Welcome to September!!

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A month of new beginnings for some of our youngest neighbours as they head to school to grow, learn, laugh and meet new friends! When I was young everyone walked to school together with siblings, friends and maybe an adult or two. Today most of our children arrive at school by transportation! There are so many vehicles coming and going from school parking lots, parking on the streets or rolling up to a curb and letting children out! Buses are coming and going from their drop off spots and children are crossing the street without using the crosswalks provided. It can be quite overwhelming for the people who are trying to direct the traffic so everyone can stay safe while getting to school.

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The NOK Walking School Bus is a great way to get your children to school each day in the northend! We focus on teaching the children about the safe ways to get to school on foot! We not only learn about safety but we learn about caring for each other, how to make friends and include everyone in our chats, stories and games! We work on learning to trust each other, how to be leaders and how important it is to slow down and enjoy a great walk! Most importantly, we include the children in creating the rules of our bus and having a voice in the snacks, games and conversations that we will have each day. Our Walking Bus helps children to use up some of that extra energy they have in the morning and to talk and laugh so that they can focus when they get to school. Our bus also helps our caring adults to learn more about the children in our community and what they want and need to be successful each day!

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To learn more about the NOK Walking Bus you can follow the link below to the September issue of Hometown St. Thomas for a great little article by Peri Hayes. We look forward to seeing all our new walkers on September 11th

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https://www.villagerpublications.com/hometown-st-thomas-september-2023

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