Weekly Message to Families - Sept 12
Dear Families,
Thank you for a great second week of school! We appreciate everyone’s efforts regarding smooth morning entry and afternoon dismissal. Thank you for continuing to model safety and courtesy for all of our students and staff. A reminder to observe the posted signage regarding no u-turns near the Kiss and Ride. Please plan your approach accordingly or consider parking on a side street and walking your child to school. The Kiss and Ride is a no parking zone.
Bus Safety
This week we also reviewed bus safety with all students in grade 1 to 6 who ride the school bus to and/or from school. It was a great opportunity to reinforce expectations and let students know where to seek help if there are any issues on the bus.
Morning Entry
A reminder that student supervision starts 15 minutes before the morning entry bell. Our Extended Day Program team uses the school yard daily prior to 8:30 am and are not able to supervise students who are not part of the program during this time. Students should not be unsupervised on the yard prior to 8:30 am.
Student Emergency Information Forms
Today your child brought home a paper copy of Guardians’ Emergency Contact Verification form. Please review this important information and return it to school as soon as possible so that we can ensure that we have up-to-date contact information for all students. Please make any changes directly on the form. If there are no changes, please check the box on the top right. Please disregard the doctor/dentist information section.
Looking for a Breakfast Program Monitor at JYES
If you or someone you know is interested in working as our school’s Breakfast Monitor, please contact melissa.seth@ocdsb.ca. This position runs on school days from 8-9 am. The monitor would create grab-and-go style breakfasts for students in our school’s Breakfast Club room.
Concussion Forms
Annually, student and parent concussion forms need to be completed before students can participate in extracurricular activities such as sports or field trips such as skating. Please complete each form for each of your children that attends John Young as soon as possible.
Concussion Form - Student Concussion Form - Parent
Media and Technology Forms
Thank you to all of our families who have already submitted the media and technology forms. If you have not yet completed these forms for your child, please do so right away.
Appropriate Use of Technology Agreement Media/School Website Permission Form
Fire Drills and Lockdown Practices
Next week we will have the first two of our required three fall fire drills. Students will discuss the procedure with their teachers before the drills. We will also be having our fall lockdown practice in the coming weeks. Our goal is to practice so that everyone knows what to do in the event of an emergency.
Upcoming Speaker Series
Dr Michael Cheng, psychiatrist from CHEO will be running an upcoming Speaker Series on executive function skills. This parent/caregiver session will highlight why EF skills are important and how to support their development in children. The session will be held on Wednesday, September 17th at 6:30pm. Click here for more further information and registration links.
Student Accident Insurance
Creating a caring and safe environment for our students is our top priority. Unfortunately, despite all reasonable precautions being taken, accidents can still happen. Some injuries may result in medical, dental or other expenses that are not covered by provincial health care or employer group plans and caregivers become responsible for these expenses.
The OCDSB does not provide student accident insurance and encourages all caregivers to consider purchasing accident insurance or student accident insurance for incidents that may not be covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) or any additional medical plans they have.
Student accident insurance is available for purchase, on a voluntary basis. Caregivers may apply online at insuremykids.com or call 1-800-463-5437. The accident insurance coverage options range from $17.00/year to $33.00/year. All plans provide 24/7 coverage and a variety of important accident benefits (benefit limits differ based on plan selected). If you have any questions, please call Jones DesLauriers Ottawa (formerly Binks Insurance Brokers) directly at 613-226-1350.
In case you missed it - Meet the Staff Event
Please mark your calendars! On Thursday, September 25 between 4 and 5 pm, we will be hosting our annual Meet the Staff event. Families are invited to meet the teachers and support staff that work with their children and visit our classrooms. More information will be shared by your child’s teacher prior to the event. Following the Meet the Teacher, families are invited to the annual school BBQ hosted by our hard working School Council team.
Upcoming PA Day
Please note that Monday, September 29 is a PA Day and there will be no school for students.
