BLPS Community Wave - Week of September 2, 2025

Principal’s Message from Mrs. Tammy Dillon - I am so grateful to be back at Bond Lake PS as Principal with our amazing staff and school community for the 2025-2026 school year! 

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all our new and returning families! Our school team has been working hard to prepare to welcome your children back to school.  At Bond Lake PS, we have a dedicated staff with a strong focus on student well-being and achievement. We are committed to promoting positive, inclusive and supportive relationships with students, families, staff and community members. Together, we can support our students’ transition back to school and provide a learning environment where everyone feels safe, valued, welcome and respected.

We value the relationship we have with families, and look forward to speaking and working with you over the course of the year. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if  you have any questions. We look forward to getting to know all the members of our school community and working together to make our school a great place to learn and grow.  We know our students have great ideas and encourage them to use their voice.  

There are many ways to stay connected with what’s happening in our school. We send important communication to families weekly through the BLPS Community Wave document which is emailed to families every Friday. Additionally, staff communicate classroom information through a variety of means which may include a classroom newsletter, information shared electronically through EDSBY or through email. Our school and classroom staff are available to meet by scheduling an appointment. 

I wish you all a happy, safe and successful school year! Please don’t hesitate to contact our school office if you need any information or support throughout the school year. 

Vice-Principal’s Message from Mrs. Priscilla Kuk - Welcome to Bond Lake PS to all of our returning and new families joining the community. This will be my second year at BLPS and I look forward to partnering with our families again this year. I feel fortunate to be part of such a wonderful school community. Our staff is committed to the well-being and achievement of all our students. 

I look forward to meeting and reconnecting with all of our families and students this year, and as always, please feel free to reach out if you need any information or support throughout the school year.  

Welcome to the 2025-2026 School Year -  Welcome to (back to) Bond Lake PS!  We are very excited to greet your child(ren) next week on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, for the first day of  school!

The first day of school is exciting for students and parents, but it may also cause a bit of uncertainty for children as they begin a new school year. We appreciate your support in ensuring that our entry goes smoothly as we focus on supporting each student to settle in for their first day.  Please trust us when we tell you that when parents stand and wait/watch, it creates more anxiety for the children.  Sometimes a quick hug and wave goodbye is the best way to go!  We will warmly support those students who are upset and we promise that after a day or two, the tears will turn to happy smiles!  

Class Placements - An email with information regarding your child(ren)’s homeroom teacher(s) will be sent on the afternoon of Friday, August 29, 2025. 

First Day of School -  To help make the transition into school a seamless and comfortable experience, we ask that families please follow these steps on the first day of school (Tuesday, September 2):

• Meet us on the tarmac at the back of the school beginning at 7:50 a.m where staff will be on hand to meet and greet students and to help direct students to their new classes.
• Look for class signs that will be posted on the tarmac listing the teacher's name and grade. These will be organized in order from grade 1 to grade 8 going east to west.
• Check in with the teachers near the appropriate grade level signs to confirm your child’s class placement.
• Share with each child’s teacher(s) how your child will be going home (i.e. walk, bus, pick up) so that we can ensure safe dismissal at the end of the school day. 

Additional staff will be on hand with master class lists and will be circulating the tarmac to assist students in finding their classes. We appreciate your support in ensuring that only students enter the building once classes are lined up and ready. In the case of rain, students only will enter the building and will be supported in finding their teachers in the gym. 

If you have any questions or immediate concerns (e.g., epi-pen/medication drop off, student end-of-day pick-up information), please speak with one of our staff members and we will do our best to assist you.  For all other inquiries, please feel free to call the school office.

