Feb 6 Newsletter

February 6th Newsletter

We want to thank all students, families and staff for navigating a difficult end to semester one. Losing instructional time is never ideal especially with January receiving an unprecedented number of bus cancellations that impacted EQAO testing, culminating activities and exams. With the first week of semester two completed, we hope that more predictable routines have been established. Most timetable changes should be completed by now, if not, students are encouraged to book an appointment with their guidance counselor ASAP. A return to in person activities also means that play practices for Treasure Island have resumed and the ship will be leaving port from the cafeteria and setting sail to the stage in the main gym. The winter sports season has mostly concluded with playoff action to begin next week.

Frontenac Staffing

The changing of semesters always alters the staffing in any high school building. This particular year, Frontenac Secondary School had some significant changes. Diana Truesdell has accepted a vice principal position at Napanee District Secondary School. Duncan Cowan has accepted a vice principal position at Sydenham High School. Shari Ross and Doug Johnston have both accepted a life of retirement and the freedom from teaching and marking math! Their collective contributions to Frontenac Secondary School teaching, leading and coaching have been enormous through their embodiment of what it means to be a Falcon. We will miss their kindness, expertise and values that they have instilled within the thousands of students that they taught. Although sad to see them go, we wish them well as they move on to the next chapter in their lives.

Student Services

Our Student Services team has been busy this week working to get students settled into their semester 2 classes. Please check in with your student about their timetable to ensure you are all on the same page about the courses they are taking this semester. If your student is still in need of a timetable change, they should book an appointment with their Guidance Counsellor ASAP using this link.

Here is the outline of our team members who will be supporting your students this semester: 

Grade	Administrator	Guidance Counsellor	Learning Program Support (IEP's)	Student Success
9's	Mark McKenna	Aaron Kenney	Kelly Gregory	Sarah Depew
10's	Bonney Morris-Pocock	Dale Bennett	Kelly Gregory
11's	Mark McKenna	Marie Dempster	Jen McCluskey
12's	Bonney Morris-Pocock	Krista Lackey	Jen McCluskey
Returners	Mark McKenna

Should you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate the reach out. Here are another couple important messages from our team: 

Google Classrooms: We highly encourage all our students and parents/guardians to join our grade specific Google Classrooms. That's where we will post information regarding volunteer opportunities, course selections, post-secondary planning, Graduation, etc. Here are the links to join: 

Grade 9: https://classroom.google.com/c/NzgyNzAyNTk2NTQ3?cjc=ro6txlsw

Grade 10: https://classroom.google.com/c/NzE2MDcwOTM1OTU5?cjc=pszlqqk

Grade 11: https://classroom.google.com/c/NzM2MTA0ODgyMDA3?cjc=tx7skex

Grade 12 & Returners: https://classroom.google.com/c/NzE1ODI1NjAzNzAy?cjc=s4kifs7

Report Cards for semester one will be distributed at the end of the day on Friday, February 13th. Final marks will also be available in Aspen on Friday, February 13th.

The Course Request period for the 2026-2027 school year begins on Monday! Stay tuned for an email from our Student Services team with all the details.

FSS Arts

Tickets are now available on School Day or can be purchased by community members by reserving your tickets by emailing Tremblaycharlie@Limestone.on.ca.

Please indicate the number of tickets that are needed and if you would like the VIP premium seating. Thank you for your support of FSS arts.

FSS Athletics

Our Falcons have been busy practicing, playing, and putting in the time on and off the court, ice, and in the pool this winter season. All our teams are gearing up for playoffs with hopes of competing in KASSAA and EOSSAA championships this month. Please check the website kassaa.ca for dates, times, and locations. Let's go Falcons! 

Upcoming Key Dates in Athletics

Feb 5/6th- Curling KASSAA

Feb 6th - Novice Wrestling Meet at FSS

Feb 10th- EOSSAA SWIMMING

Feb 10th - Volleyball & Basketball playoffs start

Feb 17th- Girl's hockey playoffs start

Feb 19th - Boys hockey playoffs start 

Feb 24th- Sr girls AAA play in tournament 

***Please note that these days might change in the event of bus cancellations. Please check kassaa.ca for schedule updates***

On February 5^th and 6^th , 4 teams competed in the KASSAA Curling Championship. After a tough first day of competition, 3 FSS teams moved on to day 2 of the double elimination playoffs. Team DaCosta (Ella Rowsome, Grace Berry, Lexi Wowk, Addy Winterstein and Leah DaCosta) headed into finals undefeated and came out victorious against KSS. They now move on to EOSSAA in Brockville, Feb 24^th and 25^th and hope to return to OFSAA for a second year later in March. Coaches would like to thank all players for a great season!