School Year Calendars
PA Days, holidays, and other important dates for the 2025-2026 school year can be found in the OCDSB’s Elementary calendar.
Label Personal Items
Please help us keep items out of our Lost and Found! Label, label, label!
Be sure to put your child’s name in sweaters, coats, shoes, waterbottles, lunch kits, etc. We make every effort to return items to students but without a name, we can’t easily get these important items back to students.
SafeArrivals
The SchoolMessenger SafeArrivals system to report student absences is back up and running after some technical difficulties last week. Please use the SafeArrivals tools to notify the office of any student absences. Please note - if you child will be late to school, you still enter them as absent for the day and our office staff will make the adjustment to attendance when your child arrives.
We hope that you enjoy a lovely weekend ahead. Please continue reading for important messaging from School Council. This hard working group is actively seeking your support! Please consider volunteering your time to support the success of the upcoming School BBQ and other school community events throughout the year. Please email them directly at sc-johnyounges@ocdsb.ca for more information.
Regards,
Kim and Melissa
Kimberly Simpson
Principal
Melissa Seth
Acting Vice Principal
John Young Elementary School
John Young School Council
Welcome to the 2025-2026 School Year!!
What do we have planned for this year?
Check out the JYSC 2025-2026 Calendar to see all the great activities we hope to do this year! The calendar is subject to change due to OCDSB restrictions or volunteers.
Welcome Back Family BBQ - Thursday, September 25th - 4:00pm to 6:30pm
This event is for the whole family!! Face painting, games and prizes to be won. Enter your raffle ticket for a chance to win a candy gram. Raffle tickets and your food items can be ordered through hot lunches at johnyoung.hotlunches.net!
Make sure to pre order your food to guarantee your items and save $$!
More information regarding the Hot Lunches program and how to get started can be found below.
Orders MUST be placed by Friday, Sept 12.
We are looking for volunteers for the Welcome Back Family BBQ. If you are able to help, please sign up at: https://www.signupgenius.com/
Food Days - Starting Wednesday, October 1, 2025!
We are excited to continue our food days again this year! We will have Domino's and Subway on alternating Wednesdays and Popcorn once a month. Orders MUST be placed through johnyoung.hotlunches.net by TODAY, Friday, Sept 12. We are NOT able to accept any orders after this date.
Term 2 information will be sent home in January.
Hot Lunches Program
Here’s how to get started:
- Go to johnyoung.hotlunches.net and click on “Click Here to Register”.
- Complete the rest of the registration form. (Including your email address will ensure you receive reminder emails about your student's hot lunch order for the upcoming week.)
- Click the “Register Now” button at the bottom.
- Follow the instructions to add each child in your family who attends John Young ES.
- Once your student(s) is/are registered, click on “Order”.
- Proceed to order for Food Days, Popcorn and/or BBQ tickets for your student(s).
Orders for the BBQ, Food Days and Popcorn MUST be placed by Friday, September 12th.
Flip Give - Support JYES while shopping!!
This year, fundraising for John Young School Council 25/26 is going to be so much easier with FlipGive, a free team funding app. We earn cash back on every purchase we make all year long! All you have to do is shop anytime with the brands you already love, like Home Depot, Walmart, Sport Chek, Indigo, Old Navy, Esso, and Loblaws. No more going door-to-door selling chocolate bars - it's completely virtual and contactless.
Join our time now and you'll get a $5 bonus the first time you shop: https://shop.flipgive.com/
Or enter this code: 6X2TGB
This fundraiser will run all school year so shop away!
Volunteers Needed!
In order to run all of the great events we have planned this year, we are in need of volunteers! If you are interested in volunteering with JYSC this year, please email sc-johnyounges@ocdsb.ca.
Interested in joining the John Young School Council?
We are always looking for new members to join the JYSC! We are interested in hearing your ideas and comments. Read about the School Council and elections, then join us for our first meeting on Wednesday, September 24th, 2025 at 6:30pm!
To stay up to date with all John Young School Council Information, follow our page on Facebook at John Young ES School Council.