Kindergarten Registration Information for 2016 - 2017

Kindergarten Registration for the 2016-17 school year will commence on January 15, 2016. 

Registration forms are available on YRDSB's website: www.yrdsb.ca. 

Children who turn four or five years old during 2016, live within the school boundary and whose parents are public school tax supporters will be eligible to register for kindergarten. A Welcome to Kindergarten Information session for parents is being planned for this spring.  

For more information, please visit the YRDSB Website or contact our school.

Documents for Registration:

• Elementary School Registration Form
• Junior/Senior Kindergarten Questionnaire

Required Documents: 

• Birth Verification of student, which may include, but not limited to, birth certificate; statement of birth; birth registration; refugee claimant form; permanent resident card; confirmation of permanent residence (not application for); baptismal certificate; passport; citizenship card; First Nation, Métis, Inuit ancestry; record of landing; substitute registration of birth or adoption; or other Ontario government-sanctioned document approved by the superintendent of schools
• Custody/Adoption documentation if applicable
• Proof of Residency of the student - two documents, one from each of the categories below showing the home address;
  • Category A - notice of tax assessment, current rental/lease agreement, agreement to purchase including proof of purchase provided before the pupil attends the school, or property tax bill, and
• Category B - utility bill, bank statement or other official document
Additional information about more specific situations is available in the School Admissions Policy and Procedure or through your home school.

Revised Date for Gifted Screening

Please note that the  date for the Gifted Screening for ALL grade 3 students will take place on December 8th in the morning at Bayview Fairways P.S.

French Immersion Registration

French Immersion Registration will take place from January 15 - February 12, 2016 

Information sessions for the French Immersion (FI) program will take place at French Immersion schools on January 14, 2016 at 7 p.m. 

Our feeder school for French Immersion is Yorkhill Public School.

French Immersion registration will begin January 15, 2016. In order to streamline the registration process, parents or guardians of Senior Kindergarten students entering Grade 1 in 2016, and wishing to enrol in the FI Program, can visit or call their home school office (where your child currently attends) and request an:

Office Index Card - short version.

The Office Index Card must be signed by the principal of the home school. Parents or guardians then take this form, along with one piece of identification showing their address to your designated French Immersion school to register between January 15 and February 12, 2016. This eliminates the need to provide duplicate enrolment information or to pre-register.
  

Families registering students who do not currently attend a YRDSB school will need to complete full registration paperwork at their designated FI school. Information required for registration includes:

• Proof of child’s age (Birth Certificate/Passport)
• Any legal documents related to custody arrangements if applicable
• Proof of Residency of the student - two documents, one from each of the categories below showing the home address;
• Category A - notice of tax assessment, current rental/lease agreement, agreement to purchase including proof of purchase provided before the pupil attends the school, or property tax bill, and
• Category B - utility bill, bank statement or other official document.

YRDSB’s FI Accommodation Plan provides long-term consistency and equity of access to all students in York Region and will enable YRDSB to continue to offer the FI program to all who wish to enrol. The FI program will be offered in Dual Track or Single Track settings, in a variety of configurations. In order to meet community needs and optimize available space in our schools, a community's Grade 1-8 FI program may be provided over more than one school during the course of a student's FI education. This will allow flexibility in addressing community needs and the opportunity to use existing space in schools. Please note: Some of the FI accommodation plans will require facility modifications or the development of new schools and will require short-term transition plans that might include overflow while we work toward the long-term vision. Overflow refers to situations in which the Board directs students to attend a school other than their community school or optional program for a specific period of time, as defined in Policy #108.

The Week Ahead November 30 to December 4

Gifted Testing

This year, the Gifted Screening for all grade 3 students will take place on December 3rd in the morning at school.

This year's grade 3 Gifted Screening procedure is a two stage process. Stage one involves the administration of the Canadian Cognitive Abilities test (CCAT) to all Grade Three students.  If a student meets the CCAT criterion, they will be referred for Stage Two in the process, an Intellectual Screening, with a member of the YRDSB Psychological Services department.  Letters to parents of students who met the criterion to participate in stage 2 and forms to obtain their consent for the second stage of the gifted screening will be distributed to those parents in January, 2016.

Interviews and PA Day November 27, 2015

Please note that this Friday, November 27 will be a PA Day.  There will be no school for students on this day and please note the important Elementary Progress Report Card Information below:

Elementary Progress Reports

Our teachers are currently completing the  Progress Reports for students in Grades 1-8. As referenced in our Director's letter on November 3, 2015, these Progress Reports will be distributed in our school on December 11, 2015. If your child’s teacher has concerns with your child’s progress, she/he will contact you to set up a meeting. If you have questions about your child’s progress and a meeting has not been set up, please speak with your child’s teacher. Please note that because progress is tracked differently, reports are not being completed for distribution to students in Junior or Senior Kindergarten.

Parent Teacher Interviews

These meetings will be initiated by your child’s teacher where there are concerns regarding student progress and may occur on the evening of Thursday, November 26, 2015 or during the day on Friday, November 27, 2015. Teachers remain committed to ongoing communication with parents regarding student progress.

Kindergarten Progress

Your child’s teacher will initiate a meeting with you if there are concerns regarding progress. As always, if you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher directly.

