March 6 Newsletter
Spring is in the air. This is a time for renewal, change and for warmer weather, especially after this long winter. We will hold Wiarton Willie to his promise for an early spring this year! Although we often celebrate the success of all our students, we are particularly proud of our cast and crew of Treasure Island; A New Adventure. This week saw the culmination of months of planning, rehearsals, designing the sets, construction of props, as well as welcoming the next generation of Falcons through our Specialist High Skill Majors programs to highlight our passion for the arts at FSS. Frontenac athletes also participated against some of the top wrestlers in Peterborough and swimmers in Windsor through OFSAA competition. Our girls curling team will have to wait until after March Break for their OFSAA competition in Thunder Bay. A reminder to all of our parents that our Parent/Teacher night will be held Thursday, March 26th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The booking of appointments will open next week at 11:00 am on Wednesday, March 11th. We look forward to seeing you all then.
Student Trustees for 2026/27
Congratulations to FSS students Victoria McCourt and Mathew Katz for the appointments as LDSB student trustees for the 2026/27 school year. Mathew will be filling the role of the Urban Student Trustee and Victoria will be the Indigenous Student Trustee. Mathew wants to "specifically hope to be able to work on issues related to environmental sustainability and anti-racism. Ultimately, I want to ensure students’ voices are heard and meaningfully represented." Victoria "would like to help celebrate and honour the Indigenous students in the Limestone District School Board. I look forward to helping create more opportunities for Indigenous students and I want our youth to feel proud of who they are and their Indigenous identity." We know both Victoria and Mathew will represent the concerns of all students across the Limestone District School Board.
Student Services
College, University, and Military Reps are Visiting FSS to Provide Information Sessions for Grade 11s!
Each year our grade 12 students have the opportunity to attend sessions and meet with representatives from a variety of post-secondary institutions to help them make decisions about their future plans. These sessions will take place next year too; however, some of these post-secondary institutions are now offering sessions for grade 11 students to help them learn more about what their schools offer and to get a head-start on their planning! Listed below are the dates and times for the presentations we have scheduled so far.
- East Regional College Panel (Algonquin, Durham, Fleming, Loyalist, and St. Lawrence Colleges) - Tuesday, March 10th - Period 4 - Library
- Military Recruiters - Tuesday, March 24th - Period 1 - Library
- Dalhousie University - Wednesday, March 25th - Period 1 - Library
Grade 11 students can sign up to attend the sessions using the links posted on the Grade 11 Google Classroom.
AP Exam Sign-Up Deadline
Wednesday, March 11th is the last day to sign-up to write an AP Exam this Spring. Cost is $190 a course. Please see Mrs. Dempster in Student Services to register.
FSS Arts
Finally the production! After months of planning, learning Pirate accents, memorizing lines, choreographing dance and fight sequences, the curtain has finally gone up. We applaud all the staff and students for the thousands of hours that have gone into making Treasure Island; A New Adventure a reality. We are fortunate for having your talents shared with the Frontenac community. By the time this newsletter is published, there will be two more opportunities to catch the show, Friday, March 6th at 7:00 pm and the curtain closer, Saturday, March 7th at 1:30 pm. Check out the following stories shared by Global News, the Kingstonist and the Whig-Standard.
FSS Athletics
For students that are new to Frontenac Secondary School in semester two or are grade 10 and above and did not go through the athletic transfer process, the next transfer eligibility meeting will be Tuesday, March 24th. Please see Ms. Pixley for transfer forms to be eligible to play spring sports. Congratulations to our girls hockey team that had a thrilling semi-final victory over Holy Cross to reach the city final. Eventually, a short handed lineup fell to Napanee in the finals to earn a silver medal in KASSAA sports. After winning EOSSAA in February, Frontenac Swimmers headed to Windsor this past week for OFSAA. OFSAA swimming sees over 2000 athletes and our Falcons placed 24th out of the 308 teams from across Ontario. Our Open Girls team (Skylar Kalverda, Jordan Noonan, Olivia Serson, Emma Gow and Mae Gillis) not only brought home the bronze medal in their free relay but also finished third in all their events combined. New to OFSAA this year was the mixed free relay where Greta Kalverda, Evelyn Moore, Sam Gurd and Ty Huddleston placed fifth overall. That was just one of Greta's three top ten finishes as she placed fifth and sixth in her individual events. Our 16 other athletes experienced many personal bests with our relays dropping up to twelve seconds off their qualifying time. Well done Falcons.
