Welcome to Robert Baldwin.

We are excited that your child is starting at our school and can't wait to meet them and let them play, explore, learn, grow and have fun within our kindergarten classrooms.

Due to covid, we were unable to hold an orientation night at our school to let you visit the classrooms. We have put together some information for you below to help with any of those questions you are starting to think about.

How will I know what class my child is in?

On the Friday before Labour Day you will receive an email letting you know which kindergarten class your child is in and some important information about the first day of school. Rest assured, we will be in contact with you!

Drop off and Pick Up

Drop off - Supervision starts at 8:40 in the morning in the Kindergarten Pen for dropping off your child. Once your child enters the kindergarten pen, we ask that they stay in the pen as this lets us keep all of our friends safe during drop off time. If your child wishes to stand with you until the bell rings and then enter, that is ok as well. Supervision ends at 8:55 when the bell rings for students to head inside the school.

Pick up - Kindergarten students are dismissed at 3:10pm (instead of 3:15) as it then allows parents to head to the primary/junior side of our school to meet up with siblings. Students are dismissed by the kindergarten educators at the gate closest to their classroom door. Educators have the students line up along the fence and dismiss children 1 by 1 to their parent/caregiver. We really appreciate your help with this in the beginning as it takes awhile for us to get to know faces of all the caregivers that pick up students.

We encourage Baldwin families to walk to school when they can.

If you need to use the school parking lot, please park in the UPPER parking lot by the park.

The lower lot by the kindergarten pen is strictly for staff and our school transport vehicles to enter. This helps keep our students safe as well.

Street parking is also strictly enforced by parking by-law officers.

Backpacks

We ask that students bring a backpack large enough to carry their lunch bag, a library book, water bottle and spare clothes. The small daycare backpacks that many are used to using are too small for Kindergarten and make it difficult for your child to pack his/her bag. In Kindergarten, we foster independence and students will be packing and unpacking their own backpacks so make sure it is one they can independently do and carry on their own. There is no need for wheeled backpacks as the wheels add to the weight--their bag should be one that they carry on their back.

Label, Label, Label!

We ask that students come to school with all of their belongings labelled at all times (e.g., water bottle, backpack, containers and lids in lunch, extra clothes, coat, mittens, etc.). This makes it easier to find the owner of items that are left in the classroom or if it is put in the lost and found. With 25+ students in the classroom, it is busy and many students in Kindergarten forget what they bring to school--labels make it easier for us to help them find their items that are misplaced or to tell the difference if someone in the class has the same or if there is a sweater on the floor. There are many companies that make labels (e.g., Mabel's Labels, Loveable Labels, etc.).

Nutrition Breaks

Students have two times during the day which we refer to as nutrition breaks. During this time students are supervised either by their educators or a lunch supervisor and encouraged to eat their snacks and lunch within the classroom. We always have questions at orientation night (which we were unable to hold this year) about packing a lunch bag and usually offer the following advice:

It is important to prepare your child for what they can expect to happen during eating time at school when you are not there to help them. Starting in August, we suggest they practice unpacking their lunch bag at home, opening and closing containers and returning all their items back in the lunch bag when they are finished. They are expected to do this independently when they come to school but of course educators and lunch supervisors are there to help with tricky containers. Remember as well to ensure that they have everything they need in their lunch bag (e.g., spoon, fork) and talk about what they have for snack and lunch that day to help them be successful. Packing familiar snacks and food they have already eaten happily at home especially the first few days will add to their success.

In the past, parents have found many ways to organize lunches in September as students get used to eating at set times food that they have brought from home. Since we have two nutrition breaks, we suggest labeling lunch containers as #1 and #2. This will also help the educators/lunch supervisors to prompt your child on what they need to eat first and what to save for the second break. Also, some families have found using storage containers such as the ones below to pack lunches was convenient.