A positive connection between home and school provides for a supportive learning environment for students. We encourage parents to communicate with their child’s classroom teacher if you have a question or a concern. Teachers can be reached most days after school or you may call the office and leave a message. Teachers will call parents back as soon as they can. Email addresses for our teachers are available on the Greenfield School website under “Staff.”
If further discussion regarding a concern is needed, please contact Mrs. Jay or Mrs. Finniss in the office. They will be happy to discuss any issue with a parent.
Opportunity for scheduled interviews with teachers will be provided twice during the school year.
The importance of regular school attendance and being on time for the start of the school day cannot be over-emphasized. Regular attendance has been shown in research to be critical to a student’s success in school. Learning time missed in the classroom cannot be replaced so we encourage parents to do their best to have your children here and on time.
The Public Schools Branch, recognizing the importance of regular school attendance, has a policy and procedures for attendance and student engagement. These procedures are available at the English Language School Board website. We encourage parents to become familiar with them.
If your child must be absent from school, please call the school early in the morning or send a note the prior day for planned absences. For the children’s safety, we will make every effort to call home if we have not been notified by 9:30 a.m. of an absence. If your child walks or is dropped off at school, please be aware that classes begins at 8:30 a.m. If you are picking up your children after school, please note that these children are ready to leave at approximately 2:55 pm and should be picked up promptly at this time.
For everyone’s safety, we ask that parents who are picking up children not leave until after the buses are dismissed.
At the beginning of the school year, parents complete a “Release – Low-Risk Activities” form. This allows teachers to take students off school property for activities that are not of an athletic or high-risk nature. For some activities, teachers will send home information to parents about these activities so they are aware of the special event.
On occasion, student may be participating in athletic events or competitions that do have an element of risk. Permission forms for these activities will go home with students. It is the student’s responsibility to see that the form is returned to the teacher. These permission form let teacher know that the parent is informed of the activity and have given permission for the student to participate in the event. Without this permission, the student will be unable to participate in the activity.
For the safety of our school environment, only the front door of the school is unlocked during the school day to ensure we are aware of all visitors to our school.
To prevent disruption of the teaching and learning environment and to protect student privacy, all visitors, including parents, must report to the office. If you need to see your child or you are dropping off an item, he or she will be paged to the office to see you.
As well, parents should not go to the classroom areas during morning arrival. We ask that you say goodbye to your child in the lobby.
At Greenfield we have children who have severe allergies that may cause anaphylactic shock. We are a TOTALLY NUT-FREE and EGG-FREE school. It is important that everyone respect this request for the health and safety of our students at risk. Although there are peanut-like substitutes available, we do not permit them in the school as they can cause confusion and concern to staff and those students that are allergic to nuts.
If your child has a severe allergy or other medical condition that may require immediate attention (seizure disorder, etc.), parents have the responsibility of ensuring that the school has the most up to date treatment and contact information in the event of an emergency.
Please respect the signage that is in place and take care when moving through our parking lot. There is a location for dropping off students. Students coming should use the crosswalk when coming into the school as it is clearly marked and a safety zone.
If you are leaving your vehicle and entering the building, even for just a few minutes, park your vehicle in a designated parking space. Please do not park in the traffic lanes as you will block the flow of traffic or affect the ability of pedestrians and drivers to see each other. We appreciate your cooperation in this very important matter.
Time spent on the bus is considered an extension of the school day. The behavior we expect at school is the same behavior we expect when traveling on a school bus. Students should listen to their driver and be respectful to the other students traveling with them.
We have two guidelines for safety for our students when traveling on the bus: 1) Sit properly in your seat (sitting on your bottom), and 2) Sit facing forward.
We hope that parents will discuss and encourage safe behaviour on the bus. A student who does not sit properly on the bus is more likely to be injured if the bus must be stopped quickly or if there is an accident.
At Greenfield Elementary School, we have a group of bus drivers who are conscientious and professional. Each of our drivers makes every effort to ensure the safety and well-being of all students while on the bus, but they must have the cooperation of the students. It is very difficult to drive a bus safely and monitor the behavior of students at the same time.
Misbehavior by a student while traveling on the bus will be reported to the school principal. If necessary, the driver or principal may contact the home. Repeated misbehavior may cause a student to lose the privilege of traveling on the bus. If any student is encountering problems while traveling to or from school, please contact the bus driver so concerns can be dealt with before they become serious.
Students must have written permission from a parent or guardian to receive a bus pass. Bus passes must be issued to all students who are traveling to a destination other than their regular drop-off point. Please include the civic address of the alternate location on the note requesting a bus pass. These arrangements may be accommodated depending upon availability of seats on the bus.
In emergencies, a parent may call the school to request a bus pass, but in most circumstances arrangements should be made with your child before they leave for school in the morning. Students will not be permitted to use the phone at school to make after-school plans as this will tie up school phones and can create confusion at the end of the day.
Students may carry cell phones or other digital products but these devices must be turned off and stored away from immediate access when in school or on the bus. This is to protect the privacy and confidentiality of all students, as well as to prevent any harassment with such devices. We encourage parents to discuss this with their children and to ensure that they aware of this rule. Teachers will be discussing this with students as well.
We do discourage students from taking valuables to school. These items could be accidentally broken, lost, or stolen while at school. We are not able to accept responsibility in ensuring the safety of such items. As well, we believe time spent at school should be spent learning and in active play with peers.
We do have bike racks and encourage students to lock their bikes there. Students who are biking, rollerblading, or skateboarding to school are required to wear a helmet.
