Welcome Back!
I hope all of you had an enjoyable summer. It will be great to see all of the children back at school and
we are looking forward to meeting all of our new families. There are a lot of great activities planned and
it should be another fantastic school year. We are looking forward to seeing all of you on Tuesday for
our pancake breakfast. This is just a little bit of information about next week and what start up is going
to look like. On the 2nd page you will find some information about the opening week that is specific to
grades 1-5 and we have put on page 3 the gradual entry times for the kindergarten students. We will be
sending out the names of teachers that students will have for the first week on Friday. These are not
their assigned classes for the year, they are their grade groups for the first week of school. A reminder
that the first day of school for all students will look like this:
8:30-10:00 Welcome Back Pancake Breakfast
10:00-10:30 Go to assigned classes, not last year’s classes.
Back to School Means Slow Down
We have been working with ICBC, the RCMP and the cities of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam looking at
ways to help ensure the safety of our students. We are looking at having the crosswalk on Soball moved
so that it is part of the outstretched curb so the students are more visible, and we will also be having
Speed Watch and the RCMP out during the first week of school to help remind drivers to slow down,
keep the cellphones out of their hands while driving and also looking to reward and thank drivers who
are doing all things right. Our hope is that our morning and afternoon supervision can focus on the
students and not on the drivers.
Green Waste
With the long dry summer that we have had and with the bears supposedly short of food we are going
to have to be very careful with our green waste. The new Metro waste reduction rules that have been
in place since last Spring mean that we will need to ensure that there is no green waste that goes into
our regular garbage. As a school we are taking the steps to do that but we do need your support. Many
schools are adopting a Litterless Lunch philosophy. Leigh is going to be a school with Litterless Lunches. We will be
having students eat their snacks and lunches in class with the expectation that no food is taken outside. We do not
want any food garbage that would prove tempting to our neighbouring wildlife. Anything not eaten will go home.
The idea is that students bring home any leftover food and/or packaging. It is probably easiest to use plastic
containers and to recycle wrappers at home as lunches are being prepared. I recognize that this takes a little more
effort at home, but filling receptacles with the food byproducts and packaging from 460 + lunches could easily
result in hordes of fruit flies and furry "pets" that love garbage. Classes will be reviewing and discussing this new
direction.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th: OPENING WEEK INFORMATION
Dear Families:
Welcome to the first week back at Leigh. We have some exciting events planned that are sure to make
returning to school memorable. This year we are beginning as we have in past years. Students WILL
NOT report to last year’s teacher. Instead they have been put into Grade groups and will remain with
that group for at least the first week of school. We will be organizing our classes as quickly as possible,
but students will not be in set classes until the second week of school.
We have arranged the following grade groups: grade 1 students grouped together, grade 2 and 3
students grouped together and the grade 4 and 5 students grouped together. On Tuesday and for the
remainder of the week, students will report to the room and teacher leader as posted Friday at the
front doors of the school, in the gym and in an email. Students will be meeting all the teachers as
they rotate through stations during the first week.
We have done our best to include new registrations ahead of time, but if you do not see your name on
a list, please report to the Resource Room by the office on Tuesday morning and we will include you in
a grade group.
Our overall theme for the week is OUR COMMUNITY. There will be a focus on how we are a community
as our neighbourhood changes, grows and how we belong at Leigh in our own way. We continue to
emphasize kindness to ourselves and others, encouragement, friendship and contributing to our school
and community. Students will also spend some time with their teacher leader in their homeroom to
reinforce school routines and have some smaller group time to discuss social responsibility.
PLEASE BRING A PENCIL BOX WITH BASIC SUPPLIES SUCH AS CRAYONS, PENCIL, ERASER, SCISSORS
AND GLUE ON WEDNESDAY.
On Friday we will end the week with a family picnic and outdoor games. Families are invited to bring
their own picnic lunch and eat outside with the students and then join us for an afternoon of fun games.
OUR LUNCH BREAK IS 12:25-1:12. The picnic will begin at 12:25 when students are dismissed for lunch.
Parents are encouraged and most welcome to bring a blanket and lunch and then stay to join in with the
games or watch if they like. Come and meet new people and re connect with friends. Kindergarten
parents and their children are welcome to join us for the picnic even though their schedule differs from
the rest of the school during that first week.
Don’t forget our pancake breakfast on Tuesday morning from 8:30 - 10:00 a.m.
GRADE 1-5 STUDENTS WILL REPORT TO CLASS AT 10:00 AND BE DISMISSED AT 10:30 ON TUESDAY.
FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, OUR DAY WILL BE 9:00-2:55 WITH
A WARNING BELL AT 8:55 WHEN THE SCHOOL WILL OPEN FOR STUDENTS TO GO TO CLASS.
Kindergarten Schedule
Reminder: Kindergarten students are at school only during gradual entry times. During Welcoming
Conversations students only come during the assigned welcoming conversation time with their parents.
Sept 7
Sept 8
Sept 9
Sept 10
Sept 11
Labour Day
School Closed
School Opens
Gradual entry
All K students
9:15 – 10:15
Gradual entry
All K students
9:15 – 10:15
Gradual entry
All K students
9:15 – 10:15
Attendance 10-10:30
Welcoming
Conversations
10:45-3:00
Welcoming
Conversations
10:45-3:00
Welcoming
Conversations
10:45-3:00
Sept 14
Sept 15
Sept 16
Sept 17
Sept 18
Gradual entry
All K students
9:00 – 11:30
Gradual entry
All K students
9:00 – 11:30
First Full Day
9:00-2:55
Full Day
9:00-2:55
Full Day
9:00-2:55
Welcoming
Conversations
1:00-3:00
Welcoming
Conversations
1:00-3:00