Sunday 11 September 2016

Week of Sept 12th


A Message from the Administrative Team:

"You're off to great places
Today is your day 
Your mountain is waiting
So get on your way."
                                ~ Dr. Seuss 

We are very excited for our upcoming year.  We survived the heat last week and look forward to some cooler days!

We would like to welcome back Ms Cronier who has returned from her maternity leave, Mr Webster, Ms Wong, Ms Ho, Mr Baker and Ms Reid.  We would also like to welcome Mr King, Ms Markulin, Ms Millan, Mr Kahn, Ms Collins and Ms Rambarran who are all new to our school.

We would also like to welcome our Home & School Committee Chairs Lisa Suutari and Robyn Israel. We work closely with Home & School to provide the best opportunities for our students and families.

Please check our school website at http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/bessborough/Home.aspx for our Weekly Bulletins, Teacher/Class websites and blogs, School Day Schedule and calendar and other information.

We look forward to connecting with our students and families for another fun filled year!

~ Ms Broderick and Ms Rosenbloom




Parent Email List - We need your help!

We are generating our parent email list to ensure all families receive our online school communication both from teachers and the office. If you know of parents who have not yet signed up, please direct them to http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/bessborough/SchoolCommunication.aspx to complete the online form.  The sooner we have emails, the quicker information gets out to the community.






Trustee Gerri Gershon

With the board's reorganization, we are fortunate to still have Gerri Gershon as our Trustee.  To stay informed with Gerri, please sign up for her e-newsletter by emailing gerri.gershon@tdsb.on.ca and visit her webpage www.tdsb.on.ca/gershon. Follow her on Twitter  @gerrigershon, for all sorts of useful information about education. For system wide news about the TDSB, visit www.tdsb.on.ca/TDSBupdate. Please see the attachment for more information.




Lates & Absences

We want to thank parents for following our safe school procedures. Just a reminder to those parents who are volunteering in the school to sign in and pick up a visitor’s pass in the office prior to going to the classroom.

Lates: 
If your child arrives after 8:55 am, please take them to the office to receive a late slip before entering class.  Students in Grades 5-8 who are late 3x or more will be asked to stay in the detention room after school until 3:40 pm.  The school will follow up with parents of students who are routinely late to discuss ways to support the student.

Absences:
If your child is absent, please send an email to bessborough@tdsb.on.ca or call the school at (416) 396-2319.  Clearly state your child’s first and last name, grade, teacher and reason for their absence.

If your child is being picked up for lunch, please send an email to bessborough@tdsb.on.ca or a note to school in the morning so we are aware of the change.

Just a reminder to parents and caregivers that during recess, only staff and children are permitted in the school yard.  Parents and caregivers may stay in the yard at lunch 10 minutes prior to entry.




School Lunches

In order to minimize disruption to the instructional day, student lunches can be dropped off on the table in front of the office.  Please use a sticky note provided and label the lunch with their name, grade and teacher.  Let Gail or Renee know and they will call into the classroom to notify students to come pick it up at lunch.  

NOTE:  Hot lunches are available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  See information below from Home & School to order.

Bessborough Drive is a nut-free school.  Please make sure all snacks and lunches do not contain any traces of nuts. Thank you for helping us keep our students safe.



Permission Forms & Waivers Needed!    

We have many exciting trips planned for this school year and a few coming up this month.  Please make sure all forms are in immediately for the following trips to ensure your child's participation. Students will not be able to participate if permission forms and waivers are not returned.

The following permission forms and waivers are required this week:
- Grade 4-8 STEM World Cup of Hockey @ Air Canada Center - September 14th (ASAP due Tues Sept 13th)
- Grade 4-8 STEM World Cup of Hockey @ Fan Village - September 22nd (due this week)
- Grade 5-8 Tony O Boot Camp - Sept 19/20 (due this week)
- Gr 7 Kilcoo Camp - Sept 26th - 28th (due this week)



Home & School Council

Our School Council plays an important role at Bessborough. Its purpose is to improve student achievement and enhance the accountability of the education system at our school. The Council advises our Administration on matters like our school improvement plan, staffing models, budgets, and any matter that is important to parents. It is a true partner with the Administration in bringing the best education to our children. Please see the following attachment for the School Council nomination form.



