School Information
Learning to Care – Caring to Learn
St. Gregory has 460 students, JK to Gr 3. We strive to work with parents to ensure the best possible educational experience for all children. In order to run the school effectively we rely on procedures that allow us to ensure all children are safe and accounted for every day.
Your help following these procedures is appreciated.
EMERGENCY PROCEDURE PRACTICE
During the year, staff and students work diligently on evacuation procedures in case of emergency. The Fire Department may help in this regard. Please ensure that your child has a pair of indoor shoes. This makes gym activities safer and also allows for speedy exit from the building in emergency situations. The school will practice their Lockdown procedures with students and the OPP to ensure the safety of all students twice a year.
MEDICATION POLICY
As per Board Policy all medication provided to the school for administration to students must be prescribed by a doctor and a “Request for Administration of Medication” form, fully completed and appropriately signed by both the parents/guardians and the doctor, must accompany the medication. Medication should come in its original container. This includes “over the counter” medication. All medication is to be left in the office. Students are not to have medication on their person or in their backpacks, with the exception of EPIPENS for students who suffer anaphylactic reactions.
ILLNESS AND INJURY
When a child is ill, it is often undesirable for him/her to be at school. He/she may regain his/her health more slowly, learn little and spread his/her germs to others in the class. The best place for a sick child is usually at home.
There are cases when a child appears well before leaving for school but becomes ill during the day. When this happens, we will contact you to pick him/her up. In case of injury, in the school or on the school grounds, if it appears minor the appropriate first aid will be used. If it appears more serious, we will contact you or your emergency contact number in order that your child may be taken to a doctor or hospital.
Students with Allergies
We have individuals at our school who are anaphylactic (allergic to peanuts); therefore, NUT OR NUT BYPRODUCTS
ARE NOT TO BE BROUGHT TO SCHOOL. There are a few manufacturers who are aggressively
marketing peanut-free products that look, taste, and smell like real peanut butter (soy butter, sun butter, wow
butter etc…). These products cause confusion and difficulty in monitoring lunches on a daily basis and create an
unsafe environment for our peanut anaphylactic student and staff population. Therefore, due to the obvious
difficulty in identifying the difference between peanut butter and artificial peanut butter, we do not allow this
product in our school. For the safety of students who are allergic to insects, food or drinks are not to be consumed
in the schoolyard.
If your child has an allergy, he/she is encouraged to wear a Medic Alert bracelet, which identifies specific
allergens. Parents of an anaphylactic child must ensure that the specific information regarding their child is made
available to the school. Parents of anaphylactic children are encouraged to limit their child’s intake to food from
his or her home. Parents of anaphylactic children are responsible for the provision of auto-injectors to the school
and for ensuring that they have not expired. It is also very important the EpiPen is with the child at all times.
ARE NOT TO BE BROUGHT TO SCHOOL. There are a few manufacturers who are aggressively
marketing peanut-free products that look, taste, and smell like real peanut butter (soy butter, sun butter, wow
butter etc…). These products cause confusion and difficulty in monitoring lunches on a daily basis and create an
unsafe environment for our peanut anaphylactic student and staff population. Therefore, due to the obvious
difficulty in identifying the difference between peanut butter and artificial peanut butter, we do not allow this
product in our school. For the safety of students who are allergic to insects, food or drinks are not to be consumed
in the schoolyard.
If your child has an allergy, he/she is encouraged to wear a Medic Alert bracelet, which identifies specific
allergens. Parents of an anaphylactic child must ensure that the specific information regarding their child is made
available to the school. Parents of anaphylactic children are encouraged to limit their child’s intake to food from
his or her home. Parents of anaphylactic children are responsible for the provision of auto-injectors to the school
and for ensuring that they have not expired. It is also very important the EpiPen is with the child at all times.
VISITORS/VOLUNTEERS POLICY
Visitors/Volunteers are always welcome at our school. For student safety, once school begins, all entrances will be locked. To enter the school, please use the Townline Road door and ring the bell. All visitors must sign in at the office. If you are volunteering please tell the secretary which classroom you will be in.
We ask our volunteers to please remember our privacy rule. Parents are not permitted to discuss a student’s – behavior, style of learning, progress etc. with anyone outside of school and only with school staff inside the school. When one volunteers, they will be assigned a specific task. I.E. Our Read with Me program provides students with an opportunity to read with an adult on a one to one basis.
Parents are always welcome into their child’s classroom when the teacher requests volunteers for a special event, outing, etc. Volunteers will not be scheduled to provide additional ongoing support within their child’s classroom. Please remember that you are volunteering to assist all children and programs not just those within your child’s classroom.