What a season it was! After a stop/start season plagued by snow days and tournament cancellations the team finished strong! In only our second season, we finished 2nd in the team event at EOSSA, narrowly losing to our rivals at Holy Cross Secondary School, while advancing 9 athletes to OFSAA. Adrienne Johnson, Jenna Gallivan, Jenna Martin, Mia Mack, Jorgie Bearisto, Hewitt Closs, Michael Dobeich, Carson Monk, and Wyatt Chase proudly represented our school at provincials in Peterborough, with Jenna Gallivan, Jenna Martin, and Wyatt Chase advancing to the Championship round before being eliminated by formidable opponents, or in Jenna Martin’s case, flying out to Vancouver to compete for Team Ontario Rugby!
Falcons coaches, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Tremblay, Jason Howes, and Clara Ryan are incredibly proud of all our wrestlers, who consistently demonstrate sportsmanship, camaraderie, and determination in pursuit of their goals, qualities that symbolize life at Frontenac Secondary School!
We wish our graduating wrestlers; Isaac Parks, Brandon Tailferer, Mia Mack, Jesslyn Howard, and Eden Howes continued success in their future endeavors. We will miss everything you have brought to our club and know that great things are waiting for you in your next steps! We would also like to say goodbye good luck to Jessie Hann, Jessie tried wrestling this year and even though it was way outside her comfort zone, she persevered and excelled. We hope your new school in Ottawa has a wrestling team so you can continue your athletic journey!
Limestone Skills Competition
We are pleased to share how proud we are of the students who recently represented our schools at the LDSB Skills Competition. Their professionalism, preparation, engagement and willingness to challenge themselves in a competitive environment truly reflected the strength of our programs and the dedication of our staff. Participating in the Skills Competition requires courage, commitment, and countless hours of practice. Whether students earned medals or simply gained valuable experience, their efforts deserve recognition and celebration. They have showcased not only their technical skills, but also their confidence, resilience, and school pride. Recognizing these accomplishments reinforces the importance of experiential learning and helps inspire future competitors. We would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the staff (chairs, judges, spectators, coaches) who attended the competition or awards ceremony. Your presence demonstrates to students that their hard work is valued and supported, and it makes a meaningful difference in celebrating their accomplishments. If you were unable to make it we wanted to share a video that was produced by the TV/Video Production Team of 2, you can see it here: Skills 2026 Photos & Videos - Sharing.
LDSB Skilled Trades in the Media:
https://globalnews.ca/news/11709845/kingston-students-compete-ldsb-skills-trades-competition/
https://globalnews.ca/video/11709836/skills-competition-returns-to-ldsb/
Our Falcons made us proud at the Limestone Skills Competition On February 26th. In total we sent 18 students to compete in Carpentry, Plumbing, Electrical, Cabinetmaking, Automotive Service and team construction events held at St. Lawrence College. Two of our students brought home gold medals and will have the opportunity to compete at the provincial skills competition in Toronto this spring. Ben McDonough won in Electrical Installations, and Aodhan Woogh-Dunleavy in Plumbing. Winning silver medals were Griffin Elliot in Automotive Service, Alex Bulch in Electrical Installations, and Xavier Lasko in Plumbing. Bronze medalists were Anderson Smith in Cabinetmaking, Meghan Benoit and Zayn Ibn-Ali in Team of 2 Carpentry, and Declan Cowan in Electrical Installations. Congratulations to everyone who competed and represented Frontenac so well!
SHSM at FSS
This past week at Frontenac, our Specialist High Skills Major Students hosted workshops for elementary schools students. Senior leaders worked with students in our feeder schools to highlight some of the opportunities and activities that a Specialist High Skills Major can open pathway opportunities for. Frontenac is proud to offer four Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) Sectors :
Arts & Culture (good for teachers, graphic designers, architects etc.)
Business - only school in board to offer this sector (retail and marketing careers)
Construction - (trade related and apprenticeship programs)
Health & Wellness (health care or fitness careers)
All of these programs offer expanded opportunities for students in that specific sector. For example, First Aid /CPR certification, Health & Safety certification, Elective workshops, Experiential Learning through Co-operative Education placements, and Reach Ahead activities that all provide training, skills and experiences for the next step after high school. Experiences can be programed for all pathways including Workplace, College or University. If interested in SHSM programming, students should check in with their guidance counselors to ensure that all requirements can be planned to successfully complete the program.
