Welcome to Kindergarten at St. Bernadette Catholic School! We are so looking forward to journeying with you, and it all starts with our upcoming Welcome to Kindergarten Night this Wednesday, May 13th, 2026 from 5:00-6:30pm. We invite you to watch our presentation below, read the information in this package, and then bring any questions you may still have to our Welcome to Kindergarten Night!
Safe Arrival and Dismissal
Arrival: Our day at school begins at 8:45 a.m. If you need to drop your child off early, we have staff members supervising the staggered entry of students into the classroom starting at 8:30 am. Your child can be dropped off at the gate, as parents are not permitted inside for safety reasons.
Dismissal: Our day ends at 3:15 pm when the bell rings. We ask that parents picking up their child wait outside the gated kindergarten area again. We dismiss students from the inside of the school as we see parents arrive. We kindly ask that if you are picking up your child to please park in a designated parking spot or over at the church as we have many buses that arrive to pick up students.
If your child is going to be away, you will report the absence through School Messenger. There’s an APP you should download, but you will only be able to register after your child’s first day of school.
School Bus
At the start of the day, if your child is taking the bus, we have staff members that will walk your child to the Kindergarten yard.
At the end of the day, we have a wonderful system in place to assist everyone. Each bus has a number and is assigned a symbol. On the first day, tags will be placed on your child's backpack so that their bus is easy to identify. Educators will walk the students out to their bus and staff members are also outside supervising the area.
Another option available to pick your child up is our "Kiss N Ride" system, where your child is brought to your vehicle by staff in the Kiss N Ride loop.
Kiss and Ride
Our school offers "Kiss N Ride" for safe arrival and dismissal. All you need to do is pull your car up to the designated area in the front "roundabout" loop, and staff members will safely assist your child out of the car, or into the car at the end of the day.
When you meet your child's educators on the first day of school, we will need to know your plans to pick up at the end of the day. If something ever changes, please send us an email through EDSBY, our main communication tool to let us know.
EDSBY
Edsby is a safe and secure communication tool that the DCDSB uses to allow teachers to share meaningful information with parents about your child's activities and progress at school. In Kindergarten, it is also a great way to share pictures of your child's hands on learning experiences with you. Educators will use ESDBY to highlight important dates and events happening within the classroom and school. Invitations will be sent out the first week of school. Once you have created an account, you will have access to your child's portfolio.
For now, you can view this video about Edsby and check out more information on our board website:
Lunch Bag and Water Bottle
Please send your child with two snacks and lunch in their lunch bag, as well as their reusable water bottle.
Some helpful tips when packing the lunch bag:
- Please use containers and packaged snacks your child can open independently (practise at home!)
- Label snacks 1 and 2 (for a.m. and p.m. snack time)
- Healthy options are always encouraged.
- Send a refillable water bottle your child can independently open and fill.
Label all containers & water bottles with your child's name! Many are the same and we don't want them to get mixed up.
Change of Clothes
Please send your child with extra clothes. These clothes should be weather appropriate and should fit (they need to be looked at and updated every few months). We recommend: two shirts and two pairs of pants, spare underwear and socks.
Clothing should be sent in a large Ziplock bag with your child's name on it; this will be kept in their cubby at school Clothing should be labelled with their name/ initials on the tag
Warmer weather: Children can be sent to school with sunscreen with their name labelled on the bottle, but we also encourage parents to apply the sunscreen at home before the day begins, if possible.
Toileting
Please ensure that your child is toilet trained and comfortable using the toilets independently before he/she begins Full Day Kindergarten.
Some important things to remember
- Dress your child in pants/bottoms that are easy for your child to unbutton and undo before using the bathroom.
- Teach your child how to wipe themselves independently.
- Teach your child how to wash their hands with soap and water independently.
Cubby Area
Your child will be assigned a cubby for their year in Kindergarten.
In the cubby area, they will hang their backpacks, lunch bags, jackets, and leave extra clothing in them.
With the exception of "special days," we do not encourage students bring personal belongings, toys, or blankets from home, to avoid them being lost or damaged, and for health and hygiene reasons. Thank you.
Are Your Tax Dollars Supporting our Catholic Schools?
We want to share an important reminder about your School Support Designation and how it helps strengthen and protect publicly funded Catholic education in our community. In Ontario, every property owner and tenant is required to designate which school board they choose to support. This designation determines your eligibility to vote in school board elections and ensures that education funding is directed to the school system you support. In accordance with provincial legislation, school support is assigned by default to the English Public school board unless you actively choose otherwise. We are encouraging all Catholic families, staff, and supporters to review their current designation and, where appropriate, update it to English Separate (Catholic) to reflect your commitment to Catholic education.
How to Check Your Current Designation
Your existing school support designation appears on your Property Assessment Notice. In Ontario, property owners must choose one of the following school systems, even if you do not have children in school:
- English Public
- English Separate (Catholic)
- French Public
- French Separate (Catholic)
How to Update Your School Support School support designations are managed by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). You can easily review or update your designation by visiting: mpac.ca/schoolsupport Updating your designation helps ensure that your tax support and voting rights align with your intention to support Catholic education in Durham Region. Thank you for your ongoing partnership and commitment to our Durham Catholic learning community.
Staying Connected
EDSBY is our main communication tool, however, you are encouraged to follow @STBE.RNADETTE on Instagram (starting now!) to see a lot of the great things that happen at our school. We also use School Messenger to send home important information directly to your e-mail. Please note we do not do follow backs!
Lastly, we recommend you bookmark our LinkTree site as it has all the links you need, including school contact information, reporting your child’s absence, our school year calendar, past Bernadette Buzz’s (our weekly school newsletter), Spirit Wear Shop, and so much more.
Credits:
Created with images by Andy Dean - "Proud African American Parents and Young Boy Near School Bus" • nerudol - "Healthy lunch to go packed in lunch box" • cunaplus - "Volunteer with donation box with clothes used" • Sebastian - "Yellow sports shoe for children on a orange, lush lava background. The concept of using sport shoes by children, physical activity of children, care for health." • aradaphotography - "White toilet bowl in a bathroom" • Kzenon - "Children in nursery school getting dressed" • Timeimage - "Young Asian family on background" • Drobot Dean - "American woman 20s with curly hair holding mobile phone and smiling on camera, isolated over white background"