December 1, 2015

Vision Statement

Holy Family Elementary, learning progressively to empower all students to

achieve in an inclusive and active environment.

Mission Statement

By 2016, the Holy Family Elementary school community will maximize student learning and

achievement by progressively engaging the 21st century learner through inclusive and

collaborative practices.

Thursday, December 3 rd - A reminder that there will no classes for Kindergarten students on this day. There will be an 11:30 A.M. dismissal for students in Grades 1-6 due to parent-teacher conferences. A reminder that our Book Fair will be opened during this time.

Please see the attached document from NLESD regarding the new report card.

OPTIS will be closing at 3:30 P.M this afternoon and any new appointments or changes will need to go through your child’s classroom teacher.

December 18 th – This will be the last day that the School Lunch program will operate for 2015. It will resume again on January 4th, 2016.

Tuesday, December 22 nd – We will be dismissing at 1:00 P.M. for the grades 1 – 6 students for the holidays. Children will need to bring a lunch with them. The morning kindergarten students will have their regular dismissal at 11:30 A.M. There will be no afternoon kindergarten classes on this day; they will finish on December 21st.

A Night at Chapters The Literacy Committee would like to thank our students, their families, and all supporters of Holy Family Elementary for coming out to our second annual Chapters Night fundraiser! Your support, purchases, and generous donations

helped us to raised $1830.00 in Chapters gift cards! In addition, we received several book donations for our library. We are very pleased with the success of this event. All proceeds will go toward the purchase of diverse, quality reading materials for your child’s classroom and school library! Thank you to the Grade 4 Choir for their musical entertainment!

Scent Aware SchoolA reminder that we have a “Scent Aware Environment” at our school. Children and parents are asked not to wear scented products to school. Scents from perfumes and other personal care items can trigger allergies and asthma attacks in some people.

Fostering Independence and Confidence

The school year is well underway! Lots of learning activities are taking place, and students are making great progress! Now that we have gone through one full term, the children have settled into routines in their new classes and our teachers are encouraging independence and responsibility every day. As parents/guardians, we want to help our children. One of the best ways that we can help them is to promote a sense of independence, which will certainly facilitate their development in self-confidence that they need to do things on their own! You can assist by letting your children do their own things as they arrive at school. They can carry their book bags, hang up their own coats, unpack their book bags, change into their indoor shoes, and head into their classrooms themselves to get ready for their school day. For those children being brought to school, help us to help them promote their independence. Please use our Kiss ‘n Ride Program and allow them to come into the school on their own. Children who ride the bus do this every day – they are very independent-bravo! We have teachers on duty outside and inside the building and they are more than willing to assist should any child require it.

Once your child enters our school, they are under our care and therefore, it is our responsibility to ensure their safety. We ask at this point in the school year to allow your child the opportunity to demonstrate their emerging skills in independence. We thank you for your understanding and support as we transition into this new procedure.

Kids Eat Smart Breakfast programDuring our curriculum evening address, we announced the possibility of having a Kids Eat Smart breakfast program being started at our school. We have decided to wait until another year to investigate the possibility of having this program due to lack of space. Our current School Lunch program is going extremely well with approximately 350 children using this service daily.

Idling AwarenessOver the past few months, we have had a number of parental concerns of vehicles idling during afternoon dismissal. If waiting for your child in your vehicle, please be cognizant of others who are waiting outside and also to our classrooms which are on the front of the school and may have windows opened.

School CouncilOn November 24th, we held our school council election and our newest elected member is Tara Lynch. Please join me in welcoming her as a parent representative. Now that our council is complete, we will be choosing a chairperson at the December meeting.

RecyclingThank you for your continued support with our recycling program. The past month’s recycling winners are:

Kindergarten – Hunter SkiffingtonGrade 1 – Abby VokeyGrade 2 – Lucas RoseGrade 3- Nikkita Tucker

The next recycling date is December 18th for our elementary students.

Remembrance Day AssemblyWe would like to thank our grade 5 students and teachers for their wonderful Remembrance Day Assembly. Through drama, song and dance, they illustrated what Remembrance Day meant to them. Their performances were very moving and touched us all very deeply.

Learn Not to BurnLast week, Inspector Gary Power from the St. John’s Regional Fire Department conducted Learn Not to Burn sessions with all of our kindergarten to grade three classes. We would like to thank Inspector Power for sharing this life saving information with us and helping us to be safe and prepared.

Important Dates:

December 2, 2015 Grade 5 Choir/Grade 5-6 Orff Ensemble Performance(Arts and Culture Centre)

December 3, 2015 Parent-Teacher Interviews. School closes at 11:30 A.M. for grades 1-6. No school for Kindergartens.

December 10, 2015 Grade 2 Christmas Concert at 7:00 P.M.

December 16, 2015 Lunch time Band Concert at 12:00 P.M.

December 22, 2015 School dismissal at 1:00 P.M (grades 1-6)(Kindergartens at 11:30 a.M.)

January 4, 2016 School reopens

On behalf of the staff at Holy Family, we would like to wish you a relaxing and joyous Christmas Season, and all the best for 2016!