Bayridge Bulletin: Weekly Update

Dear Bayridge Families,

Happy December!

Thank you to all of our families who were able to support our Food Drive these past few weeks. Students went outside Friday afternoon to walk the track together and jingle their bells. Thank you to Mr. Chase, Mr. Wolsey and their team of leaders for organizing the Jingle Bell Walk - some of them even made the CTV and Global news last night! We are very proud of the amount of food we collected and know this will help support our community. If you need support this holiday season, please reach out to the school. If you are able to give a little extra, please contact the school and see some of our ideas below.

Students who were in Grades 3 and 6 at Bayridge will receive their EQAO Individual Student Reports very soon. Staff will be looking at this snapshot of student achievement in combination with all of the assessment data that we collect over the course of the school year to continue to explore the next steps that will build on students' areas of strength and address areas of learning need.

We are looking forward to an exciting few weeks: grade 7 and 8s on the volleyball teams will compete in their tournaments at the Boy's and Girl's Club this week. Go Bears Go!

We are grateful to our School Council for their support in purchasing some new goalie equipment for indoor floor hockey, as well as some sets of Forest of Reading books to read in the New Year - more to come on this!

Next week we are welcoming Jackie Rendina who will be teaching the grade 3/4 class with Mrs. Stephen.

We are saying goodbye to Ms. Price (again) as she takes on a bigger teaching piece at Holsgrove. Good luck to her!

We have an exciting week planned before our Winter Break - see the calendar below of our Holiday Fun Week.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

K. Witley (Principal), S. Swan-Pressnell (Vice Principal) and the Bayridge Staff

Drama Weeks meets Music Trio - Grade 1s and 1/2s Perform!

Students in Ms. Huntley's and Mrs. Moscrop's classes have been learning choreography to Dances of the Dolls, with Christine Harvey teaching us and the trio Two Thirds Down Under providing the musical accompaniment. Thanks to the Music Performance Trust Fund for their support in this partnership, this event is free of charge.

We invite Grade 1 and ½ families to our final performance in the gym at 2pm on Monday, December 5th; the doors will open at 1:45pm.

Winter Gear

As the cold is quickly taking over, the School Advisory Council recognises that some families may be struggling with providing warm outerwear (jackets, snowpants, boots, mitts and hats, etc.) for students. We would like to try to help! Please get in contact with Kelly Witley or Sandra Swan-Presnell with what items your family needs and what size and gender your student is and they will pass that information to council members who will try to network and find you warm (likely second hand, but good condition) items for your student(s). If you have items to donate, please watch the facebook page and SMORE over the coming weeks for requests.

Bear Bags

Need a Bear Hug? Request a Bear Bag!

Can share a Bear Hug? Donate to Bear Bags!

As grocery prices soar, we are finding that many of our families are in need of some help with food. Together with our wonderful admin team, Kelly Witley and Sandra Swan-Presnell, the School Advisory Council wants to help! To this end, we have come up with the bear bag program where families in need will be able to request (from admin) a Bear Bag for the weekend with some non-perishable food items. Before we can get started, we need to collect supplies! If you are able, please consider donating any of the following items to the school: instant oatmeal packages, pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, crackers, peanut butter, soup. Thank you in advance for your support to this much needed offering. This initiative will run throughout the school year and items can be donated at any time.

Collaborative Learning in our Foyer (and beyond)!

This week on twitter, a class challenged other classes to do this "Which one doesn't belong?" These are awesome questions because there is no just one right answer. The picture below is of Ms. Moscrop's class giving it a go. This also prompted other challenges on twitter between classes across the Board.

Holiday Shop!

Once again, the School Advisory Council is thrilled to be hosting a Holiday Shop on Wednesday, December 14th! This fun event is made possible with donations of giftable items from our community that our students can “shop” for and bring one special thing home, wrapped, to surprise a family member. This event is free and we will be accepting donations of giftable items (toys, candles, houseware, mugs, costume jewellery, gadgets, etc) as well as wrapping materials (gift bags and tissue preferred) at the school between Dec 5th and December 12th. When donating, please be mindful of the item size as our students will need to be able to transport them home!

We are also seeking volunteers to set up in the resource centre in the evening of December 13th and/or to help students select and wrap gifts throughout the school day on December 14th. Please email melissarickey@hotmail.ca or megcarrharris@hotmail.com to volunteer!! Wishing all of our students and families a wonderful holiday season!

Extra-Curriculars

This year we have two volleyball teams. They are being coached by Ms. Witley and Ms. Ketcheson. This week we had a game against Fairfield and both teams won their sets. We will keep practicing for our tournaments this week!

Upcoming Dates

Dec. 6 - Boys' Volleyball at Boys and Girls Club

Dec. 6 - National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Dec. 9 - Girls' Volleyball at Boys and Girls Club

Dec. 18- Dec. 26: Hanukkah

Dec. 21: Winter Solstice

*Friday, December 23rd-Sunday, January 8th: Winter Break*

Saturday, December 24th: Christmas Eve
Sunday, December 25th: Christmas Day
Monday, December 26th: Boxing Day
Monday, December 26th: Kwanzaa
Saturday, December 31st: New Year's Eve
Sunday, January 1st: New Year's Day

HOT LUNCH

Dec. 9 - Pita Pit

Dec. 16 - Pasta

Dec. 22 - Pizza

** NEW** orders will now close the TUESDAY before the hot lunch day**

Families will need to order on School Day - if you do not have a school day account/login please call the school and we will help you.

School Advisory Council

School Council Meeting:

Our new council is as follows:

Chair: Sara Thomas

Secretary: Lindsay Hanna

Fundraising Coordinator: Melissa Rickey

Bingo Coordinator: Meg Redmond

Members at Large: Heather Brain

We are still looking for a Treasurer - please contact the school if you are interested.

Please join us for our next School Advisory Council meeting date TBD in 2023, to be held in the staff room at Bayridge Public School. All are welcome!

We are still seeking Bingo Volunteers!! Please email Meg Redmond (megcarrharris@hotmail.com) if you are interested in volunteering!

Thank you!!