New Staff at Bond Lake PS - Please join the Bond Lake team in welcoming the following staff members:

• Laura Lefler - Special Education Resource Teacher
• Stephanie Colangelo - Teacher/Special Education Resource Teacher
• Sara Keane - Teacher
• Yekta Karimi - Developmental Support Worker
• Christine Shuk Ching Fung - Developmental Support Worker
• Taejah Morgan - Developmental Support Worker
• Kiran Parhar - Special Education Assistant

School Buses - Bussing in York Region is determined by address according to the distance you are from the school. To check if you are eligible for bussing, you can enter your address at www.schoolbuscity.com  For those students who are eligible for the school bus, you can view your school bus information, including the morning pick-up time/location, and the afternoon drop-off time/location. Always plan to be at the bus stop about 5-10 minutes early.  It will take a week or two until the driver gets the route memorized and on time. An adult must meet younger students up to grade 3 at drop-off.  If no one is there to meet your child, s/he will be brought back to school. All families are encouraged to please read the important list of responsibilities for parents on the School Bus City website as well. 

If you are eligible for bussing, but are not planning to use the bus, or plan on using it only one way (e.g., to school only, home from school only), please let your child’s homeroom teacher know so that they can update bus lists. This is essential as we will expect to put your child on the bus at the end of the day.  If there are particular days when you will be picking up your child, instead of using the bus, please communicate directly with the homeroom teacher and include a message in the agenda or send an email. At the end of each school day, we collect the younger students and escort them to the bus, while the older students meet us at the bus line ups.  

Medication/Epipens: If your child requires access to an EpiPen, or any other medication, at school, please make sure to send in the EpiPen/medication, and sign and send in the required forms as soon as possible. Forms will be sent out during the first week of school. If for some reason, you have not received the forms, you can access the Staff Administration of Medication Form or Self-Administration of Medication Form fillable forms using these links. If you have questions, please reach out to Mrs. Douvinos via email at nina.douvinos@yrdsb.ca and she will be sure to assist you. 

Cell Phones: A reminder that personal cell phones are not allowed in the classrooms, hallways, or outside during recess. Students are to leave their phones in their lockers or on the teacher’s desk until the end of the day. Students have access to technology with Chromebooks/iPads in their classrooms. If parents/guardians need to contact their child/ren during the school day, we ask that you not text students directly. Instead, please call the office and leave a message. 

Online Start-Up Permission Forms for Students: Online Start-Up Forms will be sent electronically to families at all schools at the start of the school year by the Board. Please watch for this email as you will need to complete and submit important information. Translations will also be available. The Board will send a central email to all families with a link to a Google Form to complete the start-up forms. Student GAPPS login information will be required for families to complete the forms.  The form will include:

• The Start-Up Permission Form (mandatory)
• Student Information Consent Form (mandatory)
• Request for Faith Accommodations Form
• School Council Nomination Form

School Year Calendar: The 2025-2026 School Year Calendars are now available. These calendars provide information about PA Days, school holidays, and our 5-day cycle. 

Ministry Class Size Compliance: We will be monitoring our student registrations closely this month. If any changes in classes are required in order to align with Ministry class size compliance requirements, we will communicate these changes with families near the end of September.

Dress Code: Board Policy and Procedure #635, Student Dress Code is available online for review. A Bond Lake P.S. Dress Code has been developed and approved by the School Council. If you have any questions, please reach out to the office.

Dress expectations in the school are important in order to support respect for the learning environment and educational process while understanding that individual style is reflected in the clothes a person wears. BLPS dress expectations are for all students and were created in consultation with parents, staff and students.

For safety reasons YRDSB expects that appropriate footwear is worn in all weather. Shoes which are not secured around the ankle become a tripping hazard and can impede students during an emergency evacuation. Running shoes must be worn during all physical education classes in the gym and outside depending on the weather conditions. Indoor shoes are required for all students to help reduce trip hazards and keep our building clean.

Clothing or jewelry that portrays the following is not permitted:

• alcohol, tobacco or other harmful substances or products through symbols or mascots
• profanity or sexually explicit words or pictures (implied or blatant)
• pictures, symbols or writing that directly or indirectly demean the ethnicity, race, culture, religion, national origin, gender or disability of an individual or group or make reference to any gang or gang language

A reminder that students will be inside on rainy days and extremely cold days. They do need to be prepared for inclement weather by:

• Wearing boots, gloves, hats and coats during winter days
• Wearing boots, coats for rainy days
• Wearing hats and sunscreen (if provided by their family) during warm, sunny days

If a clothing concern arises, school staff will connect with the student and family to make a plan. Plans may include:

• Providing an opportunity for the student to change into more appropriate clothing or go home to change
• Cover up inappropriate clothing with another layer of clothing 

The fastest solution will be encouraged in order to get students back to learning as soon as possible. 

