April 1, 2022
Dear UA Parents,
It is April Fool’s Day, and that is not a joke! However, our traffic issues this morning may have been a practical joke, how else can we explain it? Thank you for everyone’s patience this morning. For those of you who missed the excitement, we had a very long semi-trailer get stuck in the laneway next to the school so we were forced to divert our drop-off into the neighbourhood. The driver was lost and not even supposed to be delivering to our site or to Wesgroup’s site. A huge thank you to all of the UA, Pro-Can and Wesgroup staff who stepped up to help resolve the situation and manage the vehicle and pedestrian traffic ensuring everyone was safe.
I am very excited that spring has sprung. With the spring term comes a lot of events and activities including some student field trips, overnight trips, new sports teams and club opportunities, and hopefully some better weather. Please make sure you stay tuned to UA so you know what is going on. Our Student Life Department has also been working hard on the plans for Term 3 club and athletic programming. There are many lunchtime and before- and after-school activities taking place for students of all ages, so take a look at what is available.
This is also an opportunity to say a BIG thank you to Ms. Kerri Crowley who has worked in Admissions and Marketing for the last several years at UA. Last Friday was Ms. Crowley’s last day at UA as she is off on a new adventure in Halifax on the other side of the country. Ms. Crowley was an integral part of the growth of UA having worked with many of our UA families through the Admissions process. We are very sad to see her go, but know that this new adventure is going to be a wonderful opportunity for her. With Ms. Crowley’s departure we took the opportunity to create a new position at UA. I would like to welcome Ms. Katie Thomson as UA’s new Marketing and Events Manager. You will start to see Ms. Thomson’s work appear on our social media streams, website, and the events that we get to bring back to the community!
A program that I’d like the opportunity to highlight is the Exploration rotation for our Grade 6-8 students. It was introduced at the beginning of this year and has brought some exciting opportunities for our Middle School students. The program allows students to deep-dive into Fine Arts, Entrepreneurship, Drama, and ADST throughout the year. We have just posted a great review of the program on our blog, and encourage you to find out a little bit more about this expanding Middle School Program.
I hope this weekend is a good kick-off to the month of April for all of you. Don’t forget to buy your Gala tickets as the early bird deadline is tonight! Details are below but I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there. We can feel already that the next few months are going to be filled with a lot of excitement around UA!
Yours in education,
Mr. Slinger
