Together in Education Family Update
Week of Feb 10-14
Lancaster Drive Public School and Parent Council
Email: lancd@limestone.on.ca
Website: http://lancaster.limestone.on.ca
Location: 1020 Lancaster Drive, Kingston, ON, Canada
Phone: (613)634-0470
Twitter: @LancasterPSLDSB
Queen's Football Players visit with inspiring messages and positive role-modelling
The art of listening and giving feedback: a teacher's gift
Taking care of wellness and teaching self-care
Finding a quiet spot with sun to finish our project
Each class creates a culture of care and responsibility
Our student representatives shared insights to our Active School Travel Committee
Upcoming Calendar Events
Feb 10 ~ Queen's Teacher candidates begin their 2nd placement in classrooms
Feb 10 ~ Grade 8 Parent/Guardian Info Night at BSS @ 6:30
Feb 11 ~ Job Action Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
Feb 12 ~ Job Action Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
Feb 13 ~ DATE CHANGE: Hot Lunch: Pizza
Feb 17 ~ Family Day - NO SCHOOL
Feb 18 ~ Hot Lunch: Pasta
Feb 18 ~ Screenagers at KCVI @ 7:00 (see poster in newsletter)
Feb 21 ~ Transition to Kindergarten session for caregivers of children with special needs (see poster in newsletter)
Feb 25 ~ Hot Lunch: Grilled Cheese
Feb 26 ~ PINK SHIRT DAY
Mar 5 ~ TASTE OF LANCASTER - Multicultural Night 5:30-7:30
Important information about term one report cards
As you know, members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) are participating in legal job action across the province, including here in Limestone. This ongoing provincial labour disruption involves the withdrawal of administrative duties and rotating one-day strikes.
Due to the withdrawal of administrative duties, LDSB schools will not be issuing term one report cards for elementary students in Kindergarten to Grade 8. Parents and guardians can contact their child’s teacher to learn of their progress.
The production of report cards for Limestone’s 13,000 elementary students relies on the electronic inputting of assessment data by teachers. This translates into about 300,000 individual pieces of data. Our principals and vice-principals cannot do the work of more than 800 classroom teachers. Nor can this work be outsourced to other Board staff or external agencies due to the significant unbudgeted cost, and concerns about accuracy and, more importantly, privacy given the confidential information that is part of a child’s report card.
We know how important these reports are to families and students, but it’s also important to remember that report cards are not the sole record of achievement data for your child. As always, parents and guardians can contact their child’s teacher to discuss their progress and/or concerns.
For more information please visit the LDSB website.
MESSAGE FROM YOUR PARENT COUNCIL CHAIR
Parent Council Facebook Group
Dear Lancaster Parents,
Thank you to all the members of our parent community who came out for our last meeting! We have a full Council, who have wonderful ideas on the horizon, and we look forward to working with them throughout the year to help support initiatives and activities, in partnership with the school, for our students. Anyone is welcome at the meetings and we encourage you to come out to lend your voice and your support to this dynamic group of Council Executives. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 3rd at 6:00. Childcare is provided. Join us for Coffee Time on the primary yard at 8:00 that morning.
Improving communication is just one of the prime objectives of Parent Council this year. We have created this closed Facebook group to keep the parents up to date with Parent Council activities. I hope this group would also help improve your participation/ involvement in council meetings as well as continue to build our parent community allowing for networking and collaboration to support the efforts of our school. We look forward to seeing our families come out to our next event Multi-Cultural Night "A Taste of Lancaster" on March 5th from 5:30-7:30!
Please click on the link below to join the group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2497663423888404/
Thank you,
Ammar Rashid
Chair, Lancaster Parent Council
HEALTHY SCHOOL INFORMATION
Allergies at School
Please be advised that we have staff and students who have food and environmental allergies. Some of these allergies are life-threatening. With this in mind, we ask that all staff, students and visitors refrain from sending/bringing items to school that contain or have come in contact with peanuts or other nuts, as well as identified allergens in your child's classroom. As well, staff, students and visitors are asked to refrain from using scented products.
