FALMOUTH DISTRICT SCHOOL
January 4th, 2018Volume 5
JANUARY NEWSLETTER
EMERGENCY DISMISSAL
Parents/Guardians are reminded to have plans in place for supervision of their children in the event of an early dismissal due to an impending storm. Since Falmouth District may have less than one hour notice from the AVRSB regarding an emergency early dismissal the following suggestions should facilitate important communication between home and the school:
The AVRSB will notify parents through the Alert Solution of any dismissal changes. These alerts will be distributed the same way as we distribute newsletters, weekly reminders, safe arrival, etc. We will also be sending out alerts in the event of an emergency dismissal due to inclement weather or other emergency. This year our first calls will be made to child care providers to confirm students’ in their care and then we will proceed with all other students. Therefore if your child goes to a child care provider on our list for that day, we will not be calling home. We will only be notifying the child care provider.
On days you suspect a potential early dismissal listen to AVR for announcements regarding early dismissals or check the AVRSB Web-site.
It is extremely important to have plans in place for these unfortunate events. As an elementary school we feel it important and imperative to know that all students from P-5 will have someone home when they reach their destination. We will first phone our known child care providers to confirm students in their care for that day. Following these phone calls all other student’s parents will be reached by phone call unless we receive an email () indicating you have received the Alert notice and confirmed their dismissal arrangements. Please do not call the main office line as we need to keep this line open. Every attempt is made to ensure that students will be safe when they leave the school early. This takes a considerable amount of time and we will not dismiss busses until we have confirmed dismissal arrangements. All of our phone lines along with a number of personal cell phones are used at this time, if you need to contact the school with the instructions please use the above email address or leave a message at 902-792-6711. Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. Please remember that it must be the child’s parent who calls. We are unable to accept confirmation from a non-parent. There may be times where a student will be held from the busses if we have not received confirmation in order to ensure busses remain on time for dismissals at other schools if we have not been in contact with a parent.
RECEIVE AVRSB ANNOUNCEMENTS BY TEXT OR EMAIL REMINDER
Did you know that you can sign up for text messages from the Board when there are school cancellations? To receive a text or an email notification from AVRSB please, sign up at If you have any questions about the text/email notification service, please contact .
NO SCHOOL & EARLY DISMISSAL DATES
DATE / EVENTWednesday, January 3 / First Day back after Christmas Break
Wednesday, January 17 / Early Dismissal - 11:10 am
WINTER SAFETY
At this time of the year children like to play in the snow and it is important to remind them of the safety issues involved. Weather sometimes makes frostbite a real possibility but our bigger concern is children playing near roads busy with snowplows and other traffic. Students should not be playing on snow banks near the road while waiting for the bus. This can cause a safety hazard for students and the bus driver. Please remind your child to play in a safe area and dress appropriately. During school hours students playing on the ice or on the fields must wear snow pants. Remember to pack extra socks and mittens in your child’s backpack. We are outside unless it is raining or wind chill drops the temperatures to below -18.
PRIMARY REGISTRATION
In order to plan for next school year, we would like to obtain an estimate of the number of children who will begin school in the fall. A child must be five years of age on or before December 31, 2018 to be eligible to start school in September 2018. If you have a child who will be entering Falmouth District School please contact the school at 792-6710 by Friday, January 27th, 2018.
If you know of someone who will be sending their child to school for the first time, and they do not have any other children in this school, please ask them to contact us at 792-6710 to register their child.
Library
Happy New Year! It’s 2018 already. Can you believe it? Here are a few upcoming world highlights ….
· February... Winter Olympic Games- South Korea
· March...NASA plans to Launch exoplanet
· April...Commonwealth Games-Australia
· May...NASA launching Insight which they plan to send to Mars in November
· June...Fifa World Cup-Russia
· ...Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive
· July...Mars will make its closest approach to earth since 2003
On another note, Thank you so much to all that helped with the book fair. With your support we were be able to purchase almost $2,000 in materials for our school, which included many nonfiction leveled reading books as well we have a large list of math manipulatives etc. we hope to purchase in April.
Hurray! Hurray! Finally, Our Hackmatack books have arrived. For those of you not familiar with HACKMATACK...it is the Atlantic Canada Division of a Canadian children’s Reading book club. There are twenty books in total, 10 of each fiction & non-fiction that students can choose from. The idea is to read all 20 (or as many as possible) and then vote for their favourite in each category. All books are written by Canadian authors. Voting takes place in April. Grade 4-6 are welcome to participate. We will be meeting at lunch on Tuesdays. I am looking forward to it.
Mrs. Meuse
SKATING
Parents/Guardians are reminded to have your children try on their skates before our program begins. If your child does not have skates we have skates that can be borrowed from the school.
