September 4th, 2026

Dear Abraham Erb Families,

Welcome to the 2026-27 school year! This is going to be a lengthy communication, and I thank you in advance for reading it all as it contains valuable information.  

When Does School Start?

Our day begins at 9:10 am and ends at 3:30 pm.  Nutrition break #1 is from 11:10-11:50 am  and nutrition break #2 is from 1:50-2:30 pm.  Please keep these times in mind if you are planning to pick your child up for an appointment.                                                                                                                                                                 

Arrival to School

We kindly ask that families make every effort to arrive at school before the 9:10 am bell each morning.  There is staff supervision on our field starting at 8:55am.  Upon the 9:10 a.m. bell, students will join their designated line-up and enter the school as a class.  Important morning routines commence right at the beginning of the day! 

If a student arrives late, they must report to the front doors of the school and ring the bell and sign in at the office.  Though we understand that this may happen on occasion due to unforeseen circumstances or medical appointments, we do encourage all students to arrive on time at the back of the school before 9:10 am.  

What to Send to School With Your Child

Please ensure that your child is sent to school with everything they need for the day (e.g. lunch, coat, water bottle, completed homework, etc) as drop offs of lunches, backpacks and other forgotten items are disruptive to your child’s class. 

All students need separate indoor and outdoor shoes.  Indoor shoes may remain at school.  

Remember to clearly label all belongings with your child’s name.   

We will provide each student with a plastic portfolio to bring important communication to and from school.  We ask for your cooperation in ensuring this portfolio travels to school in your child’s backpack each day.

Pizza Days

We will offer Pizza Days again this year in partnership with City Pizza.  Stay tuned for more information to be sent out on School Day.

Nutrition for Learning Program

We continue to offer the Nutrition for Learning Program, which provides healthy, nut-free snacks for students in all our classrooms.  All students have access to these snacks during the day under the supervision of their teacher.

Boomerang Lunches

We are a proud Platinum Eco-School!  We encourage our students at Abraham Erb to reduce food and food-related waste.  A boomerang lunch is a lunch that comes to school and everything that is not eaten is returned home.  No matter if it is leftover food, containers, or garbage, it all goes home.  A significant amount of garbage at school is made up of unopened packaged food, uneaten fruit, full juice boxes and half-eaten sandwiches.  Both a waste-free and a boomerang lunch allow parents to see what their children are actually eating during the day.  We appreciate your support and understanding of boomerang lunches, 

Parking Lot Reminders

Please do not use our parking lot for morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up of students.  This is particularly important from 8:55-9:20 am and 3:15-3:40 pm when there are many student pedestrians on school property and our school buses are on-site.  Parking is available on side streets adjacent to the school to use for drop-off and pick-up purposes.  Thank you for your partnership in keeping our students safe.

School Council

School Council meetings will be held  in-person in the school library at 6pm on the 4th Wednesday of the month.  All are welcome to attend, please watch School-Day for information each month.

Students Who Are Sick or Become Sick During the Day

It is imperative that we have parental cooperation in keeping sick children at home.  No child should be sent to school sick in any way.  If a child becomes sick during the day, we will call parents and the child must be picked up immediately.  The child will be kept in their classrooms under the teacher’s supervision until they are picked up.  A child should not return to school until they are healthy and able to participate fully in the classroom program. 

We ask that all parents have a plan in place should a child develop an illness or injury during the school day and need to be picked up.

If your child requires medication at school, please note that only prescription medication can be administered by school staff and must be stored in our main office or with your child’s teacher.  The appropriate paperwork must be completed in the office prior to any medications being administered.  Also, please be aware that over-the-counter medication (e.g. Tylenol) is not permitted to be administered by staff.  If your child requires over-the-counter medicine of any sort, a parent must come to the school to administer it to their child.

Communication with our Families

Communication with our families is of utmost importance to us at Abraham Erb.  We are proud of our efforts to try to reduce the amount of paper we use and we are pleased to continue to use School-Day and our website (abe.wrdsb.ca) to communicate school announcements, reminders, and newsletter items.  We encourage all families to subscribe to both the WRDSB (wrdsb.ca) and Abraham Erb websites (go to each website, scroll down to the bottom of the page, enter your email under “Stay Connected”).

Most communication during the year will be sent to families electronically via School-Day. School-Day will also be used for the collection of money if needed during the year.  100% of our current families are registered with School-Day!  Families already registered on School-Day do not need to register again as all 2026-2027 information (class, teacher) will automatically be updated.  

School “Start Up” Packages

School “start up” packages are sent home during the first week of school in your student’s home-to-school folder.  Your child’s start up package contains some important paperwork which must be completed, signed and returned to the school.  In addition, there are some important forms that need to be completed on School Day.  We’d ask for your cooperation in completing and returning items as promptly as possible.   Interested families can also access information about purchasing student insurance packages in School Year Information on our website. 

*** Action Required – Log into School-Day.  Under “school items”, choose “forms” and complete the 3 forms for each child in your family.  Thank you!

Abraham Erb is a Nut-Free and Scent-Free School

To ensure the safety of all of our Otters, we’d kindly ask for your cooperation in refraining from wearing strongly scented body sprays and perfumes in the school and ensuring that your child(ren)’s lunches and snacks are peanut and nut-free.  We really appreciate you working with us to keep our school environment as risk-free as possible for our anaphylactic students and staff.

We believe that each family needs to determine what food their children eat. Please do not send any food items/treats to school with your child to share with others (e.g. on special occasions like birthdays, holidays).  If it is an important tradition for your child, please consider non-food items such as special pencils, stickers, etc. As we navigate allergies, food sensitivities, and special dietary needs, only non-edible items will be distributed to students. Please do not send cake, cupcakes, candy or other food items to school to be shared with other students. If food items are sent in, we will not be able to serve them and will send them home with your child. 

Exceptions to this rule, such as special class celebrations or making food together to support the curriculum, will be communicated to you by your child’s teacher. 

 

I am truly honoured to be Principal at Abraham Erb Public School – may the 2026-27 school year be one that is filled with much learning and adventure!

Warmly,

Krista Mohr Beamish
Principal