St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Elementary School

Bulldog Bulletin #1

560 Pioneer Drive, Kitchener, ON, N2P 1P2

519-895-1716

WCDSB Vision: Our Catholic Schools: heart of the community, success for each, a place for all.

WCDSB Mission: As disciples of Christ, we educate and nurture hope in all learners

to realize their full potential to transform God’s world.

 

September 2022

Dear Parents and Guardians

 

Welcome Back!  2022-2023 is going to be AWESOME (or PAWSOME…see what we did there?)!!

 

On behalf of the St. Kateri staff, we would like to welcome you a new school year.  We hope everyone had a great summer and that your children are looking forward to a year ahead.  Whether your child is returning to St. Kateri or attending for the first time, we are excited that you will be part of our school family.

 

St. Kateri returns most of its outstanding staff from last year; however, there are a few changes of which we’d like to make you aware.  Please join me in welcoming the following new staff members to our community: Jessica Robinson (EA), Charmaine Duffield (Itinerant Planning Time), Michelle Borho-Harris (Itinerant Planning Time), Christin Ritz (Planning Time LTO), Stephanie Burgoyne (0.5 Spec Ed Teacher), Laura Charette (French Teacher), Jessica Coloiera (Kindergarten LTO Teacher), Caitlyn Laviolette (Gr. 1/2 LTO Teacher), Jenna Gaetan (Gr. 3/4 Teacher), Jason Mills (Gr. 5 LTO Teacher), Seyi Olawoyin (Gr. 7/8 Teacher).  The entire staff will be providing great learning opportunities, both curricular and co-curricular, this year and we are excited to be active participants.

St. Kateri is well known for the strong support it provides to its students.  The school community is blessed with great parents/guardians and community members who support a variety of programs and initiatives.  This speaks to the team approach that is so important when it comes to achieving the most fulfilling and rewarding experience for your children.  We look forward to your support in continuing to provide your children with a healthy, faith-based environment that will encourage them to be actively engaged in their learning.

Please make note of some important introductory information about the school and the school year listed on the following pages.  More information can be found in our Parent & Student Handbook on our school website https://stkateri.wcdsb.ca/ .  If you haven’t done so already, please subscribe to Newswire (subscription link at the bottom of our school website homepage) and follow us on twitter @Saint_KateriNewswire is our school’s primary method of communication with parents, so it’s important that you subscribe to keep up to date with everything happening at our school.

Please be sure to mark your calendars – our in-person ‘Meet the Teacher/School BBQ’ is scheduled for September 15th from 5:30-7:00 p.m.

We look forward to working with you and seeing your children excel spiritually, academically, and socially this school year.  Please feel free to call us or make an appointment should you have any concerns at all.

 

Yours in Christ,

 

Mr. Dustin Rose                        Mr. Dave Lynch

Vice Principal                            Principal

2022-2023 St. Kateri CES Staff List for September 2022

Jessica Coloiera (LTO)/Kali Dasilva-  Kindergarten

Crystal Williams                                       Kindergarten

Anita Ribeiro                                             Kindergarten

Danette Jardine                                        Kindergarten

Christine Ribey                                         Kindergarten DECE

Luisa Malleck                                            Kindergarten DECE

Tanya Weiss                                               Kindergarten DECE

Sarah Arndt                                                Kindergarten DECE

Joan Meek                                                   Kindergarten DECE

Amber Mask                                                Grade 1

Edith Costa                                                  Grade 1

Andrea Dillon                                              Grade 1

Caitlyn Laviolette (LTO)                           Grade 1/2

Lisa Bannister                                              Grade 2

Lauren Esposto                                            Grade 2

Andrea Shine                                                Grade 2

Christine Nyikos                                          Grade 3

Beth Anne Mehes                                         Grade 3

Jenna Gaetan                                                Grade 3/4

Ina Kulczynska                                              Grade 4

Sarah Brown                                                  Grade 4

Michelle Muio                                                Grade 5

Annette Vermeersch                                     Grade 5

Jason Mills (LTO)                                         Grade 5

Karen Gajewski                                              Grade 6

Janet Jack                                                       Grade 6

John Nicholls                                                 Grade 7

Walter Martins                                               Grade 7

Seyi Olawoyin                                                 Grade 7/8

Katarina Filipovic                                          Grade 8

Richard Wagner                                              Grade 8

Kayla Grubb                                                     French

Visarios Moustakas                                        French

Laura Charette                                                French (one class)

