Update June 5 - June 9, 2023

Loving God,

We come together today as your children, seeking vision and guidance to make our schools inclusive and safe places to learn and grow.

You created us to be one with you in your image and likeness.

You love us and accept us as we are.

Help us to be more like You.

May we welcome all people.

Amen

Summer Skills Builder Program

The summer Skills Builder program is offered in-person at All Saints HS and St. Patrick’s HS.  The program is available for students currently in grade 6, 7, and 8, and for students who wish to work on their numeracy/literacy skills, or their core French literacy skills. These programs look to support students who are achieving Level 2 or below in math, language arts, or in French. 

The link for registration is HERE. 

OCSB Choir

The Ottawa Catholic School Board Choirs will be holding their annual auditions starting in early June of this year. Students entering grades 4 to 12 are invited to come out.  Do you love to sing? We would love to hear you! Link to poster.

Grade 6 Leaving Ceremony Update

We wanted to share the latest information regarding our Grade 6 Leaving Ceremony.

The Morning Events are organized by Holy Redeemer Catholic School.

Leaving Ceremony

Date:  June 23, 2023

Time:  10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Place:  Holy Redeemer Catholic School Gym

Who can attend?  Generally Parents/Guardians, however teachers will be collecting information regarding numbers attending.  After that information is collected, teachers will reach out to Parents requesting extra guest requests. This is due to the capacity limits of our Gym.

Lunch

Lunch: Provided to Grade 6 Students and family

Place: Holy Redeemer Catholic School Gym

Time:  11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

The following Events are organized by a Grade 6 Parents Group.

Please take note the underlined requests that the Parent Group has asked.

Evening Activities for Grade 6 Students

Place:  Holy Redeemer Catholic School Gym and Outdoor Yard

Events:  1 hour (likely 6-7pm) outside playing various games (sports & games such as ring toss, bean bags, etc).

Then we will move into the gym.

1 hour (likely 7-8pm) in the gym for snacks, dancing/music, and we thought having a Photo Booth would be fun for the kids.

Dominos is generously donating pizzas. Our thought (and this is what was done last year) is that we go “pot luck style”! We would ask for volunteers to bring snack food, drinks, water, plates, napkins, forks, etc.

If anyone has outdoor games that may be appropriate for the occasion that they can donate for the evening, we are asking they reach out!

Please email Holy.Redeemer@ocsb.ca   ℅  Grade 6 Grad Evening

We will also be looking for anything that would be fun to use for the photo booth.

We are asking for parent volunteers to set up, tear down, and chaperone the event. 

Time:  6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Grade 6 Keepsake Composite

 Parents can still order their KEEPSAKE composite!

Here`s a direct link to the Edge website to order :   https://products.edgeimaging.ca/composites/order/HRM

OSTA Update

Message

The Empty Seat Registration is now open for the 2023-2024 school year

The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA) is pleased to announce the launch of its Empty Seat (Courtesy Seating) Program. 

Students who are in the walk zone due to distance to the school, attending a cross-boundary school or any other logistical reason can apply for an empty seat through OSTA. Parents and guardians are asked to complete the online application form and only submit one empty seat application per student in your household. OSTA is responsible for managing all applications, approvals and assignments for empty seats (courtesy seating) for OCDSB and OCSB students.

While empty seat applications are accepted throughout the school year, parents/guardians applying for transportation during the annual October review must submit their applications no later than Friday, September 22, 2023.

For more information about the Empty Seat (Courtesy Seating) Program or to submit an application, visit the OSTA website: www.ottawaschoolbus.ca/empty-seat/

Kind Regards,

Vicky Kyriaco

www.ottawaschoolbus.ca

Lateness

Lateness: We have noticed that lateness of students is occurring on a more frequent basis.  Please see the following:

What can I do to help my child attend school?

1) Make a commitment to do what it takes to get your child to attend school every day and on time.

2 ) Help your child get organized by setting regular routines for getting ready for school, both at bedtime and in the morning.

3) Make sure your child has plenty of sleep as this will help increase her/his memory and concentration in school. Experts suggest 11 hours of sleep for 4-6 year olds and 9–10 hours for older children.

4 ) It may be best to remove the phone, television and computer from your child’s bedroom as it is hard to supervise, what s/he is doing or how late s/he is staying up, in the privacy of the bedroom.

5)  If at all possible, set a regular time to do homework. Some children like to  have their snack after school and then do their homework immediately so that it is finished. Others like to have some free time after school and then complete their homework right after supper. It is important for a parent to be available at that time to help them as needed.

6) Communicate with your child’s teacher regularly and attend all  parent/teacher interviews. Studies show that children of parents who are involved in the school are more likely to graduate.

7) Talk to your child about her/his school day. You could say, for example, “Tell me something about your day?” or “What is happening in the book you are reading?”

8) Show your child you are interested in school and that school is important.

9) Try to schedule appointments outside of school hours.  If your child refuses to go to school or if he or she complains of being sick frequently and has to go home, talk to your child and her/his teacher.

Bus Lanes

Most recently we have observed several cars in the bus lanes during the off limit times.  We once again remind parents that these precautions are for the safety of our students, staff and you.

Please take note that we must be very careful around our schools crosswalk. U turns and dropping off in front of the crosswalk are not safe practices.  We want to keep our crossing guard and students and families safe.

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 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM  Please do not drop off students in front of the bus lanes on the street and in front of the crosswalk. Joseph, our crossing guard, has voiced his concern about this very dangerous practice. This is not safe, please use the practice of walking-a-block. 

DRESS FOR THE WEATHER

As the weather begins to become more like spring, students are asked to bring in an extra pair of socks and even a change of clothes. Splash pants are also great options at this time of the year. Warm, dry clothing for the afternoon recesses is a welcome site for our young, active students.  As a healthy active school, we certainly encourage our students to be active each and every day.  With Spring comes the rainy season. Please refrain from buying or sending in umbrellas with your child(ren).  With many children running around the yard with the points on an umbrella that can be very dangerous to eyes.  A raincoat is a much better option.

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 designated doors, and be directed by staff to their classrooms. This occurs between the times of 8:15 - 8:30 AM. We ask for 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.  

Parking

“Park Safely” is a strategy that we would encourage our community to practice.  Double parking along the side streets is never a safe practice. Avoiding this situation by parking further away would be a better practice.

Keep in mind the phrase “Park Safely” to assist our community and students.

Thank you

Parking has always been a  major concern at Holy Redeemer.  We receive  reports of unsafe situations in front of the school and in our parking lot involving our students. 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. When a snow day occurs we will place pylons in front of the entrance and exits to our bus lanes.  We do this as a proactive measure to once again ensure the safety of our students and staff.

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.

Pizza 

Once again Pizza will be delivered on Thursday, June 8, 2023.  We ask that all of our students take home their individual Pizza boxes. 

Important Dates

Grade 6 Trip  June 5, 2023

End of Year Liturgy June 6, 2023

Grade 3 Trip  June 8, 2023

Pizza Day June 8, 2023 

The Parent Council meeting that was originally scheduled for May 16, 2023 has been rescheduled for May 23, 2023.  It will take place in the Learning Commons and begin at 6:30 PM.