Dear Parents, please take a moment to read our Parent Engagement Policy and Parent Code of Conduct and Complete Acknowledgment Form

Dear GAA Families,

I hope this message finds you well and that you are enjoying a joyful and restful summer. With the new school year just around the corner, we are filled with excitement to welcome both returning and new Wildcats into the GAA community!

To support a smooth start, we are delighted to invite all new students to a special Welcome Morning on Friday, August 22, from 9:00–9:45 am. This will be a wonderful opportunity for students to meet their teachers, connect with new friends, and explore their classrooms before the first day of school.

In addition, Students of Determination and their families are warmly invited to attend a dedicated session from 10:00–10:45 am. This additional time will provide our students with the chance to become familiar with their environment and feel confident as they begin the year.

Our teachers and staff have been working diligently to create classrooms and learning spaces that will inspire curiosity, engagement, and a strong sense of belonging. At GAA, we are deeply committed to providing every child with a safe, supportive, and enriching learning experience.

As the PreK–Grade 5 Principal, I am thrilled to welcome you to the 2025–2026 school year. Whether you are joining us for the first time or returning for another year, we are excited to partner with you in your child’s growth and learning journey.

Thank you for entrusting us with your child’s education. We look forward to seeing many of you at the Welcome Morning on August 22, and to seeing everyone on Wednesday, August 27 for our first day of school!

On behalf of our GAA elementary staff, we look forward to sharing a year filled with discovery, joy, and success.

With warm regards,

John Ashenden (click name to view bio)

PreK–Grade 5 Principal

Morning Arrival

• Cafeteria before 7:30 am: All students who arrive early are to remain in the Cafeteria until 7:30 am.

• PreK–Grade 5 students then enter through the KG Entrance.

• PreK–Grade 5 parents may accompany their  children to their homerooms until 7:45 am. After 7:45, no parent access is allowed on classroom floors.

• Parents wishing to visit the Admin Area should enter through the Main Door (Please wear your yellow parent lanyard at all times when on campus). If you have not received your parent access card, please email your photos to pre_gaa@gemsedu.com.

• Gates 4 (Bus) and 5 (Tennis Courts) are open from 7:30–7:45 am. Students may not enter before 7:30 am.

Early Dismissals

Please avoid early dismissals whenever possible, as they interrupt learning and group activities. Staying for the full day helps students remain engaged and follow the flow of lessons.

If you must pick up your child early for an emergency, please enter through the Main Lobby and check in with the Receptionist.

No early dismissals after 2:30pm from Monday to Thursday and after 11:30am on Fridays.

The detailed Early Dismissal Procedure can be found in the School Handbooks and Procedures and Policies page of Welcome Pack .

Afternoon Dismissal

No students will be released through the Main Lobby. Parents may wait in the Parent Café until pick-up time and then proceed to PreK-Grade 5 homerooms:

• Monday–Thursday: 2:45 pm

• Friday: 12:00 pm

Nannies and Drivers will wait in the Student Cafeteria, where more seats are available. After collecting the younger children from the homerooms, nannies and drivers should remain in the Student Cafeteria until the older sibling arrives.

Gates 4 and 5 (back gates) will be closed for safety during bus departure:

• Monday–Thursday: 3:09–3:15 pm

• Friday: 12:09–12:15 pm

Late Pick-Ups

• Elementary students will wait in homerooms till 3:00pm.

• Late students will then move to Cafeteria until 3:30pm

• After 3:30 pm, all late students will be moved to the Lobby.

• After three late pick-ups, parents will be contacted for safeguarding follow-up.

• Security will record the names of students collected after 3:30 pm.

• No students may remain on campus after 3:30 pm, unless attending After-School Clubs or Athletics practices/games.

Following is recommended:

• Refillable water bottle

• Hat

• Sunscreen

• Snack

• Lunch

• Lunch box

SCHOOL SUPPLIES

All school supplies, books, pencils and pens in the elementary are provided by the school. Students may be required to bring their own headphones. Students may bring their own pencil case, tablet, if they choose to. Students will be provided with a school e-mail, online storage, as well as a host of other online subscriptions that are in place to support their learning.

LUNCH

• Grade 1-5 students now can have classroom delivery from school cafeteria. Please refer to Cafeteria page for more details.

• Students can also bring lunch from home.

• Student can fill up their reusable water bottles in the drinking water fountains around school.

• PLEASE FAMILIARIZE YOURSELVES WITH HEALTHY EATING POLICY BELOW.

Students will attend library once each week for lesson time and book exchange. Last year, each student received a reusable library bag for their library books. Students will be expected to use their library bag regularly to care for books.

 On the first day of school, 

• If your child is a returning student, please send your child with the library bag they used last year.  (If your child has lost their bag, please notify the classroom teacher. We will follow up with next steps for replacement.)  

• If your child is a new student to GAA, he/she will be issued a new bag in the first week of school.

For parent communication

Elementary parents will receive direct emails from teachers, and an elementary weekly newsletter. 

Please also expect Attendance Notifications coming from an email extension Brightarrow.

For classroom and home learning

At GAA we have a wide range of technology platforms and applications that we use to support the needs of our students and their families. 

• Google Classroom (4-5) is a blended learning platform that is used across the school but in elementary it is more commonly used by the upper elementary students.  It helps to streamline the sharing of information, activities and documentation between the students and their teachers. 

• Edmentum  is the platform that provide our students with support for their math, reading, comprehension, literacy skills.

• BrainPOP (2-5) and BrainPOP Jr (K-2) are educational websites that provide many animated movies to help students develop their understanding of many different topics in all different subject areas (Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Technology, etc).

We also have a host of other website subscriptions and applications that are used by various classes and teachers to support the learning both in and out of the classroom, some of those include Zearn, Epic, Zorbits, Starfall, Nearpod, Generation Genius, CritterCoin, Padlet, Teach Your Monster, among many others. 

ClassLink

In order to allow both students and parents easily access all of these amazing resources and accounts without needing to remember all of the login information, we use ClassLink (K-5) which is a platform that is used to securely store all login information and create a simple single sign on access – this means that you do not need to remember all of the login information – usernames, passwords, etc for each site or resource, you will simply need to sign in to your ClassLink Launchpad and access everything through there.