Heads Up - Prep School

Our Prep family is now complete as we welcomed our JK and SK students for their first full week of learning this week! They have been exploring, playing and learning routines.

Michael, David and I have enjoyed meeting many of you at our parent coffees earlier this week and during the Year 6 and 7 Welcome Back Information evening, which took place on Monday. We've been hearing from so many of you about how well the year is starting, and how happy you are that we're back in routine.

At our Middle Division Welcome Back Information evening on Monday, we discussed our continued Prep-wide focus for this year, Building a Culture of Belonging. We also challenged all of our students during our Welcome Back assembly last week to “Support Each Other With Having the Courage To Be Kind.” The following insights, some of which I will share next week for the Primary Welcome Back Information evening, were also shared with Year 6 and 7 families on Monday evening:

Be in partnership with us: A strong partnership between home and school is essential as we navigate the best ways to support your boy through the inevitable triumphs and stumbles he will encounter.
Communicate, communicate, communicate: This is also tied to partnership. Your first point of contact is your child’s form adviser. If you do have any questions or concerns, we would appreciate it if you brought them to us directly. You can find us at drop off, in the office or you can reach us to book a meeting by email.
Let your child make mistakes: Students learn most when things don’t go perfectly. If your child makes a mistake, please support us in holding them accountable. Know that we are caring and supportive, and we do everything we can to maximize learning.
Maintain balanced screen time at home: Be aware of your own habits as children are closely watching! Have open conversations as a family about the importance of healthy technology use. We’ll be sure to do the same while students are at school.

Trips to the Norval Outdoor School have also started — we know our students will have many tales to tell after they’ve engaged in our Norval programming.

Your partners in learning,

Gareth Evans, David Girard and Michael Bushey

The Prep Leadership Team

Building responsibility: A guide to daytime item drop-offs

We understand that mornings can be a whirlwind. Despite the best routines, items like lunchboxes, laptops, or gym bags are occasionally left behind on the kitchen counter. To ensure our school remains a safe environment and to help our students grow into accountable young adults, we would like to share a reminder of our protocol for items dropped off during the school day.

Our priority: safety and supervision

The safety of our students is our primary concern. Our Prep reception team serves as the "gatekeepers" of our main entrance. For security reasons, it is not manageable or safe for our reception team to leave the main entrance unsupervised to deliver forgotten items to classrooms. Maintaining a presence at the front desk ensures we can monitor visitors and manage campus access effectively.

The educational "why"

Beyond logistics, there is a significant pedagogical reason for our policy. We believe that experiencing natural, yet non-catastrophic consequences serves as a vital learning experience.

When a student forgets an item—and has to navigate the result of that oversight—they develop problem-solving skills and a greater sense of responsibility for their belongings. Examples of these "healthy hurdles" include:

Spending a day sharing a laptop with a partner.
Wearing a partial uniform for one day.
Observing a Physical Education skating class from the sidelines because gear was forgotten.

These moments help students build the resilience and organizational habits they will need in university and beyond.

Drop-off protocol at-a-glance

When you bring an item to the Prep reception, we categorize it to ensure the most critical needs are met immediately:

Student responsibility: For standard items, it's the student’s responsibility to check their email at an appropriate time and come to the reception desk to collect their belongings during a break or transition period.

How you can help

We appreciate your partnership in fostering independence in our students. You can support this transition by:

Encouraging a "launchpad" routine: Having students check their bags against their schedule the night before.
Validating the experience: If an item is forgotten, remind them that it’s okay to make a mistake and that they are capable of handling the one-day inconvenience.

Thank you for helping us keep our school safe and for supporting your child’s journey toward independence!

Sign up | Hopes and Dreams Conferences

We're excited to invite you to our Hopes and Dreams Conferences on Tuesday, Oct. 13, either virtually or in person. This is an opportunity for families to meet with their child’s form adviser to discuss how the year has started and begin to build the family-teacher partnership. Please note there is no school on Oct. 13, and students do not attend the conferences.

SchoolCloud, the application parents will use to book their appointments, will open on Monday, Sept. 28 at 9 a.m. for families to choose a time to meet with the form adviser. It closes at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7. At 4 p.m. If you don't sign up for a conference during this window, you will need to reach out to your child’s form adviser personally to choose a remaining time slot.

