Dear Families,
As we settle into the new school year, I am pleased to share several updates from across the Limestone District School Board. This message includes information about student achievement, student activities, opportunities for secondary students to support their community, and a way for families to contribute to the important work of the Student Census Technical Advisory Group.
EQAO Highlights
We are pleased to share that Limestone students continue to make positive progress in their learning, according to the recently released 2025-2026 Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) results.
Highlights include continued improvement or progress across all Grade 3 and 6 assessments, an increase in the number of students achieving the provincial standard, and results at or above the provincial average in five of the eight areas assessed. These results reflect the ongoing growth and achievement of students across our system and demonstrate significant progress in closing learning gaps, particularly in literacy. This is particularly the case when looking at the 2025-2026 Grade 6 results relative to that cohort of students' performance when they were in Grade 3 in 2022-2023. This data shows very significant and impressive growth.
These achievements are the result of the dedication of students, staff, and families working together to support learning and well-being. Every day, educators and support staff provide engaging learning opportunities, targeted instruction, and individualized supports to help students reach their full potential. We are proud of the progress Limestone students continue to make and remain committed to building on these results as we support the success and well-being of every student.
Read more about the 2025-2026 EQAO results on the Limestone DSB website.
Student Activities Update
We are delighted that a wide range of fall student activities have started and are well-underway. I am greatly appreciative of all the LDSB staff and community members who volunteer their time to make these activities possible for Limestone students.
There are some process changes we have necessarily put in place related to student activities. In the spring, we shared that the budget for 2026-2027 was approved and included a more visual overview of the budget outlining allocations and challenges. In our allocation of funds, we must manage each area of the budget carefully and remain within spending limits. As a result, we have made a process change in how we are managing student activity costs.
Each school has received an allocation of board funds to help support a range of student activities (extracurriculars, clubs, and field trips). This is an additional budget allocation being provided to schools to supplement their previous, and existing, school budgets and accounts. We are facing increased cost pressures in a number of areas that are outlined in the budget summary document we shared with families in June.
We recognize the crucial importance of student activities to the student experience in school. It is critical for us to continue to support these activities. Schools continue to have funds to help offset the costs of student activities.
To maintain these activities, we will need to continue to collect fees for a range of costs depending on the activity in question. For example, sports activities have costs associated with equipment in some cases (football), facility rentals (ice pads, gyms, or turf fields), tournament registration, payments for officials, transportation, and admission fees (field trips). All of these costs add up and are increasing. Depending on the activity, costs will vary.
In some cases, schools may also need to include a small charge to help cover the cost of staff supervision or coverage. Although this is an additional expense, it may be necessary to ensure activities can continue and properly be supervised, while Limestone, and schools, remain within their budgets. Schools will continue to use internal processes to reduce the need for coverage costs wherever possible, and any charge associated with supervision or coverage of student activities will be kept to a minimum.
We will also continue to look at where and when events are scheduled, to also help offset costs.
While the provision of money directly to schools is a necessary change in process, we recognize it is a change, and it may mean a slight increase in costs for these critically important activities. We will continue to do what we can to keep costs to a minimum while also honouring our budget realities and challenges.
Youth United Campaign in LDSB Secondary Schools
United Way KFL&A’s Youth United initiative provides meaningful engagement opportunities for youth, encouraging them to learn more about their community through the United Way.
Launched in 2025, secondary students raised funds with friends and classmates through creative activities held from October to December. Students also received a Youth United branded hoodie to help spread the word and several students also took part in a United Way Seeing is Believing tour to learn more about the agencies and programs supported in KFL&A. Thanks to a generous matching grant from RDR Wealth Management, students raised $4,000!
Following fundraising activities, the Youth United Granting Committee worked alongside United Way staff to review grant requests from local agencies. They made recommendations and allocated funds for a variety of programs including youth robotics and gardening programs, summer activities for kids, youth connection and peer support programs, and rural youth hub and meal programs.
Youth United is excited for another year of engagement and participation from secondary students this fall. Thanks to Jessica Bayne Hogan, all money raised will be matched up to a maximum of $5,000. Those wishing to get involved or learn more can reach out to the United Way at campaign@unitedwaykfla.ca
Technical Advisory Group Recruitment
The purpose of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) is to provide advice, perspectives, and recommendations related to the design of data collection methods, analysis, and the representation of results for LDSB’s Student Census. TAG plays a critical role in ensuring that multiple and diverse perspectives are applied to the interpretation of data, helping to minimize bias and strengthen the relevance and integrity of findings.
We are seeking expressions of interest for the committee for the September 2026 to August 2028 term. We welcome expressions of interest from members of the Limestone community to help us fill the following vacancies:
- One to two parents of a Limestone student(s) who is not an employee of the LDSB
To express interest in joining, please visit Limestone’s TAG webpage.
As we move further into the school year, we want to thank students, families, and staff for all you do to support learning, well-being, and success across Limestone. The strong partnerships between home, school, and community play an important role in helping students thrive. We look forward to the months ahead and to continuing our work together to create welcoming, inclusive, and engaging learning environments where every student can learn, grow, and reach their full potential.
Krishna Burra
CEO/CEDO/Director of Education
Limestone District School Board