Kortright Hills Public School
23 Ptarmigan DriveGuelph, OntarioN1C 1B5(519)827-1601Fax (519)827-9251
Kirk Runciman, Principal
Anne Bonnar, Office Co-Ordinator
Julie Young, Vice Principal
Rosemary Coghlin, Administrative Assistant
Newsletter for October, 2013
From the Principal’s Desk
It was great seeing so many families attend our
Open House on September 26th! For many of you,
this was the first opportunity to meet your child’s
teacher. The home/school connection is extremely
important for your child’s success. You are more
than welcome to call your child’s teacher or place a
note in his/her agenda in the event you want to
discuss an issue. The 3Cs - Communication,
Communication, Communication!
We are looking forward to a busy fall..and before
you know it, the winter holiday break will be upon us.
Kirk Runciman
Principal
Half Day PA Days
Please note that this year we have two half-day
Professional Activity Days on Friday, October 25th
and Friday, June 6th. This may be challenging for
some parents but it’s because of the government’s
Putting Students First Act (Bill 115) and our long
standing contractual agreement with our elementary
teachers. Students will attend school in the morning
only on these two days. Busses will run taking
students home at dismissal time. For our school, this
will be 11:50 a.m.
We understand and apologize for the frustration
this will create for many families who need to
arrange child care and juggle work schedules. Please
read the full information about the two half day PA
Days on the Board’s website
www.ugdsb.on.ca/calendars.
Cobra Creed
We greet each day and each other with kindness and
appreciation.
We respect each other and our school.
We treat our peers, our teachers, and all others
that work or visit here as we would like to be
treated.
We respect the belongings, opinions, and learning of
others, just as we respect ourselves.
We share, we listen, we work, and we play with
fairness, compassion, and honesty.
We are responsible in our actions, our thoughts, and
our commitment to do our best.
We demonstrate respect, learn with passion, and
lead with integrity.
We are proud to be Kortright Cobras!
KHPS School Song
We, are the kids of Kortright Hills
We come to school each day,
To laugh and learn and play,
This is our home,
We'll shout it out and say:
Kortright Hills
We, are the kids of Kortright Hills
And when you look around our place.
You'll see a smile on every face
This is our home,
We'll shout it out and say:
Kortright Hills
We, are the kids of Kortright Hills
We show our spirit every day
In what we do and what we say,
Other schools watch out
When Cobras come to play:
"HISS"
Kortright Hills...Kortright Hills...Kortright Hills...
KORTRIGHT HILLS!
A Warm Welcome from the Library
You have devices and we have eBooks and
Thank you to everyone who has supported our "Adopt
a School" fundraiser! Our Student Art Show and
Sale at Chapters in Stone Road Mall was a great
success and a lot of fun! Thank you to all of our very
talented student photographers and artists who
created the amazing photo cards and art for the
show. Many thanks as well to the Kortright staff
who coordinated the Photography Club, the card and
bookmark creation, and the art lessons. A special
thank you to those staff, students, and parents, who
donated their Saturday to attend the fundraiser
event.
It's not too late to help us earn new books for our
library! The fundraiser will continue until Saturday,
October 5th. Here are some ways that you can
help...
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•
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Audiobooks!
INTRODUCING OVERDRIVE DIGITAL LIBRARY
The website is: http://ugdsb.lib.overdrive.com
Upper Grand District School Board is committed to
bringing unique learning opportunities to our
students and we are pleased to introduce a new, free
reading service providing digital books through
Overdrive.
Why Overdrive?
The Overdrive collection is an extension of your
physical library, only it’s online with 24/7 access to
eBooks and audiobooks. It’s convenient for students
to check out titles anytime, anywhere with no worry
Visit Chapters in Stone Road Mall and make a
donation to the Love of Reading Foundation.
All donations made between September 15th
& October 5th will be given directly to our
school to purchase new books for our library!
about misplacing a book or being overdue – these
Please visit
http://adoptaschool.indigo.ca/eng/schools/6
18 and “adopt” our school. We will earn an
additional free book for every 50
“adoptions”. We also have the opportunity to
win a KOBO Vox for our library.
readers, learning-challenged, second language
Become an active fundraiser: spread the
word on Facebook, Twitter or by e-mail and
encourage your friends and family to adopt
and donate to our school.
Once the fundraiser is completed it will be time to
shop for new books! If you or your
children have a book suggestion,
please let me know by submitting it
via the "Book Request" survey
below. Thank you for your input!
http://goo.gl/yEDvmN
digital titles automatically return at the end of the
lending period.
Overdrive can help students of all ages read more
and improve comprehension. Struggling or reluctant
learners, and gifted readers can all benefit from
this service.
