Junior School - November 30, 2023

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • Students at the Junior School love to celebrate birthdays! Beginning on December 1, all JS students are welcome to come to school in casual wear on their birthday. If birthdays fall on a weekend, the casual day can be on the Friday or the Monday. Students who have already celebrated their birthday this fall (September, October, or November) can dress casually on Friday, December 8, 2023. We will have a day in June for summer birthdays. We do not share desserts or food for birthdays due to different dietary restrictions and school protocols. Please do not send any treats with your child(ren) for their birthday. Teachers will celebrate with their students in school. 

  • The TYS cozy pants are not part of the school uniform. Students are only allowed to wear these pants to school on casual days.

  • There have been a number of reported lice cases at the Junior School in the past week. The head louse is an insect that lives and breeds on your head. This is a common occurrence in school aged children. It is spread directly by head to head contact and indirectly by contact with his/her personal belongings. Please remind your children not to share hats, brushes, coats, etc.

    Please check your child’s hair frequently for eggs or nits. For more information please see the TPH Head Lice Fact Sheet. If your child has lice, please contact the school and sbrandes@yorkschool.com, our school nurse. Students must be treated before returning to school.

What you need to know

STUDENT LIFE & BELONGING

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.

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.

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! 

Please RSVP here if you would like to attend in-person. 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. 

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.