HOME OF THE WARRIORS

2025-26 WELCOME BACK!!!

Welcome Back to the 2025-26 School Year

School reopens for students Wednesday, September 3th.  This will be a regular day for all students.  Buses will begin pickup at usual times.  Doors open at 8:40 for all students each morning.

Entering the Building on Sept. 3:

Doors will open at 8:40 and students can check the board as they enter the school to see which homeroom they are in for this year.  They can proceed to the room indicated on these lists. 

 *Please note, we will not be changing homerooms or classes unless there is medical documentation supporting the need for change.

Attendance:  Attendance for students is a high priority for government and the district this year. As we strive to create a supportive and successful learning environment for all our students, we kindly ask that you contact the school on times when your child is not in the building. Consistent attendance is crucial for academic and social success, as it ensures that students are actively engaged and able to fully benefit from the educational opportunities we provide. When students attend school consistently, they not only keep up with their lessons and assignments, but they also develop important life skills such as responsibility, time management, and perseverance. Being present and engaged in the classroom allows students to participate in discussions, collaborate with peers, and build strong relationships.

Signing in and out: If a student needs to leave the building during the day, they must have parents or guardians call the school to have them excused and they must sign out at the office.  If a student arrives late for school, they must come to the office to get checked in.  Students arriving later than 20 mins for the start of class may be directed to sit in the office or alternate space for the next class so as not to interrupt the learning environment. We will be doing Safe Arrival calls each day at 10:00 am, 11:30 and 2:00 to track attendance.  We will be communicating our late policy to students once the school year begins.

Bus Portal:

Students can avail of busing no matter the distance from the school.  Students will be assigned seating after the first day by the bus drivers.  Courtesy seats need to be asked for from the school as we will have limited room on buses.  There have been some changes in the routes so please ensure that you have reviewed each route.

Parents who have previously created an account can login and view their child's bus route, view their transportation schedule for first day of school by using the Parent Portal Link included below. All bus route information can be viewed in this area as well.

Parents of students who have not created an account in the past (and wish to do so) can also access the link to create an account.

Parents will need the following information in order to add their child:

1. Student Number (Please call school)

2. Student Date of Birth

3. 2024-2025 School Name

4. 2024-2025 Grade Level

https://nlesd.mybusplanner.ca/Login...

PED Policy

A new NLSchools Responsible Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices Policy came into effect January 6, 2025. The policy aims to reduce the impact of inappropriate personal electronic device usage, such as cell phones, on learning.

Under the policy:

• Students in grades K-6 are encouraged not to bring personal electronic devices to school and will not have access to devices during school hours.

• Students in Grade 7 to Level 4 who bring a personal electronic device to school must switch it off and store it out of sight during instructional hours. Students can access their devices during recess and lunch breaks.

Individual exemptions to the policy may be provided for medical and educational reasons. The application for exemption form will be posted on the NLSchools website later today.

The policy is available on the NLSchools website here. To support fulsome understanding of the policy, a frequently asked questions document for students and parents/guardians is also available on the NLSchools website and is linked below.

Responsible Student Use of Personal Electronic Devices Policy

Frequently Asked Questions – Students, Parents and Guardians

Powerschool:

Poweschool has a new interface this year and should be more user friendly. It is vitally important for all parents to have access to their child’s PowerSchool Account.  These accounts let parents track current marks, missed assessments, attendance and the ability to pay fees, fill out forms, permission slips and much more.  

Should you need access please contact the school and we will provide your child with a paper copy of the access information.

Rycor:

All schools will be using the financial platform Rycor again this year.  This system will allow the school to collect any fees such as sports trips, graduation funds and field trips electronically. Parents/Guardians can access Rycor by using PowerSchool parent app and clicking the School Fees and Forms link.  

The forms below are now available and must be completed by parents.  Failure to complete these forms online by the end of September  may result in loss of privilege for students (especially for those needing electronic devices):

Acceptable use of technology

Core Digital Consent

Student Athlete Contract

Athletic Medical Consent

Chromebook Agreements(if needed)

Demographic Information:  It is vital that the school have accurate information on where a student lives and contact information for that student.  Students should attend schools in their zoned community and parents must be able to be contacted should the need arise. Once we have settled in, all demographic forms will be sent home to be filled out. * If you only have minor changes, please just contact the school so we can update the changes.

Allergies:

Please contact the school if your child has any serious allergies or medical conditions that need to be documented. This year, we have severe alergies at our school that include peanuts of all types, kiwi and staff with severe scent alergies. 

Midterms and Finals:  Last year, we saw the return midterms and finals and this will be occurring again this yea. Please stay tuned for updated information on this policy. 

Chromebooks:

Students are required to bring their district assigned chromebooks to school each day.  If they have one that is broken or not working properly, they need to bring it back so that it can be repaired.  Our Grade 7 chromebooks are here for those that filled out the forms and we will get these on by Thursday of this week.

**IMPORTANY NOTE FOR 2025-26 SCHOOL YEAR**

Please notify the school if any changes are required for your child(s) demographics. Please contact the school to have this information updated. 

School Lunch

The School Lunch Association will be starting up again in September. For those that are new to this program, please see the information below on how this program works. 

