70 Wellington Street Eganville, Ontario K0J 1T0

St. James Catholic School

70 Wellington Street Eganville, Ontario K0J 1T0

613 628-2927 Principal – Maureen Enright

Welcome Back!

A warm welcome back to our returning students and to our new families a “special” welcome to St. James Catholic School! September always brings a heightened sense of excitement. Students, staff and parents are eager to meet old friends and make new friends, share summer experiences and of course, get our new school year off to a great start!

We have a wonderful school here at St. James. There are many talented and dedicated people who work hard to make the best school experience possible for your children. Special thanks to Mr. Len Lehto and Mrs. Teresa Yakabuskie, our custodians, for doing such a wonderful job preparing the school for our return. They have truly done a beautiful job!

The staff is committed to working with you and our respective parishes of St. James and The Nativity of Our Lady to educate all students in mind, body, heart and soul. As always we will strive for academic excellence. We are also committed to live out our Mission and to assist our students as they continue on their faith journey through life.

I look forward to seeing each of you and working together with you, your child(ren) and our staff throughout this year. Please stop in to say hi and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns at any time.

Please keep us in your prayers as we learn and grow together as a school community throughout this year.

This year, we welcome some new staff members to St. James. We extend a very warm welcome to:

• Mr. Cory Cavanagh – Grade 7 and 8 teacher
• Mrs. Amanda Jolicoeur - Office Administrator
• Ms. Carrie Stevens – FCS and School Counsellor
• Ms. Kellie Hisko – Indigenous Education SPAT (a Board role that will have Ms. Hisko based out of St. James)
• Mrs. Kelly Etmanskie – Special Education Coordinator for the RCCDSB (a Board role that will have Mrs. Etmanskie based out of St. James)

Opening School Mass

Our First mass of the school year will be held at St. James the Less Parish on Tuesday, September 12th at 10:00 am. Please join us if your schedule allows!

Open House

All are invited to visit the school on Thursday, September 14th between 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to meet teachers, view classrooms and socialize. We hope to see you there!

Bell Times

9:23 First Bell

9:25 Start of instructional day

11:35 Recess Starts

11:50 Recess Ends

12:30 Lunch Begins

12: 50 Time to finish lunch and go outside

1:13 End of lunch

1:15 Start of afternoon instructional time

3:25 Recess

3:40 End of Recess; Dismissal for walkers and First Bus

3:55 Bell for second bus

4:05Last bus

Staffing

Our staffing for the school year will be as follows:

JK/SKMs. Jennifer Perry

1/2Ms. Katie Milosek

3 & ResourceMrs. Erin Dick

4 &3/4Mrs. Lisa Hart

5/6Mrs. Alanna Hermans

7/8Mr. Cory Cavanagh

FSLMme Nadia Shoemaker

Special EducationMrs. Allison Kubiseski

Native LanguageMs. Michele Gaudry

MusicMr. Joseph Platt

Native LiaisonMs. Jessica Levesque

Educational

AssistantsMrs. Carole Kohoko

Mrs. Amy Regier

Mrs. Jessica Verch

Mrs. Erin Schweigert

ECEMrs. Karen Tracey

SecretaryMrs. Amanda Jolicoeur

PastorRev. Ken O’Brien

CustodianMr. Len Lehto

Mrs. Teresa Yakabuskie

Noon Hour Mrs. Marie Lehman

SupervisorsMrs. Eunice Schulist

TrusteesMrs. J. Ellis

Mr. B. Michaud

Superintendent Mrs. Elizabeth Burchat

Pupil Information Update

Pre-printed information forms will be sent home with each child. Kindly check the information and make any necessary changes, including changes to address and emergency contact persons/phone numbers. It is imperative that these be updated!Please sign and return these forms even if there are no changes.

Safe Arrival

Please call and leave a detailed message on the school answering machine (613)628-2927 to report your child’s absence. This will assist us in maintaining accurate attendance records. If it is known ahead of time, a note can be sent in the agenda advising that your child will be away.