Franca Sottosanti                                            Special Education

Marg Heffernan                                               Special Education (0.5)

Stephanie Burgoyne                                        Special Education (0.5)

Kendra Gallant/Christin Ritz (LTO)            Planning Time

Laura Haffner                                                    Planning Time

Tom Henning                                                     Planning Time

Michelle Borho-Harris                                    Primary Itinerant Planning Time

Charmaine Duffield                                          Junior Itinerant Planning Time

Kristi Radisic                                                     Junior Itinerant Planning Time

Nicole Zuk                                                          Intermediate Itinerant Planning Tim

Colette Schneider                                              Library Technician

Cathy Sowa                                                         Admin Assistant

Dawn Ciupa                                                        Admin Assistant (LTO)

Deb Hutteri                                                         Education Assistant

Jessica Robinson                                                Education Assistant

Edna Campbell                                                   Education Assistant

Sandra Whitty                                                     Education Assistant

Michelle Franks                                                  Education Assistant

Abbey Rice                                                           Education Assistant

Jody Brown                                                          Education Assistant

Asher Newing                                                       Head Custodian

Joel Heineman                                                     Afternoon Custodian

Shawn Spain                                                         Afternoon Custodian

Jackie Grebinski                                                    Lunch Supervisor

Pat Drummond                                                      Lunch Supervisor

Sylwia Stempien                                                     Lunch Supervisor

Sara DeRose                                                            Lunch Supervisor

Dustin Rose                                                             Vice Principal

Dave Lynch                                                              Principal

Daily Schedule for 2022 – 2023

clock

The daily schedule for the school year is:

8:35 a.m.                                   Entrance of students

8:40 a.m.                                 National anthem, prayer, announcements, and the start of classes

9:45 – 10:00 a.m.                 Recess break

11:20 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.      Lunch and Lunch Recess

1:45 – 1:55 p.m.                     Recess break

3:05 p.m.                                  Dismissal of students

First Day of School Procedures – Tuesday, September 6th

Parents of students entering Year 1 Kindergarten (JK) have been contacted by their child’s teacher identifying their staggered visit times.

Students in Grades 1-8 will make their way to the blacktop on Tuesday, September 6th between 8:20-8:35 a.m.  Most students will know their teacher, class, and classroom/entry/portable due to our Sneak Peek program.  If a student needs help finding their class, staff, wearing St. Kateri vests, will be on the blacktop and able to assist.

Safe Arrival Program

phone

If a child will be absent or late for class, we ask parents/guardians contact the school (519-895-1716).  Since we have an answering machine, you may leave a message at any time from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.  The school’s administrative assistant will be at the school to receive your phone calls beginning at 7:45 a.m.

 

When you call to report the absence or anticipated lateness of your child, please note the following information:

  • Child’s full name
  • Child’s grade and classroom teacher
  • Reason for the child’s absence / lateness (*)

* It is important for the parent / guardian to contact the school when their child will be late for class.  When arriving late for class, the student must report to the office.  For your information, the school staff will consider a student late for class in the morning should she / he not be in the classroom when the national anthem is played.

Yard Supervision

Staff members are on the school yard for yard duty Gr. 1-8 beginning at 8:20 a.m.  Please have your children arrive at the school after supervision begins in the morning.  Parents of Kindergarten students are asked to stay with your children until the bell rings at 8:35 a.m.