FSS Parking
There have been a number of parking issues that have come to our attention recently. Students are asked to not park in spots reserved for staff. These spaces are indicated by two signs on either side of the main entrance to the school. We have lost several parking spaces at the school due to the volume of snow this winter, particularly at the very northeast portion of the Frontenac parking lot. We have noted that some students and visitors are parking at the northeast corner of the building (near the gym entrance) in non-designated parking areas. This is creating a "pinch point" for other vehicles and makes it impossible for busses to get through this area when they arrive near the end of the day. We are asking everyone to not park here and are encouraging people to use the spaces at the back of the school, including the outdoor basketball court. By using these spaces, this should solve the majority of problems. At peak times (morning drop off, lunch and at the end of the school day), we encourage all families, staff and students to be cautious and patient.
FSS School to Community
Each year, the Frontenac School to Community class organizes the Acts of Kindness initiative around Valentines day. Students and staff are asked to share a kind message on paper hearts about an individual or a group of students that demonstrate kindness through everyday or extraordinary interactions at FSS. At the end of the AoK campaign, the collective acts are shared in the main foyer at FSS for all to see how doing small acts of kindness can make a powerful impact on the community overall. As well last week, our student athletes, along with their PALs competed in a Bocce ball tournament against other schools in the Kingston area. Values of fair play and sportsmanship were always on display by our Falcons.
FSS Math
On February 26th, 110 of our math-minded students took part in the University of Waterloo's prestigious math contests: the Pascal, Cayley, and Fermat. These contests, organized by the University, challenge students to think critically, solve complex problems, and apply their mathematical reasoning skills in creative ways. We are incredibly proud of the enthusiasm and dedication our students showed in representing our school. Participating in the Pascal (Grade 9), Cayley (Grade 10), and Fermat (Grade 11) contests is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a love of mathematics and to stretch the learning beyond the classroom.Well done to all who took on the challenge!
FSS to Costa Rica-Spaces still Available!
Host and International Student
Hosting an international student is a meaningful way to bring the world into your home while making a real difference in a young person’s life. Limestone homestay families are carefully matched with students, supported by dedicated Limestone staff, and guided throughout the placement so families are never on their own. Hosting offers cultural exchange, meaningful relationships, and a monthly stipend. Learn more about how hosting works, the supports in place, and why many local families choose to open their homes by visiting: https://internationaled.limestone.on.ca/become_a_homestay
Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults
Rotary Youth Development Opportunities
We are pleased to share the details of 2 outstanding Rotary youth development opportunities for students now accepting applications. Both of these experiences are open to high school students who will be sponsored by the Rotary Club of Kingston-Frontenac and there is no cost for participants.
Interested students should apply by March 13, 2026 by contacting:
Don Polk
Rotary Club of Kingston-Frontenac
polkdj@hotmail.com
RYLA - Rotary Youth Leadership Academy
Date: May 22-24, 2026
Location: RKY Camp, Eagle Lake, Parham, ON
Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA) is an intensive leadership experience organized by Rotary clubs and districts around the world. It is entirely volunteer-run with many organizers and counselors being past RYLA delegates themselves. Participants (aged 15-17 years old) attend RYLA with the financial support of a local Rotary club who provide youth with a chance to participate in this once in a lifetime experience. Youth are selected based on the demonstration of leadership potential and a desire to be of service to their local and global communities.
For more information, please see visit: RYLA | District 7040
Adventure in Indigenous Understanding
Date: August 30 - September 4, 2026
Location: Trent-Severn Waterway, Peterborough
The "Adventure in Understanding" program is an annual 6-day (5-night) cultural canoe experience for youth ages 16-18 years old. It is a co-ed canoe voyage along the Trent-Severn Waterway from the Canadian Canoe Museum waterfront in Peterborough to Curve Lake First Nation. No prior camping or canoeing experience is necessary.
The program was developed by the Rotary Club of Peterborough Kawartha with the assistance of the Curve Lake First Nation Youth Committee and is offered with the co-operation of Camp Kawartha and the Canadian Canoe Museum.
Application forms and further information are available here
Southeast Health Unit
Upcoming Events at FSS:
March 6: Friday Evening Performance Treasure Island; A New Adventure 7:00 pm
March 7: Final Performance: Treasure Island; A New Adventure 1:30 pm
March 11: Parent/Teacher bookings open at 11:00 am
March 16-20: March Break
March 25: Coffee House at FSS, 7:00pm
March 26: Parent/Teacher Night at FSS, 6:00-8:00 pmIsland; A New Adventure 1:30 pm
March 27: Frontenac School Dance, 7:00-10:00 pm
March 31: Euclid Math Contest, 8:15 am