Opportunities for our students

We are grateful to our staff for their work in our classrooms each day. We are also thankful when staff volunteer to provide opportunities outside of the instructional day. Currently, there are many additional opportunities for your children to be involved in, including:

– Primary soccer intramurals that take place Mondays at lunch.

– Junior boys and girls volleyball teams.

– Intermediate floor hockey intramurals that run Wednesdays and Fridays.

– Homework club for junior and intermediate students taking place on Wednesdays.

– Extra help sessions run by teachers at recesses or during the lunch hour

– Our School Eco Team runs each day at lunch.

– Our school Positive Climates for Learning committee meets a few times a month.

– We have junior helpers for our primary classrooms at lunch and for our Learning Commons.

– Our school Sign Language club runs weekly for all grades.

– A social skills leadership team run by our Educational Assistants and CYWs.

– An intermediate Girls’ Group runs Thursdays at lunch.

– Our Healthy Snack program includes student helpers.

– We have a student blog team that meets weekly.

– Intermediate Student Council meets monthly.

– And today, sign up for our Junior/Intermediate school play started.

We again thank the staff for their time and effort organizing and running these varied opportunities.

We also want to thank the students for their enthusiasm, initiative and commitment towards these opportunities.

If your child has not yet become involved please talk with them about trying something special and fun at our school.

Mr. Collins & Ms. Bongard

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Three months

We have now completed our first three months of the school year and already have much to celebrate thanks to excellent focus and initiative by our students, staff and community, including:

– welcoming our Elder’s Mills community to our team

– The launch of our school touchstone

– Sharing a redesigned Learning Commons

– Launching our Green Bin program through our school’s Eco Team

– Implementing new technologies into our classrooms and classroom programs

– Meeting with parents and guardians to review student’s Progress Report Cards

– Our staff exploring professional learning in many ways

– Starting to plan for the transition of our grade 8 students to high school

– Starting our Roots of Empathy programs

– Recognizing Bullying Awareness week

– Starting our Healthy Snack program

We have developed a focused start in our classroom programs in the areas of academics, athletics and the arts.

We have had the chance to recognise the work of various employee groups at our school including: our Designated Early Childhood Educators, our care taking team, Educational Assistants and our Administrative Assistants.

Our staff have provided several student leadership and extra curricular opportunities such as our Cross Country Team, The sign language club, library and office helpers, the student Tech Team, our Eco team, Student Council, Boys’ and Girls’ Volleyball, Floor Hockey intramurals, homework club, Lunch room helpers, and our Positive Climates for Learning Committee.

As school community we have given back through our Terry Fox Walk, The Count Me in Project, and our local food bank drive.

We also appreciate the work of our school council with our school this year. Their upcoming Dance-A-Thon will take place on December 13, 2013 and will surely be an enjoyable event. Remember that all parents and guardians are welcome to our meetings. Future meetings will be: January 14, 2014, February 20, 2014, April 22, 2014 and May 29, 2014.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Three short months…

…remember when it was only 3 short weeks?

Remember when I asked us to write our story?

How do you think we have done so far?

Onward.

Mr. Collins

Bullying Awareness Week

November 17 – 23 marks the fourth annual Provincial Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week.  YRDSB schools are engaged in anti-bullying work throughout the school year.  This week however, our school has a specific focus on bullying prevention. I want to thank our Positive Climates for Learning Committee (that includes our Safe Schools Team) that includes students, staff and parent members, who have helped to shape the week’s events. Our work this week includes:

– Announcements from the team

– A poster contest that each class is participating in with key messages

– Work with York Region Police with an emphasis on cyberbullying

– sharing by classes at our Wednesday Good News Assembly with a focus on anti-bullying and inclusion

– work in individual classrooms to support student learning

Finally, our school touchstone continues to be a source of reflection including our focus area this month: we are respectful of others and of ourselves.

This week, your family will also receive copies of the YRDSB Anti-Bullying Strategy and the YRDSB Fair Notice Brochure that also support our work at our school. 

Three weeks

We have now completed our first three weeks of the school year and already have much to celebrate.

Last night, we had several parents and staff members attend our school council meeting. We discussed our common work and goals as a school. Please see the handout of a presentation Ms Bongard and myself shared last night. I am pleased to announce the elected members of council to formal roles as follows:

Co-Chairs – Ms. Ubriaco and Ms. Smith

Treasurer – Ms. Mattei

Co Secretaries – Ms Stanley and TBD

Our future meetings will be: October 22,2013,  November 21, 2013,  January 14, 2014, February 20, 2014, April 22, 2014 and May 29, 2014. While our council has elected members on it, all parents are welcome to attend any or all of our council meetings. We look forward to seeing you there.

There are also a number of voting members on the team who are assisting with different committees such as fundraising. Together, the council will work with our school to support our School Improvement Plan.

Last night we also had the opportunity to celebrate some of our initial successes as a school, including:

– Starting our classroom programs and instruction for all of our students

– welcoming our Elder’s Mills community to our team

– The launch of our school touchstone

– Sharing a redesigned Learning Commons

– Implementing new technologies into our classrooms and classroom programs

– Starting several extra curricular opportunities such as our Cross Country Team, The sign language club, library and office helpers, the student Tech Team, our Eco team and our Positive Climates for Learning Committee.

Today, we also completed our annual Terry Fox Walk to raise money for cancer research. What a wonderful feel there was in the air. Today was extra special when we met up with Elder’s Mills P.S and walked together.

We wish everyone the best for the weekend. A reminder that Monday September 23, 2013 is a P.A day where staff will be working collaboratively but there is no school for students that day.

Three short weeks…

….just think of where we’ll be in three months.

Onward.

Mr. Collins