At the end of the school day, students are expected to go directly home unless they are with a parent or involved in an after-school activity.  Staff members supervise dismissal from 3:05-3:20.

Office Hours

The main office is open daily from 8:00 a.m. until 3:45 p.m.

Entrance Doors

For safety reasons, please note all entrances to the school will remain locked during the school day.  A buzzer monitoring system is in place for visitors at the front entrance of the school.

Board and School Website

For up-to-date information about the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, please check out www.wcdsb.ca, subscribe to WCDSB Newswire, and follow Waterloo Catholic on Twitter @WCDSBNewswire

Sign up for St. Kateri’s Newswire by subscribing on the bottom of our website to keep up with everything going on at St. Kateri: https://stkateri.wcdsb.ca/  Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter too –  @Saint_Kateri

All the information you need … 24 hours a day … 7 days a week!   www.wcdsb.ca

2022-2023 School Year Calendar – Some Important Dates

September 6                                         First Day of School

September 13                                       First School Council Meeting – 6:00-7:30 p.m.

September 15                                       Opening School Mass – 10:15 a.m. (parents welcome)

September 15                                       Meet the Teacher & School BBQ   5:30-7:00 p.m.

September 30                                       National Truth & Reconciliation Day-Orange Shirt Day

October 10                                            Thanksgiving (no school)

October 18                                            Smile!  School Picture Day

October 24                                           PA Day (it’s a Monday)

October 28                                            Halloween Dance-a-thon Fundraiser

November 18                                        PA Day

November 21                                        Progress Report Cards go home

Nov. 21-25                                            Bullying Awareness & Prevention Week

November 24                                       Parent-Teacher Conferences

November 29                                       Advent Liturgy – 12:30 p.m. (parents welcome)

December 21                                        Christmas Mass @ St. Aloysius Parish

December 26 – Jan. 6                       Christmas Break

January 20                                          PA Day

February 17                                          Term 1 Report Card Distribution

February 20                                        Family Day

February 22                                        Ash Wednesday Liturgy in the school gym, 12:40 p.m.

March 13-17                                        March Break

March 31                                             PA Day

April 7                                                  Good Friday (no school)

April 10                                                Easter Monday (no school)

April 14                                                Easter Mass – 10:15 a.m., gym (parents welcome)

April 18                                                Gr. 4 Bible Celebration – 10:15 a.m.

April 21                                                PA Day

May 1-5                                                Catholic Education Week

May 22                                                 Victoria Day (no school)

June 2                                                  P.A. Day

June 16                                                Mission Day

June 23                                               Closing School Mass, 10:15 a.m.

June 27                                                Term 2 Report Card Distribution Date

June 28                                               Grade 8 Grad

June 29                                               Last Day of School (Regular 3:05 p.m. dismissal)

Health Information

Early in the school year, the secretarial staff will be forwarding student information forms to all parents.  Please complete/update your child’s information as carefully and as quickly as possible and return the form to the school office.  It is vitally important that we have up-to-date information on each child in our care should there be an emergency.  (Parents of a child who has an anaphylactic condition, a heart condition, epilepsy, asthma or diabetes are asked to be especially cautious in ensuring that the school staff are aware of the student’s condition and provide all pertinent information should an emergency arise)

COVID Protocols

We continue to ask families to remain partners is helping us maintain safety for everyone in our school community.  Please continue to screen your children daily for any illnesses and keep them home if needed.  If you are unsure, please use the ministry’s COVID-19 screener:

https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/

Plans of Care

Hard copies (paper copies) of Plans of Care (if your child has a medic alert) will be sent home the first day.  Please return these with any updated information, to your child’s teacher by September 9th.

Waterloo Catholic District School Board Communication Guide for Parents

The Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) has established communication guidelines for parents and staff.  Parents are requested to follow the following steps to ensure prompt and efficient resolution to their questions or possible concerns.

