Greetings Hilltop Families!

Happy July!!!! Hopefully Summer is finally here to stay and we get nice sunny days!

 June Recap:

Our Pre-K Graduation was a smashing success! The students were all amazing and we are so very proud of them.

Our Summer Program started and has been going relatively well. Please remember that we do not open until 8 am. The doors will remain locked until then. We kindly ask that you do not come in with the teachers as they enter because they need time to put their things away and get ready to begin the day. We also close at 4 pm. Parents should be arriving prior to 4 pm to pick up their children. Late fees will apply to anyone arriving after 4 pm for a full day or 12 pm for ½ days.

When leaving the school please do not leave through the church side. All families need to enter and leave through the front doors.  

Upcoming School Closure Days: 

Friday July 4th-IndependenceDay

Monday August 18th-Tuesday August 26th.

July News:

We are closed on Friday July 4th in observance of Independence Day. We hope that all of our families have a fun filled and safe holiday weekend.

During our Summer Program we have a schedule that each class must follow for water play. This schedule makes it possible for all classrooms to enjoy the same amount of water play each day. If a classroom is struggling to get out at their scheduled time they may miss water play for that day. If the weather is not above 70 degrees they will also not have water play that day. 

Please ensure that your child has a water bottle, a morning snack, a lunch, and an afternoon snack each day for our full day friends. Those children who are only with us for a ½ day need a water bottle and morning snack. Please label your child’s belongings. This is very important because we have a lot of friends that have identical things and we don’t want anything to get misplaced or go to the wrong home at the end of the day.

We have more exciting themes planned for the summer. Our themes for July are camping, Eric Carle, Construction, and Travel. We know that each of these themes will bring loads of fun for the children. Our last theme will be Carnival before we have a child care only week that will end our summer program. 

As always if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to me via my email hilltopdirector@westchurch.org or phone 978-373-6663. I am happy to speak with you anytime. 

As the children all have a wonderful summer, we are planning our next school year! We are so excited about what is planned for our new academic year! Monday August 25th from 3-6 pm will be our open house. We will start at 3 pm with a presentation in the Worship Center and then move to the individual classrooms.

These are a few of our special reminders.

Please ensure that all of your child’s things that are brought to school are labeled with their first and last name. With so many new articles of clothing, and a lot of these looking similar to each other, we want to make sure that if something gets misplaced we can get it back to its owner. It is a good time to check their spare clothing to make sure it fits and is weather appropriate.

When your child has a physical, please ask for a copy of their physical report and share it with us. This is a licensing compliance rule that we need to follow. If we do not receive communication from you as to when an appointment is scheduled or receive the paperwork after a few attempts at communicating with you we may need to ask you to keep your child home until we receive the physical form.

Reminders: 

When sending your child in with grapes, please make sure that they are cut in quarters   (¼) . We do not have the ability to cut them and can not serve them when they are whole or halves as they are a choking hazard. 

It is very important to remember that if your child/children are under the weather, that you keep them home to help stop the spread of illness. Children who come to school under the weather often become sick during the school day exposing their classmates and teachers to the illness. The same can be said for sending the children back to school too fast after an illness. The children need to be out a full 24 hours fever free without the use of fever reducing medication. They need to remain home a full 24 hours after the cessation of vomiting or having diarreah. Everyone doing their part will help keep our school healthy.

Please ensure that you are arriving to pick up your child in enough time that allows for you to be leaving the building no later than 5:30 pm. Anyone that arrives after 5:30 pm will incur a late fee that does apply to each individual child and is not charged per family. 

Our parking lot is one way. Please enter through the Broadway entrance and exit through the Sarah J Circle exit. 

We understand that it is very tempting to leave your cars running while you come in to pick up  or drop off your child. This is unhealthy for those families trying to come into the building due to the exhaust fumes that are being projected into the air. Please shut your car off before entering the building during pick up or drop off. 

Please have your children to school by 9 am the latest, unless they have a doctor’s appointment and you have let us know. This is very important as our curriculum begins and we don’t want the children missing any key components. When drop off occurs after 9 am, your children are missing out on important curriculum components of the school day. It is also very disruptive to the rest of the students and the teachers to have children coming in late.

If they will be absent for any reason, please call the school at 978-373-6663 or email us to let us know at hilltopdirector@westchurch.org or send us a message through the Procare app. 

Please remember that when entering your door code do not let anyone that you are unfamiliar with in the building with you. This is for the safety and security of all of our staff and children. 

When there is inclement weather the school may have a 2 hour delay or be closed for the entire school day. This information will be communicated to all families, via the Procare app by 6 am. It is important that all families adhere to the scheduled opening time as all of the teachers need time to come in and set up their classrooms. If we have a two hour delay, no child should be in the building prior to 9:30.

We want to take this time to thank you all for your continued support.

Julie Grundy. M.Ed.

Director of Hilltop School