Junior School - September 26, 2024
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Monday, September 30 - National Day for Truth & Reconciliation ORANGE SHIRT DAY (Wear an orange shirt or your favourite shirt to demonstrate your commitment to reconciliation)
Tuesday, October 1
Indigenous Guest Artist Visit/ National Day for Truth & Reconciliation
Head’s & Principal’s Breakfast for New Families 8:00am - 9:00am
All students who celebrated a birthday in August can come in casual clothes on Tuesday, October 1.
Wednesday, October 2 - Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown and continues until sundown on Friday, October 4
Tuesday, October 8 - House Meeting
Wednesday, October 9
JS Lockdown
Grade 3 Parent Social - YPA Event at 7:00pm
Friday, October 11 - Thanksgiving Long Weekend (No Classes)
Please find attached a reminder of what the uniform for the JS looks like. All uniform items including hoodies and leggings should be York School branded.
Footwear that is considered part of the uniform: Runners and Black shoes.
Footwear that is not considered part of the uniform: Uggs and sandals.
Students can wear casual clothes on their birthday and last Friday of the month. This Friday is athletic casual for our Terry Fox run.
All students who celebrated a birthday in August can come in casual clothes on Tuesday, October 1.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 - NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH & RECONCILIATION / ORANGE SHIRT DAY
On September 30, we will observe the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day, marking the 12th anniversary of Orange Shirt Day and the fifth annual National Day for Truth & Reconciliation.
This day is dedicated to reflecting on the legacy of Canada's Residential School System and its impact on First Nation, Métis, and Inuit communities. To approach this sensitively with our students, we will use age-appropriate children’s literature to help them understand the experiences of residential school survivors.
Kindergarten - Grade 3: Discussions will focus on safety and appreciating their own homes and communities.
Grade 4 - 5: In addition to the themes of safety and appreciation, students will explore the injustices faced by Indigenous communities due to residential schools.
The school has partnered with Dr. Pamela Rose Toulouse, an expert in Indigenous education, to enrich our curriculum. Dr. Toulouse, formerly a professor at Laurentian University and a National 3M Teaching Excellence Award Fellow, has extensive experience and resources on this topic.
If you would like to purchase an orange shirt to wear on The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Monday, September 30), please consult our list of recommended vendors.
Thank you for supporting this important initiative.
STUDENT LIFE & BELONGING
YORK’S 31st ANNUAL TERRY FOX WALK/RUN 2024
When? Friday, September 27
When? 8:45 - 11:00 am
Run Times: JK & SK 8:45 - 9:30am Grade 3, 4 & 5 - 9:30 - 10:15am Grade 1 & 2 10:15 - 11:00am
Who? Students and staff will participate in their classes.
Parents are welcome to join us too. Please meet your children inside the gate of the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery as classes exit the school for their scheduled run times.
Where? Mt Pleasant Cemetery and Kay Gardiner Beltline
What to wear? Students are invited to wear athletic clothing, their gym uniforms, or Terry Fox t-shirts past and present. They can also accessorise with their house colours. Students will need to be wearing running shoes and have their water bottles.
Donations? Please send donations for our fundraising initiative ‘Toonies for Terry’ with your child on Friday morning to be collected by homeroom teachers or donate through our school’s team page: York School Terry Fox Fundraising Page.
We look forward to coming together as a community to keep Terry’s legacy alive.
Questions? Contact Sarah Charley, Director, Student Life and Belonging at scharley@yorkschool.com.
ORANGE SHIRT CASUAL DAY - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30
On Monday, students are encouraged to wear an orange shirt or their favourite shirt with any casual bottoms to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to demonstrate their commitment to reconciliation.
In collaboration with Indigenous guest artist and storyteller Monique Diabo our JK-Grade 5 are creating an art installation honouring Indigenous culture.
During art classes, every child will make a styro-print rectangle that represents a bead on a large Gaswéñdah or two-row wampum belt. This is a symbolic record of the first agreement between Europeans and Indigenous peoples, specifically the Dutch and the Haudenosaunee, on Turtle Island, which includes Canada, recognizing the other as an equal partner and respecting their way of life, laws, and people.
We will also be welcoming back Monique Diabo in-person to our school on Tuesday, October 1 for our assembly to celebrate Indigenous culture through words: Oral tradition and storytelling.
If your child does not have a shirt and you would like to support the Orange Shirt Society, which provides resources to Residential School Survivors, please purchase your child’s official orange shirt from the list of approved vendors below:
McCabe Promotional (Premiere Retailer)
Aritzia
Canadian Tire
London Drugs – Available in stores, while supplies last
Mark’s – Unisex adult
Mark’s – Unisex youth
Turtle Lodge Trading Post
South Island Crafts
HALLOWEEN VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES!
HALLOWEEN DECORATING - Monday, October 21
We are looking for a handful of volunteers to help decorate the Junior School for Halloween! Please join us on Monday, October 21 from 8:45am - 11:45am as we get out our cobwebs, pumpkins and black cats to decorate for Halloween.
Please fill out the Halloween Decorating Volunteer Form by end of day Monday, September 30.
Everyone who submits the volunteer form will receive an email on Friday, October 4 - as it's possible that interested volunteers will outnumber available spaces.
2. HALLOWEEN ACTIVITY STATIONS Thursday, October 31.
We have a frightfully fun Halloween planned and need volunteers to run our morning and afternoon activity stations.
There are 3 rotations - (A)(B)(C) - running throughout the day, from 9:30am - 3:15pm. Please share your Halloween availability in this form Halloween @ JS by end of day Monday, October 7.
Everyone who submits the volunteer form will receive an email on Thursday, October 10 - as it's possible that interested volunteers will outnumber available spaces.
SAVE THE DATE - HALLOWEEN COSTUME PARADE - Thursday, October 31
Halloween at the Junior School is definitely a highlight of the year for kids and parents alike. Keep your fingers crossed for great weather so we can bring our entire JS community together! Join us for our annual Halloween costume parade weather permitting.
Thursday, October 31, parents are invited after drop off from 8:00 am-9:30 am to the park across the street at Yorkminster Church to enjoy refreshments before the kids begin their walk around the park.
Students will parade around the perimeter of the park starting at 8:30am and parents are invited to take photos and enjoy some refreshments as we embrace the full spirit of Halloween.
We hope you can join us for this spook-tacular event!
Parenting in the Digital Age: Virtual Parent Webinar
Presented by Jake Ernst, Straight Up Health
Today's parents are faced with an unprecedented challenge: to parent and raise their kids in the age of the internet. Many of today’s kids are constantly online and many parents are growing concerned about the impact this is having on kids and their wellbeing. In this session, we’ll talk about the number one factor that impacts whether or not kids get hooked by their device, what apps and websites parents should know about, how to avoid common digital parenting mistakes, and how to strike a balance between digital safety and digital freedom.
Junior School Focus October 8, 7:00pm RSVP HERE
Middle School/Senior School Focus (Students encouraged to attend as well) October 9, 7:00pm RSVP HERE
NEW FULL ZIP BLACK FLEECE
Full Zip Black Fleece - Online Order Only
The online site is now open for orders until October 15, 2024. Orders can be shipped directly to your home or to The York Shop for free. These orders can be picked up between December 16, 2024 to December 18, 2024 from 11:30am - 1:30pm at The York Shop at our 1320 campus.
Click here to order.
If you plan on ordering a black fleece for yourself or your child in the JS, please head over to the Gathering Place this week in order to try on the samples. We will be moving all the Black Fleece samples at the end of the day this Friday September 27 so that our Middle and Senior School students will get a chance to try them on.