 

Step #1:                            Parent should speak with the teacher / staff member.  Issue resolved.  If issue is not resolved, proceed to Step #2.

 

Step #2:                                   Speak with the principal.  If you have not spoken with the teacher /

staff member directly, the principal will ask you to do so.  Should you not wish to do this, the principal will involve the teacher / staff member in a three-way discussion.  The principal may request, at any time in the process, that you put your concerns in writing.  The principal may involve, at any time in the process, others who may be helpful in resolving the issue.

 

Role of the Trustee:                  Parents may contact the trustee at any time.  The trustee

will direct the parent to follow the process outlined above.

 

Role of the School Council:         The St. Kateri School Council is not a forum to

discuss parent-teacher / staff member-student issues.  If these matters are brought to any Catholic School Council member or any School Council meeting, the concern will be referred immediately to the principal.

Visitors and Volunteers in the School

For the safety and well being of our students and staff, all visitors to the school, including parents and guardians, must sign in and obtain a Visitor badge at the main office.    The badge should be returned to the office upon your departure.

Similarly, whenever volunteering in the school, please sign in at the office and obtain a Volunteer badge before proceeding into the school.  The badge should be returned to the school secretary when you leave the school.

In advance, we thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

School Volunteers

St. Kateri Catholic School is looking for interested volunteers who would like to share their time and talents with the staff and students at our school. Volunteers strengthen and enrich educational programs and foster greater cooperation among all the partners in our Catholic school community.

Our school welcomes volunteer involvement in a variety of areas and capacities. Volunteers may provide short term or long-term commitment to such things as: supervising on school excursions, serving as a guest speaker, working in a classroom, or helping to run special events.

Volunteers derive a great sense of fulfillment and satisfaction from their work and our school life is certainly very much enhanced by their generous efforts.

If you are interested in volunteering in our school, we would be delighted to hear from you.  Please contact Principal, Dave Lynch, or Vice Principal, Dustin Rose, at the school (519-895-1716).

Nuts, Peanuts, Peanut Butter Substitutes and Their By-products

peanut

St. Kateri CES has students who could experience serious consequences if exposed to peanuts, nuts, or their by-products (e.g., peanut oil, peanut butter).  In some cases, the reaction could be life threatening.  Merely smelling or touching a peanut product could cause an anaphylactic seizure or reaction resulting in a serious consequence.  For the same reason, please do not send spreads to school made with other nuts such as Nutella.

We also request that you do not send peanut butter substitutes (usually made from soy) with your children.  Because these products look and smell like real peanut butter, it puts our staff members in a difficult situation with determining whether a product could cause an anaphylactic reaction.

For the safety of these students, we ask that you do not send peanuts, nuts, or their by-products to school with your child.  Moreover, from time to time, some parents are very generous in sending treats to school to be enjoyed by the students in their child’s class during a celebration or special event.  Should you do so, we ask that you take care that the foods are not made with peanuts, peanut oil, etc.  Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Entry and Exit of Students

Each class has a designated exterior door for entering and exiting the building in an orderly fashion.  To ensure orderliness, as well as the security and safety of the students, the students are asked to only enter or exit the door intended for their class.  It is very difficult for a teacher to supervise their class if the students use a variety of exit doors.

Should they arrive late for class, students should enter through the main entrance, at the front of the school, and report to the office for a late slip.

St. Kateri Catholic

school council

Community involvement in our school is a key element in maintaining a spirit of collaboration and mutual support.  Our Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC), an advisory body to the school principal, is an important group.  Besides providing leadership in the community and a parent/community voice, the Council also contributes valuable advice on numerous issues and school initiatives.  We ask that you consider becoming a member of the St. Kateri Catholic School Council for the 2022 – 2023 school year. The Self-Nomination form is below.  Please fill it out and return it to the attention of Dave Lynch by Friday, September 9th if you would like to join our CSAC.   Our orientation session and initial meeting will be held in the Learning Commons (Library) on Tuesday, September 13 beginning at 6:00 p.m.  CSAC Meeting Dates for this school year also include: October 4, December 6, February 7, April 4, and June 6.  Meetings will take place in our school’s Learning Commons from 6:00-7:30 p.m.

