It’s the last day of summer vacation for most Ottawa students as they get ready to head back to the classroom on Tuesday. While some students are already back to school, Tuesday will be the first day back for Ottawa’s two largest school boards - the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB). Teachers are making the final preparations for their classrooms for the new school year. “It is back to school time. There’s lots of excitement. Preparation looks like name tags in the classroom, setting up student bins, making sure students are going to be represented in the classroom,” said Tania Facchineri-Fraser, a teacher at St. Bernadette Catholic School in Stittsville. “We love the routine. We love getting back to school, decorating the class.” Facchineri-Fraser says it can often take weeks to prepare. “We’ve been working really hard over the last few weeks to get classrooms ready,” said Victoria White, the principal of St. Bernadette Catholic School. “We’re so excited that it’s finally here.” Teachers at the school had a professional development day on Monday to work together to prepare for the arrival of the kids on Tuesday. White says the first day back at school feels like “the kids and staff are coming back home” and it’s an opportunity to make sure everybody feels welcome. “When I think about the big day, I think about the kids. I think about their parents, I think about our staff, our support staff. It really is everybody working together for that big day. It only happens once a year and it is a huge team effort,” said White. Students and parents are excited and squeezing in last minute school supplies shopping. “Excited to see who is in my class. I’m really excited to go back to see my friends again,” student Lana Milosevic. “It’s going to be really fun. We get to go back to learning and we get to go to recess.” Ruby Owen is heading into the Grade 6. She is spending Monday with mom getting this ready to head back to the classroom. “I needed my crayons and colored pencils,” said Ruby. “I’m excited seeing my teachers. Not about the work,” Owen said. Norlynda Owen, Ruby’s mom, is excited about the year to come. “This is the beginning of the end of elementary. This is a big year for us. It’s nice to see her go off and get connected again with a bunch of friends and teachers. She has an amazing school. We’re really happy to have her go back,” she said. Retail analyst expert Bruce Winder says a lot of people are looking to buy Canadian this year. He says although there’s not as many Canadian products for back to school, Canadians are trying to buy from Canadian brands like Dollarama and Canadian Tire.
