Montessori Academy of London | London, Ontario

Dear MA Families and Friends,

Welcome! I hope that everyone had a relaxing, fun-filled summer with their family and friends. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome both returning and new families to what I feel is the most amazing place to be! Our School!!

This year we are looking forward to being able to get back to doing all of the great things we used to do before COVID: our fall classroom events, The Journey to Discovery, parent-child class visits, our musical and assemblies, just to name a few.

This Buzz newsletter, which is sent out via email on Tuesdays, carries a wealth of information about what is currently happening in the school. Also, check the MA Parent Portal at the beginning of each month as it contains details of what is going on in your child’s specific location and class. Your child’s teachers are your main go-to people for any information. Our teachers are committed to your children and to you the parents, and I know from years of experience that the relationships established with the teachers, children and parents last a lifetime.

I would like to thank the Parent Reps for the work they will be doing to support the teachers and parents. You will get to know them very soon for your child’s class. The parent reps’ main responsibility is supporting the classroom teachers in delivering important messages to you, so watch for emails from them.

Because it is difficult for me to be at all of our locations throughout the day, I will now have a faculty point person at each location and or level. These “team leads” will help with maintaining consistency in our programming as well as communication among levels and school-wide.

I hope that you hear some great stories from your child today about their first day back at school! As well, please know that my door is always open and I am looking forward to reconnecting with current families and meeting our new ones.

Warmest regards,

Kristen Crouse

Principal

 

Toddler/Casa Parents: Updated Guidance on Gastrointestinal Concerns

• If the child has no other symptoms and is still well enough to participate in activities, monitor the child at school for further bouts of diarrhea or any other symptoms.
• If the child doesn’t have any more bouts of diarrhea at school or at home then the child can return to school the next day.
• If the child experiences more bouts of diarrhea while at school, then the child is sent home and must be excluded from school for 48 hrs without symptoms before returning. 

We are looking for a few volunteers who would be willing to help with our Elementary Lunch program on a casual basis – in the event that David Ortiz, our Elementary Lunch staff, is absent. The role entails receiving food from Growing Chefs! Ontario on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays, and delivering it to the classrooms. On Mondays and Fridays, there is more food preparation required, as well as delivering the main course from a local restaurant to the classrooms. There is some time spent on cleaning up the dishes and kitchen after the students have eaten.

When needed to cover the lunchtimes, the hours would be:

Other training will be provided. If you are interested, please contact Kristen Crouse at kcrouse@montessori.on.ca.

Please ensure you’ve reviewed and understand the process to pick up and drop off your children; and adhere to any parking signage. Need a refresher? Take a peek through the Parking Resource Board on the MA Parent Portal: https://montessori.myschoolapp.com/app/parent#resourceboarddetail/25158

We also ask that you share the rules for your location with any family, friends or supporters who will be picking up or dropping off your child(ren).

If you have not yet ordered hot lunch for your child/ren, please do so by noon of next Friday, September 16. After this date, the orders will be closed until January, and we will not be accepting any more orders. If you need assistance with ordering, please contact the Main Office before the deadline. Some items require you to select different options for the meal, so please read each item carefully, as the order will not be able to be adjusted after submission.

IMPORTANT: Please review your complete balance when you place your orders online at https://mahotlunch.campbrainregistration.com/ to ensure that everything is paid in full. Payments can be made online (after you submit, go to Home and click View Details to pay). Or, you can drop into the Main Office to pay by cash, cheque, Visa, MasterCard, Amex or Apple Pay.

Like a flight from YYZ, our printed YAAG is running a bit late this year. We hope to send them home with the children the first or second week of school. The Staff Directory (on the back page of the YAAG) has had a few changes to it since going to print:

Casa 1: Tara Protopapas’ name was missed on the Staff Directory; she can be reached at ext.301. Sincere apologies to Tara for the omission!! Rebecca Wood is no longer a teacher at MA.

Waterloo Toddler/Casa: The Waterloo Central Site Supervisor is Lesley Prentice; Candace Brannagan moved to Windsor this summer, and is no longer a staff member.

An updated PDF of the YAAG is available on our school website.

TIP: for easy access to the parent handbook sections and Year at a Glance Calendar, consider bookmarking the PDF or add it to the home screen of your mobile device. 🙂 Thank you, MA Parent Rep Caroline Rimbault for the great suggestion!

To report absences, early/late pick-up, or other messages to your child/ren’s teachers, please call the school and leave a message for the classroom. If it is before or after school hours, you can dial the class extension to go straight to their voicemail. If it is during school hours, you will be forwarded to the classroom or their voicemail, if the teachers aren’t able to pick up.

Reception is not responsible for forwarding emails to teachers; please call the school directly.

Throughout the year, we will send urgent messages through our text messaging service. If you have chosen to opt out of the Student Directory or we do not have your current mobile phone number, you will not receive these messages.

For more information on our communications policies, please refer to the Yellow Information & Involvement Tab of the Year at a Glance (PDF).

Photos

Casa 1 Phasing In