Students must wear snow pants and mittens or gloves while skating and will be required to wear a helmet. Also, warm high cut socks are best to keep skates from chaffing legs. The school has helmets to use while skating during Phys. Ed. classes. If your child uses their own helmet it needs to be a skating or hockey helmetunless you sign a release form.
We will be looking for volunteers to help get skates on and off students. If you are available to help tie skates, please let your child’s classroom teacher know. Many hands make the process very efficient!
Skating schedule for Mondays is as follows:
8:10 - 9:00 Petten & Reid/Shields
9:00 - 9:50 Walkinshaw & Heffernan
10:10 - 11:00 Cox-Jardine & Mulloy
11:20 - 12:10 Leary & Fry
1:10 - 2:00 Joudrey
SNOWSHOES
Snowshoes may be signed out at the office by families to use on weekends. Please be sure to return the borrowed equipment before classes on Mondays as we use the snow shoes in Phys. Ed. classes and at noon time.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION NEWS
OUTDOOR PHYSICAL EDUCATION CLASSES
Just a reminder that on occasion we will be having outdoor Physical Education classes (eg: snowshoeing or snow play), so please ensure that your child has the appropriate outdoor clothing with them on Mondays and Thursdays. (Eg: snow pants, mittens and boots.) Students are required to participate but must be dressed for the snow and cold. Dressing for the weather and outdoor activities is part of the PE curriculum. Thanks for helping your students be prepared.
LOST AND FOUND
Parents/guardians are welcome to come into the school to check the Lost and Found box for articles that may belong to their children. Unclaimed clothing will be donated to a local charity.
HOME & SCHOOL
Well what a successful first half of the year we have had with our fundraising!! Nourish Boxes, Craft Fair and Purdy's Chocolate all a Huge success thank you one and all for making this happen!
We also need to thank all our volunteers who helped to make our annual shopping party an event the kids all enjoy so much , I hope you all enjoyed your treasures that were picked out with great thought and care. As well pancake brunch, thank you for making that happen as well it is a favorite memory for all our kids during the last week of school.
We have another thank you to send out , Joanne McNeil and her team of helpers for running a great Christmas Concert, Thank you!!!
Heading into the New Year we have lots of exciting events yet to come including our blueberry fundraiser and the ever popular Spring Fling, class trips and so much more!!!
A big thank you goes out to Jamie Leary, Arnold Whitehead and a team of volunteers who set up our rink over the holidays and to the Hantsport Fire Department for filling it. Reminder we will always need help on skating days getting kids into and out of their skates and Helmets, watch for the schedule!
Next Home & School meeting will be held on Monday, January 15th at the school.
Cheers, Jenn
COMMUNITY EVENTS
Riverview Skating Club
Registration for skating programs (10 weeks) – Wednesday Jan. 24th & Friday Jan. 26th from 5 – 8pm and Saturday Feb. 3rd from 10am to 1pm. All registration will take place at Newport and District Rink and will be ongoing.
Skating session begins Feb. 7th at Newport Rink. All skaters will be part of our annual ice show and this year’s theme is “Tangled”.
The Riverview Skating Club offers programs for beginners to competitive skaters. See website for Calendar and Ice Schedule for more details,.
You can also find us on Facebook or e-mail for more details.
Calming your Anxious Child
West Hants Community Mental Health & West Hants Schools Plus are very pleased to announce that we are able to offer a 6 week course for parents/caregivers of children with anxiety. Parents will come away from the group with a good understanding of anxiety and numerous fun and easy strategies that you can use right away to help your child.
WHEN: Tuesday evenings starting January 9, 2018. 6-8 pm, for 6 weeks
WHERE: Hants Community Hospital
89 Payzant Drive
Windsor, NS B0N 2T0
ROOM: Conference Room 2B
COST: FREE!!!
Call West Hants Community Mental Health at (902) 792-2042 to register and confirm your spot; space is limited
FALMOUTH DISTRICT SCHOOL CALENDAR
2017-2018
Subject to Change (Watch for Revised “Important Dates” List) picked up by mom for an appointment @10:00
REVISED: January 4th, 2018
Wed., Jan. 3 / First Day back after Christmas BreakMon., Jan. 8 / Home & School Meeting – 6:30 pm
Wed., Jan. 17 / EARLY DISMISSAL – 11:10 am
Mon., Feb. 5
DATE (2018) / EVENT
/ Home & School Meeting – 6:30 pm
Mon., Feb. 19 / NO SCHOOL – Heritage Day
Mon., Mar. 5 / NO SCHOOL
Fri., Mar. 5 / Home & School Meeting - 6:30 pm
Fri., Mar. 9 / Last Day before March Break
March 12-16 / March Break
Mon., Mar. 19 / First Day Back after March Break
Wed., Mar. 28 / Report Cards go Home
Fri., Mar 30 / NO SCHOOL - Good Friday