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Friday, June 5, 2026

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The monthly Letter to Families is intended to keep you apprised of news that affects all students and families of Near North District School Board (������ýapp).

2025-2026 school year – that’s a wrap!

It’s hard to believe that this is the last regular monthly letter to families for the 2025-2026 school year. We hope that you and your children had a fantastic school year, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back to class on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

If you missed it, the 2026-2027 school year calendar can be found here.

Congratulations, graduates!

The learning journey has many milestones, including several graduations. Whether you are graduating from kindergarten, Grade 6, Grade 8 or Grade 12, congratulations on your achievement!

If you are graduating to a higher grade in ������ýapp, we hope you enjoy the next years of learning. If you’re graduating from an ������ýapp secondary school, we wish you all the best in future endeavours. Whether you are heading to work or post-secondary education, we hope the years you spent at ������ýapp serve you well, and we offer our sincere congratulations on your achievement of this important milestone.

Supports for students during tests and exams

With the end of the school year quickly approaching, students will be preparing for tests and exams during the month of June.

Here is a link to . It’s a helpful resource from School Mental Health Ontario (SMHO) to support students with preparing for exams.

Final mental health webinar today

School Mental Health Ontario has launched a four-part parent/caregiver webinar series focused on key mental health and substance use health topics identified by parents and caregivers in Ontario. The webinars feature a presentation by leading experts on the topics.

The first three sessions about balanced device use, conversations about vaping, and conversations about body image have already been held. The final session, conversations about anxiety, takes place (June 5) at noon. Here is the for the free webinar.

If you want to watch any of the sessions, they will be uploaded to the .

Indigenous Education Team supported pow wows throughout district

Throughout May, the Near North Indigenous Education Team supported Teaching and Learning Family of ������ýapp Pow wows at Chippewa, Northern, White Woods, Almaguin, West Ferris, Parry Sound and the North Bay Pow Wow at Memorial Gardens.

Miigwech to Sid Bobb, the Aanmitaagzi and to all the drummers and dancers for the meaningful experiences for students filled with drumming, singing, dancing and powerful teachings.

Family resources for cyber-safety and online trends

is committed to providing knowledge, resources and supports for families looking to make informed decisions about their child’s presence in an ever-increasing digital world. From webinars about trending topics to educational resources for all ages, C3P is the best starting point for families looking to keep their child safe online.

is an interactive series designed for 8-10-year-olds and provides them with an opportunity to have some fun exploring what it means to be safe while playing games online.

is a website that provides youth with information about how to manage issues that may arise from sexting incidents, as well as steps youth can take to request images/videos be removed from websites, helpful hints for how to involve a safe adult, and information about self-care and recognizing when things have gone too far.

Use tech safely
The Ontario Physical Health and Education Association (OPHEA) has developed a bank of internet safety resources. These��are free online resources that provide opportunities for parents/guardians/caregivers to reinforce and deepen the concepts of internet safety. The��internet safety resources��include a video and an accompanying discussion guide for children in Grades 4 to 8 and can be found��.

Technology has become a part of our children’s daily lives and has many benefits. Our children are using technology more frequently to learn in a virtual setting, to gather information about their questions or interests, engage in social media, interact with friends, and stay connected to family. Teaching our children to be good digital citizens means helping them learn the skills to use technology in a safe and responsible manner, engage with others respectfully in a virtual environment, and keep themselves safe when online.

The purpose of these��internet safety resources��is to foster a shared responsibility between schools and caregivers, and to educate children about how to stay safe, be responsible and communicate respectfully when online. Knowing what your child is learning about internet etiquette and safety enhances your ability to have open discussions to support their learning and to encourage them to apply their learning in all online situations.

Learning doesn’t need to take a break!

Keep math learning going all summer long! Explore a wide range of engaging and accessible activities designed to make math both fun and meaningful. You’ll find hands-on practice ideas, easy-to-play games, links to interactive online tools, and everyday learning opportunities that families can use at home or on the go.

��provides digital math games and unplugged math activities for students in Kindergarten to Grade 6.

��All games can be used to teach and reinforce basic math concepts. Each game employs the use of dice and/or a deck of playing cards.

��Math fluency games are

engaging activities designed to help students master basic arithmetic quickly and accurately.

Are you moving over the summer?

If you are moving over the summer, and your children will require transportation in September, ������ýapp recommends that you contact your current school before the end of the school year to request transportation.

Please complete and submit this form to your current school so transportation changes can be as seamless as possible.

How to keep in touch

In addition to staying informed via the board’s website, families can find ������ýapp on and .

Sincerely,

Near North District School Board

Friday, May 15, 2026

West Ferris students find fitness and wellness in Pow Wow dance

West Ferris Secondary School students met at the intersection of fitness and Indigenous culture at an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Try Day event focused on Pow Wow dance.

The OFSAA Pow Wow Try Day was the creation of ������ýapp’s Indigenous Youth Circle (IYC) as a way of bringing the Indigenous and non-Indigenous student population together to further their knowledge, understanding and skills of Pow Wow dancing in a meaningful way.

West Ferris teacher and secondary grad coach Rae-Ann Camirand said the event “was an opportunity to highlight how Pow Wow dance is a form of fitness and personal wellness. Pow Wow and Pow Wow dancing is an important part of Indigenous culture that promotes whole health and well-being; spiritual, emotional, mental and physical.”

The event was made possible through an OFSAA Try Day grant, which provided the funds for the group to bring in Pow Wow dancers from the community to lead three separate workshops throughout the day.

Try Day grants are meant to introduce��new��fitness concepts, provide tools for measuring individual fitness levels, obtain��new equipment��for a school workout area, or add a��new active sport��to a school program.

Indigenous dancers from the local community –��Tasheena Sarazin, Ouske Couchie Bob, Albany Benson, Malia Mathias Mizzi, and Niibin Nakogee – led the students through some of the history, meaning and techniques of Pow Wow dance.

During the day-long event, students in multiple Grade 9 and intermediate-level physical education and Indigenous language classes deepened their knowledge, understanding, and skills in Pow Wow. Students learned how Pow Wow dance is a form of personal wellness and fitness and were introduced to various Pow Wow dance styles and their cultural significance.

Some of the intermediate students who participated remarked how they enjoyed the smaller group setting and how they were given the choice of the dance style they wanted to focus on. “It was nice to have the choice between Men’s Grass dancing, Women’s Traditional and Contemporary Fancy dancing,” the students said.

Camirand said that she hopes the students had fun and learned something about the cultural significance of Pow Wow to Indigenous people.

“I hope that Indigenous students had the opportunity to learn more about Pow Wow and dance and its personal meaning for them and their families,” Camirand said. “Hopefully, this series of workshops helped build a more dynamic, rich and inclusive school community that will reach out into the greater community of North Bay.”