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Enrich vocabulary and improve comprehension
and pronunciation
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Introduce students to books above their
reading level
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•
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Teach critical listening
Help busy kids find time to read
How does it work?
A quick link to access Overdrive can be found on our
student portal - UG2GO (http://goo.gl/XLKq0C).
Students can browse the secure website of more
than 1000 eBooks and 175 Audiobooks. Login using
your school network username and enjoy on your
computer, tablet, smartphone or eReader device.
Talk to Mrs. Morgan for more details or if you need
help getting started.
Thank you for your continued support of our library
programs,
Sheila Morgan
Teacher Librarian
sheila.morgan@ugdsb.on.ca
Library website:
https://sites.google.com/a/ugcloud.ca/khpslibrary
-learning-commons/
School Stuff
Safety, Safety, Safety!
The front of the school is a very
busy place between 8:30 a.m. and
8:50 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. and 3:35
p.m. Buses, cars and students are prominent during
these times and parents are reminded to respect the
safety measures that are in place. The parking lots
of the school are not to be used as drop off points
for our students. Parking is available in designated
areas along Ptarmigan Drive, Merganser Drive and
Mallard Court. Parents are also reminded to have
their children cross at the cross-walk at the front
of the school, should they be picking up on the other
side of the street. During the first few weeks of
school, we have had a couple close calls with
students crossing Ptarmigan, not at the cross-walk,
being encouraged by parents on the other side of
the road. Please choose safety over convenience!
Support Our Patrollers
A huge thank you to all street and bus patrollers who
have made a commitment to help keep our students
safe this school year. Please
support their efforts by
following the guidelines for
the drop-off and pick-up of
students and by setting a good
example, using sidewalks and crosswalks.
Guelph Police Reminder
Parents/guardians are reminded that the Guelph
Police Service will be patrolling all school zones in
the City of Guelph on a consistent basis and will levy
fines to motorists not obeying traffic rules.
Forms
If you have not returned your Student
Information Forms, or any of the other
forms that went home the first week of
school, please do so as soon as possible.
Student Picture Days
Personal student and class photos will be
taken on the following dates:
Tuesday,October 15th - whole school
Wednesday,October 16th – KA, KC & KE.
Newsletters & Special Notices
every month.
Monthly school newsletters and special
notices will be posted on our school
website. Our newsletters
will be posted at the end of
www.ugdsb.on.ca/kortright.home.htm
Click on the “Newsletter” tab at the top of this page
to gain access.
Notifying the School of a Student
Absence - Safe Arrival
The rules of the Safe Arrival program
state that the school must know why a
student is not present on any particular day. This
means that school office staff will continue to try to
contact parents until one is reached. This takes an
inordinate amount of time and often stretches the
office staff’s ability to carry out other duties.
Please assist us in speeding this process up and
calling when you know if your child(ren) is/are
going to be late or absent. Messages can be left
by phoning the school (519 827-1601) and choosing
extension 200. Please send any notes or information
about absences to the office.
Signing Out a Child from School
As part of the Ministry of Education mandated Safe
Arrival program, parents taking their child(ren) from
school for appointments, etc. during regular hours
are reminded that they must come into the main
office and sign them out. Further, only a parent or
pre-arranged substitute (who has been identified by
you as the person responsible for picking your
child(ren) up is a legal adult - over 18 years of age)
may sign out a student. Please have picture
identification available to show, if asked. Please
assist us in keeping your child(ren) safe by
respecting this safety protocol.
Visitor Sign In
Adults entering the building are asked
to come to the office and sign in. If
you are staying to volunteer or as a
visitor for an event, please pick up
and wear the appropriate badge
from the office. Adults in our
building who are not wearing a visitor’s
badge will be asked to return to the office to sign in.
To keep disruptions in the classrooms to a minimum,
parents picking up students are asked to come to the
office and wait for their children to meet them. If
children are reminded in the morning when to come
to the office to meet a parent and the teacher has
been made aware of the absence, this will go a long
way to keep the disruptions in the classroom down.
Finally, parents needing to speak to a teacher are
asked to phone ahead and request an interview time.
Thank you for your cooperation with this initiative.
If you have any questions or concerns, please
contact the office.
Dropping Off Items for your Child
Students are expected to come to school with their
materials for the day. If you are dropping off
something your child has forgotten, please leave it at
the office, complete the drop-off form and we will
ensure that your child receives this item during the
next break.
Volunteers
The Upper Grand District School
Board has determined that any
adult working with children must
have a current police check. This
includes parents who volunteer to work in classrooms
or go on school trips. If you are able to volunteer at
the school, we ask that you come to the office and
fill out a police check form.
