CONNECTIONS ALEXANDER MUIR PUBLIC SCHOOL

75 Ford Wilson Boulevard, Newmarket, ON L3X 3G1 Phone: 905-895-9466 Fax: 905-895-9413

alexander.muir.ps@yrdsb.ca

From The Administrative Team

Welcome Fall! Thank you to all students, staff and families for a great start to the 2015/2016 school year!

As shared last month through social media, our school continues to focus on 5 areas as outlined in this infographic. We are committed to continuous improvement which reflects the board’s priority areas of Modern Learning, Mathematics and Mental Health.

For the past several weeks, our Monarch Butterfly display in the foyer has created a great deal of interest and engagement from students, staff and parents. We will be releasing the last of our butterflies later this week and wish them all the best on their 4500km migration to the mountains of Mexico. Students can’t love and protect what they don’t know. Hopefully this display has had an impact on the budding environmental stewards in our school and community!

At the end of the month we welcome back Mrs. Baptiste from maternity leave and say a heartfelt thank you to Mrs. Hutton who has been a tremendous support to our school in Mrs. Baptiste’s absence this fall. Mrs. Cash will be starting her maternity leave later this month and we wish her all the best with the new addition to her family!

Enjoy the change of the seasons and please remember the importance of safety when dropping and picking up your students each day.

Sincerely, Richard Erdmann Monica Wand Principal Vice Principal

York Region Mission:

To advance student achievement and well-being through public education, which motivates learners, fosters inclusion, inspires innovation and builds community.

October 2015

Events

I S S U E 2

Drop Zone 2:45-5:30pm every Tues. & Thurs. Gr.6-8

$5/visit

Gr. 6 VIP Program starts 7

Thanksgiving (NO SCHOOL) 12

School Picture Day 16

Kids Have Stress Too! Sessions for students Gr.1-8

20,22, 23,27

Bus Safety 22 & 23

School Council (6:45pm) 22

School Information

LUNCH ASSISTANTS We are now looking for CASUAL (on call) School Assistants at Alexander Muir PS for the

school year! This is a paid position and the hours are 11:50 p.m. to 12:50 pm. Please call Mrs. Malcolm if you are in-terested at 905-895-9466.

BUS SAFETY & EVACUATION All students will be participating in annual bus safety and evacuation sessions this month. These sessions are delivered by our school bus company. Sessions are scheduled for October 22 & 23. Please continue to remind your child/ren of the importance of staying in their seats while on the bus and the need to follow the Golden Rule. If problems on the bus arise, we will follow the 3-step policy below: 1. student receives a warning 2. a phone call is made informing Parent/Guardian of the second incident 3. possible suspension of bus privileges

KIDS HAVE STRESS TOO! & STRESS LESSONS Kids Have Stress Too! (KHST!) and Stress Lessons are learning resources developed by the Psychology Foundation of Canada in collaboration with a range of experts, including psychologists, stress experts, counsellors and educators.

In partnership with Public Health, we are pleased to offer these sessions to support student mental health. Kids Have Stress Too! sessions are 50 minutes in length for students in Grades 1-3. Stress Lessons sessions are also 50 minutes for students in Grades 4-6. Grade 7&8 students participate in 120 minute sessions. All sessions are facilitated by our Public Health Nurse and occur later in the month.

VISITOR POLICY To ensure the safety of all of our students and compliance to our Safe Schools Policy, we ask that everyone coming into the school for any reason SIGN IN at the office and wear a visitor tag while in the school. Parents/Guardians are asked to : Drop children off at the proper entry doors and not accompany them to classes Have a designated spot to meet children at the end of the day Drop off lunches to the *NEW* lunch table in the front foyer and any forgotten items at the

office. Students will be called down at an appropriate time to claim the items. Make appointments to meet with staff by leaving a note, voice mail or phone call.

SPIRIT WEAR & WATER BOTTLES Reusable school water bottles are available for purchase through our School Cash Online payment system. Please consider supporting our school’s EcoTeam goal to reduce/eliminate plastic water bottles. Our school has a water bottle filling station on the main floor. We are pleased to announce that Ms. Wand & Mr. Erdmann won an additional water bottle filling station for carpooling to the annual Leader’s Retreat. It will be installed on the upper floor.

School spirit wear will once again be offered to our community. We are excited to offer these items at the lowest cost we can. The school does not collect an profit from the sale of these clothing items. A notice will be sent out to the community when the items are available through School Cash Online.

P A G E 3 I S S U E 2 — O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5

SCHOOL PICTURE DAY! October 16th It’s that time of year again when student photographs make lasting memories that can be shared with friends and family. Please mark Friday, October 16th on your calendar as our Alexander Muir Picture Day. A short while after picture day, students will receive a package with sample picture proofs that families may wish to order from. If you do not plan on ordering photos, please return the proofs. If you would like to have photo re-takes done, you MUST return the proofs. Reminder notices will follow through Twitter, flyer home, notes in agendas and the Wednesday File.

