Bishop Francis Allen

Parents/guardians who drive students to and from school are requested to use the Kiss ‘n Ride lane. Parents who utilize the Kiss ‘n Ride lane are not permitted to park and leave their vehicles unattended. Please be mindful of the “no stopping” and “no parking” areas on the road and on school property, as bylaw officers often visit unannounced and ticket parking violators. As always, your continued cooperation is much appreciated and allows us to provide the safest and best environment for the children.

Please encourage your children to use the crossing guards at:

• Charolais at Peelton Heights
  
• McMurchy at Bishop Francis Allen
  
• McMurchy at Charolais
  
• McMurchy at Elgin
  
• McMurchy at Kingsview

In the event that your child becomes ill at school or is injured in an accident, it is imperative that we contact you or a person designated as an alternate. Our information on file must be accurate and current. Please provide your email address, as this will help to communicate with you on important events happening in the school and this initiative is part of our Eco-school certification. A Student Verification Package will be sent home for you to look over. Please sign and update all forms and return the package to the school as soon as possible, even if no changes are required.

SECURE ENTRY SYSTEM

A monitored entry system is active at the front door to our school. Similar to an apartment building entry, parents and visitors may enter the school only upon accepted for entry by the front office. To ensure Bishop Francis Allen remains safe, our school doors will remain locked at all times. We ask for your patience and understanding if there is a wait at the doors for various reasons.

FIRE DRILLS

In accordance with Ministry regulations, three fire drills will be conducted in the fall and three in the spring. While we hope that a real fire or emergency situation never arises, this practice helps prepare our students in the event of an emergency.

LOCKDOWN DRILLS/ EMERGENCY PROTOCOL

It is a policy in Dufferin-Peel CDSB that all schools conduct a “Lockdown Procedure” twice a year. This will be initiated should an emergency exist on school property or in the surrounding neighbourhood. Part of the process is to practice the “Lockdown Procedures” as we practice Fire drills. The procedures that we will follow have been recommended by the board.

Emergency response procedures in the event of a fire, bomb threat, serious accident/injury or an intruder have been established and are revised on an ongoing basis. All students and staff will participate in practicing emergency procedures. In the event that it is necessary to evacuate the school, our site for relocation is Brampton Centennial Secondary School.

RECESS BREAKS

Recess breaks serve a special purpose in the daily life of a school. Students are expected to go outside for fresh air and exercise. If your child is sick, he or she should be at home recuperating and not spreading their flu or cold virus throughout the classroom. Remember, there is no indoor supervision at recess.

INDOOR SHOES

All students are required to have indoor shoes at school. Outdoor shoes are not allowed into the classroom, in order to keep the children’s work environment clean. In the event of sudden evacuation, students will not have time to put their outdoor shoes on to leave the school, as this impedes the timely and efficient evacuation protocol.

STUDENT ILLNESS DURING RECESS

Students who are ill should be kept home where they are most comfortable and can get better sooner. A child who is too ill to go out for recess is too ill to be at school. Your co-operation is appreciated in keeping your child home until they have fully recovered from illness.

PEDICULOSIS (HEAD LICE)

From time to time, there may be cases of pediculosis or head lice in our school. This should not be a cause for alarm. Lice are a nuisance, but are not hazardous to your child’s health, as they do not carry disease. One of the most important steps to both their prevention and treatment is knowledge. Head lice do not fly or jump. They can only hitch rides from one head to another, and they prefer clean scalp and hair. By the time that the nits or empty egg sacs are noticed on the head of one child in a class or family, it is likely that other children also have head lice.

If a child has pediculosis, we will ask the parent to come to school and pick up the child. We will recommend specific shampoos to get rid of the live lice and remove the nits with a fine toothed comb. An alert letter is sent home to parents of the infected class.

66A Main Street.

Brampton, Ontario.

L6W 2C6

Tel: (905) 451-2300

Fax: (905) 858-8486

Website: https://stmarysbr.archtoronto.org/

PASTORAL Team:

Fr. Liborio Amaral

SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION

Sacraments are parish, not school events. Initial preparation is done by the schools through the religion program. Immediate preparation is the responsibility of the parents and the parish. Children do not receive a sacrament just because they are in a particular grade at school. Registration for sacraments takes place at meetings with the church.

The Pizza Lunch Program is under way at Bishop Francis Allen, Every Tuesday throughout the term

If you drop a lunch off at school for your child, please ensure that it is labeled with your child’s name and room number. Lunches may be left on the lunch table in the front hall. In order to avoid classroom interruptions, students will not be called from class before 11:55 am.

***NEW: Since many fast food establishments have added products containing NUTS and cannot guarantee their food is nut free or exposed to cross-contamination, please DO NOT drop off fast food for lunch pick up (Ex. McDonald’s, Tim Hortons). You are most welcome to take your child out of school at lunch to treat them. Thank you.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind parents that there are several students in the school with life threatening allergies to various food products. Please keep this in mind when packing lunches; read labels carefully and do not send nut products, such as peanut butter or Nutella for lunch. Also, we ask that you not send in sandwiches with WOW Butter as it looks exactly like peanut butter and staff and students have no way of knowing what it is.

*Due to Anaphylactic Allergies in the school we are requesting that NO treats be sent to school, especially when celebrating special occasions like birthdays.

Please make sure that the school is aware of any important medical information regarding your son/daughter in order that we can be properly prepared to deal with an emergency situation.

School staff cannot dispense medication of any kind without the proper authorization and a properly labeled container, (i.e. prescriptions bottle or original over-the-counter container). Medication brought to school in baggies, film canisters, etc. pose a risk to other students and will be secured in the office and returned to the parent. Staff cannot modify or adjust any medication under any circumstances. Additionally, staff cannot medicate a child. Therefore the child must be able to take the medicine as prescribed on their own with staff supervision. Please drop by the office for an Authorization Form before your child brings medication to school.

Ryan’s Law is new Ontario legislation that came into force in May 2015. It requires all school boards in the province to develop and maintain asthma policies and procedures that help protect students who have asthma. In accordance with Ryan’s Law- Ensuring Asthma Friendly Schools, an Asthma Parent/ Guardian package has been designed to support your child at school. The goal of the board’s procedures is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all students, including those with asthma.

CASH ONLINE

If you haven't already registered, why wait? Come in if you need help. Most have and love the ease of use, over 93% of our community has registered!

EMAIL

We are asking families to provide us with their email, in order that communication can be sent home electronically and help our school become paperless. Please provide your e-mail address to the office.

TWITTER

Thank you to all our parent followers! If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, or followed us already, please do! We are over 600 followers!

If you are hesitant, here are some great reasons why you should follow us:

· Our Twitter feed will give you an idea of what your child is learning and what activities they are participating in at school.

· Conversation starter at home— great way to talk to your child about what is happening in the school

· Students get the opportunity to showcase their learning and accomplishments. It’s our way to share these successes with you, as they happen.

· Reminders about different events going on, in the school

· You can follow our school @DPCDSB_BFA, as well as other teachers at BFA, to stay connected to more of our school community