Individual Education Plans

If your child has an individual education plan (IEP), you will receive an updated copy during the next reporting cycle in January.  Please contact your child’s special education resource teacher (SERT) if you have any questions.

Volleyball News

Over the last two days, our Intermediate volleyball teams played in the area tournament at Baythorn.  

The tournament involved our school and four others and Ms. Ng and Mr. Parfitt are very happy to say that our teams played with a lot of heart, skill and determination against some stiff competition. 

Both of the boys and girls teams each won three games….the boys made a miraculous comeback when down many points to come back and win one of these games.  The girls lost a real “nailbiter” against the best team there…losing 30-28.

BFPS should be proud of all of our team members for a great season!

The Week Ahead November 23 to 27

The Week Ahead November 16 to 20

Remembrance Day Assembly

Thank you to our staff and members of our community for participating in a very meaningful and moving Remembrance Day Assembly at Bayview Fairways P.S. on November 11.  Each class worked diligently to create beautiful wreaths to present during our assembly.  The students learned about resilience, courage and why peace is so important.  

Please see our wreaths below.

                                                                                 

                                                                               

Green Apple Grant

Congratulations!
Bayview Fairways P.S. has been awarded a Green Apple School Program grant of $1,000 to create healthy eating programming! 

We will use this money to augment our healthy snack program and to continue to engage students in healthy eating and in learning about healthy food options.

   

Diwali

Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights is celebrated this year on Tuesday, November 10th . Some Temples may celebrate this day on November 11th .

Diwali, (short for Deepavali, meaning 'line of lamps'), also known as the Festival of Lights is a Hindu, Sikh, and Jain festival that originated in India. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. Diwali also signifies many different things to different people. 

For most Hindus, Diwali is dedicated to the Goddess of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. In Bengal, Diwali honours the goddess Kali. For Sikhs, the festival commemorates the return of the sixth guru to the Holy city of Amritstar after his release from detention. For the Jain community, it commemorates the passing into Nirvana of Mahavira. It also may be the beginning of a new year for farmers who plant their crops after Diwali, as well as for business people and merchants who traditionally settle all accounts on this day and begin the new financial year. 

Everywhere it is celebrated, it signifies the renewal of life. To celebrate this joyous and important festival, people get together with friends and family, exchange gifts of sweets and greet each other with the words 'Subh Diwali’. Some set off fireworks and wear new clothes. Many light little clay lamps, called dipas or diyas, candles and even neon lights.

We would like to wish our  families, students, staff, and members of the community at Bayview Fairways Public School who celebrate Diwali, a happy and festive time with friends and family. 

The Week Ahead November 9 to 13

Remembrance Day Display in Front Foyer

We would like to thank our School Council for the meaningful Remembrance Day Window Display in our front foyer.  The display contains authentic material to help all of us reflect on what Remembrance Day means for us and how much we are grateful for all the veterans who served our country so that we can enjoy and cherish the freedoms we experience today.

Our Remembrance Day Assembly will take place on Wednesday November 11 at 10:00 a.m. in our school gym.  

School Bus Cancellation Information

To ensure the safety of students, school bus service may be cancelled due to inclement weather, extreme temperatures and/or poor road conditions.  In these cases, parents and students should develop alternate care/transportation arrangements.

Since some busing schedules begin by 7:00 a.m., cancellation decisions must be made by 6:00 a.m. to allow time to communicate this message to bus drivers.  Cancellation decisions will only be made after thorough consultation with the Safety Officers of school bus companies servicing York Region and are based on several factors including precipitation, air temperature, road conditions and weather forecast.

Please note the following;

• A decision to cancel school bus service will be region-wide meaning all school buses, vans and taxis will not operate. 
• When bus service is cancelled all school tests and/or examinations will be cancelled and rescheduled.
• Student trips involving the use of school buses will also be cancelled.
• School bus routes may be cancelled when severe weather may not be affecting all municipalities in York Region.  Both the YRDSB and YCDSB operate many regional educational programs.  Students attending these programs are transported over large attendance areas encompassing several municipal boundaries.  This limits the ability to cancel bus service using a municipality or zone methodology. 
• Unless otherwise stated, schools will remain open and parents can make arrangements to transport their children to and from school even if school bus service is cancelled.  If buses are cancelled in the morning, they will not operate in the afternoon. Therefore students transported to school by parents will require the same transportation home.

Parents, students and school staff are asked to access the following radio and television stations after 6:00 a.m. to receive bus cancellation information:

RADIO

590 AM            640 AM            680 AM            860 AM            1010 AM          1050 AM

1540 AM          1580 AM          88.5 FM           89.9 FM           92.5 FM           93.1 FM

94.9 FM           95.9 FM           97.3 FM           98.1 FM           99.1 FM           99.9 FM          

101.1 FM         102.1 FM         104.5 FM         100.7 FM         105.9               107.1 FM

TELEVISION

CITY TV     CTV Barrie     CTV Toronto     CP24     GLOBAL NEWS

A bus cancellation message will also be available at www.schoolbuscity.com and by calling 1-877-330-3001, or by following the YRDSB and YCDSB on twitter.

Letter from the Director