You will be required to produce two
pieces of picture identification, i.e.
passport and a driver’s license. Guelph
Police Services conducts these checks
at no cost to you. Requests will be sent from the
office to the police station early in the school year.
Medication at School
A reminder to parents; if your child requires
medication during school hours, ie.,
Puffers, Tylenol, allergy medicine or any other
doctor prescribed medicine; you are required to fill
out the proper paperwork giving
permission to our administrative
staff/school representative to
administer the medication.
Forms are available at the office.
For security, all medication is
kept in the office.
All prescription medication must be in the original
container with the child’s name and proper dosage
clearly printed on the container.
Electronics
It is strongly suggested that
parents/students make a cooperative
decision about their child bringing items
of value (IPad/IPod, MP3 players,
Nintendo DS, cell phones, sentimental
items, etc.) to school. These items are
attractive and the school will not accept
responsibility for their safety.
From School Council
School council is up and running for the new school
year. As you know, the milk and pizza program was
rolled out in early September. Information about
our fall fund raiser will be sent home around
Thanksgiving.
Our first meeting was held on Monday, September
16. We had a packed meeting, but we are always
looking for more parents to join and get involved.
We need volunteers for the council executive and
special events this year.
If you are interested, please join us for our next
meeting on Monday, October 21 at 7:00 pm in the
school library.
EQAO Results
Below are Kortright’s results from the June, 2013 Grade 3 and Grade 6 EQAO assessments. These are very
impressive results, congratulations staff and students!
Grade 3
Province
Board
Kortright Hills
Reading
68
68
64
Writing
76
70
75
Math
67
64
74
Province
Board
Kortright Hills
Reading
77
76
86
Writing
76
70
86
Math
57
52
47
Grade 6
Organization of Classes
Classes for the 2013/2014 school year were finalized on Monday, September 9th. We will be seeking feedback on
the reorganizational plan we implemented during the first five days of the school year where students were
placed in grade, divisional and school wide groups, doing a variety of activities. The school’s Character Education
Committee is in the process of creating an online survey which will be available shortly for the afore mentioned
stakeholders to offer constructive feedback. Thank you for your patience during the first five days of the school
year!
Stop A Bully: Online Reporting Tool
The Board has developed an online reporting tool to help prevent bullying. No personal information about the
person reporting the case will be included unless the individual chooses to provide additional details, or it is
necessary to enable the Board of Education and school staff to appropriately respond to the bullying report.
More information about this new resource will follow shortly.
A Message from the Guelph Police
Please do your part to reduce traffic in front of our schools. Encourage your child to walk to school. It is
healthy for the body and the mind. Older children should walk to school with friends. Younger children should
walk with supervision of an adult or an older child. Please consider walking as the first option for your child to go
to and from school.
If you choose to drive your child to school, children in junior and senior grades should be dropped off a few
blocks from the school and walk the rest of the way. Many schools have access to the schoolyard from
neighboring less congested side streets. This allows parents of primary aged children, JK and SK, to use the
designated Kiss and Ride areas and the roadways closest to the school.
There are many signs in the school zones that regulate parking, stopping, turns, access, and speed. Drivers who
choose to ignore the traffic signs near schools are breaking the law, increasing the danger to all children and
motorists in the area. Please obey the rules and drive in a safe and considerate manner.
CHOOSE SAFETY OVER CONVENIENCE
GUELPH PLICE SCHOOL SAFETY OFFICERS – 519-824-1212 EXT. 7256
October 2013
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
1
6
7
Day 5
11:20 Gd 1’s Traffic Safety
12:00 Gd 3&4’s Computer Safety
12:00 Gd 5’s Bullying
12:40 Pizza Lunch for Patrols
1:40 Whole School Assembly
13
14 Thanksgiving
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Day 1
2
Day 2
3
Day 3
4
8
Day 1
10:00
Intermediate
Cross Country
9
Day 2
10
Day 3
11 Teacher’s`
Ministry Mandated
15
16
Day 5
9:00 Gd 8’s
Career Pathways
Day 4
SCHOOL IS CLOSED
Day 4
SATURDAY
5
12
NO CLASSES
17
Day 1
18
24
Day 1
25
Day 2
19
11:40 Author Jazlyn J
Visit - Primary
1:00 Jr. Cross Country
20
21
Day 3
22
Day 4
23
Day 5
Day 2
26
Half Day
PA Day
27
28
Day 3
29
Day 4
9:00 Gd 8’s
Hep B & HPV
Vacination
30
Day 5
31
Day 1
Nov 1
Day 2
Nov 2