EQAO information (board and school results) for the grade three and six students from the 2016-17 school year will be available to the public on September 20th, 2017. Individual Student Reports will arrive later in the fall and will distributed to students to bring home.

Student Supervision

Yard and kindergarten supervision for walking students and regular bus students begins at 9:05 am. Students should not arrive at school earlier than this time as they cannot be left unsupervised. All students dismissed at the end of the day must leave the school premises. If you are picking up your child, please do not go onto the yard. Instead, please go to the office we can page for your child(ren) to meet you. Thank you for your cooperation with this safety practice.

Student Agendas

Each student in grades 1-8 will be given a Catholic agenda. It is an excellent resource for learning more about our Catholic faith as well as being an organizational and communication tool between home and school. It is divided into three main parts.

1.The front section contains valuable information about our Catholic school philosophy, policies, and regulations. Please review the front section for information pertaining to our school (e.g., bell times, dress and behaviour codes). Please sign and return the permission form in the front section of the agenda.

2.The personal planning section helps students to develop good study skills, set goals, and manage time efficiently.

3. The agenda also provides a record and plan of student assignments, tasks, and tests.

Indoor Shoes

In order to keep our school clean and for the safety of our students, it is required that each student have a pair of indoor shoes to wear while at school. If this poses a difficulty for your family, please contact Mrs. Enright and we will make arrangements to get a pair of shoes.

Medication

Medication is administered only after a form is completed in full by parents and a doctor. Medication cannot be given by staff without this completed consent form. Teachers must be notified in writing of any medication that is sent to school, even if your child will administer to themselves.

Safe Schools

We welcome visitors to St. James Catholic School, but we will continue to lock all exterior doors this year. All visitors entering the building are asked to use the end door, near the St. James sign. Once inside, visitors must report to the secretary’s office to sign in and obtain a pass. We will be happy to relay messages, lunches, etc. to your child for you. Your cooperation with this will help us to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for your children and to keep class interruptions to a minimum.

Offence Declarations

All parents/guardians who have had a Vulnerable Sector Check done in the past year will be required to sign and return an Offence Declaration for 2016-2017. If you have not had a check or declaration signed in the last year, and would like to have a check to volunteer for school activities, please call the school and the appropriate forms will be sent home to you. Please note that every person who is involved as a volunteer in the school (driver, chaperone for class trips or tournaments, etc.) is required to have a Vulnerable Screening Check. In order to have this in place for trips in the spring, it is a good idea to have this check done now.

A Message from the Ontario Ministry of Health Regarding

Pupil Immunization

To keep our children healthy and our school’s disease-free Stick to Ontario’s Immunization Schedule. As a parent, keeping your kids safe and healthy is your number one priority. All children attending school between ages 4 to 17 need to be immunized according to Ontario’s Immunization Schedule. Immunization protects children from many serious diseases that are easily spread in schools.

Under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, children need to have proof of immunization against diphthe-ria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease, whooping cough, and – for children born in 2010 or later – chickenpox to attend school. Children who are not fully immunized may not be al-lowed to attend school.

Check with your health care provider or local public health unit to make sure your child has all the vaccines needed to attend school. If your child has followed the immunization schedule, no further vaccines will be needed. Did you know that it’s your responsibility to report your child’s updated immunization records to your local public health unit? Your health care provider does not report these records for you. For more information visit Renfrew County and District Health Unit’s website and

The Renfrew County District Health Unit will again be contacting families this school year whose immunizations are not up to date. Be sure to keep your mailing address up to date with your child’s school, and forward a record of any new immunizations your child receives to Renfrew County and District Health Unit.

Anaphylaxis Policy

We have a student attending St. James who is anaphylactic to nuts and peanuts. For him, exposure to even a minute amount of the substance to which they are allergic can trigger an anaphylactic reaction.

SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: itchy eyes, nose, face; flushing of face and body; swelling of eyes, face, lips, tongue and throat; hives; vomiting; diarrhea; wheezing; a feeling of foreboding, fear, and apprehension; weakness and dizziness; inability to breathe; loss of consciousness; and coma. The recommended emergency treatment for a student suffering an anaphylactic reaction is the administration of epinephrine (adrenaline) by an auto-injector (i.e., EpiPen, Autoject). Then the person affected must be rushed to hospital to receive further medical attention, even if the symptoms decrease with the administration of the epinephrine.

Each person entering the school is therefore asked to bring snacks and lunches free of any peanuts or nuts. Though it sounds simple, it means no peanut butter sandwiches or peanut butter cookies. It means you should read the labels of other foods like muffins, granola bars and cereals before you send them to school. Even foods that say, “may contain traces of nuts” should be avoided.

Therefore parents bringing food into the school to share with a class are asked to bring in only fruit or vegetables and/or items that have boxes clearly labelled. If we all cooperate and work together, we can try to minimize the risk of a severe allergic reaction for any person in our school.

Sabrina’s law was enacted in May of 2005 due to the tragic death of a student in one of our schools. It is our hope and prayer that we never have to live through an incident likethat. Our children and staff areprecious– please do your part to keep them safe!!

Anaphylactic students MUST carry an Epi-pen/Autoject on them at all times.

Bicycles

Students are most welcome to ride their bicycles to school. For safety reasons, they are expected to walk the bicycles while on the school grounds and in the parking lot. Helmets must be worn.

Student Accident Insurance

Student Accident Insurance forms will be sent home with each student. Please read the information carefully. If you do not have private coverage for your child you may wish to take advantage of this offer. Please return the application form to the insurance company, not the school.

End of Day Dismissal

Students will be dismissed from school to the same destination each day unless written permission is received from parents in advance. The office is a very busy place so please do not wait until the end of the day and then expect all of the information to be relayed to your child(ren) and teachers. Under the busing policy, bus passes are only to be issued by the principal for emergency situations.Going to a friend’s house for a birthday party, sleepover or to complete homework is notan emergency and it is the parents’ responsibility to arrange transportation outside of the school venue.

Come Join School School Council!

What do we do?

• We meet monthly, for approximately two hours and work as a team to “enhance relationships among members of the home, school, parish and extended community”. Can’t make it to a meeting? No problem, we will post the minutes on our school website.
• Provide advice to the principal in a number of areas
• Raise funds to enhance the educational experience for our children
• Review and provide input to the school board, such as input to the school year calendar, feedback on changes that may impact our children
• Review and provide input in the School Improvement Planning process

If you are interested in becoming a member of St. James School Advisory Council for 2017-2018, please read and fill in the form attached and return to the office by Friday, Sept. 15th. The first School Council meeting will be held on Monday, September 18th at 7:00 p.m. in the school library.

Eye See…Eye Learn

Make sure your children are ready to learn. For JK kids, Eye See…Eye Learn program offers a complimentary pair of glasses with their OHIP eye exam. Learn more: #BackToSchool #Eye See…Eye Learn

Special Lunches and Milk

We will be offering milk by the month and special lunches (most likely Subway) each month. Please watch for order forms for both of these later this week. We do encourage you to pay for these items through School Cash On-Line. If you need help registering, we will be happy to be of assistance.

Cell Phones

The school has a telephone for the students to use in the event of an illness or emergency. If a child has a cell phone, it must be kept off and in his/her school bag during the day, unless a teacher instructs them otherwise and is supervising the use of the phone. Cell phone use is not permitted at recess or during the classroom lunch time.

Opportunities for Our Students

We are blessed to be able to offer a wide variety of opportunities for our students at St. James. More information will be sent home later this week about private step dancing lessons, piano and guitar lessons as well the possibility of German language classes. Mrs. Hermans would also like to offer a ‘Bring Your Own Violin’ after school program on Thursdays after school. Please watch for further information on all of these opportunities.