upper field area. Teachers will be in these designated areas.  At 8:30 a.m. they will proceed into the school through their designated door, and be escorted with their teacher to their classroom. Please note that Parents/Adults are asked not to enter the school yard, and we ask that parents separate from their child at the school yard line and exit the school area immediately. Parents coming from the park area pathway are asked to walk along the sidewalk in the parking lot, and make their way to the front of the school, and then to the drop zone.  We do not want parents to be in the backyard area of the school. 

In the case of inclement weather, students will enter the school from kinder doors, and be directed by staff to their classrooms. This occurs between the times of 8:15 - 8:30 AM. We ask your full cooperation to implement them safely. 

Dismissal:  Our students will be staggered in their dismissal beginning at 2:50 and ending at 3:00 p.m.  They will exit from their designated doors, and make their way to the drop off zone area.  If parents are here to pick up their child, we ask them to wait on the sidewalk to the North,  and the area directly in front of the school.  The area in front of the school can be a heavy traffic area, and become very congested, therefore keep in mind social distancing when you are waiting. That is why we suggest the sidewalk to the North. Our JK/SK students will be escorted to the drop off zone area beginning at 2:50 p.m. and handed directly to Parents/Guardians. If Parents/Guardians are here to pick up JK/SK students, please stand to the West side of the drop off zone. Once you have your child, please exit the area immediately.  We ask that you do not congregate on school property. From 2:55-3:00 p.m. our Grade 1- 3 students will be escorted to the drop zone area.  Once again we ask Parents/Guardians to stand to the West side of the drop off area.  Once you have your child, please exit the area immediately.  At 3:00 p.m. our Grade 4-6 students will be escorted to the drop zone area. Once again we ask Parents/Guardians to stand to the West side of the drop off area.  

Drop Off /Pick UP If you are driving your child to school in the morning or picking them up at dismissal time, we ask you to park your car away from the school and WALK -A-Block. We ask that you do not enter the Bus Lane; these are off limits to all cars between 8:15 AM - 9:00 AM and 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM  Pylons will be put up in front of the bus lanes as a reminder of this practice. 

Parking

Parking has always been a  major concern at Holy Redeemer.  We received many  reports of unsafe situations in front of the school the last school year, and in our parking lot involving our students over last year. We want to be proactive and avoid these situations.  We ask our Parents to “walk a block”.  This means parking on one of the adjacent side streets, and walking over to the school to pick up your child.  We also ask that you do not use our parking lot during pick up time, and drop off.  This area is part of our Bus Loading Zone which occurs between 8:00 - 8:30 AM and 2:30 - 3:15 PM. We ask that no cars be in this area at this time to ensure the safety of both our students and staff.

School Website

We encourage all of our Parents/Guardians to check our Holy Redeemer website daily during the week.  Updated information from the Board is published, as well as weekly updates from the school, as well as important dates which are listed on the school calendar. Please take note that the information that is on weekly updates will also be sent via school messenger.

Student Fees

We will be asking $8.50 for student fees this year for our Grade 1-6 students.  This fee will be collected at the beginning of the year for agendas.

We ask that this be completed on or before October 13, 2023.

 With regards to class trips, our teachers will be looking at long range plans this month. Our teachers will be  sending requests for monies for classroom activity/trips nearing the end of the school year or closer to when the activity/trip is scheduled. We feel that this process will have more transparency for fees collected for this type of activity/trip. 

Grade 1-6 Student fees can be paid by using the cash on line payment method.  This is located on the school website if you have not already signed up for this in previous years.  It will become live September 15, 2023

ONLINE PAYMENTS 

For safety and efficiency reasons, we want to reduce the amount of Cash & Cheques coming into our school.  School related expenses will be available online for you to make the payment.

Parents please register.

Here is how:

Step 1 Go to this website:

https://ocsb.schoolcashonline.com

Step 2 Register by selecting the “Get Started Now” and follow the steps

Step 3 After you receive the confirmation email, please select the “click here” option, sign in and add each of your children to your household account.

School Messenger

 Please sign up for School messenger to make sure you will be receiving all communication from our school. If this is not completed you may miss out on receiving some important announcements from our school. School Messenger

Office Administrator 

Please take note that often times you will not be able to speak to our Office Administrators 30 minutes before the end of school bell at 3:00 PM. This is a very busy time.  Requests to have students be removed from the bus or ready for you to pick them up early should be done in the morning,  by communication in the agenda or a voicemail message before 12:00 PM.  Please understand that these types of requests may not be addressed if you are calling late. We would kindly ask that if you are requesting a pick up at 2:55, please wait until 3:00.

Thank you 

Future Dates:  

October 3, 2023  Picture Day

October 4, 2023  School Liturgy

October 5, 2023  Grade 6 Retreat  Learning Commons

October 6, 2023  PD DAY

   We will be asking $8.50 for student fees this year for our Grade 1-6 students.  This fee will be collected at the beginning of the year for agendas.  We ask that this be completed on or before October 13, 2023

 With regards to class trips, our teachers will be looking at long range plans this month. Our teachers will be  sending requests for monies for classroom activity/trips nearing the end of the school year or closer to when the activity/trip is scheduled. We feel that this process will have more transparency for fees collected for this type of activity/trip.