Student Handbook

We hope that this information will be useful to you. We have tried to include any items that would be of importance to you and your family. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

If you need to pick up your child before the end of the school day, please check in at the office and we will have your child come to the office to meet you. You will need to sign your child out. The book is available in the main office.

If your child usually stays in for lunch and you decide to take him/her home, please let the teacher know they are leaving the building and please have your child back to school on time for afternoon classes (12:40 p.m.). In the event that your child is not returning to school for the afternoon session you will need to sign him/her out.

All school age children are required to attend school under the Provincial School Act. Any absence from school requires a written note from home. Your child's name, date of absence, reason for absence and your signature should be included in the note. Repeated unexcused absences are reported to the Department of Education via our school board.

Parents should make every effort to collect their child's homework when they are absent from school. Please do not hesitate to call the school to request your child's daily work but call well enough in advance to allow teachers time to get the work ready. Homework may be picked up after school.

Several busses serve our school for the morning, afternoon, and Kindergarten lunch routes. Students are supervised while exiting the busses upon arrival at school each day, and during dismissal. The bus parking lot is for busses only and not to be used for dropping off or picking up students. Student safety is a major concern of everyone and every effort is made to ensure the safety of all children in our care. We ask parents to pick up or drop off children via the front steps to the lower parking lot so children are not walking in the bus lot unsupervised at this busy time. As well we are quite concerned about student safety on the lower main parking lot during lunch and the afternoon dismissal. Please insure you do not block the drive-through area or park in a no-parking zone.

Recess break is a duration of twenty minutes each morning. Your child may purchase items from our recess menu for a snack. Classroom teachers take orders and collect monies at the start of each day. The recess orders are filled and distributed to each class at recess time, so that all children are served very quickly. Kindergarten students bring their own snacks for recess. There is no recess break for the afternoon Kindergarten classes.

Children in grades 1-3 may stay at school for lunch. In accordance with School Food Guidelines nutritious lunches are encouraged as part of a child's active, healthy lifestyle so please remember to pack a good nutritional lunch for your child. Hot meal service is provided by Harbour Breeze Catering. Weekly meal plans are available. If ordering daily, menus need to be passed in first thing in the morning so that our lunch ladies have time to prepare the meals.

We have several students attending our school who have severe allergic reactions. We ask for your cooperation in helping us to provide a safe environment for all of our students. Products containing peanuts are not available in our canteen or through our catering service. Should your child have an allergy please ensure that the school has accurate information regarding the allergy, any changes from previous years, and any allergy prescriptions.

Some students have medical conditions that may require some sort of medication while in school. In order for your child to self administer or receive these medications, you must complete a medical consent form signed by you and the child's doctor and return it to the school. Please see the Guidance Counsellor regarding this.

All children require two sets of footwear, one to be worn to school and one to be left at school. The pair that your child leaves at school for inside wear should not be black bottomed. A soft-soled sneaker/jogger type is recommended. This type will help keep our school clean, soften the noise level, serve as gym sneakers, and most importantly, provide greater safety for active children. Due to safety concerns crocs are not permitted as school footwear.

Our school is equipped with a lovely playground facility. Supervised outside play during lunch time is an important part of your child's day. All students at Coley's Point Primary are encouraged to spend as much time in the fresh air as possible. The opportunity to go outdoors allows children to clear their heads after a morning spent in the classroom. The fresh air and active play helps them concentrate better during the afternoon session. Even during the winter months, ALL students are encouraged to don their snowsuits, caps and mitts to go out and play in the snow. By the time everyone is dressed and out the door on a winter day an approximate total of ten minutes is spent outdoors! This is still plenty of time to re-energize our students for the afternoon session! We always monitor the wind-chill factor during this time and if it's too cold, we stay inside.

Children need to come to school each day appropriately dressed for the weather. While from home to the bus stop may be a short distance, outside activities (such as gym class) while at school require children to be dressed in a healthy manner. It's better to wear too much, than too little, as layers can be removed. As the weather becomes increasingly colder, snowpants, mittens and caps are essential! A pair of splash or wind pants helps keep clothes clean during the spring season.

Our weekly newsletter, The Point, informs you of scheduled events or gives you other important information. Please check your child's school bag regularly. The Point is usually printed on Friday of each weekand is distributed to each student.

Special activities and unexpected events will be aired on the KIXX Country School Report. This form of communication will be extremely important for weather closures during the winter. Please insure that your child knows where to go if you are not at home. Please insure that your child's teacher and the office has an emergency phone number. You may also access the district website - Status Central, www.esdnl.ca

From time to time we send home messages using our automated telephone service. When you hear the message please remember to press the prompt number at the end so the school will know someone has received the message at home.

There are three terms to our school year. Each term will provide a written record of your child's progress. At the end of our late fall and early spring terms we will confer with you for formal appointments so that we can sit and discuss together your child's progress.

Occasionally, your child's teacher may call you with a concern or matter of interest. Likewise, we invite you to call us anytime you have inquiries or concerns. Our telephone number is 786-9052. You may leave a message through message manager at times when the secretary is unavailable and we will return your call as soon as staff are available.

Coley's Point Primary School Council, which represents the educational interest of the school, meets regularly once per month. Contact numbers for your representatives are printed in The Point. We have positions to fill on Council and encourage you to seek election

We keep a Lost & Found Hamper in our main entrance. All items of clothing found in the school are placed in this bin. Parents and children may check this area for lost items. Clearly labelled personal belongings certainly cuts down on the size of our Lost & Found.

We are committed to an action plan that strives to ensure teaching and learning are taking place in a safe and caring environment. To that end, we believe that participating in and contributing to a safe, respectful and positive learning environment is both the right and responsibility of students, parents, school personnel, and our community at large.

Our focus is on school wide prevention initiatives which include the active teaching of positive behavior to all students. That’s where we need your help. It is important that you become so familiar with our school’s expectations that taking responsibility for your own actions becomes a matter of respect- respect for yourself, others, environment and learning.