December 13th, 2019
Hello Parents,
Here are this week’s updates:
1. Pizza for January – ETFO initiated Phase 2 of their Administrative Work to Rule (WTR) on Tuesday, December 10. Under this direction elementary teachers and education workers who are members of ETFO will not:
- Collect monies or participate in the electronic collection of monies for school-based activities except those for charitable causes
- Distribute any memos/letters from a school and/or school board
- Plan any new field trips scheduled to occur before June 30, 2020
- Prepare a bulletin board or school display if requested to do so by an administrator or supervisor
- Perform any duties that are normally performed by a school administrator or direct supervisor
- Complete system-level board reports requested by an administrator or supervisor
This means, for our school, we will need to pause our weekly Thursday pizza days until further notice.
Our priority remains for the safety of our students and we want you to clearly understand the status of our school during any labour action.
We understand these changes will be frustrating for our students and families, however, we want to assure you that these sanctions will not impact classroom instruction and student learning.
We will continue to do our best to keep you informed of any future changes.
For information updates please:
- Use the Labour Updates button on www.wrdsb.ca and school websites
- Visit our website and subscribe to receive updates
- Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
2. Phone calls home – From time to time we need to contact parents via telephone. Sometimes it is because your child is ill or injured, but sometimes it is for another non-emergency reason. If there is a voicemail option, we will leave a voicemail with the details. If you do receive a call from the school and cannot answer your phone, then please check your voicemail before calling the school to see who phoned. Our office staff may not know which staff member called and it takes time to track down who made the call. It is faster and easier to just check the voicemail for the details, and then to only call back if necessary. Thanks for your help with this!
3. Canadian Music Class Challenge – Williamsburg is taking part in the CBC Music Class Challenge again this year. Here is a link to see our submission: https://youtu.be/NXdkPDmlA60
And here are more details about the challenge: Every fall, CBC Music in association with MusiCounts — the charity of the Juno Awards — launches a contest to engage music classes across the country with Canadian music. It’s called The Canadian Music Class Challenge.
There are three goals to this project:
- We want kids to learn Canadian music in the classroom.
- We want to draw attention to the exceptional work music teachers are doing with children across the country.
- We want to reinforce the importance of music in a well-rounded education. Here are the next steps: Dec.10: top 10 in each category released, Dec.17: winners announced. Thanks to Mrs. Stanzel for working with our Williamsburg students to put this together!
4. Food Drive – Our Food Drive is in full swing. Thanks to everyone who has already donated! We are collecting non-perishable items to donate to the Waterloo Region Food Bank until Friday, December 13th. Please send any donations in with your child by tomorrow. Items that are most needed are: canned meat and fish, tomato sauce, dried beans, canned stews and chili, pasta, rice, cereal, soup, and canned fruit. Remember to check expiry dates before you send in your donations. Thank you for supporting our community!
5. Our Lost and Found is full and overflowing!: Please encourage your children to take a look for missing items. Any items that have not been picked up by December 20thth will be donated.
6. French Program Information Nights for Parents of Senior Kindergarten Students – The Waterloo Region District School Board offers two French programs, both beginning in grade one. (https://www.wrdsb.ca/french/french-programs/ ). Information regarding the Core French Program and the grade one French Immersion Program was sent home last week. Both programs are designed to meet the needs of your child. Please take the time to read this brochure and all the information on this website link carefully before making your choice. In order to provide parents/guardians with information about the French Immersion Program, the following information sessions have been scheduled at the WRDSB Board Office at 51 Ardelt Avenue, Kitchener in the Cambridge Room:
- Monday, January 13 at 7:00 pm
On-line Registration for parents of SK students for the French Immersion program that begins in Grade 1 opens on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at https://www.wrdsb.ca/french/
7. Hero Gems – We continue to focus on efficacy. Here is a way that you can promote efficacy with your child(ren): “Think back to an achievement that you didn’t initially believe you could do. Remind yourself that you can succeed.
8. Home Reading Incentive Program – Remember to encourage your child to keep reading every night! We will continue to have draws each month!
9. Inclement Weather Policy – As we have now entered into wintery weather, here is an update from WRDSB on how decisions are made about bus cancellations and school closures:
Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region (STSWR) bus operators start monitoring road and weather conditions early in the morning and any recommendations to make any bus cancellations or school closures is discussed with the Director of Education
Transportation cancellations do not automatically mean schools are closed
WRDSB tries to make bus cancellation/closure decisions 6:00 a.m.
Information about bus cancellations/closures are posted on: 1. The WRDSB website www.wrdsb.ca 2. Our school websitewlm.wrdsb.ca/ 3. The WRDSB Twitter account @wrdsb 4. Local Media such as www.570news.com/
10. Stay Connected!
– Williamsburg Website – Keep Up to Date!
Follow any new posts that get added to the Williamsburg website by going to http://wlm.wrdsb.ca/, scroll to the bottom of the page and add your email address in the box under “Get News From This Website” and click Submit
-Twitter – Follow us on Twitter @wlmwrdsb
11. Upcoming Dates to Note:
- December 9 – 13 – Food Drive
- December 20 – Last day before our holiday break. Wear your Pajamas!
- December 21 – January 5 – Winter Break
- January 6 – First day back after the holidays
- January 8 – Registration is Open for Gr. 1 French Immersion (for SK students at www.wrdsb.ca/french)
Have a great week!
Categories: School News