GHS Memo to Families Sept.25-26

• Tuesday, September 29th, 2026 - School picture day
• Wednesday, September 30th, 2026 - National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - No school for staff or students
• Friday, October 2nd, 2026 -Orange Shirt Day
• Friday, October 2nd, 2026 - Last day for current AP students to complete AP contract and pay AP exam fees on RYCOR
• Wednesday, Oct 7th, 2026- Scholarship Night 7:00- 8:00 pm LRC
• Friday, October 9th, 2026 - PL Day - No school for students
• Monday, October 12th, 2026 - Thanksgiving Holiday - No school for staff or students
• Wednesday, November 11th, 2026 - Remembrance Day Holiday - No school for staff or students
• Thursday, November 12th - Wednesday. November 18th, 2026 - Midterm Exams
• Wednesday, December 9th, 2026 - PL Day - No school for students
• Wednesday, December 23rd 2026 - Sunday, January 3rd, 2027 - Christmas Break - No school for staff or students
• Monday, January 4th, 2027 - Classes resume for staff and students (Day 2)
• Monday, January 25th- Friday, January 29th, 2027 - Final Exams
• Friday, April 9th - Thursday, April 15th, 2027 - Midterm Exams
• Monday, May 3rd - Wednesday, May 19th, 2027 - Advanced Placement Exams
• Saturday, June 5th, 2027 4:30 - 10:00 pm - Prom
• Friday, June 11th - Thursday, June 17th, 2027 - Final Exams
• Thursday, June 24th, 2027 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Cap and Gown Ceremony

Schools will be closed on Wednesday, September 30th to recognize Truth and Reconciliation Day. Students will return to school on Thursday, October 1st and it will be Day 1 on the schedule.

As Tuesday, September 29th is our school picture day, we will observe Orange Shirt day on Friday, October 2nd.

Effective immediately, there will be bus detours for runs traveling on Empire Ave between Carpasian Road & Rennie's Mill Road due to construction and road closures in the area. These detours are expected to be in place until Friday, October 2, 2026.

Please see the memo here.

Any Grade 12 students completing Advanced Placement (AP) courses or challenging any AP exams will need to complete the AP Contract and pay the appropriate fees in Rycor found in the Parent PowerSchool portal. Only those students registered in certain AP courses will be able to access the AP Contract in their parent/guardian’s PowerSchool portal. All AP Contracts must be signed and fees submitted no later than Friday, October 2nd, 2026. All AP exams will be written between Monday, May 3rd and Friday, May 19th, 2027.

Any Grade 12 French Immersion student who would like to challenge the AP French exam is asked to see M. Kinsella and add their name to the list.

All AP students should have already created an AP account (using a different email address than their nlesd one) and have already joined their AP classes using the join code provided by their AP teachers.

We have started the distribution of textbooks. We will continue this process this week and should have all textbooks distributed by the end of this week. If you have any textbooks from last year that you still have not yet returned, please do so as soon as possible to avoid getting a bill to replace them.

As we do every year, Gonzaga will be conducting our Emergency Bus Evacuation drills on Monday, October 5th for all students. Homeroom teachers will be going over the following expectations/safety tips with their classes; however, we ask that families go over this same information with their children to ensure the safety of everyone while on the school bus.

NLESD Bus Safety Video

Student Expectations on the Bus

Bus Safety Tips Pamphlet

Gonzaga is very proud of our partnership with the Dept of Education that allows us to offer a Peer Tutoring Program. We want to let you know a couple of things about Tutoring for Tuition:

• We are currently accepting the names of students who wish to acquire a tutor (for both semesters).
• What we need from you:

A. Students first and last name

B. Course Name and Number for which they wish to have a tutor

Please email your tutoring request to any of our 3 Guidance Counsellors based on the first letter of your child’s last name:

A-G = Mrs. Catherine Rose-Jackman - catherinerosejackman@nlschools.ca

H-Q = Mrs. Tracy Gardiner - tracyanngardiner@nlschools.ca

R-Z = Ms. Lori Hare - lorihare@nlschools.ca

Please note that we are currently awaiting the allotment of tutoring hours awarded to Gonzaga from the Dept of Education. Once we have that we will be ready to go. Due to the retirement of the previous coordinator, that position has not been filled to date. In that regard, we are anticipating a later than usual start date for our tutoring program.

As soon as we have the allotment of hours we will be ready to go immediately. With your help as parents, we can have your child ready to start tutoring as soon as we receive that important information from the Dept of Education.

All NL Schools buildings are scent aware sites. Many of our staff and students are sensitive to certain products that can cause allergic reactions and respiratory distress. All staff, students, and visitors are reminded to not wear or use any scented/fragranced products while inside any NL Schools building.

Picture day will take place for all students on Tuesday, September 29th. Information on Graduation photos will be sent out when it becomes available.

It is important to note that student photographs taken on Picture Day will be added to the student’s PowerSchool record and may be used by authorized school and student transportation personnel for school administration, student identification, and transportation-related purposes.
This may include helping confirm a student’s identity when arranging or providing student transportation services. Access to student photographs is limited to authorized personnel who require the information for their role.

If you have questions about the collection or use of student photographs, please contact the school administration.

Gonzaga will be using the NLSchools RYCOR system to be able to make forms available to be completed online by parents. Due to a few technical difficulties, this should be available next week. As soon as the problem is resolved, we will send out instructions for parents / guardians to complete the forms. Parents need to have their own parent PowerSchool account.

For more information on this system please go here.

Certain grade 12 students have Instructional Support classes in their schedules. These are free periods designed for study and preparation for their courses. Students are asked to go to the LRC or leave the building if they have permission to do so. Students are NOT permitted to remain on school grounds due to supervision concerns. If you are a parent/guardian of a Grade 12 student with a free period, please complete the following form if you give your child permission to leave school grounds.

Grade 12 Instructional Support Permission Slip.pdf

Please note, the Loran Scholarship deadline is October 15th, 2026 at noon ET. Applications are available online here and if you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Tracy Gardiner at tracyanngardiner@nlesd.ca.

JA NL is a member of JA Canada. Founded in 1985, JA Canada is the country’s largest youth business education organization. JA works in partnership with educators, volunteers and businesses to educate students about financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. JA is a registered charity and is a trusted partner in the Canadian school system. With a network spanning six continents, operating in over 100 countries JA Worldwide has in the last school year delivered over 23 million student learning experiences.

Our team will be back in touch regarding our other JA programs which focus on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness. However, we wanted to reach out early to you to ensure students have ample time to sign up for the Company Program which starts in October. Please see more information found here.

We have over a third of our graduating class who have not completed their volunteer hours or handed in their volunteer hours sheet to the office. ALL students must complete these hours in order to graduate. We encourage all students, especially Grade 12 students, to make sure that their hours are completed. If you are looking for hours, many volunteer hours can be completed here at school. Please see our guidance counsellors or our athletic department to find hours.

A reminder to all parents and guardians of children who have life threatening allergies and require EpiPens to please fill out the Anaphylaxis Emergency Form and return it to the main office with a second EpiPen that can be housed in the office. Please remember to check the expiry dates on the EpiPens.

We are working hard to schedule all tryouts and will be announcing tryouts and sign ups according to the sport competitions schedules. Thank you for your patience while we work through all the teams and practice location bookings. Interested athletes must sign up using the link in the bio of our social media accounts in order to attend tryouts https://linktr.ee/gonzagaathletics. Stay tuned to our social media for all athletic updates!

We would like to thank you for your continued support and if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the administrative team.

Have a great weekend,

Andrew, Gillian & Peter