Click here for instructions on how to use SchoolCloud.

JK to Year 5 | Welcome back information evening

The JK to Year 5 parent welcome-back information evening will take place on Thursday, Sept. 24 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Members from the school leadership team will be presenting in Weston Hall. Afterwards, families will move to their child’s classroom to hear from their form adviser, then we invite you to join our subject specialist faculty in our dining hall to ask about programming while enjoying some refreshments. Information evenings provide families with an overview of the Prep’s academic program, general expectations and student supports.

In addition, an optional mix and mingle event from 6:15 to 6:55 p.m. will be available for families who are interested in connecting with other UCC families. This session is entirely optional and will be held in the Bitove Lounge.

Please see the table below for a snapshot of how the Primary information evening will unfold.

Please enter the Prep through the main entrance just beyond the Peacock Arch.

Sincerely,

David Girard

Assistant Head of the Preparatory School: Primary Division

Gareth Evans
Head of the Preparatory School

Update | JK

This school year welcomed Upper Canada College’s first-ever Junior Kindergarteners to the Prep School. As our youngest learners settle into the rhythm of UCC and get to know the school and each other, we have been wondering what it means to live, learn and play together. To begin building our classroom agreements, we’ve been starting our mornings exploring different artistic materials with a question: What happens when colors meet?

The children’s responses capture both the essence of art and what it means to be in a community:

"When colours play together, they make a new colour... It might be a surprise colour."
"When colours meet, they tell stories."
"Some colours never meet because they don’t have maps, but I think your [colours] have maps."
"When colours play together, sometimes they play too wild, and then they make a hole."
"It made a garbage colour. It gets everything messy when they play rough."
"I need a bit of gray to make something beautiful."
Our learners noticed that when colours come together, they can create beautiful rainbows and unexpected beauty. But they also recognized that when colours play too rough, lack a plan or stay stagnant, things can come apart or get messy.
Together, we are gently extending these discoveries from art to heart: What happens when WE meet? What happens when we play and learn together? How can we all be our individual, colourful selves and still be in community with each other? There will be messy, tangled moments, no doubt, but this will be the start to developing the head, heart and humanity of our 2040 graduates. Here’s to a year of our colours meeting, to surprises, to stories and to creating beautiful things together!

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
—Vincent Van Gogh

Loretta Fernando-Smith
JK Teacher

Update | SK

Welcome to SK! We have had a wonderful start to the year as we’ve begun getting to know our new SKs. At this time, our main goal is to help each child begin to feel a sense of belonging in their new class and school. We want every SK to feel valued for who they are and to know that they are an important part of our classroom community.

Our first unit of inquiry will help us continue to build this environment. The unit explores identity and belonging —our identities as individuals and how we come together to form an identity as a class. We will think about things we love about ourselves, traits that make us unique, similarities and differences among us, the strengths each of us brings to the classroom, and how we are better together.

We began the unit by reading All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold. The book launched conversations about what it means to feel welcome and, importantly, how we can help others feel that they belong. The students have already begun thinking about the kinds of classroom agreements we might create together to help everyone feel “safe and loved”—feelings that they named themselves as important to how they want to feel at school!

We had a wonderful opportunity to put some of this thinking into practice when our Norval teachers visited this week. Before their visit, we talked about how we could help our visitors feel welcome in our classroom. The SKs thought about how to greet them and how to listen carefully to show that we valued their presence and what they had to contribute to our learning. It was wonderful to see them apply their ideas about making others feel welcome in a real-life situation.

The visit also helped us continue getting to know our campus. Our Norval teachers introduced us to some new outdoor spaces we will explore throughout the year, including the “Where the Wild Things Are” Garden. The SKs have really enjoyed investigating our outdoor spaces and are already developing a wonderful sense of confidence and ownership as they navigate their school.

We have loved settling into the school year with this fun-loving, curious and kind group. We are excited to continue learning about one another, building our classroom community and watching the SKs grow in confidence as they discover all that their new environment has to offer. We have also loved getting to know our community of families and look forward to building strong relationships with you throughout the year. Thank you for your continued support and collaboration!

Anna Crawford, Breanna Radlein, and Katie Rockburn

Update | Primary French

On their very first day of French class, our SK students immersed themselves in 30 minutes of language learning. They practiced simple introductions and learned how to pronounce their teacher’s name, “Monsieur Dupré!”