Boomerang Lunch: Like the past few years, we will be continuing our Boomerang Lunch program at Bond Lake PS. A boomerang lunch is a lunch that has every piece of it returned to its source, home! In other words, everything in the lunch bag goes back home at the end of the day. No matter if it is leftover food, containers, recyclables or garbage, it all goes back to be washed, recycled, or disposed of at home.

There are two main purposes of a boomerang lunch program. First, the boomerang program promotes the use of reusable containers, thus reducing the amount of lunch waste being produced by our school. The collection, transportation, and processing of garbage as well as recyclable materials requires a significant amount of energy, putting strain on our environment. Second, the boomerang lunch program ensures that parents/guardians have clear feedback about what their child has or has not eaten from the lunch bag. This may help with reducing food waste and allow families to make informed decisions about what to send.

To reduce the likelihood of a messy lunch bag, families are encouraged to send all food items in sealable reusable containers. Therefore, the only items returning in the lunch bag will be in sealed containers ready to be washed and used the next day. If you choose to send disposable containers such as yogurt, apple sauce, and juice boxes, you may  wish to send along a resealable bag and encourage your child to place the empty containers in the bag to be returned home. 

BLPS School Council – Join Us!: Our School Council is made up of BLPS parents/guardians. We meet approximately 6-7 times throughout the school year to share updates and provide input toward our school improvement plan. Our first school council meeting for the 2025-2026 school year will be held on Oct. 6 at 

6:30pm in person at the school.  Following the initial meeting, we will select a combination of online and 

in-person meetings for the remainder of the year.  Tentative dates for our six School Council meetings are:

• Monday October 6
• Monday November 10     
• Monday December 3
• Monday February 2
• Monday April 6
• Monday May 4

If you are interested in running for an elected School Council position (e.g., Chair, Secretary, Treasurer),   please fill in and return the nomination form included in the email with your School Start Up Forms, or email tammy.dillon@yrdsb.ca and I can forward the form to you.  Please send in your intent to participate in the School Council prior to our October 6 meeting. All are welcome and we hope to see you there!

Student Safe Arrival  - Absences or Lates: Letting us know of lates and absences greatly reduces the time our office staff have to spend calling parents in the morning and after lunch daily.  If you do not report your child absent, you will receive an absence notification call and email.  If you do not reply, we will call your emergency contact. Our Board Safe Arrival procedure dictates that if we can’t reach you or your emergency contact after a set amount of time and your child is not at school, we must contact York Region Police.  To help us ensure all students are safe and accounted for quickly each morning and after lunch, please:

• report all absences, late arrivals and/or changes to departure plans to the school in a timely manner by entering the absence/late through School Attendance Reporting (yrdsb.edsby.com) or by calling the school at (905) 313-8693
• ensure we have your complete and current contact information and your emergency contact information 

After the first day of school, parents/guardians of new students will receive an invitation to set up an Edsby account.  It is very important that you do so right away as Edsby is an important tool for communication and attendance. Should you need assistance, please contact the main office and we would be happy to help. 

School Assistants: We are often seeking School Assistants for lunchtime supervision.  If you are able to contribute even just one day a week for a few months, we would appreciate  working with you.  If you are interested in this position or have any questions, please contact our office at bond.lake.ps@yrdsb.ca. If you know someone who would be interested in this work, please have them connect with us. Thank you!

Instructional Time: In partnership with our parent/guardian community, we work very hard at Bond Lake PS to avoid interruptions to instructional time. To that end, we ask families to please ensure that students come to school with all of the belongings that they need for the school day (e.g., water bottles, lunches, homework, gym clothes, outdoor clothing etc.). Please avoid drop-offs to the office during the school day. If you need to pick up your child early during the school day, families will need to inform the office and teachers in advance to support a safe and prompt pick up. We will be unable to accommodate early pick-ups between 2:00-2:25pm as this is a very busy time for all students preparing for dismissal. Thanks in advance for your cooperation. 

