East Ridge Community School

East Ridge Community School is located on the east side of Owen Sound, near Georgian College.  Our school offers classes from JK to Grade 8 both in the English and French Immersion streams


January 26, 2022
2023-2024 KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
Kindergarten registration is ongoing. Call or stop by the school anytime!
We will be having an in-person orientation this spring! Watch our facebook page, sign in front of the school, or email (for those pre-registrated) for more information!

January 9, 2023
Welcome 2023!! I hope our school community had a wonderful break! It certainly started off interesting with the winter weather! There are 9 weeks until March Break! It will arrive quickly so as a school it is important that we remain focused on our goals and supporting our students to achieve their goals in reading, writing and numeracy. Student attendance is important so that we can maintain consistency with our programming. With that being said, we realize that there are days when students are unwell and cannot attend school at times.

This month, we are looking forward to Hockey Day in Canada! On January 19th, we will celebrate by hosting the Hockey Day in Canada crew, including the Stanley Cup! Later that day, we will have many activities throughout the school for students to participate in and be able to make lasting memories! If you have a hockey jersey, please wear it to school that day. Students who don't have a jersey, we will have some to share. More details will come home soon! We have had a few snow days this year and we want to say thank you to our school community.

Almost all of our walkers who chose to stay home called in to let us know they would be absent. Also, our bus students who were driven that day, were picked up promptly at 3:10. We appreciate our families taking these extra steps. We know how challenging bus cancellation days can be on our families. You can sign up for automatic texts from https://www.mybrucegreyschoolbus.ca/Cancellations.aspx or cancellations are announced on the radio as well. 

December 16, 2022

Five More School Days until Winter Break!  And next week will be busy!! 

Our Student Council has arranged 5 spirit days and LOTS of activities will be happening next week!

November 21st, 2022

Hello Families,

As you have already heard, students are learning in person tomorrow (provided there are no inclement weather cancellations) and we have lots going on this week!

The Scholastic Book Fair will be running this week.  Classes will tour and have an opportunity to build a wish list as well as make purchases.  Parents can access this week as well - we will send an update to let you know any times outside the school day for parents to pop in later this week.

Any students who missed getting their progress reports home on Friday will get them on Monday.

Thursday is a spirit day!  Wear your PJs.  It is also our Photo Re-take day for those who missed our first Picture day (you may want to bring your PJs to change after your picture!)

Parent/Teacher interviews are happening Thursday evening and Friday morning. If you are unable to get a time but want to meet with your child's teachers, please reach out to them.  Most interviews are virtual, but the school is open. We invite parents/guardians to come in and check out the VERY FULL lost and found area.  Our classes are participating in a Multicultural fair later this week. This will be set up on Thursday and Friday.  We will post pictures on our Facebook page, but you are welcome to come in and see it in person.

Friday is a PA day - no school for students!

We hope everyone had a safe and relaxing weekend!

East Ridge Community School

November 14, 2022

Parents/Guardians,

On the evening of November 24^th, and morning of November 25^th, we have our Parent/Teacher Interviews.  With the success of our virtual interviews over the last few years, we are continuing to organize virtual interviews this year.  We know it is easier for parents to attend virtually. If you need to meet in person, please reach out to your child’s teacher to request an in person interview.

I highly encourage all families to book an interview.  This is an excellent way to connect with your child’s teachers as well as continue to build a strong team between school and home.

To book your interview time, please click on the link below:

https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/ERCSParentTeacherInterviewsNovember2022@bwdsb7.onmicrosoft.com/bookings/

Once on the site – 

1. Select one of the two selections – French Immersion or English. This narrows the list down to staff who teach in each stream.  

1. Select your child’s teacher. If you are wanting to meet with multiple staff, you can go through these steps and book other meetings with additional staff.

1. Select the date and times available.

1. Scroll down and enter your name and email.

1. Hit the book butto

You will receive an email confirming your date and time, as well as the link to the TEAMS virtual meeting. At the time of the interview, please click this link to automatically join in the virtual meeting with the teacher.  You can join this meeting from any browser, on a smartphone or computer.

If you would like our Learning Resource Teachers – Mrs. McMillan or Mrs. Veroni to join the meeting with your child’s teacher, please reach out to them directly.

If you have any difficulty booking your appointment, please try a different browser (ie chrome, firefox, etc). If you continue to have trouble, please call the school.

Thank you for your continued flexibility,

 

Sara Morrow

Principal

 

November 2, 2022
At this point in the year, with 1/5 of the school year already behind us and 80% yet to come, our adventure feels harder as students continue their learning journey, setting goals and striving to meet them. It’s a good thing that we know that we can all do hard things!

Later this month, progress reports will be sent home. These reports show how your child is progressing towards meeting the provincial curriculum as well as how they are developing important learning skills and work habits. The report card does this by indicating if your child is progressing very well, progressing well or progressing with difficulty. This creates an opportunity to celebrate your child’s strengths and set learning goals to support their continued success. We invite all parents to connect with your child’s teacher this month to discuss their progress and their report. This is important for every student to show the strong teamwork between home and school. Parent/Teacher Interviews are the evening of November 24th and morning of November 25th. More information regarding how to sign up for an interview and what options for virtual or in person look like will be sent home soon.

Our breakfast club is up and running! We are still looking for more volunteers to help out in the mornings. If you are available, please contact Ms Morrow at sara_morrow@bwdsb.on.ca. If you are available once a week or once in awhile, it all helps! Thank you so much to our volunteers. Our students are very happy to have this back up and running!

Many students are bringing Pokemon cards to school. This has been causing a lot of conflict when there are bad trades, cards are lost or damaged, etc. We recommend that these cards do not come to school.