St. Kateri CES – Catholic School Advisory Committee Self Nomination Form

2022-2023

YES!  I would like to nominate myself to sit on St. Kateri’s Catholic School Advisory Council for the 2022-2023 School Year

Name:_________________________________________________________

Name(s) of child(ren) attending St. Kateri: _____________________________________________________

Contact #: __________________________________________

Email Address: _______________________________________

*return to the school to the attention of Dave Lynch by Friday, September 9th

*alternatively, you can simply call the school or email Mr. Lynch David.Lynch@wcdsb.ca to nominate yourself for our CSAC

Dress Code, Electronics, and Cell Phones

Dress Code

A reminder to parents and students that St. Kateri does have a dress code for its students.  Please respect the Dress Code at all times, including co-curricular activities and off-site excursions.

The following guidelines will help parents and students when choosing clothing that will contribute to a positive school environment:

  • Clothing may not display any derogatory or inappropriate writing or pictures.
  • Hats need to be removed upon entering the building
  • Shorts and skirts should be of modest length

*Students who are inappropriately dressed will be reminded of the dress code or asked to change

Electronics

Students are not permitted to have personal electronic gaming devices at school at any time.  Items may be confiscated and held at the office until a parent/guardian is able to retrieve it.

Cell/Smart Phones

If a student brings a cell phone to school with parental permission, the cell phone must remain turned off and either in the student’s backpack or a safe place in the classroom during the school day, unless it is being used specifically for a learning purpose under the direction of the teacher.  Students must use the phone in the main office if they need to call home during school hours.  The school is not responsible for any lost or damaged cell phones or electronic devices.  Parents will be contacted should a student have difficulty following the school’s phone policy.

Students Transported To/From School by Bus:

bus

Student Transportation will have sent parents information on pick-up and drop-off times and location.  You may also wish to find your child’s bussing information at www.stswr.ca .

**Please note: If your child qualifies for bussing, please ensure you have logged into STSWR and verified their route details.  Please also note the recent message from student transportation regarding some possible delays. 

**Delayed Start to Student Transportation:

Students assigned to small or adapted vehicles (vans and small yellow busses) will have transportation begin Sept. 12th instead of Sept. 6th.  This included the following bus routes: 700-723, 800-862, V01-V39, W01-W45.

**Any student/family who has changed their address in June, July, or August will have their transportation service begin Sept. 19th

Please contact Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region (STSWR) at 519-744-7575 with any questions.

As we begin the school year, we would like to remind all students eligible for bus transportation to/from school and their parents of the following:

  • When traveling to school, students should be at their designated pick-up location five minutes before the scheduled arrival of the school bus.
  • The student and her/his parents should develop a contingency plan should the child miss the school bus when traveling to school (e.g., return home; walk to a neighbour’s home; walk to school, etc.)
  • When departing school, should any student miss her/his bus, that child should immediately go to the school office for assistance. She/he should not walk home.
  • Only students eligible to ride a school bus will be allowed to do so when riding to/from school. Those who are not eligible to ride a bus will not be permitted to do so.  If a child is not eligible and she/he wishes to visit the home of a classmate, it will be the responsibility of her/his parent to make transportation arrangements.
  • Transported students will only be allowed to ride their designated bus to/from school. A pupil will not be permitted to ride another bus for which they are not eligible. 
  • There will be an assembly for students eligible for bus transportation early in the school year. At the assembly, procedures and expectations will be reviewed.