They listened to the story of a young boy starting his first day at school—a story that felt familiar to many of them. They also counted from one to 12 in French as they began their exciting journey into the language.

As we move through our first unit, our young learners will expand their vocabulary and develop an awareness of the French language through engaging books, songs, and games.

Bienvenue en français, les élèves de SK!

Year 1

Our Year 1 students have embarked on an exciting journey into French learning. To build their foundational vocabulary, we are using the AIM Gesture Approach—an engaging method that pairs gestures with words to support comprehension. With gestures, collaboration, and repetition at the heart of each lesson, students are fully immersed in the language. Connecting gestures directly with meaning allows students to learn new vocabulary without translation and helps them retain it more easily.

These skills will provide a strong foundation as students begin working with their first story later this term.

C'est parti pour une belle année en français, les élèves de première année!

Year 2

Back from summer break, our Year 2 students have settled into the classroom, where our focus is on building confidence and oral fluency.

We will be kicking off the school year with a lively review of colours and place prepositions through interactive games and songs. Students will actively review key vocabulary and language structures through a variety of engaging activities. In each activity, our goal is to maximize exposure to French while strengthening their ability to communicate orally.

Passons une excellente année en français, les élèves de deuxième année !

Year 3

Our Year 3 students have had a great start in French class! For many, this is their first time exploring a new language, so we are focusing on an essential skill: embracing the challenge of not understanding everything immediately. Already, our young learners are developing listening comprehension strategies. They are learning to be patient and persistent, recognizing that language acquisition is a gradual process.

In our first unit, students will explore the geography, climate, and culture of Senegal, setting the stage for our upcoming story, L’Arbre Ungali.

Bienvenue en français, les élèves de troisième année!

Year 4

Our Year 4 French program began with fun icebreaker activities, where students worked in teams to revisit basic vocabulary and language concepts. Building on this momentum, students will soon begin the story L’aventure de Stéphanie.

Stéphanie is an 11-year-old girl from a small town in northern Quebec, where the community decides to host a Festival du Voyageur. This setting will lead into a project exploring this aspect of Canadian Francophone culture.

Over the course of Term 1, students will also strengthen their reading comprehension strategies and communication skills through our reader, Le Voleur, and new episodes of our audiovisual program, Rémi.

En quatrième année, on apprend et on s’amuse en français!

Guillaume Dupre
Primary French Teacher

Update | Middle Mathematics

Curriculum: Students in Year 6 will begin exploring concepts involving variables and patterns. Year 7 students will engage in a mini-unit to review and solidify their number sense, including operations with rational numbers and integers.

Resources (Connected Math - CMP4): Students in Year 6 and 7 have received all their math text booklets. Students should bring the following to class for the first unit; Variables and Patterns in Year 6 and Completely Rational in Year 7. Students should have their binder containing their current math text booklet, their notebook, pencil, and calculator for each class; all other materials should be left at home.

Resources on Toddle/ Brightspace: Please have your child highlight some of the resources available on Toddle (Year 6) and on Brightspace (Year 7). In Years 6 and 7 math courses, students will have access to lesson slides, practice resources, additional optional practice and challenge resources, as well as an extension unit including access to past contests/ solutions and good (mathematical) problems.

Re-Introducing Math Cafe: In addition to support available to Year 6 and 7 students in class, students are also encouraged to take advantage of Math Cafe during FLEXtime every day except on Wednesdays as well as between 8am and 8:30am with prior notice. Students are welcome to visit Math Cafe to practice, work on assigned tasks, seek support, solve mathematical problems and challenges, play with math puzzles and work with other students to prepare for math contests. Math Cafe is located in the Math and Science Learning Community.

Upcoming math contests for Years 6 and 7 students

BCC contest: November 19 [registration email will be sent to students in October, 2026]

The middle Math team (pictured from left to right): Owen Lutes, Sydney Frank, Riyaz Ismail and Bob Cooper.

Final week to apply for Global Experiences!

There’s still time for your son to be part of an unforgettable adventure in France, Spain, Argentina or Montreal! Our Global Experiences programs offer students the chance to explore new cultures, build leadership skills and create friendships that last a lifetime. Learn more here.

