Forest Heights Collegiate Institute

Newcomer Orientation Week 
(NOW) Program
August 30 - September 2

This summer, the NOW program will be back at our school. Newcomer Orientation Week-NOW will give newcomer students a four-day orientation to Forest Heights and to the Ontario school system. Eligible students are those who arrived in Canada in the last few months and incoming Grade 8 students who arrived in the last year.

A key feature of NOW is the leadership provided by Peer Leaders—Forest Heights High School students who were newcomers to Canada in previous years. The Peer Leaders run the activities with the assistance of Wendy Shantz (ESL EA) and Ablah Said (settlement worker) in school.

The activities include a scavenger hunt to get to know the building, skits created by the Peer Leaders about the challenges they faced when they started school, a simulated timetable, a visit to Forest Heights Library and an introduction to the credit system by Guidance Counsellor.

NOW is part of the SEPWR, our school is one of 3 sites in Kitchener that is running this program.

Forest Heights was one of the two schools that piloted the program locally. As a result, on the strength of a very positive evaluation report, it is being rolled out this summer in many schools across the province.

NOW is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada through KW YMCA Cross Cultural & Immigrant Services.

If you would like more information about NOW, speak to Ablah Said or Wendy Shantz at 519-742-8220, or see www.settlement.org/edguide.