Healthy Eating in Class/Snack and Litter-Free Yard     

In order to promote healthy eating, students at St. Kateri will be allowed to eat healthy snacks during class, at times determined by the teacher.  Students will eat smaller, healthier portions throughout the day which will promote a healthy body weight and improve concentration.  Because students are eating healthy snacks in class they will not bring recess snacks outside.  This will enable students to be active for the entire recess and keep our yard litter-free.

Some examples of healthy snacks students could bring to school include:

  • Granola bars (nut free)
  • Fruit
  • Crackers and Cheese
  • Bread Sticks
  • Yogurt
  • Cottage cheese topped with grapes
  • Oatmeal cookies
  • Chocolate milk and a small homemade muffin
  • Toasted pita points with salsa
  • Dry breakfast cereal in a sealed container with a drinkable yogurt

Parent/Guardians are encouraged to send healthy snacks for their children for this program to be a success.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Thursday, September 15th from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.

Meet the Teacher and School BBQ Night at St.Kateri

  • Visit your child’s classroom
  • Meet your child’s teacher
  • Take the night off from making dinner – Grab a burger at our BBQ

(hamburger, bag of chips, and water/pop/juice…no pre-ordering necessary)

BBQ-

Drop off and Pick up Policy at St. Kateri CES

Please make note of the following information and adhere to our school drop off and pick up procedures that are in place to keep our students safe.  We encourage students in Gr. 4 – 8 who live within 1.6 km of the school (0.8 km for JK – Gr. 3 students) to walk to school.  Those who live further than 1.6 km (0.8 km JK – Gr. 3) are eligible for bussing.

Drop Off (8:20-8:35 a.m.)

Parents who choose to drive their children to school are asked to either:

  1. “Drive to Five” (BEST OPTION) – Drop your child off a block or two away from the school (5 min. walk). You will avoid navigating and contributing to the congestion in front of the school (bus loading zone) and the walk will do your child good – they will be that much more alert to begin their day!  Black Walnut Drive (beside Carlyle Park), Perin Place, Vintage Cres or Nathaniel Cres are all good options.
  2. Use the school’s driveway (SECOND BEST OPTION) – Pull into the school driveway and drop your children off in front of the school in front of or behind the school bus zone.  To keep traffic moving and keep the bus zone free from traffic, parents who choose to pull into the school driveway may not get out of their vehicles and children may only exit the vehicle from the passenger side.   Please do not stop or park in the through lane, or Visitor Parking.  St. Kateri parents are also not eligible to park in the daycare parking lot or school parking lot.

Pick Up (2:30-3:05)

Parents choosing to pick up children at the end of the school day cannot do so using our school driveway or Visitor Parking spots as they need to remain free of traffic for our school busses and are not safe options for children to cross thru lane traffic, respectively. Parents are also not able to use the Daycare parking lot, which is reserved parking.  At the end of the school day, parents are required to park on a side street and have their children cross safely at the crosswalk in front of the school.  The City of Kitchener works closely with all schools to ensure the streets around them are safe for students, parents and others in the community.  Please keep these City of Kitchener bylaws in mind if you choose to drive your children to school.

Parking is not permitted:

  • Within 1.5 metres of a driveway
  • Within 3 metres of a fire hydrant
  • Within 9 metres of an intersection
  • In a bike lane
  • In a school bus loading zone

Note: Please also be aware of all the no parking/no stopping areas around our school.

Each year, the city receives complaints about drivers in school zones. Here are some of the practices to avoid:

  • Stopping or Parking in a restricted zone
  • Blocking a driveway when you park your car
  • Travelling too quickly
  • Making U-turns
  • Parking in a driveway without the homeowner’s permission

Please be respectful of residents who live on streets around our school.

By-law Enforcement staff regularly patrol school areas to help keep everyone safe by watching for infractions.  By working together, we can ensure St. Kateri continues to be a safe, nurturing, and engaging school where your children will meet with success.  Thank you in advance for your understanding, cooperation and support.

Please feel free to contact us at the school should you have any questions or concerns.