The Global Experiences application closes Wednesday, Sept. 23.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Peter Labancz
Global Experience Coordinator

Enhancing digital wellbeing: tech updates for parents

Welcome back, everyone! The Prep School’s Acceptable Use Policy for Technology is now available in Bluenet for all parents to review and sign. Prep students from JK to Year 7 will review this policy in class over the first few weeks of school in age-appropriate ways. If you haven't already, please log in to Bluenet, review this policy with your child, and sign your agreement as soon as possible. Students in Years 6 and 7 were asked to sign the agreement in Bluenet when it was reviewed with them in class.

Now that the school year is underway and students may be using their devices more frequently for completing school tasks, we thought it would be a good time to redistribute the Technology Guide for Prep Parents.

In addition, here are a few reminders about how we can all help manage device usage to keep the children in our community happy, healthy and safe.

Device use at home

Develop a family media plan together. Example of a family shared agreements contract
Devices should not be used behind closed doors.
Supervise device use whenever possible.
At school, we have filters in place to block inappropriate sites and games. At home, we encourage you to monitor and discuss the sites your child accesses. If needed, your home router can be configured to block specific sites. Check with your internet provider.
Tip: Consider setting up a separate wifi for children, which you can easily turn on and off at specific times.

Social media

We are all aware of social media. Facebook has a parent support centre and X explicitly requires users to be over 13 years of age. Note that the following social media sites actively aim to attract the attention of younger users. The age requirement to sign up for any of these accounts is a minimum of 13 years old.

Reminders for families of Year 6 and 7 students

As our middle division students take their laptops home each night, greater responsibility falls on them for maintaining the device and ensuring it is in proper working order for school. Students are aware of these expectations, and we would appreciate your help with guiding them to develop these habits at home:

Managing their digital tools
- Time will be dedicated in class to help students become familiar with and organize themselves using their digital tools.
- Toddle, Brightspace, Gmail, Calendar and Drive are commonly used throughout the day. Ask your child to give you a tour.
- If your child is interested in tutorials about using their Mac laptop or other digital tools, encourage them to work through the Important Laptop Tips within the Digital Citizenship course in Brightspace.

Nightly charging
- Power supplies should stay at home to open space in student laptop bags for other school supplies.
- Student laptops have no problem holding a charge for the full day. If absolutely necessary, charging is available at the help desk during the day.
- Please allocate a place at home (outside of the bedroom) where the laptop can be stored and charged each night. It should be fully charged when they arrive at school each morning.

Regular shut-downs
- Shutting down regularly helps the laptop quit unnecessary background activities and restore the charge to USB ports.
- The school distributes updates that are often installed only upon restarting the laptop.
- Please remind your child to fully shut down and restart their laptop at least once a week.

Actively help them manage distractions
- Managing distractions is a hard skill for adults to master, never mind for our pre-teens and teens! Our students need your help to develop this self-regulation skill.
- While working on homework, encourage your child to close any unnecessary tabs in their browser that might distract them from their work. We suggest they keep their Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Toddle (Y6) or Brightspace (Y7) tabs pinned in their Chrome browser, but others can be closed and reopened as needed.
- Check that they aren’t hiding distracting items on a separate desktop with a 3-finger swipe across their trackpad.

Joanna Martin

Primary Innovation and Technology Coach

Sarah Barclay

Middle Innovation and Technology Coach

UCC Prep Theatre

Dear Parents and Guardians of Year 4, 5 and 6 students,

We are delighted to invite your child to participate in this year's fall play! Because theatre demand has increased in past years, we have divided our Year 4-6 play into two productions: a Year 4 play and a Year 5-6 play.

Both productions will rehearse after school on Mondays and Wednesdays. Year 4 students will meet after school from 3:30– 4:30 p.m. Year 5 and 6 students will meet from 3:45–4:45 p.m., acknowledging their later dismissal and independence in gathering their belongings. Their efforts will culminate in a live performance in Weston Hall on Wednesday, November 4.

This may be your child’s first introduction to theatre, so all students will participate in all play elements, including acting or speaking roles, set, prop, costume design, graphic design, tech and stage management.

Students who wish to participate must complete this commitment and permission form with their parent(s) or guardian(s) by Sunday, Sept. 20. Each production has 20 spots available. We will allocate these spots on a first-come, first-served basis, based on completion of the form above. Please talk with your child to ensure they are enthusiastic about participating in the production, as spots are limited!

