Principal's Message

Greetings Katimavik Elementary School Community!

It is a pleasure and an honour to be your school principal and be back serving the students and families in Kanata. I grew up in Kanata North, went to school in Beaverbrook and began my career as a teacher in Kanata as well. My family and I settled in Kanata and my son attended Katimavik not that long ago. I am thrilled to be here at Katimavik to serve this community, and I would like to take a moment to thank the Algonquin People and acknowledge that our learning, playing and growing each day takes place on their unceded and unsurrendered territory, and as a staff, we recognize their enduring presence on this land. 

Katimavik is a dual track school that invites students in grades 4 to 8 to learn each day. We are welcoming back 330 students to Katimavik this fall, and we cannot wait to see everyone.

As an educator, it is my number one responsibility to ensure that students are learning and are safe physically, socially and emotionally. I believe that every child can learn exponentially when the environment is conducive to learning. I believe that education is at the root of developing the leaders of tomorrow. As a staff here at Katimavik, we are dedicated to partnering with you to develop those leaders. We, with you, will encourage, challenge and grow each and every student so that they can reach their full potential. At times, that learning may be hard for some or take longer for others but with dedication and support from us all, our students will learn. They are our future, and they deserve every bit of support we can give them to be successful.

The best part of my days are when I get to spend time with the young people in my building. It brings me great joy to watch them discover new things, see them delve deeper into subjects and listen and engage with them as they talk to me about their ideas about the world around them, especially in our current context. Our students have learned a lot in the past year and a half and while some of that has been learning we never thought they would be doing, they have learned. We need to see the last year and a half as a year of growth for all, and we need to help all of the students move forward, acknowledging, appreciating and celebrating all of the learning that they have done in whatever context that may have been. As students develop new learning paths in their brains each day, I hope that you too get an opportunity to see and hear all the wonderful connections they are making this year. As a mother of a fourteen and a half year old son whom I have often asked, “What did you learn today?” and been responded to with, “Nothing”, I recognize how important it is to know what our child(ren) are learning so we can be that partner in their education that we all want to be. With that in mind, I encourage you to ask questions of us as your education partners. Please feel free to speak with the dedicated staff, reach out to us and we will do our best to give you the most fulsome picture we can of your child(ren)’s learning so that you get more than a “nothing” answer at home.

I also recognize that we could not do what we do each day without the help and dedication of our school council. I welcome their ideas and yours about how we can ensure that Katimavik remains the wonderful learning environment and community school that it is today. If ever you’d like to share some of your ideas or have any questions, please feel free to call the school and schedule an appointment for us to get to know one another better.

Your partner in education,

Tosha Urbach, OCT

Principal

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