Welcome back! We hope you are enjoying the fantastic weather we have had this summer. As we inch closer to September 8th, we wanted to share some information that will make the school start up process clear.
Please note that the province has launched a brand new information management system that impacts all aspects of our infrastructure including student demographic information, timetabling etc. While we hope all will go smoothly, we will likely face some bumps along the way and we appreciate your patience as we navigate our way through the process.
Student Fees/Locker Distribution
We encourage you to pay student fees online as soon as possible (a portal announcement was sent in July). Mrs. Shamro will also be available in the office if you wish to pay fees in person.
We will have an early locker distribution opportunity for students on Thursday, September 3rd. Students who come in on this day will get first choice on lockers within the bank assigned to their TA. To receive a locker students must:
- have paid student fees for the current and prior year
- have resolved any outstanding learning resource invoices
Early locker distribution will happen according to the following schedule (we will only be doing early distribution on September 3rd):
Thursday September 3rd
Grade 12’s 8:00-9:15
Grade 11’s 9:15-10:30
Grade 10’s 10:30-11:45
Grade 9’s 12:15-1:30
Grade 8’s 1:00-3:00
Opening Week Schedule
Our goal for opening week is to have students spend meaningful time relationship-building with Teacher Advisors as well as ensuring students see each of their set block teachers by running a full week’s rotation via shorter class times. Timetables will be distributed to students during TA on the first morning of school.
September 8th, 2015
9:00 am Teacher Advisory (TA) for grade 8’s and new THSS students
10:00 am TA continues (all returning THSS students arrive)
11:00 am -12:00 Assembly
12:00 Student Dismissal
September 9th – 11th
8:30-9:30 TA
9:36-10:06 Period 1
10:09-10:39 Period 2
10:42-11:12 Period 3
11:15-11:45 Period 4
11:45-12:23 Lunch
12:23-12:57 Period 5
1:00-1:30 Period 6
1:33-2:02 Period 7
2:05-2:35 Period 8
Work At Home
Work at home applications will be available from the office for students in grades 11 and 12 during the first week of school. These applications are to be filled out and returned to administration for consideration. Grade 10 students will have the opportunity to apply for work-at-home status after our first report card is distributed.
Special Scholarship Presentation Evening
Brittany Palmer of Unlock Your Future will give a special scholarship presentation to grade 10-12 families on Wednesday September 23rd at 7 pm. This informative presentation will provide insight to our families on the scholarship process. This presentation received excellent reviews from our students who saw Brittany speak last year. This event is free and does not require pre-registration.
Student/Parent Welcome Night
We will host a welcome night for all of our new students and their parents on Wednesday, September 16th at 7 pm. If your son/daughter is in grade 8, or new to us this year, we are hopeful that you can join us!
Collaboration Block
A reminder that this year THSS teachers will be participating in the collaboration block initiative that all other SD 42 secondary schools have been involved with for a number of years. Approximately every 6 weeks teachers will meet together from 8:30-9:30 to work on curriculum planning and implementation projects. During this time the school will be open and students are welcome to be in our large work areas working, but teachers will be unavailable. Alternatively, students may work at home during this block of time. All of our collaboration blocks will happen on Monday mornings. On days when we have a collaboration block there will be no Y block.
The collaboration dates are listed below. TA will start at 9:30 am:
- Monday, September 21
- Monday, October 19
- Monday, November 16
- Monday, January 11
- Monday, February 15
- Monday, April 4
- Monday, May 16
Parent Advisory Counsel
Our first PAC meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 15th at 7 pm. We hope you can join us.
Attendance Focus
Our new information management provides us the opportunity to report attendance electronically in all set blocks, not just in TA. Starting the 2nd week of school all teachers will be entering attendance electronically. Parents/guardians can expect to be notified not just of TA absences, but set block absences as well. All students are expected to report to TA on time in the morning, unless a parent/guardian has phoned in or there is an administrator approved work-at-home form on file in the office (grade 11s and 12s only). While we will continue to promote and encourage students to find opportunities to learn outside of our building, it is also important that students recognize there are many times in life when being on time is a critical skill. We ask for your help in ensuring that your son/daughter arrives to school on time.
Important Dates in September:
Tuesday, September 8:
First day of school. New students arrive at 9:00 am; returning students arrive at 10:00 am. Dismissal time is 12:00 pm
Wednesday, September 9 – Friday, September 11:
School is in regular session (8:25 am – 2:40 pm)
Tuesday, September 15:
First PAC meeting of the year at 7:00 pm in room 2032
Grade 12 Parent/Student Night at 7:00 pm in the rotunda
Wednesday, September 16:
Photo Day
Grade 8 Parent/Student Night at 7:00 pm in the rotunda
Friday, September 18:
Grade 12 BBQ at lunch
Monday, September 21:
Collaboration Block: students in grades 9 – 12 arrive at 9:30 am
Grade 8 students have a field trip to the movie, ‘Soar’ from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Tuesday, September 22:
Non-Instructional Day – no school for students
Wednesday, September 23:
Grade 10 – 12 Scholarship Presentation in the rotunda at 7:00 pm
Thursday, September 24:
Grade 8 BBQ at lunch
Monday, September 28:
Grade 9/10 Awards in Y block
Wednesday, September 30
Terry Fox Run
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