GUELPH – Parents with children who will go to school for the first time in September should note the week of Feb. 4 to 8 and visit their local school for junior or senior Kindergarten registration.
Students eligible to attend junior Kindergarten must be 4 on or before Dec. 31 of this year, and they must be 5 before Dec. 31, 2008 to attend senior Kindergarten.
A child who is currently enrolled in the junior program does not need to be re-registered for the senior program.
With two new junior to grade 8 schools set to open in Guelph in September 2008 – Southcreek and Grangehill – families living in those new boundary areas will register their children at their original home school.
The new schools are still under construction and the offices are not yet open. For example, if a family lives in the Hales Barton area, registration takes place at Kortright Hills, even though children will be attending Southcreek Public School in September.
All registration information will be transferred to the new schools. The boundaries for the new schools are available on www.ugdsb.on.ca.
The best way to find out where to register your child is to use the www.findmyschool.ca website.
Enter one’s current street address; select the name of the board, the grade and the program (FI for French Immersion) and the site provides the name of the current local school, as well as information on eligibility for transportation.
A link to the findmyschool website is also available on the board’s website, or available by calling the Wellington-Dufferin Student Transportation Services at 519-824-4119 or 1-888-292-2224 (toll free).
In addition, staff at the home school will be able to confirm where the child will attend when a parent registers.
From the website, parents can also print out copies of the Upper Grand student admission and information form, and the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health immunization form.
Both those documents must be completed for each child. Parents must register in person and also provide proof of a child’s date of birth (birth certificate, birth registration form, baptismal certificate, citizenship certificate, or passport) before the child can legally attend school.
Any relevant custody order documents should also be provided to the school upon registration.
The board offers a blended kindergarten program where junior and senior students learn and play together. Information on that is also available on the board’s website.
Kindergarten children attend school on a full day and alternate day routines at most schools. The only schools that offer a half day, every day are not served by school busses, and all the children can walk to those schools.
The Kindergarten calendar with the day schedule for each child will be available once the board has finalized the 2008-09 school year calendar, which will be approved in April for submission to the Ministry of Education.
Families with students eligible for transportation will be sent route information by Wellington-Dufferin Student Transportation Services before school starts. The bus operators’ association will hold its annual Kindergarten ride for first timers and their families in August.
Details on where and when that program will run will be on the board’s website.
