Junior School - DECEMBER 7, 2023

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • Casual dress day on Friday, December 8, for all students who celebrated their birthdays in September, October, or November.

  • Winter Co-Curriculars & Clubs will end on Tuesday, December 19 and will continue on your return to school on Monday, January 8. There will only be Before Care on the last two days of the term.  There will be make-up classes for third party provider clubs on Wednesday, February 28 and Thursday, February 29.

  • No clubs/teams or After Care will be provided on Wednesday, December 20 and Thursday, December 21. All students will be dismissed at 3:15pm.

  • Our JS Great Canadian Outdoor Day will take place on Friday, February 2. The JK-Gr. 2 students will be skating at Mattamy Athletic Centre (formerly Maple Leaf Gardens), and the Gr. 3-5 students will be cross-country skiing at Horseshoe Valley. You will find the online Level 2 VO forms for parent consent on Yorknet. Please complete these by Friday, December 15.

What you need to know

STUDENT LIFE & BELONGING

WINTER CO-CURRICULARS & CLUBS

Winter Co-curriculars & Clubs will end on Tuesday, December 19 and will continue on your return to school on Monday, January 8. There will only be Before Care on the last two days of the term. 

No clubs/teams or After Care will be provided on Wednesday, December 20 and Thursday, December 21. All students will be dismissed at 3:15pm. 

Make up classes for all 3rd party provider clubs missed in this last week of classes will be offered on Wednesday, February 28 and Thursday, February 29.

REQUIRED FORMS FOR PARENT VOLUNTEERS - Released tomorrow via YorkNet

Tomorrow, Friday, December 8, all Junior School parents will receive online forms to be completed via YorkNet, including an Offence Declaration and a Parent Volunteer Excursion Agreement. These forms are required for all Junior School parents who wish to volunteer at in-school Student Life events and as chaperones on offsite trips. We are grateful for the ongoing support of our parent community as we continue to promote student learning beyond the classroom.

JUNIOR SCHOOL HARMONY CONCERT 2023

Thursday, December 14 10:15am to 11:15am - Christ Church Deer Park 

Please join our JK- Grade 5 student performers as we come together to celebrate the end of the first term and the learning taking place in our music programme. Music Unites Us!  All guests should enter through the front doors on Yonge Street. Doors will open at 9:45am. 

Please RSVP here if you would like to attend in-person. We apologize for the technical difficulties accessing the RSVP. Itt is now functioning properly. A recording of the concert will be shared in the Flash that same afternoon of Thursday, December 14.

For the concert, JK-SK students are asked to wear their York branded gym uniform and Grade 1 - 5 students are to wear their green long or short-sleeved polo shirts with grey pants or a skirt.

GREAT CANADIAN OUTDOOR DAY - Friday, February 2

On Friday, February 2, all of our Junior School students will take part in our annual 

Great Canadian Outdoor Day. Our Grades JK-Gr 2 students will be skating at Mattamy Athletic Centre (Formerly Maple Leaf Gardens) in Toronto and Grades 3-5 are cross-country skiing at Horseshoe Resort in Barrie. At the end of this week, all Junior School parents will receive an email asking them to sign into their YorkNet account to review and submit the online Venturing Out (VO) Form for their child by Friday, December 15. All important trip details (including timing, activity information, packing list) can be found in the Venturing Out Forms. To print a VO form for your reference, you can access a pdf version attached to the event dates on the YorkNet calendar.

Additional Waiver Required for Grade 3 -5 Parents ONLY 

Grade 3-5 parents, please also read and sign this Horseshoe Valley Waiver Form. Return the signed copy to your child's homeroom teacher by Friday, December 15. For your convenience, a hard copy will be sent home with your child on Friday, December 1 in their backpack. 

PARENT VOLUNTEER SIGN UP FOR WINTER EVENTS AND REQUIRED FORMS

We are looking for parent volunteers to join us for our Great Canadian Outdoor Day on Friday February 2. If you are interested in volunteering for either the skating or cross-country skiing excursions please fill out this form by Friday, December 15 PARENT VOLUNTEER SIGN UP - GREAT CANADIAN OUTDOOR DAY 2024 Our Junior School YPA Co-chairs will be in touch to finalize our volunteer needs after the submission deadline. 

There will also be required forms, including an Offence Declaration and an Parent Volunteer Excursion Agreement, shared in the coming weeks for all of our parent volunteers to complete.

WINTER RECESS EVENT - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

*Please share your availability by the end of December*

Looking ahead to next term, we are excited to plan another outdoor recess event at the Junior School! Volunteers will run simple games + serve a special treat. The event takes place exclusively in the JS playground on Friday, January 26 - regardless of weather. If you're available, please complete this quick volunteer form by the end of December. Everyone who submits this form will receive an email on Monday, January 8 - as it is possible that interested volunteers will outnumber available spaces.

YORK HOLIDAY HUB & SCAVENGER HUNT

Our JS Holiday Hub in the Gathering Place is an interactive informative display of artifacts celebrating different winter holidays. As we decorate our school as a beautiful Winter Wonderland, this central display also showcases and honours specific holidays celebrated around the world during December.

Our Grade 2 students are launching our York Holiday Hub Scavenger Hunt from Monday, December 11 - Thursday, December 21. This activity is part of our Unit of inquiry that explores people using traditions to preserve culture and appreciate diversity. We look forward to learning more about winter holidays and celebrations. All classes are invited to visit the 10 stations set up in the hallways. Students will use their ipads to scan QR codes to watch videos and find out fun facts about different holidays. They can also complete a short holiday trivia quiz or picture reflection to enter into a raffle to win a prize.

For the concert, JK-SK students are asked to wear their York branded gym uniform and Grade 1-5 students are to wear their green long or short-sleeved polo shirts with grey pants or a skirt.