Philosophy

Upper Canada College Preparatory School believes in encouraging a love of theatre by developing character and skills. The theatre program values and develops respect, compassion, integrity and discipline, as well as developing teamwork and team commitment. Students will learn a strong work ethic by committing to team ideals and goals. The school supports students' growth by encouraging involvement in theatre, which builds self-confidence. Directors and players will work together to live up to the values and commitments in our philosophy.

Team commitments

Participation in any school co-curricular activity requires a strong commitment. We understand that many students have outside obligations. Students representing school co-curricular teams must commit to the final performances and all rehearsals. We will give special consideration to injury, illness, or other difficult family circumstances.

Rehearsal schedule: every Monday and Wednesday, starting Monday, Sept. 21 and ending Wednesday, Oct. 28 (except Monday, Oct. 12)

Rehearsal times: Year 4 meet 3:30– 4:30 p.m. and Year 5/6 meet 3:45–4:45 p.m.

Location: Year 4 meet in 1M and Year 5/6 meet in 2C

Dress rehearsal: Monday, Nov. 2 and Tuesday, Nov. 3 during the school day

Live performance: Wednesday, Nov. 4 from 6:30 to 8: p.m.

Please contact Prep Theatre Co-ordinator, Caroline Heo, with any questions.

Sincerely,

The Directors
Carly Crippin, Anna Crawford, Kayla Gosse , Anna Marshall and Annie McLaughlin

Prep Terry Fox Run 2026

One of the most memorable days of the year is almost here, and the weather forecast looks perfect! Tomorrow, our school community will come together to honour Terry’s legacy with a day full of spirit, movement and purpose.

The day will kick off with a special assembly featuring guest speaker Ryan Saunders, who will share his experience completing the Ride of Hope across Canada in 2025 alongside Terry’s brother, Daryl Fox. We will then participate in a campus fun run with the entire UCC community (JK through Year 12) running for the cause, and a celebratory BBQ lunch.

A few important notes:

Students should wear their colour house colours and be dressed to be active outdoors.
A BBQ lunch will be provided to all students, including those not on the meal plan.
Please do not park on the Avenue tomorrow, as it will be blocked off for the run.
The run is not open to parent/guardian spectators and will remain a student-only event. Photos will be shared with the community afterward.

We are proud to continue Terry’s dream of a world without cancer. Please consider supporting the Prep School Terry Fox Run by donating online here.

Thank you for your support in keeping Terry’s legacy alive!

Riley Carter

Community Engagement and Service Learning Coordinator

Sign up | Tinkering Tuesdays

Joanna Martin
Innovation & Technology Coach
Primary Design Learning Leader

Uniform purchasing

DGN-Kilters will be conveniently stationed on campus with their mobile sales van, located just outside the William P. Wilder ’40 Arena & Sports Complex on Monday, Sept. 28 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Prep families will have the opportunity to replenish uniform items, purchase colour house t-shirt and hoodies and facilitate exchanges or returns.

Patti Cawker-Chiang

Blues Shop Manager

Volunteer for A-Day

A-Day is our biggest community celebration of the year, bringing together students, families, alumni, and friends for a day of fun and UCC spirit.

Every single volunteer role, no matter how big or small, plays a vital part in creating a welcoming and vibrant experience for everyone. Your support ensures that our various stations, from the KidsZone to the BBQ, run smoothly, allowing our entire community to enjoy the festivities. To make this day unforgettable, we need your help!

Register | Blue Crew Night

Prep Parent Social

Join us for our Annual Blue Crew Night on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 7–9 p.m. in Weston Hall! Enjoy a glass of wine, connect with fellow Prep parents, and have some fun with trivia, games, a caricature artist and a relaxation station.

Wear your UCC swag or blue and white, and RSVP today for a fun night out.

Click here to register for the event!

Order | UCC Puffer Jackets by the PPO

Get ready for the fall season ahead with the UCC crested puffer jacket! Featuring the UCC crest on the left chest pocket, these jackets are made of 100% polyester for durability and water resistance.

Puffer jackets are available in youth and adult sizes, featuring a removable snap hood and elastic cuffs for a snug fit. The cost is $115. Perfect for layering on chilly days.

Order yours now! The deadline to order is Sept. 18. Click here for more details and to order.

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