If, for any reason, it is necessary to close the school during the day, the local radio stations will announce this closure. We advise that you listen to the radio if inclement weather is being forecast. Each family should discuss with their children what they are to do in the event school is closed during the day. This is particularly important with younger children.
A form will be circulated early in the school year to collect your directions in the event of an early closure. Please note that there are two types of closures:
- Those that are weather related.
- Those situations that are more unusual in nature such as a power outage or building emergency.
In the event of a weather related closure, the School Board expects that parents will be aware of the impending weather and therefore the closure plan (and often the time-frame) does not allow for children to call home to notify parents. Please listen to the radio or monitor an appropriate Internet site for this notice. In the event of a more unusual closure, such as one that is limited to just our school, children will be permitted to call you to advise you of the closure.
These policies and preferred locations of drop-off of children will be further clarified in the documents that you will receive in the fall. For school cancellation purposes, we are part of the "THREE OAKS FAMILY OF SCHOOLS.”
Each week, a student from every class is recognized by their teacher and this is announced over the P.A. system. Each child receives a ribbon to recognize their accomplishment.
Each day we will announce the names of students and staff celebrating a birthday. Each receives a birthday ribbon and a small birthday gift
Newsletters are written monthly in order to keep all parents and guardians informed of school activities. This year we will be posting all newsletters on the school website. As well, many teachers use blogs to share information with the home. Blog links can be found in our Staff Directory. We do our best to keep it updated, especially when there is an important school item to share.
Students will be going outdoors whenever the weather permits and should come to school appropriately dressed for the weather. Fresh air and activity are important for student health and learning so we will be taking advantage of any day we can to have our students go
outdoors. Remember: “There is no poor weather, only those that are poorly dressed for it.”
Physical Education students in grades 3, 4, 5 & 6 are required to change into gym clothes that are different from what they wear in school during the day (shorts/sweat pants and Tshirt/sweatshirt). Grade 1 & 2 students should wear loose fitting clothing suitable for play. All students should have properly fitting sneakers that fasten securely, i.e. laces or Velcro, for safety purposes. Sandals, Crocs, Flip Flops or similar loose-fitting footwear is not safe to wear in the gym.
For health reasons, it is important that children do not go bare feet in school. This is most noticeable during the warmer months when children may wear flip flops or other casual footwear to school. If they wear this footwear to school, they must bring socks that they can
put on immediately after removing their outdoor footwear.
Children have the opportunity to purchase either white milk or chocolate milk to have with their lunch. We offer Domino’s Pizza on Mondays, Pita Pit on Tuesdays, Borrowed Kitchen on Wednesday, Captain Sub on Thursday and Greco’s on Fridays. Ordering for our lunch program is online with HotLunches.
Our school hosts a very popular breakfast program. When students come into the school in the morning, those that wish can go to the cafeteria to have breakfast. New parent, grandparent, or other volunteers are always welcome!
Greenfield offers many opportunities for children to encourage a healthy life style and to develop lifelong fitness skills. Students may participate in cross country running, soccer, badminton, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball and track and field. Intra-murals are also offered to the students during lunch breaks. Participation will be available to those who attend regularly, follow game rules, and show respect for others.
Choir, drama, and musical activities are also offered as extra-curricular activities to our students. As with the sports activities, these activities are offered to children who attend regularly, meet the expectations set out in the program, and show respect for all.
Our teachers work hard to offer these options for our students. Please encourage your child to get involved in a variety of activities as it will enhance their school experience.
All students will be photographed in the fall and in the spring by Life Touch Studios. Proofs will be provided free of charge and you can order a photo package at your discretion. A school yearbook will be available in the spring.
School crested clothing (The Gators) is available at the school. This clothing is a great option for a Christmas or birthday gift. Hoodies for our Grade 6 will be ordered in the spring.
A great majority of the time the students at Greenfield Elementary School are well behaved and respectful to one another and their teachers. However, there are times when a student's behaviour is not appropriate and their behaviour needs to be addressed.
Detentions are one way that a teacher can let a student know that his/her actions are unacceptable and that he or she needs to make a more positive choice. It is a signal to the student (and parents) that the child needs time to stop and think about his/her behaviour. The teacher giving the detention will have discussion with the student that clearly identifies the behaviour and the reason for the detention.
A detention policy provides for the following:
- It is one way a student can be held accountable for their behaviour. A detention clearly lets them know that their behaviour is not acceptable.
- Detentions provide a way of communicating with parents that issues are occurring at school that need attention.
- Detentions provide a way of tracking student behaviour and provide a record of when and how often behaviour is occurring.
Detentions may be given for a number of behaviours including: hands-on behaviour (pushing/shoving, hitting, grabbing), inappropriate language (profanity or otherwise unacceptable language), disrupting the learning environment, disrespectful behaviour to other students (name calling, teasing) or to staff.
Process for Detentions:
A yellow detention slip will be written up by the teacher who is giving the detention. This slip will provide the date of the detention and when the detention will be served, the behaviour that occurred that caused the detention, and the name of the teacher who gave the detention.
The student is to have the detention slip signed by their parents and return it to the teacher who gave them the detention. This is an important step as parents should be informed of any concern related to their child.
The student will remain in for lunch on the day of their detention and will complete work assigned by their classroom teacher or by the teacher on detention duty.
If a detention slip is not returned, the principal or vice-principal will follow up with the student and the parents.
It is important for parents to know that detentions do not become part of a student's permanent school record.
At Greenfield Elementary School we ask that everyone follow the “3 R’s”:
Respect for Self
Respect for Others
Responsibility for All Your Actions