Bristow Run ES Panther Press
April 2023
Dear Panther Families,
I hope all our families got time to rest and relax over spring break. It’s so nice to return to school with the beautiful weather and feel spring in the air! It’s hard to believe, but we are in our final quarter of the school year! We have many important events throughout the last several weeks, so read the newsletter carefully and mark your calendars. It’s important that your child(ren) attends school every day school is in session. Teachers are busy planning some fun review activities to help students prepare for end of year testing. These are activities that can’t be done at home, so your child needs to be in school to in order to participate in the best learning environment possible. Just a reminder that days out of school for family trips are not counted as excused absences.
Your child’s 3rd quarter report card will be available in ParentVUE on Wednesday, April 19. Please login to review your child’s grades and discuss areas that deserve praise and areas needing improvement. Your feedback is imperative to your child’s success. Research shows that students of parents who are engaged in their child’s education are much more successful all around!
Volunteer Appreciation Week is in April and I want to take this opportunity to thank all our wonderful parent volunteers. Thank you for everything you do to help support the students, staff and school community. We couldn’t do this hard work without you!
Your Partners in Education,
Mrs. Jeck and Ms. Gamble
5th-Grade Promotion: Save the Date 6/12/23 @6:30 PM at BRES
4th-Quarter Celebration & Spring Luau thank you!
During the fourth quarter, classes will still be working for PAWS (points) from school staff for showing expected behaviors throughout the school building (hallways, cafeteria, bathroom, Encore, recess, assemblies, etc.). Individual students and the entire class can earn PAWS for the class! Classes aim to earn 10+ PAWS per week to earn their weekly reward and 80 PAWS before the end of the 4th quarter to earn their next event: A SUPRISE to be announced soon!
Kindergarten Registration for BRES!
Do you have a kindergarten student to enroll? Registration is required for all new students. Students who are five years of age or older by September 30 are eligible for enrollment in kindergarten. Registration for Kindergarten will open on Monday March 20. To register, please visit Kindergarten Registration
SCA Multicultural Night: Save the Date
SCA is very excited to bring back BRES' Multicultural Night. The event will be held on May 18th from 6:00 pm-7:00 pm.
Encore Journal: March Edition
Our students have been working hard in their encore classes. Look at the March Edition of the Encore Journal to see what students have been learning.
2023-2024 School Year: Moving? Leaving BRES?
As the end of the school year is approaching, we are starting to think about the next school year! If your family is planning on moving away from the Bristow Run area and your children will not be returning in the fall, please notify Susie Pierce at piercesc@pwcs.edu.
PWCS BARK
Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) has robust monitoring in place within the PWCS network on PWCS-provided devices to keep students safe and identify potential concerns. Through a partnership with Bark, PWCS is pleased to provide a potential solution for families who may wish to monitor personal devices provided to their children.
Through this partnership with PWCS, Bark is offering PWCS families Bark Jr for free (normally $5 per month) and Bark Premium for 20% off full price (now $80 per year). Using Bark Jr, parents and guardians can manage screen time, block websites and apps, and get location alerts. Bark Jr works on Apple, Amazon, and Android devices.
Bark Premium monitors texts, email, YouTube, and 30+ apps and platforms, web searches, and saved photos and videos. Parents will receive parental monitoring alerts for issues like cyberbullying, online predators, and suicidal ideation. Bark Premium can also help manage screen time, block websites and apps, and get location alerts and check-ins.
Use the link below or sign up on the Bark website using promo code J4S5MQ3.
Special Announcement! Are you interested?
Bristow Run’s proposed budget for the 2023-2024 school year includes a full time Parent Liaison which is funded from the county budget as part of Dr. McDade’s’ strategic priorities outlined in the Division Strategic Plan. Per the job description, this person is a full-time employee who facilitates communication and relationships with families of diverse backgrounds within our community. They should excel at facilitating interpretation assistance and/or be able to interpret for multilingual families. BRES is extremely diverse with families representing 35 languages! Our focus will be to find a candidate who has a strong knowledge of diverse cultures and backgrounds, excellent relationship skills, and the ability to facilitate and organize opportunities to bring diverse communities into the school.
We will advertise this position for hiring in the coming weeks and welcome any members of our community who feel they may be strong candidates for this position to contact Mrs. Jeck directly. More information on the PWCS job description is available here.
BRES Integrated Pre-School Program
Watch D.O.G.S. Dad's of Great Students!
Our Watch D.O.G.S. have been amazing and such a help to our whole BRES staff and students. Please consider signing up to be a Watch D.O.G.!
Our Watch D.O.G program helps provide positive male role models for students, demonstrating by their presence that education is important. Watch Dogs also provide an extra set of eyes and ears to enhance school security, reduce bullying and provide a greater sense of safety throughout the school day. The program's mission is to support principals and teachers by providing willing volunteers while contributing to improved student outcomes.
To learn more about the program, reach out to Bristow Run’s Top Dogs Pete Rossi at pete.g.rossi@gmail.com or Dale Thoman at dalejthoman@yahoo.com.
PTO Information
1. There will be no Sidewalk Art contest this year. If you enjoyed the event last year, please consider volunteering to lead next year!
2. The next PTO event will be the Spring Block Party! This is the same format as the one held in the fall and we are excited to hang out with everyone in the BRES community on the 28th of April.
3. THANK YOU for supporting our Bristow Run Panther Fun Run. Our goal was to raise $20,000 for School Improvements and a Learning Garden and we crushed that goal with a profit of $24,000!!! We will be posting details from our Boosterthon Wrap Up as well as our spending plan on our website and Facebook page soon - funds will be split between big items for the Learning Garden and Teacher Requests (we sent out a survey in February and are finalizing the choices with Mrs. Jeck). We are so thankful for the donations to support BRES!
4. PTO is still collecting Silent Auction donations. Erin Blankenship is the lead and would love volunteer help (we have a couple people helping already). Please email us or message us on facebook.
Stay connected to the PTO: PTO Webpage, PTO Facebook Page, PTO Volunteer Form
Important Information & Dates
4/21- NO SCHOOL! (Holiday in Observance of Eid al-Fitr)
6/12- 5th-Grade Promotion 6:30 PM at BRES
Bristow Run Elementary School
Website: https://bristowrunes.pwcs.edu/
Location: 8990 Worthington Drive, Bristow, VA, USA
Phone: 703-753-7741
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BristowRunES/
Twitter: @BristowRunES