Topics covered in this post:
Winter Term Start - Monday, January 11, 2021
Travel during Winter Break?
Indoor Shoes and Outdoor Clothing
Headsets (Gr 1-6)
Letter from JICS PA
Lab School Dissemination
Parent Education Event - January 21
Re-enrollment for 2021-2022
JICS Fall Edition Newsletter
Ontario Government Financial Relief for Parents
Used Christmas Trees
Upcoming January Events
1. Winter Term Start - Monday, January 11, 2021
We are excited to welcome everyone back in the building for the start of the Winter Term on Monday, January 11. Arrival is from 8:30-8:55am and daycare for registered users begins at 8:00am. Please remember to complete the JICS online Daily COVID-19 Screening Form (JK - Gr 6) for your child/ren (Nursery West Screening Form here and Nursery East Screening From here).
Should a new ministerial order be announced in the next few days affecting the opening of school buildings, we will communicate with parents immediately and move to distant-education on January 11.
2. Travel during Winter Break?
All families who travelled internationally and within Canada during the Winter holidays are required to complete the JICS travel form.
Please ensure that you are following the required protocols for safe return, including the mandatory 14 day self-isolation
UPDATED New Inter-Provincial Travel Isolation Requirements:
On December 30, the Ontario Ministry of Health issued a further advisory on travel outside of the province of Ontario.
On January 2, Ontario’s Minister of Education, Steven Lecce, confirmed that elementary school students will return to school on January 11. To ensure the health and safety of the JICS communities, we now require families who have returned from inter-provincial travel after December 27 to self-isolate for 14 days from the return date to Ontario.
If you have travelled outside of Canada or inter-provincially and returned to Ontario after December 27, complete the JICS online travel form, email your child’s teacher and richard.messina@utoronto.ca.
3. Indoor Shoes and Outdoor Clothing
Please ensure that children have a pair of indoor shoes to change into from their winter boots at school. (Many brought these shoes home for the holidays.)
Children play outside in all-weather at JICS (including light rain, snowy days, and cold conditions). Please send your child with outdoor clothing appropriate to weather conditions, as well as any extra clothes that were taken home over the break.
“There is no inappropriate weather, only inappropriate clothing!”
4. Headsets (Gr 1-6)
If you brought your headsets home for the holidays, please bring them to school on Monday, January 11.
5. Letter from JICS PA
Dear JICS Families,
Happy New Year!! I’m sure your little ones are looking forward to returning to school on Monday (and maybe we grownups are looking forward to it too!).
I’m so thankful to start off the new year with our wonderful volunteers in PA Executive – Francois, Shawn, Beth, Shami, Carolynne, Casey, Andrew, plus Richard and Chriss. We have a meeting planned for later this month on January 25th and we look forward to seeing you on Zoom!
I’m also thankful to our wonderful class reps who have kept us connected over the holidays. While we remain apart, these interactions remain so important and helpful in keeping our community together.
Mask Program Update
While there were not enough children registered for the program to proceed, we want to thank Lisa Strug and Andrew Murray for their leadership on this initiative. Although we are not proceeding with the program, conversations with Lisa and Andrew throughout the first term helped clarify best practices.
We Filed Our Taxes!
While not the most exciting news, we filed our taxes with CRA in December. Filing on time keeps our organization in good standing as a registered charity. Thank you to Jon Newton and his team at KPMG, who worked with our Treasurer, Shawn Konopinsky, to file these important papers.
Sincerely,
Deepta Rayner
PA President
6. Lab School Dissemination
Natural Curiosity: Lighting the Fire Webinar
January 14, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
The first webinar in Natural Curiosity's brand new 2021 webinar series: Embracing the Shift: Sharing Our Pandemic Stories of Connecting to Land and Children’s Natural Curiosity will be held January 14! This webinar welcomes JICS' very own Grade 2 teacher, David Osorio and Author of the Indigenous Lens on Natural Curiosity and JICS parent, Doug Anderson, who will share about their yearlong collaboration of connecting students to local nature, through story, inquiry, and other heart-centred approaches to education that bridge Indigenous and Western ways of knowing.
To read more about this event for educators and register to attend click here.
7. Parent Education Event - January 21
Powering down, a digital fog, or igniting curiosity? Ways to support children's use of technology
Join us on January 21st for a talk on technology, social media, and child development with Dr. Alexandra Makos, faculty member in the Applied Psychology and Human Development Department, OISE, University of Toronto. Read more about this event, Dr. Makos, and RSVP by visiting our events page.
8. Re-enrollment 2021-2022
Re-enrollment information and forms were emailed on December 10 for the 2021-2022 school year. The form and the non-refundable $5000 deposit are due in the office by Wednesday, January 20, 2021.
9. JICS Fall Edition Newsletter
At JICS, we believe that when it comes to our partnership with parents, the more information, the better! Hence, we provide weekly or biweekly teacher class-specific summary emails, Thursday’s Parent Information Posts, the individual report cards, parent-teacher interviews/meetings, etc. The JICS Newsletter is an opportunity to “peak into” the rest of the school and learn about experiences that you may not know about. We design it to be shared between parents and children and we hope you will take the time to flip through the e-pages! Many thanks to Charlotte for her work in publishing it! Here is the link to the password protected JICS Newsletter page (use the password provided in the weekly post email): https://www.jicsfamily.com/jicsnewsletter
10. Ontario Government Financial Relief for Parents
JICS families are eligible for a one-time financial support of $200 per child from the Ontario Government to address extra costs incurred by the pandemic. The deadline for applications is February 8, 2021. Find more information and the application here.
11. Used Christmas Trees
If you live near the school and celebrate Christmas with a real tree, we invite you to bring your discarded ornament-free tree to the JICS playground for the children to use as a great-smelling, natural building material for their play.
12. Upcoming January Events
Thur 7 – Orthodox Christmas Day – Merry Christmas!
Mon 11 – Winter Term begins. Arrival starts at 8:30am (Daycare opens at 8:00am)
Thurs 14 – Natural Curiosity: Lighting the Fire Webinar 7:00-8:30pm RSVP
Fri 15 – Friday Parent Information Post Talks 9:30-10:00am (Zoom link)
Wed 20 – Reenrollment forms and deposits due for 2021-2022
Thurs 21 – Parent Education Event. 7:00-8:30 RSVP
Thurs 21 – Nursery 2021-2022 Virtual Open House
Fri 22 – Friday Parent Information Post Talks 9:30-10:00am (Zoom link)
Mon 25 – Parents’ Association General Meeting. 6:00-7:30
Fri 29 – Friday Parent Information Post Talks 9:30-10:00am (Zoom link)
