H1N1 Influenza News
Please let the school office know if your child will
be absent. This will save Wendy the time required to
try to get ahold of you to find why your child is away. We need
to inform the Health unit as to how many are away due to flu-like
symptoms, so it is important that you communicate that information
to the office.
For more information please visit:
October 28, 2009
Dear Parent/Guardian:
As you are no doubt aware, there have been
confirmed cases of Pandemic H1N1 Influenza virus in the KFL&A
area, and Dr Gemmill, Chief Medical Officer for KFLA has advised
school boards that parents and staff should make the assumption
that H1N1 is present in our schools, regardless of whether testing
has occurred in any specific school or classroom.
The Limestone District School Board is
committed to the safety of students and staff, and to prompt and
timely communication with parents about the status of the flu
in our schools. At Perth Road P.S. we will continue to let parents
know by regular home communication when our overall school absenteeism
rate related to influenza-like-illness exceeds 10% and we will
continue to report daily to KFL&A Public Health a greater
than 10% absence rate due to influenza-like illness. For the next
few weeks, we will also issue a weekly update letter to parents/guardians
via your child’s backpack, regardless of our level of absence.
However, since confirmation of H1N1 through lab tests is being
done by random sampling, it will be impossible for us to confirm
with confidence the presence or absence of H1N1 in a specific
class or school. Therefore, at this point in time, please assume
that there are cases in our school and in your child’s classroom,
as well as in the larger community.
H1N1 Influenza feels very much like the
regular seasonal flu. Symptoms include fever, new or worsening
cough, sore throat, joint and muscle pain, headache, chills and
fatigue.
The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term
Care advise everyone to take an active role in protecting themselves
from H1N1. Here are a few things you can do:
- Teach your children to wash their hands
with soap and water thoroughly and often.
- Keep alcohol-based sanitizer (gel or
wipes) handy at work and in your car. Note that alcohol- based
hand sanitizer should contain at least 60% alcohol to be effective.
- Teach your children not to share personal
items like pens, pencils, drinks, or food.
- Teach your children to cough or sneeze
into their sleeve or a tissue, not their hand. This includes
teaching them to dispose of tissues in the garbage immediately,
and to follow-up by washing their hands or using an alcohol-based
hand sanitizer.
- Keep sick children at home until they
are fever free for 24 hours (un-medicated) and are feeling well
and able to fully participate in all normal day-to-day activities.
You do not need a medical note for them to return to school.
- If you have concerns about your child’s
health contact your health care provider.
Please see the Ministry
of Health and Long-Term Care’s website for current up-to-date
information.
We will continue to provide you with weekly
updates on the situation. Everyone’s combined efforts will help
us to reach the common goal of keeping students and staff well
and attending school.
Sincerely,
Mr. F. Leavitt Principal
Mrs. A. Croth Vice-Principal
H1N1 Flu Virus
Symptoms
Please see the
Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care’s www.healthyontario.ca website or Kingston
Frontenac Lennox & Addington Public Health Unit's www.kflapublichealth.ca
website for the most current up-to-date information.
Quick Notes:
- School Open House is planned for October 1st, 6:00
- 7:00
- Hot Lunch
Orders for November and
December were due Wednesday October 14th. You
can get the form by clicking
here. The lunch info is listed on the calendar
page.
Thanks to
the "Down & Dirty" Garden Club for all their hard
work making PRPS look so great! You've done an amazing
job!
Please read all about
the PRPS "Down & Dirty" Garden Club on the Clubs
& Sports page, and check out the photos showing their
interesting work.
Medic Alert Foundation
Recently you received a brochure from the
Canadian Medic Alert Foundation. Each child in the participating
school will receive a No Child Without bar-coded
prochure specific to the school. Please review the brochure; if
you choose to have your child participate in the program, please
follow the information provided in the brochure.
If your child is already a member, call
MedicAlert to see if you should transfer your child to the No
Child Without program. If you do participate, please
let Wendy know so we can ensure that the information is included
with your child's school records.
Volunteers Needed
Do you have some time that
you could help out at the school? Volunteers are needed for:
- Parent Council - click
here for details
- Book Fair - the October 2009
Scholastic Book Fair is coming up. If you could help out please
see the Book Fair Volunteer
form.
- Viewing
Day Tuesday Oct. 27
- Buying
Days Wed Oct 28, Thurs Oct 29 and Fri Oct 30
If your short on time, but would still
like to help out then there are opportunities for you too:
- Milk Bags - many thanks
to Perth Road students and families for bringing in milk bags.
Please continue to bring in your bags as they are being
used to create sleeping mats for children in underdeveloped
countries. So far we have collected over 300 bags and
we want to collect more to help support this worthwhile initiative!
