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Dear Prep families,

We hope this message finds you well.

A highlight last week was the outstanding arts performances we enjoyed from students across the Prep. Our Primary Spring Concert on Wednesday afternoon showcased our SK–Year 5 students’ talents in visual art, dance, ukulele, recorder, song and concluded with the hit SK–Year 3 musical “Learning to Learn: The Rumpelstiltskin Method.” Our Year 6 and 7 concert took place on Wednesday evening and included performances by the Prep choir and all 4 Prep bands. All performances were repeated last Friday for our very special guests visiting campus during Generations Day, and highlighted our students’ creativity and the sheer joy they take in their learning. 

On Tuesday, our Year 6 students engaged with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center's award-winning mobile human rights education center. Programming focuses on the horrors of genocide while addressing issues of racism, intolerance, diversity, democracy and human rights. Please see below for an article highlighting how this important work fits within our Individuals and Societies curriculum.

We want to thank our parent volunteers for their incredible efforts and dedication to our Prep community throughout the school year. Your support in hanging up student artwork, assisting with our New to Blue orientation sessions, offering insights into Year 7 Graduation, organizing the used uniform and bake sales, maintaining the lost and found, cheering on our student-athletes, supporting Generations Day, co-ordinating our Community Time events and planning the Faculty and Staff appreciation lunch, is much appreciated and does not go unnoticed. We truly value and appreciate all you do for our school and our students. Your partnership is invaluable, and together we make a real difference in the lives of our students.

We look forward to seeing many of you at tomorrow's Prep Games day, our upcoming Blues Bash on May 29, and the end-of-year classroom parties. Your presence and continued support mean a great deal to us.

Please note that tomorrow is a half-day for Prep students. To support the setup and accommodate the large number of people on campus for the 2026 Leaving Ceremony that afternoon, the Prep School will end with an SK–Y5 dismissal at 11:40 a.m., and Year 6 and 7 at 12 p.m. ASP will be offered.  

Your partners in learning,

Gareth Evans, David Girard and Michael Bushey

The Prep Leadership Team

Year 6 | Individuals and Societies

For the past month, the Year 6 students have been studying the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The statement of inquiry guiding this unit is: open-mindedness, listening and respect lead to cultural understanding. This unit is intentionally framed through the lens of compassion and perspective-taking.

Our history unit began with an overview of these three religions, as well as Buddhism and Hinduism. We then explored the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in chronological order. Students examined sacred texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Abraham’s journey, Moses, Jesus and Prophet Muhammad. We also connected our learning to Ancient Rome and its treatment of monotheistic religions. Throughout the unit, students explored historical moments of both collaboration and conflict, including the Islamic Golden Age and the Crusades. We have also explicitly discussed antisemitism and Islamophobia in age-appropriate ways.

As part of this learning journey, all Year 6 students experienced the Tour for Humanity on Tuesday, May 19. Using the Holocaust, Then and Now workshop as a lens for deeper inquiry, students examined the impact of organized hate, propaganda and discriminatory government policies. This learning connects directly to both our current unit and the Ontario Curriculum. It also builds on our previous study of Rome by encouraging students to consider the relationship between power, governance and civic responsibility.

While this unit uses a historical lens to understand religion, it also intentionally creates opportunities for students to share their own traditions, perspectives and lived experiences. The unit concludes with a mini inquiry project in which each student investigates and shares learning about a religion with their peers.

Register and Volunteer | Blue Bash!  

Blue Bash is a high-energy celebration of house pride and school spirit! It’s your day to have fun with friends, make new connections, and enjoy the school community. Expect music pumping, ice cream swirling, face paints ready, cotton candy spinning and a fun mocktail bar waiting for you... Come and enjoy rides and games and the chance to win exciting prizes on display! We encourage both students and families to represent your house by proudly wearing house-coloured spirit wear.

This event is about fun, friendship and feeling connected. We want you to leave feeling welcomed, proud, and energized to be part of the UCC Prep community! Let’s make it a Bash to remember.

Friday, May 29

3–5:30 p.m.

Hewitt Athletic Centre

RSVP here to secure your place at the event.

To volunteer, please sign up HERE.

Save the date | Prep Prize Day

This year's Prep Prize Day will be held on Monday, June 1 in Weston Hall at 8:30 a.m. We hope parents of prize winners can join the celebration on June 1.

Prep Uniform Purchasing

DGN-Kilters will be conveniently stationed on campus with their Mobile Sales Van, located just outside the William P. Wilder Arena on Monday, June 8 from 11:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Prep families can easily purchase uniforms and facilitate exchanges or returns.  This is a great opportunity to beat the back-to-school rush and take care of your uniform needs before summer break.  

Patti Cawker-Chiang 

Blues Shop Manager

Year 4 | Update

Year 4 has had an incredibly exciting few weeks! We recently returned from our legendary Bike Trip, where students biked an impressive 20 km along the Caledon Trailway. The trip was filled with adventure, teamwork, perseverance and plenty of memorable moments. Students also had an unforgettable experience at the Brampton Flight Centre. During their visit, they learned about aviation from pilots, explored the phonetic alphabet as part of our communication unit and discovered the different parts of an airplane. The highlight of the day was taking a ride in a Cessna plane and looking down at our bike route from the sky. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience that students will remember for years to come. 

In Math, we recently wrapped up our unit on decimals and will begin learning about the addition and subtraction of decimals next week. 

In Language Arts, students have been deeply engaged in our novel study of The Wild Robot. We have been having rich discussions about the novel and its connections to our Biomes inquiry unit. Inspired by the story, students are now writing their own original narrative stories set in a biome of their choice.

