Tamworth ES News Update
Sept. 28, 2021
The first month of the school year is almost over and it has definitely been busy. With reorganizations, changes in students and staff, weather that wants to change on a hourly basis, it has kept us hopping. I believe that our students and staff have done an amazing job returning to in-person learning and adapting to the safety measures that are in place.
As we continue to battle the virus, we appreciate your continued effort to help. Please continue to follow the Ontario Screener https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/. If your child develops Symptoms at school, we are following the direction of Public Health and use the form attached here.
Together we can continue to keep our school and community safe and healthy.
Communications
As we have evolved at school, so has our communications. Email and texting are now at the forefront as well as our traditional calls. Information sheets were sent home and we have had many returned – if you did not receive, or need another copy please let us know. It is very important that we have all current contact information so that we can keep you up to date not only from the school side of things but from classroom as well.
Please continue to contact the office if there is a change in schedule for your child – we do keep track of that in the office so that we are aware of who is going with who and at what times.
Absences can be reported through the school website, the app or a telephone call. You can pre-book absences if you know that your child has an appointment on a certain date.
School Council
We are looking forward to getting our council moving forward again supporting our school and school community. We will be hosting our first meeting of the year on Thursday Oct. 7 at 6:00 pm. There will be a meeting link sent out that Thursday. We will be determining our school council members and goals for the year. If you would like to be a member of our School council please contact Mr. Taylor. There are currently Co-chairs – Kelli Prue and Lori Forester. Our long time treasurer Beth F., no longer has a student here and we will be looking to fill that position, as well as secretary and other members. All positions of the council can be nominated and then voted on. The goal of council is to help look at ways to support the students in our school. We have hosted seminars, had guest speakers and determine how we can work together to continue to have a positive school environment
Staffing
It has been a busy year in the staffing department for our school. Before school started we were granted an extra classroom for our kindergarten numbers. This put an extra classroom in the school. Through the staffing process we have hired Alexandra Boese for our Gr. 1-2 classroom. We would like to Thank Ms. E. Robinson for coming in and getting our students ready and going to start the school year as the transition to Ms. Boese will take place Thursday Sept. 30. We wish Ms. Robinson the best as she continues in her educational career. Mr. Morris – French – Continues to be with us as that position is still in the staffing process. We would also like to welcome Mr. J. Miller who is doing the French for our Gr. 1-2 class.
Changing weather
As we now enter fall, layers are a good thing. It has been quite chilly in the morning and by the afternoon very warm. Please label you child’s clothes, as we typically have many items left on the yard. Having a change of shoes is now necessary as we are trying to avoid bringing mud into the classrooms and gym. Our yard can also get quite wet and muddy and we do slip and fall, so a change of clothes is not a bad thing to pack in their backpacks.
School Focus
Character Education
For the fall term we have been talking with all of the classes about kindness. We have been working on what this can look like especially in situations that arise in our day to day interactions. We are continuing to stress that we may not see the impact of being kind to someone – we may not remember the moment – but that any act of kindness can truly turn someone’s day around. There is a video that is a TED talk that talks about “lollipop” moments and the impact that random acts of kindness can have and everyone’s ability to have leadership qualities. I have put the link below.
Academics
As we are all well aware, due to the disruption that Co-vid has caused in the past two school years, we recognize that there are learning gaps for our students. Staff have been working hard to determine where are students are – especially in literacy and math – so that we can work on filling in some of those gaps. We will continue to meet our students where they are and move them forward and this could/will look different from student to student and class to class.
Mental Health
The mental health of our students is at the forefront of the school learning as well. School Mental Health Ontario has provided excellent resources for staff and parents to work on understanding and supporting our children’s mental health. Please see the link below for some excellent resources. https://smho-smso.ca/
Upcoming Events
Sept. 30 - Orange Shirt Day
Oct. 1 - PA dayOct. 7 - School Council meeting 6:00PM
Oct. 11 - Thanksgiving Monday Holiday
Oct. 15 - Terry Fox walk