Dear Parents,
Can you believe we are already heading into the last week of February!?! It feels like just yesterday we were getting ready for Christmas break and now we are more than half way through the school year. As the weather is hopefully going to get warmer and stay warmer, we want to remind you to please continue to send all outdoor winter gear with your children through the month of March as Mrs. Ghertsos may be taking students outside for snowshoeing in PE. Please take a moment to read the additional informational items below for your reference.
1) Family Dance on Thursday, Feb 27 is CANCELLED!! Unfortunately, due to the CUPE strike beginning on Monday, all evening events at the school have been cancelled. To those families who already made their purchases on Healthy Hunger, a refund from Healthy Hunger will be issued to the same method of payment used. We are sad that this event will not be happening this year and hope to try again for next school year. Thank you for your understanding.
2) Wednesday is PINK SHIRT DAY – Student are invited to wear a pink shirt with their uniform bottoms as this is not a casual day. We honor this day and use it as a reminder to include everyone around us, be respectful and demonstrate empathy towards others. It is also an opportunity to talk about Bullying – what it is and what is not…
- Bullying is the intentional, targeted and repeated offense to the same person by the same person with the intent to harm them.
- Bullying is NOT – name calling, unkind gestures, “bugging” someone, or even hitting someone. All of these situations are unkind, unwanted and disrespectful but they are not bullying.
As we are talking with your children about Pink Shirt Day with a focus on inclusion and problem solving, here are some tips and tricks you can use at home to help your child gain independence, self advocate and solve problems.
- If someone is doing something you don’t like you can: ask them to stop, walk away, ignore them or remind them to be respectful.
- If that works and they stop – the problem is solved and we don’t need to discuss it any further – YAY!!
- If they don’t stop, it is important to tell the adult on supervision at that time (teacher, lunch supervisor, bus driver etc) and ask for help to solve the problem. They should then be able to help solve it with the students.
- If it still doesn’t get solved or happens again, your child can come to the office to talk with Mrs. Robinson or Mrs. Taylor to help solve the problem.
- As parents – if your child comes home with a concern, the best thing you can do to help them be successful citizens is ask the following questions:
o What did you do in this situation? and ask for the whole story (even if they are scared they will get into trouble)
o Did you try to solve the problem yourself? How?
o Did you tell an adult (who?) if you could not solve it yourself?
o If they did not tell an adult, remind them to talk to their teacher or Mrs. Taylor the next day to solve it at school. It is important that they advocate for themselves.
o As a parent – you can certainly send an email to the school, letting us know that we should expect a conversation from your child J
- We hope to work together to teach all of our students how to problem solve, determine if it is a BIG problem or little problem, self advocate and understand the problem solving model. Thank you for your help and partnership in this important life skill.
3) Wednesday, Feb 26 is Fun Lunch. If you would like your child to participate, please be sure to place your order on Healthy Hunger before midnight tonight! (Friday, Feb 21). Reminder that T/Th students should NOT order this meal.
4) RAMADAN DRESS DAY – Thursday February 27! For those families who formally celebrate Ramadan as part of the religious and cultural beliefs, students are invited to wear their fancy formal Ramadan clothing on Thursday. This is a fancy formal celebration and therefore there should be NO JEANS – this is not a casual day. All other students who do not celebrate this holiday, should be in their uniform as usual. If your child is going to be fasting during this month long holiday, please be sure to email your child’s teacher and share to what extent they are fasting so we can ensure they are safe at school.
5) Friday February 28 is a Non- Instructional day and there are no classes for students. Enjoy your long weekend.
6) Thank you to those parents who participated in the School Planning Engagement Survey. Results can be found at the following link for your information :)
As always, we would like to thank you for your ongoing support of our school and program. Have a great weekend and enjoy the much warmer weather!
Sincerely,
Andrea Taylor – Principal @ Le Roi Daniels