In November, we remember. This year we will have our traditional assembly in the morning of November 11th with many classes contributing to our assembly. Other important observances in November is Treaty Recognition week (the first week of November) and Bullying Awareness week (The third week of November). Our Mental Health Youth Champions will be leading our activities for Bullying Awareness. We appreciate all our families for your continued support for our school and to our students.

It takes a community and East Ridge has a strong one!

Your partner in education,
Sara Morrow
Principal

October 12, 2022
Wow! What a fast and fantastic month September turned out to be! Thank you to our staff and families for all your work supporting our students to transition smoothly back into school. There are so many highlights from this month, but definitely the in person Fall Fair was the top. Thank you so much to the Sydenham Fall Fair Committee and all our volunteers for making the event so engaging for students. We hardly noticed the weather!

A few reminders, dogs are not permitted on school property. We are seeing more and more during drop off and pick up and they are really cute, but we need to maintain the safety for all students so please keep pets at home or in your vehicle during drop offs and pick up. Also, please contact the office before 2:30 with any end of the day changes for your child. After 2:30, it can be difficult to get messages to all that need to receive them. If you are picking up your child early, please do so before 2:50. The office is very busy preparing for bus departure after 2:50, so parents arriving after that time to pick up your children will need to wait until the bell. We appreciate all your communication around end of the day plans, it helps us to ensure everyone gets to the right spot.

Students in all classrooms participated in the Walk for Wenjack after a week of learning and reflection. Together they walked the 600 km goal that was established to represent the distance Chanie needed to travel to make it home from his residential school when he ran away. The fundraising goal of $200 was not only met but almost doubled with $368.00 raised for the Downie Wenjak Fund. Our students honoured this event and demonstrated respect and reflection.

In October, we will be looking forward to Cross Country events and our Terry Fox event. We did not want to overshadow the Walk for Wenjack or the Terry Fox Walk, so we spaced these out in order to ensure we can focus and lead activities to support our students. This year's Terry Fox Walk will be on October 27th. Picture day is November 8 and 9th. Our photo company says that they will be able to get orders out before Christmas for those who need them for gifts.

Please watch for more information about our October school events to come home soon!

Your partner in education,
Sara Morrow Principal 

September 22, 2022

East Ridge Hosts 169th Sydenham Fall Fair

September 8, 2022

Dear East Ridge Families,

We will begin our chocolate bar fundraiser this Friday September 9th, 2022.  This fundraiser was extremely successful in previous years.

Our goal this year is to raise over $15000!  We plan to subsidize class trips and our forest school program. In addition, each homeroom will be receiving money to help pay for things such as classroom resources.

Chocolates are $3 each. There are 30 bars in each case. The value of each case is $90.

Each student from grades 3 to 8 will be bringing home one case of Laura Secord chocolates this Friday.  These are made in a facility that guarantees to be peanut and nut-free. Once students pay for the full $90 case, we will be able to give out more cases to sell.  The fundraiser will last 3 weeks so please try to sell as fast as possible.

For JK to grade 2 classes, homeroom teachers will be given cases to sell.  Parents may talk to their child’s teacher and ask to sell chocolate for that class. All arrangements for pick up need to be made with your child’s homeroom teacher.

Parents may pay using cash online for the case or students may bring back the money or a cheque (made out to East Ridge Community School) each day to their homeroom teacher.

Money can be delivered to your child’s homeroom teacher. Please enclose your payment in an envelope with your child’s full name and the name of their homeroom teacher written on it.

We will have a homeroom competition for primary, junior, and intermediate divisions. The top class from each division will win $150 to spend towards class trips or parties.

There will also be small prizes handed out to the first 100 students that pay for their full case.

Prizes for K to 8 top sellers include:

THE FUNDRAISER ENDS ON MONDAY OCTOBER 3rd , 2022. ALL CHOCOLATES AND MONEY MUST BE RETURNED BY THIS DATE.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact 

Allison Kuhl (allison_kuhl@bwdsb.on.ca) or
Dana Wilson (dana_wilson@bwdsb.on.ca). 

Thank you for supporting our school! 

What a wonderful school year!  Thank you so much to our students, staff, families, and community for supporting our school throughout a year full of change!  We are looking forward to a more "regular" start up in September.

We are just wrapping up our school year this week, you can reach the office during school hours (9-3:30). If you would like to check out the lost and found, please come by Thursday, July 8 at 3:30. After that time, lost and found items will be donated.

For any families new to our school area, welcome!  You can email the school at erc_mail@bwdsb.on.ca or come into our office and meet us.  We are accepting new registrations this week, then again during the last two weeks of August.

The school office is closed from July 11th to August 19th. 

Please see below for our supply list for September.  It is broken into must have supplies and optional supplies.  If you have questions, please reach out to the school.

More information about our September start up  is coming!

School Supplies Required for September: 

-Indoor shoes 

-water bottle-highly recommended, not 

-back pack 

-lunch kit (with containers that students can open independently) 

-Extra clothes for our kindergarten students 

Optional School Supplies:

These items are optional, the school does provide these items to classes but often children like to have their own special supplies instead of sharing.  Please label all personal items.

-pencils 

-pens (grade 6 and up) 

-scientific calculator (Grade 6 and Up) 

-math set (grades 6 and up) 

-simple calculator (grade 4-5) 

-pencil crayons (all grades) 

-crayons (Kindergarten and grade 1) 

-erasers 

-pencil sharpener 

-markers 

-lined paper 

-headphones for computer use

Your partner in Education/Votre partenaire en education,
Ms. Morrow,  Principal