- Canadian Tire $$ -
the school is collecting Canadian Tire money to help buy more
equipment for students to use during recess. If you have any
Canadian Tire money you'd like to donate, please send it to
school with your child.
- Old Magazines
- Do you have any old issues of magazines that would be of interest
to students, especially boys? If you would like to donate them
to the Resource Centre, please send them in to Mrs. Kenny. Thank
you!
- Campbell's Soup Labels
- Parent Council is collecting labels from Campbell's Soup products.
Any labels that have been collected can be sent to the school
with your child.- click here for details
- Magazine Orders -
the school magazine fundraising campaign takes place each September,
however you can order online throughout the year and the school
will still receive the credit. Go to www.qsp.ca
and use group #16691 for Perth
Road Public School.
QSP Magazine Fundraiser
Thanks for the great
response to the QSP Magazine Fundraiser!! We thank you
and appreciate your participation!
Our school will earn
an average $10.00 from every order. These funds will
be used to support important goals and programs that benefit
our children.
RENEW your
favourite subscription, ORDER a NEW title,
or GIVE A GIFT.
Satisfaction Guarantee - toll free customer
service number (1-800-667-2536) is printed on the back of the
form.
The deadline for the paper forms has passed,
but you can still order online:
- go to www.qsp.ca to order online:
- use our school code 16691
to sponsor Perth Road Public School
Parent Council
Next meeting ... November 2nd
at 7:30 in the School Resource Centre.
Everyone
is welcome!
Babysitting is provided at every meeting free of charge. To ensure
a proper caregiver/child ratio please contact Shelley Clancy at
613-353-2866 or send an email to Contact
the webmaster
with the number for children you are planning to bring to the
meeting.
School Blog's
The grade 2 / 3 class
has posted some interesting information on their class blog. Go
take a look at gaaway5.blogspot.com
to read all
about it! You may pick up some new jokes while you're there!
I'd like to get as much helpful
info as possible on the site ... so please let me know of any
school activity signups, school groups or class special activities
... anything!! Just drop me
an email. Thanks!
Any suggestions for the website? Please
let me know!
Perth Road
Public School provides inclusive, positive and stimulating learning
opportunities. Children are inspired to become life-long
learners and responsible citizens in a safe and accepting environment
that meets the unique needs of individuals.
We have now completed our first month of school and we are very
excited about the opportunities that all of our students will
have over the coming year. We are finalizing our staffing for
this year, and by Monday we will have filled all of our new positions.
Mme Lacaille is now teaching full time at Rideau P.S. Ms Valikoski
will be joining our staff next Monday to teach Gr 4/5 French and
to provide Primary planning time coverage. We welcome Ms Valikosky
and know that she will be a valuable member of our teaching staff.
Thursday, October 1, is our annual Open House. It’s a great opportunity
to meet your child’s teacher and to touch base with the whole
school community. As you know it’s not a good time to have an
interview with your child’s teacher because of the number of parents
attending. Therefore, if you would like to have a longer time
to meet with the teacher you could arrange a meeting for a later
date. In most cases if there are concerns the teacher will have
already made contact or may suggest a meeting time to get together
and discuss your child’s progress.
Once again I ask that you talk with your child about bus safety.
Behaviour on several of the busses is starting to deteriorate,
and we do not want the safety of other children to be jeopardized.
As well, we don’t want to take away a child’s privilege to ride
the bus, but this may result if the behaviour persists.
Over the next few weeks we will be having fire drills as well
as a lock down drill. With the events that have occurred over
the past several years in schools, we need to have a safety plan
to protect our students. We use much sensitivity when holding
a lock down drill so as not to upset students, but it is part
of our safety protocol that we have these drills each year. Providing
a safe learning environment for our whole school community is
a priority so everyone needs to follow all the rules and be protected
when others do not. Again, we have had a great start to our new
school year and we look forward to the months ahead.
Fred Leavitt
My Name is Allison Croth and I would like to introduce myself
as the new Vice-Principal and Student Support Teacher at Perth
Road Public School. I am thrilled to be a part of the Perth Road
School team and I would like to take this opportunity to thank
all of the staff and students for their warm welcome.
I have been a teacher with the Limestone District School Board
for the past 12 years and have taught in all of the Primary/Junior
and Intermediate divisions. I have experience as a special education
teacher and for the past three years, I was the Student Support
Teacher at Land O'Lakes Public School, in Mountain Grove. It is
through these experiences that I have developed a keen interest
in computer technology and its role in education. This is my first
placement as a Vice-Principal, and I am really excited to explore
this new position.
I look forward to getting to know all of the Perth Road Public
School students and their families over this school year. I encourage
everyone to attend the Open House on October 1st from 6-7pm, where
I can meet you personally.
Allison Croth
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