Category: Notices & Updates

Dear WEJ Students, Parents & Guardians,

This year W. Erskine Johnston is taking an early, but simple initiative to get into the festive spirit by supporting ‘The Kanata Food Cupboard.’ We will be taking donations of canned foods and non-perishable items the week of November 23rd to the 30th. We will not be accepting cash donations this year.

The most needed items in our area right now according to the Kanata Food Cupboard are:

– Canned Fish & Meat
– Canned Vegetables & Fruit
– Cereal (Whole Grains)
– Dry Pasta (Whole Grain) & Sauce
– Legumes (Canned or Dried)
– Peanut Butter- Rice (brown)
– Canned Stews & Chili
– Baby Diapers
– Baby Food & Formula

Participation is voluntary, however we are hoping to be able to give to the families in need in our area during this difficult time.

Thank you in advance for your support,

WEJ Staff

This year, WEJ is having a VIRTUAL BOOKFAIR! Please see the attached flyer below to see how you can order and support our school libray!

Please get your child to log in to our GOOGLE CLASSROOM and the link is there for you to click on view and purchase books!

Thanks!
Ms. Argue 🙂

This message was went out on Friday to Families at WEJ from our Principal and Vice Principal. I have posted it here as well so you can read it.

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Greetings WEJ Families,

We are writing to thank you for all that you have done to make this year as good as it could possibly be! You have been wonderfully supportive partners in learning as we found new ways to work and learn together.

Thanks to all our families who came and picked up their children’s belongings. We actually had 91% of the bags picked up! The remaining items will be stored at WEJ until school resumes in the fall.

We were excited to share our Leaving Ceremony video with all our grade 6 families this week. We hope that our grade 6 students enjoyed watching it with their families, seeing pictures of their friends and reading their thoughts on their time at WEJ.

We know that the fall is an uncertain time for all of us. The Board, Ministry of Education and Public Health will work together to create a plan for the OCDSB and individual schools. We will not know until sometime in August what our return to learning model will look like. We do know that the Ministry has indicated that parents will be surveyed and asked if you are planning to send your child to school or keep them in an at-home learning model. As we find out information in August, the Board will keep you informed and we will write with any additional updates that will help you to prepare for the fall.

The Ministry of Education has also recently announced that we will be implementing a new math curriculum starting in the fall. Our staff will begin their work to examine the new elements (e.g. mindsets and financial literacy). We will share information about the curriculum in future correspondence.

We hope that you and your family have a fabulous and healthy summer. We wish our departing families the very best as they move to their next schools and really look forward to working with our returning students and families in September.

All the best,

Colleen Irvin (Principal) and Sean Davidson (Vice Principal)

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This message was went out this morning to Familes at WEJ from our Principal and Vice Principal. I have posted it here in case you need to refer to it or if for some reason you did not receive it.

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Greetings WEJ Families,

We are finalizing our preparation for the retrieval of student materials that starts tomorrow.  Today is a good day to make your sign for your window of your car. It could look like this one I made as a sample.

Please state the name of each child, grade and teacher. If your teacher gave you a number (like the bottom one in my photo), please include it. Don’t worry if they did not give you a number.

If you opted to get a refund cheque for hot lunches/milk program, the cheque will be taped to the outside of your child’s bag. Grade 6 Leaving Certificates are inside the bag. If you get an item in your bag that does not belong to you, we apologize as we were trying our best. Please keep it in a safe spot and it can be returned to our Lost and Found when we return to school.

Please gather up all the items that belong to the school (except chromebooks) and place them in a bag. You can get out of your car and place the bag in a bin we will have for this purpose.

As a reminder, here are the times that you will come to the school (in car or on foot):

• Tuesday, June 16 from  8:00-10:30  Last names beginning with A – C
• Tuesday, June 16 from  11:00 – 1:30  Last names beginning with D – H
• Tuesday, June 16 from  2:00 – 4:30  Last names beginning with I – L
• Wednesday, June 17 from  8:00-10:30  Last names beginning with M – R
• Wednesday, June 17 from  11:00 – 1:30  Last names beginning with S – V
• Wednesday, June 17 from  2:00 – 4:30  Last names beginning with W – Z

Thanks so much for your help,

Colleen Irvin (Principal) and Sean Davidson (Vice Principal)

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Please let me know if you have any questions!

Ms. Argue 🙂

This message was went out yesterday afternoon to Familes at WEJ from our Principal and Vice Principal. I have posted it here in case you need to refer to it or if for some reason you did not receive it.

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Dear W. Erskine Johnston Families,

The horrific death of George Floyd in the U.S. as well as the resultant riots and calls for justice, have had a significant impact on all of us. These actions have brought the issue of racism to the forefront of our discussions in our homes, learning environments, communities and nation. These conversations have been difficult and uncomfortable as we look inwards and forwards in our efforts to be strong and fight against racism in our school, in the OCDSB and in our community.

Our Director Camille Williams-Taylor spoke for us when she stated, “We are committed to challenging ourselves to examine privilege and question how we can make changes to remove bias and barriers that get in the way of personal, academic and professional success.”

As educators at WEJ, we are committed to the essential concepts of belonging, equity, inclusive education and diversity. We must also continue to work to be anti-racist in our teaching practices. Our commitment to break down barriers and understand and identify bias is important in how we address our students and communities.

At WEJ, we feel that every student has the right to a learning environment of dignity and respect, free from harassment and discrimination. As a school it is our responsibility to support human rights and value social justice and anti-racism efforts.

We will commit to continuing to educate ourselves, engaging in conversations with our staff, students and families. We know that we all have more work to do. Our Director also stated, “We need to learn and unlearn and most importantly, teach our children to be accepting and compassionate people who call out and stand together against racism.” At WEJ, we are truly committed to that task.

Sincerely,

Colleen Irvin (Principal) and Sean Davidson (Vice Principal)