Les nouvelles Polson Park News - September 21-25, 2026

P-A-N-T-H-E-R-S! Panthers, Panthers are the BEST!

Did you know? (Featuring a plastic chicken nugget!)

Many of our educators have a special way, often a call and response, of connecting with and capturing their students' attention. Mme Underhill (French Immersion, Grade 4) says the word, "Cascade!" (waterfall in French), which signals to her students to make the sound of a waterfall, "Shhhhhhhhhhh..." and lets them know that she would like to reconnect as a classroom community. Mme Marshall (French Immersion, Grade 3, Core French, Planning Time) says, "Badadadada!" (in a more melodious way), and her students respond with "Da! Da!" You may also be familiar with, "Hands on top.../that means stop." Ou en français, "Mains sur la tête.../ça veut dire arrête."

This year, Ms. Schmidt (Grade 6) concocted a unique and very well received way of drawing her students in with a plastic chicken nugget (chicken nuggies are a preferred food around here) key chain! Students know to "hail the chicken nugget" when she holds it up! Creative and effective!

Ask your student how their educators ensure that they are locked in and ready to learn!

Congratulations are in order!

We are rich in talent at Polson Park, that's for sure. There are successful and, more importantly, fun-having piano players, hockey players, gymnasts, cheerleaders, readers, writers, actors, singers, dancers, swimmers, soccer players, lacrosse players, basketball players, Lego builders, science aficionados, runners, baton twirlers, guitarists, and more who walk through our hallways every day! Some do these pursuits competitively and some are more focused on participation and moving bodies and minds in a positive and active way. Regardless, we are proud of each of you and want to know about what you are up to outside of school. That said, sometimes it is appropriate to widely recognize students! Today is one of those days!

Big time congratulations to Mylah, Carys, and David who recently won a 2026 Sustainable Kingston Youth Sustainability Champion Award for their keen efforts to plan and execute regular after school clean-up sessions in the spring on the Polson Park yard and adjacent community park. These three students were celebrated with certificates and beautifully crafted wooden medallions presented to them at a ceremony last week. We are proud of their positive environmental impact and thank them for helping to keep this place clean and green. Thank you also to Mme Carroll for nominating these deserving students and also, as always, for her leadership in the springtime Pitch-In campaign. Awesome work, awesome kids!

Polson Cares - Polson’s Sharing Shelf

We are happy to share Polson’s Sharing Shelf, a food pantry available to support students and families within our school community. The Sharing Shelf is here to provide some additional food support during times when families are needing a little extra help.

Families interested in accessing the Sharing Shelf can reach out to Sara Bolarinho-Educational Assistant and/or Bethany Mills-Elder- Student Support Counsellor, at bolarinhostensons@limestone.on.ca or millselderb@limestone.on.ca. You are also welcome to connect with your child’s homeroom teacher, who can help connect you with our Sharing Shelf team.

All requests will be handled privately and respectfully, and support will be based on the items we currently have available.

The Sharing Shelf is intended to provide some additional support during times of need and to complement the food resources and services available through community agencies. Please don’t hesitate to reach out when this support feels helpful for your family.

Want to Help?

We welcome donations from our school community to help keep the Sharing Shelf stocked! Our current most-needed items include:

Soups • Kraft Dinner • Mr. Noodles • Chef Boyardee • Cereal • Pasta • Pasta Sauce • Crackers • Granola Bars

Donations can be placed in our Sharing Shelf Donation Box at the front of the school or sent to school with your child to be added to the donation bin.