We greatly appreciate your time, energy and willingness to support our children and programs. Volunteers will require yearly police checks with vulnerable sector screening. This include parents attending any class trips
STUDENT DROP OFF AND PICK UP
Morning Routines
The car drop off gate is at the end of the south west parking lot. The gate will be unlocked 15 minutes prior to school start time and locked at the start of our school day, as will the bus entrance gate at the front of school. Students arriving late must be escorted to the office and signed in. For attendance purposes, the student will be given a late slip to enter the class. Parents are expected not to pass by the front office once school is in session. If you are picking up your child, do not go directly to their classroom. Your child will meet you at the office.
End of day Routines
If you are picking up your child by car, the car gate area is the double doors opening onto the southwest parking lot. At dismissal time, the teacher on duty will require that you check in with her. The walker gate exits at the front side of the school. This is the exit for all students who are walking. No walking students should exit at the car gate door as we are loading buses out front. Changes to end of day routine should be noted in the child’s agenda. Calls during the day should be for emergency situations only and should be received at the office no later than 12:00 pm.
*Please do not use the parking lot in front of the main school entrance during bus times:
8:50 am – 9:30 am and 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm.
FOOD DAYS
St. Gregory has regular pizza Fridays and this is available to all students, but families are under no obligation to participate. Should these programs prove to be financially difficult, please contact the office for confidential assistance.
If a HOT LUNCH day falls on an inclement weather day, it is automatically cancelled and moved to the end of the cycle. No reimbursement is given in the event of absence.
RECYCLING POLICY – ECO SCHOOL PROGRAM
It is our role as members of this community to keep our environment clean, safe and beautiful and each one of us must do our part. Although we do recycle pop cans and paper products at our school, all students and staff members are expected to bring home all waste or uneaten food that he/she brings to school. “Litterless” lunch bags, containers and drinking vessels are ideal solutions in assisting with the three “R’s” – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
TEXTBOOKS/LIBRARY BOOKS
Students are responsible for the textbooks/library books issued to them. If you lose or damage a book you must pay to replace it.
VALUABLES
It is strongly recommended that no item of value be brought to the school. If items are lost, the school staff cannot be held responsible, this includes Nintendo DS, MP3 Players and other electronic gadgets.
LOST AND FOUND
Each year we have a considerable number of items in our lost and found table. It may be possible to minimize this problem if the following steps are taken:
- All belongings should be clearly marked with your child’s name. This makes it easier for him/her to recognize their belongings and possible for others to return found items.
- Emphasize to your child his/her responsibility “to look after” his/her belongings.
- If something is lost, have your child look in the lost and found immediately. A look around in the classroom may also be useful.
- At the end of each month items in the lost and found are washed and donated to charity. Parents are more than welcome to come and look at the lost and found table to see if any items belong to your family.
EVALUATION, REPORTING & PROMOTION
Evaluation: Our school is interested in the academic progress of each student as well as his/her total well being. It is with these points in mind that school evaluation and parental reporting are carried out. This involves continuous record keeping by the teacher as the skills are covered and assessments are completed. Attitude towards learning and towards other people are also monitored and considered to be an important part of the evaluation.
Reporting: In November the 1st term progress report goes home and scheduled interviews are encouraged. The 2nd term reports go home in February with the final report card at the end of June. It is our policy to encourage parents to contact the school at any time regarding concerns. Please do not wait for a formal invitation. The written report card is only one way of giving you an evaluation. This is why we would like to emphasize interviews with your child’s teacher, so that she/he may give you additional information and answer any questions you might have.
NEWSLETTERS
Newsletters will be sent home with oldest and only at the school. If you do not receive information from us on a regular basis, please check your child’s school bag or agenda or phone the office to request extra copies. All newsletters are posted on our school website.
CAMERAS AND CELL PHONES
Students are not allowed to bring cameras and cell phones to school.
PARENT COMMUNICATION
As we transition to online information methods, we encourage parents to actively use Microsoft TEAMS to receive information from classroom teachers. This is an effective way to stay informed about what is happening in your child’s classroom.
To help parents stay informed the main office uses School Messenger to email a Week at a Glance (WAG) each Sunday as well as other important information.
NEWSLETTERS – We will be transitioning to an online newsletter. On occasion we will continue to send home paper copies with the oldest and only child at the school.
All newsletters are posted on our school website.
WEBSITE and FACEBOOK
Please also follow our school Facebook page St. Gregory Catholic School – Carleton Place for current updates at any time.
SOCIAL MEDIA
At St. Gregory we care about the well-being of our students, families and community. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please call the school and address them directly rather than taking to Facebook and other social media.