LDSB Emergency Protocols
To help ensure the safety and security of our school communities, the Limestone District School Board has comprehensive procedures in preparation for and response to emergency situations, which includes specific plans to keep students, staff and others safe in the event of a serious accident or potentially violent incident. It is of paramount importance that consistent terminology is used throughout our district and therefore there are four consistent terms and protocols that are used in emergency situations: emergency evacuation, shelter in place, hold and secure and lockdown. Each of these terms and situations are different. In addition to regular fire evacuation drills, all schools are mandated to practice the emergency lockdown protocol twice each year. Here at SPS we will continue to fine tune our fire drill procedures as well as continuing to practice our lock down protocol. To date we have completed three fire drills and will be having a lockdown drill next week. We are always proud of how serious our students take these practices.
Lancaster Parent Council Fundraising
Mabels Labels
Cobb's Bread
Love tasty baked goods from Cobbs Bread?? Every time you visit Cobbs Bread Bakery at 770 Gardiners rd. in Kingston simply let them know you are supporting Lancaster School’s Fundraiser and they will donate 10% of your sale to us!
Let’s “Raise some Dough”!
FlipGive
You can now shop online at your favourite stores and fund raise for Lancaster! As part of our 2018/2019 Fundraising efforts, Parent Council is putting a 3 year plan in place to raise funds for schoolyard improvements for all divisions - primary, junior and intermediates. This is a significant project and will require a lot of hard work and dedication from our Parent Council, Staff and Community.
FlipGive allows us to earn cash back for our school for shopping online! There are dozens of retailers to shop with including Indigo, Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks, Old Navy, Sport Chek just to name a few. You can even earn cash back for the school when you purchase gift cards - great teachers gifts or stocking stuffers! Going out for dinner? Order your gift card online through FlipGive ahead of time and use it to pay for dinner....So easy & something you were going to do anyway!
How it works
- Join our Lancaster Team at Flipgive.com or download the FlipGive App from the app store
- Go to https://www.flipgive.com/teams/164409 and click on "Join This Team"
- Enter code CFKGRP
- Happy Shopping!
Feel free to also share the link and code with family & friends - anyone can join our team! Every little bit helps. We appreciate your support.
- Indigo - Gift Cards gives 15%, Shop Online gives up to 3%
- Amazon - Shop Online gives up to 10%
- Walmart - Shop Online gives up to 1%
- Starbucks - Buy Gift Cards gives 2%
- Old Navy - Buy Gift Cards gives 2%, Shop Online gives 5%
- Sport Chek - Shop Online gives 10%
- Ultimate Dining Gift Card - gives 7%
- Jack Astor's - Buy Gift Cards gives 10%
FOR OUR PARENTS: COMMUNITY SUPPORTS, PROGRAMS, EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS
Kingston Gets Active’s Grade 5 ActivPass is a unique opportunity for students to enjoy physical activity at participating recreation centres, during designated times, free of charge until August 31, 2020.
The schedule can be found at www.KingstonGetsActive.ca
Homestay
The Limestone District School Board has a rich tradition of hosting students from different countries around the world for over 20 years. Ontario, and specifically Kingston, is seen as a learning destination. Our city is safe, accessible, has great services, is friendly and perfectly sized for students to study in. For September 2020, the Limestone District School Board, is expanding the number of International Students that we host each year. These are high school aged students that are looking to spend 5 months or more learning English and studying at our schools.
We need your help! Please consider hosting an International student in your home. The most important part of a student’s journey to Kingston is their home away from home. We have many families around the District that already host students and find it rewarding. We have a professional staff within the Limestone District School Board that with help you with the process and provide support. As a host family, you will get paid per month for hosting an International student.
Students come from countries including Brazil, China, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
If you are interested or have questions, please contact the International Education Department at 613-544-7745. You can also fill out an application on-line at www.studykingston.com By filling out an application, there is no commitment to host. One of our Homestay team will get in contact with you.
Music Lessons
Piano
Tanya Bezanson
613.539.8342
Piano
Maria Boston
613. 384.1057
Useful Links
Sign Up for the Parent Council E-mail List
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People for Education
To sign up for their bi-weekly newsletter:
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Bayridge Secondary School Grade 8 Info Night: February 10th @ 6:30 PM at the School
Hope you can join us Feb. 10th at 6:30 PM in the Main Bear Pit at the school.