Dear Owen Parents/Guardians
We made it through our first full week and I'm sure your kids were exhausted! Students have been doing a very good job with their health and safety protocols. As cases are increasing in the city, good practise with these procedures will help keep our students and staff safe.
Virtual Parent Council Meeting
Parking and Bus Loop
Bus Transportation
- The health and safety protocols that will continue to be in place on school buses for the 2021-22 school year. Students are to stay in the assigned seat they are given.
- Just a reminder that the Empty Seat policy has been put on hold for the 2021-22 school year to help promote physical distancing on school busses, as well as to help the TSTG and bus operators effectively plan bus routes and seating arrangements in line with the COVID-19 health and safety precautions.
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Permission Click Forms
The Start of Year Forms package will be made available to parents/guardians digitally again this year. The forms will be emailed to all parents/guardians this week directly from the board. The Start of Year Forms will be completed for all students (both in-person and virtual). These forms are associated with the student and therefore will move with the student, regardless of the learning model chosen.
The Start of Year Forms package does not replace the Student Verification form that will be sent this week which is used to verify student demographic and parent contact information.
The forms/procedures that will be provided in digital format are:
- PR088 - Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources
- PR511H - Walking Excursion - Immediate Community
- PR511E - Medical Information for Excursions
- PR511K - Physical Education Information and Intramural Information/Permission
- PR519A - Severe Weather Conditions: Permission to Leave School
- PR529B - Student Media Consent Release Form
- PR563 - Anaphylaxis
- PR571 - Code of On-line Conduct
- PR585 - Board Code of Conduct
- PR607 - Diabetes Management
- PR714 - Asthma Management
- TDSB Digital Learning Tool Consent Form (now mandatory for all grades)
An email will be automatically sent to the parent/guardian who is the primary or secondary contact (Priority 1 or 2). The email will include a link to complete these forms for each of your children. The sender will be “TDSB Online Form (noreply@tdsb.on.ca)” and the subject line will contain the School Name, Student Name, Date and name of the form (eg. TDSB School - John Doe - Sept 25: Start of Year Form 2021/2022).
Here is a tutorial for the Start of the Year forms that will help guide parents through this process.
Health and Safety Protocols on School Property
Daily Health Screening
Ensuring the health and safety of our students and staff is a priority and everyone plays a role. The most important thing families can do to help mitigate the transmission of COVID-19, is to screen their children daily for any COVID-19 symptoms and keep them home from school if they are sick or have had close contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19. Please note that visitors/adults will only be greeting staff outside their doors or the front door. Before coming to school or an administration building each day, all students and staff must conduct an active health screening self-assessment, considering the following questions:
- Fever
- Cough
- Difficulty breathing
- Loss of taste or smell
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Have you returned from travel outside Canada in the past 14 days?
- Have you been in close contact with someone who is sick or has confirmed COVID-19 in the past 14 days without wearing the appropriate PPE?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, please stay home; self-isolate right away; and call Telehealth or your health care provider to find out if you need to be tested. For more information about testing, please visit www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/
If students are not cleared, then it means either:- the screening indicated a "yes" and the child could be ill- the daily health screening was not completed that morning before school.
Students in this case will be sent to the office and a phone call will be made home to ensure your child is healthy and can be in class.
QR Codes - We are able to generate the QR Codes this year so parents do not have to send their child's QR code to school.
Login Information - Only emails with the tdsb.on.ca credentials can be used to log into the Service Now app. Your child's userid is as follows:
UserID - firstname.lastname@student.tdsb.on.ca Password - Classroom teachers have either reset it or students can use the same login information they used for remote learning. Please ask your child's teacher for the password if it has been reset for the class.
Check out these guides and video to help you set up!For parents/guardians who need assistance, please see Mr Parkes in the back bus loop and Ms Rosenbloom in the Grade 1 area for assistance with the app from 8:55 am to 9:10 am.
Ensuring the health and safety of our students and staff is a priority and everyone plays a role. The most important thing families can do to help mitigate the transmission of COVID-19, is to screen their children daily for any COVID-19 symptoms and keep them home from school if they are sick or have had close contact with anyone diagnosed with COVID-19. Please note that visitors/adults will only be greeting staff outside their doors or the front door.
Before coming to school or an administration building each day, all students and staff must conduct an active health screening self-assessment, considering the following questions:
- Fever
- Cough
- Difficulty breathing
- Loss of taste or smell
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Have you returned from travel outside Canada in the past 14 days?
- Have you been in close contact with someone who is sick or has confirmed COVID-19 in the past 14 days without wearing the appropriate PPE?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, please stay home; self-isolate right away; and call Telehealth or your health care provider to find out if you need to be tested. For more information about testing, please visit www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/
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Caring and Safe Schools Committee
Each school has a Caring and Safe Schools Committee who provides input for fostering a safe, inclusive, and accepting school climate.
We are looking for 2 parents who would like to meet (virtually) 4 times a year, along with our vice-principal and teacher representative, to discuss ways we can bring improvements to Owen.
If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact jamie.parkes@tdsb.on.ca.
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TDSB DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE
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Lunch Routines
Our lunch hour begins at 11:55 am and ends at 12:55 pm. To minimize class instructional time, please do not pick your child up 5-10 mins earlier. Please go to your child's exit door and wait to pick up your child when the bell rings.
Students who were absent in the morning and entering school at lunch can go directly to their exit door and afternoon attendance will be taken then. Students do not need to sign in at the office unless it is after 12: 55 pm.
Just a reminder to have your child help pack their lunches and snacks. Students are getting adjusted to eating at certain times and may require more snacks than they thought. We do have snacks that have been graciously donated and are used mainly for students who don't have a lunch.
Students requiring more snacks or a lunch will be asked to call home first for parents to give permission for the additional snacks.
Water bottles should also be brought to school daily. All water fountains are closed due to COVID but the refill stations are open. We do have a limited number of plastic cups if students forget their water bottle.
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Changes Between Classes - Virtual Learning vs In-Person Learning
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