The School Lunch Association is a charitable organization which serves lunch to children in 43 schools in the province including Botwood Collegiate. They operate a “Pay-What-You-Can” model to ensure that all children have access to a hot nutritious lunch each school day.

Their operation requires, that parents and guardians, register their children for their program and order lunch approximately two weeks in advance of their service date. This is due to the nature of their operation in procuring food in advance and ensuring timely delivery with their vendors.

They have provided the link to their website which outlines how the program works, registration information, their menu as well as a 2-minute tutorial video. 

We encourage you to visit this link to learn about the program and order lunch for your child/children for the month of June.

Should you have any questions about their program, we kindly ask that you contact them directly via email at sla@schoollunch.ca or via phone at 709-754-5323.

Public Advisory: Update on Cybersecurity Incident in PowerSchool Platform

This notification is to advise PowerSchool has started rolling out emails to all individuals impacted by the cybersecurity incident regarding access to the two years of complimentary identity protection services.

If you have or do receive a notification from Ps-sis-incident@mail.csid.com,

Ps-sis-incident@mail1.csid.com, and Ps-sis-incident@mail2.csid.com titled

“PowerSchool Cybersecurity Incident,” please be aware that it is an official email from PowerSchool. This email may have been delivered to your Spam/Junk folder and is not a phishing scam. The Department has also released a Public Advisory addressing the validity of these emails. As a reminder, PowerSchool committed to offering two years of complimentary identity protection services for all students and educators whose information was accessed, and two years of complimentary credit monitoring services to all  individuals whose information was accessed and have reached the age of majority (19 years of age). We

encourage all current and former students and staff impacted to sign up through the PowerSchool website.

Also, the webpage containing public information related to the PowerSchool incident is active on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s website. All inquiries can be sent to PowerSchoolinfo@gov.nl.ca.

Thank you for your continued understanding as we continue to work through this unfortunate incident with PowerSchool and continue to ensure the safety of information moving forward.

Below is an update on Credit Monitoring and Identity Protection Services Available for Individuals affected by PowerSchool Cybersecurity Incident on from the ADM, Education Operations & Superintendent of Schools

This memo is to let you know credit monitoring and identity protection services are now activated and available on behalf of PowerSchool for students and educators whose information was involved in the recent cybersecurity incident. PowerSchool has engaged Experian and TransUnion, trusted credit reporting agencies,to provide complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services to involved students and educators. 

Individuals can visit the website linked here for information on how to activate the complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services.

In the Newfoundland and Labrador K-12 education system, high school students since1995 and teachers since 2010 may be eligible to access the complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services. Individuals are encouraged to visit the above website and follow the prompts to determine eligibility and sign up for the complimentary services.

In the coming weeks, Experian (on behalf of PowerSchool) will also be distributing direct email notifications to involved students (or the parents/guardians of students, as applicable) and educators for whom they have sufficient contact information. The email notice will include further information about the information of theirs involved and the resources PowerSchool is offering.

Additionally, PowerSchool has coordinated with Experian to set up a toll-free call center for families and educators. Individuals can call (833) 918-9464, Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. through 10:30 p.m. Newfoundland Standard Time.

A webpage has been set up on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s website with public information related to the PowerSchool incident. Inquiries can be sent to PowerSchoolinfo@gov.nl.ca.

Once again thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate through this process.

Below is an update on the Cybersecurityincident in the Powerschool Platform from the ADM, Education Operations & Superintendent of Schools

This memo is to provide an update on actions the Provincial Government has taken to date to address the cybersecurity incident in the PowerSchool platform. The incident is

not specific to Newfoundland and Labrador. PowerSchool notified customers in multiple jurisdictions in North America.

Based on information from PowerSchool and work undertaken by the Provincial Government to date, as of this time it has been determined that the following groups of

individuals and data have been impacted in the PowerSchool incident:

Teachers: Data relating to approximately 14,400 teachers was accessed by the unauthorized party. The oldest teacher records involved were from 2010. About 70 per cent of the teacher information involved includes some combination of name, email address, and phone number. A small number of Medical Care Plan (MCP) numbers and 749 Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) of teachers were included in the data that was

accessed. The Department of Education will provide individual notifications to the 749 individuals who had a SIN involved beginning this week.

Students: Data relating to approximately 271,000 students was accessed by the unauthorized party. The oldest student records involved were high school students’ information from 1995. Approximately 75 per cent of the students whose data was accessed are no longer in the K-12 system. In addition to the individual’s name, information accessed may include contact information, date of birth, MCP numbers, medical alert information, custodial alert information, and other related information. Analysis of student data is ongoing and further updates will be provided as information becomes available.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is working with PowerSchool on notification processes and the ongoing investigation. Updated information will be provided as it becomes available.

PowerSchool will offer two years of complimentary identity protection services for all students and educators whose information was accessed, and two years of complimentary credit monitoring services to all individuals whose information was accessed and have reached the age of majority. PowerSchool will offer these services regardless of whether the individual’s SIN was involved. Further information on credit monitoring and identity protection services will be provided in the coming weeks.

A webpage has been set up on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s website with public information related to the PowerSchool incident. All inquiries can be sent to PowerSchoolinfo@gov.nl.ca.