Student Agendas: Student agendas are available for students in grades 1-8 at a cost of $7.25.  Payment should be made via School Cash Online (www.schoolcashonline).  If you do not have an account, please visit https://yrdsb.schoolcashonline.com/.  Please contact the school office if you have any questions.

Caring and Safe Schools Presentations: As the new school year is beginning, students will be attending Caring and Safe Schools Start-Up Presentations. These presentations are designed to underscore behaviour expectations as we create a caring, safe and inclusive school environment. As families are critical partners, please continue discussions about school safety at home by asking your child what they have learned in the Start-Up Presentation.

• Presentation topics include:
• Racism and types of discrimination;
• Bullying;
• Progressive discipline; and
• Standing up for each other, including methods of reporting incidents of racism, discrimination and bullying.
• Inappropriate Behaviour

In the Start-Up Presentation, students are learning about anti-Black racism, other forms of racism, discrimination, and bullying. This learning will continue throughout the school year. Instances of anti-Black racism, other forms of racism, discrimination and bullying are not acceptable and are addressed through progressive discipline. In some cases of racism and discrimination, York Regional Police may be involved.

Students will also be reminded about safe school behaviours, including what items must never be brought to school, such as peanut products, vape products/drug paraphernalia, weapons/replica weapons and knives/replica knives.

Reporting Behaviour

Standing up for one another and reporting when something does not feel safe is part of a caring and safe school environment. Students should report incidents that make them or others feel unsafe or uncomfortable, including acts of racism, discrimination and bullying. Students can report incidents by:

• Telling a caring adult;
• Using the YRDSB’s “Report It Button” (Located on our school’s website, the online Report It button allows students and families to share information about inappropriate behaviour and incidents of hate or discrimination. Please see this video for additional information);
• Contacting Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868).

Mental Health

We will stress to students the importance of connection as we return to school. Students are learning about who they can talk to if they need support. In addition, positive mental health is closely tied to each individual's sense of identity and safety. As such, mental health initiatives are aligned with equity and safety in mind, which includes culturally specific supports. YRDSB student mental health services are delivered by Board social work and psychology staff. These services are accessible through the school principal. Mental health resources for families are also available on the Board website.

Student Discipline

We use a progressive discipline approach for inappropriate behaviour on and off school property. This means we consider various options to determine the most appropriate response to each situation to help students learn from their choices. In some cases, suspension or expulsion may be necessary. The Ontario Education Act and the Board’s Caring and Safe Schools Policy (found on the Board’s Caring and Safe School Page) outline situations where suspension and expulsion must be considered. These infractions are also outlined in the Guide to the School Year. In addition, when inappropriate behaviour occurs, information will be shared with the student(s) who were harmed and the families of the student(s) who were harmed to the extent that legislation allows.

Tobacco/Alcohol/Drug-Free Environment

The use of tobacco, electronic products (such as vaping, electronic cigarettes and related products) and student possession of alcohol/illegal and restricted drugs, including cannabis, are prohibited on school property or within 20 metres of school boundaries. This complies with the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, enforced locally by York Region Community and Health Services. A progressive form of discipline may apply, including suspension from school and fines (up to $5,000). In accordance with the Smoke-Free Ontario Act (SFOA), exceptions are made for the traditional use of tobacco that forms part of Indigenous culture and spirituality.

Online Safety and Appropriate Use of Technology

Students are reminded about the Appropriate Use of Technology agreement, including the importance of using respectful language and making positive choices when using electronic communications and social media tools. This agreement is also included in the start-up package that all families receive at the beginning of the year. 

Students are reminded that online threats and comments are taken seriously and may have consequences, including potential criminal charges. Where there are concerns for the safety of students, staff, community members or Board property, the school board works with York Regional Police and appropriate actions are taken. The safety and well-being of students remain our top priority. 

For More Information

For more details on these items, please read the Guide to the School Year or visit the Caring and Safe Schools section on the YRDSB website for more information and to access family resources to continue these conversations at home. 

Thank you for helping us create a caring, safe, and inclusive school community.