News From the Tiger’s Den - September 8, 2025

Information for Families

We had a wonderful first week at Odessa. There is lots of community building, diagnostic assessment in literacy and math, as well as new learning taking place each day. Lots will begin happening in the next few weeks, watch for the cross country team practices to begin soon. Please check School Day for information for important payment and permission forms. There is a trip to Gould Lake for the Grade 1 classes coming up in October. New this year, Hot Lunch will be available for order from Lunch Box. There are different options from Monday to Friday this year for interested families. The link to create an account will be coming out soon.

There will be some staffing changes happening at Odessa Public School this week. Our projected enrolment was 25 students higher than the actual number of students that arrived back last week. As a result, we will be down one classroom. We anticipated this in August and organized our classrooms to minimize the impact on students. Beginning tomorrow, the ten Grade 1 students in Ms. Byers classroom and the ten Grade 1 students in Mrs. King’s classroom will be combined into Mrs. King’s Grade 1 room. Mrs. Byers will transition into the Kindergarten room with Mrs. Brown. More specific information will come to the classrooms mentioned above that are affected by this change throughout the week.

Regular school attendance is crucial for a student’s academic success and overall development, as it is directly related to academic success, personal growth, and future opportunities. It helps build a strong foundation of knowledge and encourages a sense of responsibility. Additionally, consistent attendance allows teachers to better support each student’s individual needs, leading to improved academic performance and a more cohesive classroom environment.

We encourage all families to make school attendance a priority for their students by:

• Talking with your student(s) about the importance of daily attendance in a positive way and how it supports learning.
• Only let your child stay home if they are sick.
• Make every effort to schedule doctors, dentist, and other appointments after school hours. If your child must be out of school for an appointment, bring the child back to school for at least part of the school day.

Together, let us make school attendance a priority, and make every school day count.

As always, please reach out to us if you have questions or need support.

Take care,

Krista Esford, Principal

Information from South East Health Unit (formerly KFL&A Public Health)

Odessa Public School Selected to Participate in Indigo Love of Reading Foundation's Adopt a School Fundraiser!

Our school was selected to participate in the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation's annual Adopt a School fundraiser! Every dollar raised in-store at Indigo Kingston between September 5 - October 5, 2025 will go DIRECTLY to our school to help fill our shelves with new and diverse books. Thank you so much for supporting our school and for helping to inspire a love of reading in our students!
To learn more and donate, please visit: Indigo Love of Reading Foundation - Odessa Public School.

Odessa Public School Council Elections and Meeting

Events for the Calendar

Tuesday, September 16: Staff Meeting at 2:30 pm, School Council Elections & Meeting at 6:30 pm

Thursday, September 25: Odessa Open House (more information to follow)

Friday, September 26: Terry Fox Run

Friday, October 10: PA Day (no school today)

Monday, October 13: Thanksgiving (no school today)

Wednesday, October 15: IEPs Go Home Today, Region 2 Cross Country Meet

Tuesday, October 21: School Council Meeting at 6:30 pm

Tuesday, October 28: Grade 1 classes to Gould Lake

Contact Us

10 North St.

Odessa, Ontario, K0H2H0

613-386-3022

odesa@limestone.on.ca

Visit us on the web at odessa.limestone.on.ca