In Inquiry, students are hard at work researching a biome of their choice and preparing presentations to share their learning with the class in the coming weeks.

We cannot believe how quickly the end of the year is approaching. We have been reflecting on all of the memories, growth, and experiences we have shared together this year. It has truly been a fantastic one!

As we head toward the end of the school year, parents are kindly reminded to let teachers know if their child will be leaving early for summer holidays. This greatly helps with our planning and ensures that all student belongings and learning materials are packed up and sent home beforehand. Students will also soon be asked to bring in a reusable bag to help transport their work, projects, and classroom materials home at the end of the year.

Sincerely, 

Paige Colalillo, Brent Crawford, and Dallyssa Huggins 

Update | Health & Life Skills 

As we enter the last few weeks of the school year, our focus in Health & Life Skills (HLS) will vary by year.

In the primary division, most classes will be engaged in culminating activities to review and bring all of their HLS learning together.  Activities like scavenger hunts will be a fun way to engage students in revisiting themes from across the school year. In Year 5, we will be working on Human Development, learning about the typical changes that can occur during puberty and, in particular, about how the reproductive system relates to overall development.  

In the Middle division, Year 6 students are ending the year with a look at healthy eating, including the variety of influences on our food choices and eating patterns. We will also discuss how healthy eating and active living work together to improve a person’s overall physical health as well as their mental health and wellbeing. This is a nice link back to their design class unit at the beginning of the year, in which they created videos about wellbeing.  

Year 7 classes are also thinking about wellbeing as part of the Mental Health Literacy content, which has been addressed at different times throughout the year. Recognizing and addressing negative thinking traps, understanding the relationship between mental health and mental illness and talking about the transition to the Upper School and the supports available there will be part of our final classes.   

Martha Boyce

Update | Middle Science

Dear Prep Families,

With the summer fast approaching, it is hard to believe we are already in the heart of May. It has been a dynamic and exciting year, and we are especially enjoying our new, renovated and updated labs. Please enjoy this final update from the Prep Science team.

This unit will conclude with a research assessment of invasive species in Ontario, in which students will create their own comprehensive food webs. In order to prepare, students have been practicing making their own food webs in our lessons. Students will also learn more about Ontario ecosystems by conducting a study in the Credit River at Norval in early June as a finale to the unit.

In theory, the car’s kinetic energy at the bottom of the ramp should equal its starting potential energy. In reality, due to factors like air resistance and friction, the final kinetic energy is less, resulting in an efficiency below 100%. The students are working to determine, experimentally, if their hypothesis holds true.

Update | Middle Design 

Our Middle Years students are bringing new design concepts to life in our final units, from programming autonomous vehicles to crafting personalized clocks driven by empathy.

Year 6: Autonomous Vehicles

The Holmes Lab has transformed into a bustling 'test track' as students prepare for their final "driver's test" with their mBot robots. Their current investigation is guided by the question, “How can we design procedures to allow robots to evaluate and adapt to their environment?”

To deepen their understanding of autonomous systems, students began by researching the benefits of self-driving cars in personal and business contexts. They learned about key components and sensors, a topic made even more real by a visit from Maryse Thomas and Mike DeMelo from General Motors, who helped connect the students' work with GM’s SuperCruise autonomous systems.

Students are now coding their robots to tackle the final challenges, which include precision parallel parking and navigating a busy parking lot - a true test of their programming skills!

Year 7: Fabrication with Empathy 

In Year 7, students are exploring the powerful idea that “Empathizing with the perspective of clients results in better products and happier consumers.” This central theme guides their current unit: creating a hand-crafted analogue clock tailored to a specific client.

All students have successfully completed the initial phases of the Design Cycle—Inquiring and Analyzing and Developing Ideas—by interviewing their client and receiving feedback on their initial concepts. The variety of designs is remarkable, each reflecting the unique personality of the individual client for whom the clock is being designed.

The Hixon Lab is now alive with the sounds of fabrication: scroll saws, drills, the laser cutter, oscillating sanders and hand saws. Students are finishing their unique clocks using various techniques such as staining, painting, heat-pressing and/or vinyl-cutting, creating multi-layered final products. Their clients will soon be receiving these unique, hand-crafted analogue clocks. Be sure to look for all the creations on display at the Year 7 graduation in June.

Sarah Barclay

Middle Design Learning Leader

Year 7 | End of Year Niagara Trip 

Once again, we are excited to offer a year-end trip for our Year 7 students to the Niagara Region. The trip will be on June 3, 4 and 5. Please review this document for a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the trip, including a suggested packing list.

Sincerely,

Michael Bushey

End of Year Classroom Parties

As the school year draws to a close, we’re excited to celebrate the students’ hard work and achievements with end-of-year classroom parties. We want to share some important guidelines for these events to ensure a fun and consistent experience for everyone.

Like last year, classroom parties will take place on Tuesday, June 9 during lunch and lunch recess. To streamline the process and ensure the safety of all our students, the Prep Parent Organization (PPO) have organized a pizza lunch for each class. We kindly ask that parents do not send in any additional food or party items for the parties.

Our PPO reps have been in contact with our form advisers and will be visiting each classroom party to assist with the distribution of pizza/treats and to present the teacher’s gift on behalf of the parent community. 

Form advisers will also be present at the parties and have the option to play a video or music to enhance the festive atmosphere.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in making these end-of-year celebrations a positive and memorable experience for all our students.

Mabel’s Labels

Summer is coming up, which means it's time to start labelling your kids' clothes for camp! If you're looking for labels, please support our PPO fundraiser here. 

Search for Upper Canada College Prep Parents Organization, and a portion of the sale goes back to the PPO!  

Have a great summer!

The Lost & Found Team