Dear UA Parents,
It is almost time to welcome everyone back to UA!! I hope all of you have enjoyed your summer and have found a way to recharge and refresh as a new school year approaches. I do want to acknowledge the devastation around the province from all of the fires, my heart goes out to everyone who has been impacted, such an unsettling time for so many.
The office has been busy the last couple of weeks as we have been preparing to welcome the entire staff team back on Monday, and the students and families next Tuesday, September 5th. The beginning of the school year is always such an exciting time, full of optimism and anticipation of a great year ahead.
There are many details included in this Weekly Update that will help ensure that the coming weeks go smoothly for us all. Please make sure you read through to the bottom so you do not miss important information. Most of this information can also be found on the Parent Hub — please bookmark this site! You will also have the Parent Handbook which is a great resource, and more on that can be found below.
The Back to School Celebration is taking place on Wednesday, August 30 which is similar to an open house. Drop in from 2:30–5pm and the details for the visit are listed below.
It was certainly nice to not have to manage construction this summer. However, we did have a few significant projects take place that I am excited to tell you about. As of today our playground has been constructed and installed!! It is going to be such a great addition to our school facility and a model of what can be done in an urban school setting. All that is left to complete is the installation of the turf which will occur next week, weather permitting. Thank you to our UA community for your generous contributions last year which allowed us to complete this project. We also installed a new security and access system that enhances and modernizes our system. This is a timely upgrade as the neighbourhood around us continues to grow.
For the first day of school on September 5, our JK’s, K’s and all of our returning Grades 1–12 students have a later start. All students will have a staggered dismissal around lunchtime. Details for those start and end times are below.
New Grade 1-12 students will attend their New Student Orientation at 8:45am: Grades 1–3 students in the Multi-Purpose Room, and Grades 4–12 will meet in the theatre. We will have our UA Student Ambassador Buddies there as well to welcome all of our new students to UA and the new school year. This will be a great opportunity for our new students to make a connection with returning UA students prior to meeting the rest of their classmates prior to joining their classes.
For any golfers out there, UA will be having a ‘Golf Social’ on Tuesday, September 19, in the evening, at the Westwood Plateau Golf Academy. This may be a precursor to a future UA golf tournament in 2024. Look for details in future Weekly updates and on UA social media channels.
Enjoy this last part of your vacation, and we are looking forward to seeing our students again soon!
Yours in education,
Mr. Slinger