Bessborough Cross Country Team

This is a call out to all runners to come and have some fun with friends Monday and Wednesday and Friday mornings. The Cross Country Team is open to all runners from Grades 1-8.  We meet at 8am in the South yard.  Practice runs until approximately 8:40am.  Runners need a completed permission form (attached) to participate.  Stay tuned to the Bulletin for more information about Cross Country as the program gets underway.  There will be a parent information meeting in the south yard on Friday morning at 8am after the runners get going with their practice. 




Kindergarten Welcome Coffee!  
Calling all Kindie parents!  Please join us for coffee on Wednesday September 14th at
8:30 am in the Kindergarten yard.  It’s a great chance to meet the Kindergarten teachers and mingle with other Kindie parents.  

Hot Lunch Service
Are you already tired of making school lunches?  You’re in luck!  Bessborough offers hot lunch service through The Lunch Lady on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (except Pizza Lunch days) each week.  And service begins this Tuesday September 13th!  Check out www.thelunchlady.ca for menus and to place your order.

Pizza Lunch Forms
Who doesn’t love a Pizza Party? And this one helps raise money for our school.  Win - Win!  There are 6 Pizza Lunches throughout the year but you need to place your orders now.  Please return the order form that was in your welcome package with payment by next Friday, September 16th.  If you need a copy, please click here.  Payment is by cheque only - payable to Bessborough Home & School - and must be dated with the current date.  Don’t miss out!

Babysitters Wanted!

H&S is looking for babysitters to help care for kids while parents attend the General Meetings (there are 4 meetings this year, held on Tuesday nights, 7-9pm).  We are looking for 2 babysitters for each meeting.  This is a terrific volunteer opportunity and a chance to begin building your resume.  Interested students should contact Robyn Israel at robyneisrael@gmail.com for more info.

Volunteers Needed!
We are always looking for people who want to get involved with H&S to help make Bessborough even better for our kids.  Here are 2 roles that need to be filled:

Walking Wednesdays
Every Wednesday morning, Bessborough families/students are encouraged to walk, run, bike or scooter to school to stay active and help reduce the number of cars on the road.  We are looking for a new family to run the Walking Wednesday program this year.  It involves organizing student helpers to tally students by classroom, counting each classroom's participation, announcing the results and motivating the students.  

Lunch Program
We are also looking for a new Lunch Program Coordinator.  Bessborough offers a wide range of amazing lunch activities including chess, guitar, coding, Lego Robotics, arts and crafts and more. The Lunch Program Coordinator organizes programs for the Fall, Winter and Spring terms, liaises with the different external providers to ensure we are offering the best programs for our students, and visits the school once in a while to ensure the programs are running smoothly and meeting the required standards.  The Fall Lunch Program is already in place although details will need to be finalized and information will need to be sent to parents via the H&S website.  A big thank you to Celine Smith for doing such an amazing job with the Lunch Program last year and for organizing the Fall Program!  Celine can assist throughout the year as necessary.  Please contact Liz Speller at ejspeller1@gmail.com or Stacey Niman at staceyniman@gmail.com if you are interested in taking on either of these important and rewarding roles.

Appreciation Corner

A HUGE thank you to Karen Schweter for taking charge of the BBQ & Movie Night.  It was a great way to kick off another school year!  Thank you also to Debbie Georgiou, Mary Holmes, Liz Speller, Mr. Newell, Mr. McMillan, David Mizener, Lindsay Norberg, the volunteers who managed the BBQ and concession sales and tidied up the field in the dark, and the supportive H&S crew working behind the scenes to make it happen.


Don’t forget to bookmark our site and visit www.bessboroughhomeandschool.com for important details on all of this and more!  We have all you need to know to stay in the loop!