News from Acadie

To all friends and family of Frontenac that Acadie will be hosting an open house on Wednesday February 25th to showcase all that Acadie has to offer. This is a great opportunity for current and prospective members of the Acadie/Frontenac community learn about the instructional programming that is available, plus all the extra curricular activities offered that enhance the student experience.

In addition to the open house in February, Acadie will be hosting a book sale in March to raise funds for the Red Maple Forest of Reading trip to Toronto in May. If you are clearing out books that are appropriate for middle school students, we would happily accept them. Please send any donations to the Acadie or Frontenac Office. Thank you for your support of the school trip in May and to share the love of reading!

Ophelia Club

The Ophelia Club is happy to be celebrating Valentine’s Day with all our grade 9 students by hosting a workshop titled, “Relationship Reality: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”. The focus of the morning is to help students navigate strong relationships, with conversations centering around healthy friendships, consent, protection and support. We will be welcoming speakers from community organizations such as the Public Health, Sexual Assault Centre Kingston, TriHealth Therapy, Kingston Police and others. We will also have two of our Adolescent Care Workers present to facilitate discussions. The event takes place on Friday, February 13 during periods 1 & 2, and chocolate will be provided.

Digital Awareness & Online Extortion

It was brought to our attention from an FSS family, that one of our students was recently the victim of an attempt at online extortion. In this case, an individual online claimed that they had mutual friends with the student, and specifically stated the name of our school, which helped establish sense of trust and familiarity. They then requested the student move to another online platform (Telegram), where they proceeded to create AI generated photos of the student, engage in threats, and request transfer of money. We wanted to share a general warning to parents and students about this type of scam/online extortion/criminal activity, as we have since learned that this type of activity targeting teens is more common than we knew. We encourage all families to have conversations at home about online safety and security, and in particular to be careful when there are:

• Claims of mutual friends
• Referencing the student's school
• Requests to move conversations to other platforms
• Demands for money or personal financial information

If any families experience this, we strongly encourage you to file a non-emergency report to Kingston Police and https://cybertip.ca/en/ Canada’s National Tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children. Both of these services provided assistance and recognition for this FSS family. 

We also want to stress to our students not to handle these types of situations by themselves. Tell a parent, the school, or another trusted person who can help. We hope this story will help raise awareness and appreciate efforts to teach students about online safety at home. We have included a link below to some digital resources to help raise awareness.

https://www.k-12cyberawareon.ca/cyber-awareness-month-2025/

FSS Library

We are encouraging all students and families to look around the home and return any textbooks from semester one. We are short a few books for students to begin semester two. Any returns can be made to the library with no financial penalty or guilt attached!

For students that are new to the school, grades 9-11 can receive a loaned laptop for school use. To access a device, a Fair Notice form must be signed and returned by a parent/guardian. Please see Ms Purbhoo in the library or Mr McKenna in the main office for steps required to receive a laptop.

FSS to Costa Rica

FSS is going to Costa Rica at the 2027 March break – and we would love it if you would like to join us! Bruce Patry, Charles Macdonald, Keli Kasper and Aaron Kenney have more information about the trip and welcome any inquiries you have. In addition to cultural explorations; volcano watching, rainforest hiking and zip lining, kayaking, swimming and horseback riding are on the itinerary. Click the QR code to find out more information!

Southeast Health Unit

Letters and emails were sent home to students that require updates for vaccinations over the past two weeks. The Southeast Health Unit will send Frontenac an updated list on Monday, February 9th and families will be contacted again for a vaccination reminder. Letters of suspension are to be sent by the school in late March or early April. The suspension letters are a directive from Public Health.

Upcoming Events at FSS:

February 6th: Semester one exam return day

February 13th: Ophelia Club Healthy Relationships all grade 9s

February 13th: Marks can be viewed by students in Aspen

February 13th: Report cards sent home

February 16th: Family Day