march 2025
February was relatively uneventful at the school, just the way I like it these days, and it is passing FAST!!
We have been trying to stay on top of the illness, and we appreciate your help by keeping children at home when they are ill and giving them the rest, so they can get better. I am hopeful that the children will start to build up their immune systems as we get closer to spring. All in all, this has been a much better year than last year. The children seem to be shaking illnesses faster which is a good sign.
March is a long and busy month with a great deal of work to do in it. I imagine it will fly past as quickly as January and February did and we will soon be staring April in the eye. I will be happy to get outside again on a regular basis and feel sunshine on our faces again.
Here are some of the tidbits to pass along:
-We have obtained tickets for the older children (4-6 years old) to go see Highschool Musical Jr. at the Esplanade. We will be sending home permission slips for the children to participate in the trip. To take a larger group of children, we will only have a few additional tickets for parents, these will be first come, first reserved basis when you sign your child’s permission slip. The children will be transported to and from the Esplanade via a Southland Transportation bus.
Date: Thursday March 6th, Leaving at 12:15pm, returning at 2:00pm
-A huge thank-you to everyone who donated to our Valentine’s community project to The Woman’s Shelter. They were grateful for the hygiene items that the children donated and wanted to pass along a thank you for our thoughtful donations.
-Please make sure your child has proper outdoor wear. If you are missing anything, please feel free to ask us because we have some floating around.
-Please make sure your child does have extra clothing at the school, we hardly have anything for anyone but toddlers and if your child is out and gets wet, we will need you to come and bring them dry clothing. Be sure to send socks!!
-Children will need warm waterproof boots for walks. The sidewalks may still be snowy and icy/slushy/wet, and runners are not the suitable just yet.
-If your child is sick, there is a new 48-hour family symptom free policy that they must abide by. Also, siblings must stay home as well as they are carriers if there is an illness in your household. We understand and appreciate this may be an inconvenience; however, we need to keep everyone healthy. Everyone has been contacted about this new policy via text on Sunday February 23rd.
-All school divisions are registering new students entering kindergarten and grade 1. Please make sure to contact your school for further information. If you need any information regarding school, please ask and we can help as best we can.
-Mrs. Weimer will be starting summer and fall registration this month. If you have not returned your kindergarten form, it is due. the incoming toddlers and the kindergarten children are the beginning points to building the preschool program.
-The school boards will be asking if there are any children to be screened for speech/language concerns and looking at age-appropriate development. If you have any concerns or would like to have your child screened, please let Mrs. Weimer or Mrs. O know. In years past we have all children turning 3 (by September) screened to be sure we are not missing anything developmentally.
-Income Tax receipts have been emailed out. If you feel there is an error, please let me know and I can investigate it and get it corrected for you;
The new fee for all full-time children, regardless of age is $326.25, part-time is $230.00 and the government will pay the balance of the fee.
The updated full-time fees look like this (so far):
Toddler Fee $1110.39 Affordability Grant $784.14 Parent Fee $326.25
3-Year-Old Fee $1081.20 Affordability Grant $754.95 Parent Fee $326.25
4-Year-Old Fee $1071.47 Affordability Grant $745.22 Parent Fee $326.25
Kindergarten $1083.65 Affordability Grant $757.40 Parent Fee $326.25
-New fee sheets will be sent home this week to reflect your new payments for April 2025.
We have sent letters to the Premier, our MLA and the Minister who spearheaded these fees and changes to let them know we are not happy with the cut to the subsidy program. We encourage you to do the same. This was a necessary and beneficial program for many families in the province. If you have any questions about the new fees, please talk to Mrs. Weimer and she’ll investigate it.
Have a great month. Hopefully spring will surprise us shortly!!