Lunch Is Ready! Update

The Food Sharing Project's Lunch Is Ready program begins this week with sample days! For the next four Fridays (Sept. 25/Oct. 2/Oct. 9/Oct. 16), students can have a *small* sample before families/caregivers commit to a weekly Lunch Is Ready lunch! (You won't be sad if you do, however! So delicious! So nutritious! We are oh so lucky to have this initiative at Polson!) NOTE THAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO SIGN UP FOR SAMPLE DAYS! You DO, however, need to sign your child up to receive a regular Friday Lunch Is Ready lunch after Oct. 16! Registration opens on Monday Sept. 21 and closes on Friday Oct. 9. Students who register will receive a free nutritious meal once per week, including a main course, fruit, and milk. Meals will be delivered to the school every Friday starting October 23 through December 18. To view the menu (vegetarian/plant-based and gluten free available) and register your child, please visit: https://foodsharingproject.store/ The goal of this program is to provide free, nutritious meals to students at school. FULL BELLIES = READY TO LEARN! If you are in a position to donate to this very worthwhile program, please visit here: https://www.foodsharingproject.org/donate/

Open House

Our Open House will take place on Thursday, October 1st, from 4:30-5:30 pm. Families will get to meet teachers, tour classrooms, dance outside with Queen's Dancers, register for Lunch Is Ready, and get support with School Day and other online tools for families.

This Week @ Polson

Here is a peek at what is coming up at Polson...

More on the docket...

From our K-12 Indigenous Education and Reconciliation Lead, Ms. DiRocco:
"As we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day on September 30th, we are reminded of our collective responsibility to engage in learning about the Residential School System and the true history of relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in what is currently known as Canada. This day invites us to honour the children who never returned home, stand with Survivors, and recommit ourselves to meaningful reconciliation in our classrooms and communities." National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day is on Wednesday September 30th. Please wear orange as a show of understanding, solidarity, and support.

The Polson Park Terry Fox Marathon of Hope will be held on Thursday October 1st, 2:25pm-3:25pm. Families/caregivers are welcome to join - educators will be communicating what route they will be taking to their classroom community. Thank you to Ms. Blommesteyn (Ms. B.) for coordinating these important efforts at Polson this year. If you would like to order a t-shirt, please refer to the form that was sent home last week. To donate to our school fundraising campaign, please visit here. Students can also bring a Toonie for Terry on the day of the run.

Our Open House will be held on Thursday October 1st. Details for timing to follow but it will take place after school.

Cross country running meets (interested students in Grades 3 to 6) are coming up in October - Tuesday 13th for Regionals and Tuesday 20th for Districts for qualifying student athletes. Your student athletes will have brought home information last week from coaches about this.

Running and Reading Club will begin on Thursday October 22nd from 3:35pm-5:35pm. Registration information is forthcoming and will be available to the school community at the beginning of October.

For your information...

CPICs with vulnerable sector checks are required to join and supervise students on field trips. Please see the LDSB website for a link to the online reporting process for Kingston Police and OPP (https://www.limestone.on.ca/volunteers). CPICs must be updated and approved every three years. During interim years, volunteers must complete the annual Offence Declaration Form (https://www.limestone.on.ca/documents/7abf2a44-d6b6-4dc8-baf2-4fa0c2bf0f45/2025-10-07-Offence-Declaration-Fillable.pdf?fingerprint=ppb20251217014138&fingerprint=ppb20251217014138). Volunteers are encouraged to complete their application forms early in the school year, as there may be a waiting period involved with the processing and approval. Currently, there is variability on whether or not school volunteers are charged for the police criminal record check

Kingston Police offers an automated online system  (https://www.kingstonpolice.ca/reporting-and-services/background-check/) for submitting your Vulnerable Sector/CPIC application.

Ontario Provincial Police offers an online system (https://www.opp.ca/index.php?id=147&lng=en) for people wishing to get a record check/vulnerable sector check.

Please see the LDSB website for more information about our board's concussion protocols which guide us in supporting students (https://www.limestone.on.ca/concussion_protocols). We appreciate your support in filling out the required paperwork for this, as necessary.

Polson Gear

If you are interested in purchasing some new Polson gear, please see the link from Specialty Trophies below.

Have a super-duper week, Panther families/caregivers! Know that we are happily working with your students on their learning and growing. We care about all the great kids here.