YOUR 2015/2016 SCHOOL COUNCIL On Thursday, September 24th, the Alexander Muir PS School Council had its initial meeting for the 2015/16 school year. The following parents/guardians/community members were acclaimed in the following positions: Co-Chairs: Susan Hutterer & Michelle McLinden (susanhutterer@rogers.com or michelle.mackinnon@rogers.com) Treasurer: Heather Komar (our school EOAA) Secretary: rotating through members Voting Council Members: Gillian Freeman, Swatee Jain, Lindsay Liska, Maria Marro, Kevin Murray, Martine Schneider, Amit Sharma, Alice Souvannakhily School Representatives: Richard Erdmann (P), Monica Wand (VP), Heather Komar (EOAA) Our next council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 22nd in the school library. Start time is 6:45pm. Meetings are open to all members of our school community! Please be advised that there are no child-minding services available.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR TRUSTEE Martin Van Beek Welcome back to another school year. I am happy to extend a warm welcome to our returning students and families and those who are new to our Board. I am the trustee for your child’s school and your representative on the York Region District School Board of Trustees.

I am looking forward to continuing my work to ensure that all YRDSB students receive a high-quality education within safe, caring and inclusive learning environments. In the coming year, trustees will continue to focus on the priorities that we set out in our Multi-Year Plan: student achievement and well-being, the delivery of effective and sustainable educational programs and the responsible stew-ardship of Board resources.

We know that partnerships with families are essential to achieving this goal. Good schools become better schools when they are con-nected to parents and families. I hope that you will find positive and meaningful ways to engage with your child’s school over the course of the year. There will be many events and activities to look forward to throughout the year and many opportunities across the Region that support parent engagement.

C O N N E C T I O N S P A G E 4

For Your Information…. HALLOWE’EN CELEBRATIONS Each year, students throughout York Region schools celebrate the long-standing tradition of Hallowe’en. At this time, it is important to remember that the York Region District School Board’s Safe Schools Policy #668.0 in accordance with the Ontario Safe Schools Act, includes the following mandatory expulsion criteria: A student shall be expelled from school if the student commits one or more of the following infractions while at school or engaged in a school-related activities (as set out in the Ontario Code of Conduct): a) possessing a weapon or replica weapon, including a firearm Students celebrating the Hallowe’en tradition in costume at our school must comply with the above stated policy. Costume accessories including, but not limited to, toy guns, knives, axes, swords, etc., are not in compliance with York Region District School Board’s Safe Schools Policy #668.0. PLEASE NOTE: the above policy applies to all students at all levels, including Kindergarten and is in effect throughout the entire school year.

HALLOWE’EN CANDY REMINDER A friendly reminder to carefully check your child’s Hallowe’en candy before it is brought to school. We have a number of students throughout all grades that have life-threatening anaphylactic allergies to nuts (peanuts and all tree nuts). Items that contain nuts, peanuts or other nut products are not permitted at school. We thank you for checking items before they are brought to school.

5 DAY CYCLE CALENDAR for your reference

With Full Day Kindergarten fully implemented, all schools will continue the practice of following a Day 1-5 cycle calendar for timetabling purposes for the 2015-2016 school year. We understand that this can cause some confusion! Here is a copy of the calendar for your reference.

Celebrations in our Community

The above monthly information about

Celebrations is taken from the YRDSB

Holidays & Observances

Calendar. 2015-2016

Spirit Day 2015 is celebrated by wearing Purple. Thursday, October 15th

Margaret Yee 905-305-4122 from the Uplands Learning Centre

P A G E 1 0 I S S U E 2 — O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5

Alexander Muir Connections Newsletter School: (905) 895-9466

School Fax: (905) 895-9413 http://alexandermuir.ps.yrdsb.ca/

Community Education Centre - North: (905) 895-5155 York Region District School Board: (905) 895-7216

Principal Richard Erdmann VM # 183 Vice Principal Monica Wand VM # 182 Office Admin Assistant Heather Komar VM # 181 School Secretary Lauren Malcolm VM # 180 Lead Caretaker Sandy Grant VM # 188 School Council Susan Hutterer susanhutterer@rogers.com Michelle McLinden michelle.mackinnon@rogers.com Superintendent Paul Carew (905) 895-5155 Trustee Martin Van Beek (905) 830-6776

This edition was published on Oct. 7th, 2015.

STAY CONNECTED! Stay informed!

We are proud of the variety of communication platforms we use to communicate information to our school community. Please take the time to ensure you are on our school’s email list for the weekly Wednesday File, subscribe to our blog or follow us on Twitter, check out our Facebook page and school website. Our communication efforts are much more valuable when our community members take the time to stay connected and informed. In our efforts to reduce paper consumption and minimize environmental impact we will not providing hard copies of newsletter to all families. You can access an electronic copy from our website or through our Wednesday File. You may request a hard copy through the office if required. Thank you!