WESTPARK MIDDLE SCHOOL

3310-55 Avenue, Red Deer, AB T4N 4N1 Phone 403-347-8911· Fax 403-343-2792 · Attendance 403-343-2737 wmsattendance@rdpsd.ab.ca · www.wms.rdpsd.ab.ca Mr. Dean Pasiuk, Principal Mr. Curt Baker, Vice-Principal · Mrs. Camille Bax, Vice-Principal

January 2017

Welcome Back Wildcats We hope you had a wonderful holiday season, time to rest, relax and rejuvenate. The New Year is going to be filled with many exciting activities and we are excited about the many directions our school will be going in. January and February are what we fondly call survey season. From mid-January to the end of February, the Accountability Pillar Survey will be sent out by the government. It will go directly to parents of grade seven students and then sent directly back to the government. Our grade seven students will also be filling the survey out here at school and our teaching staff will, as well. This a great opportunity to tell us some of the things we need to work on as well as some of the things we are doing really well. The District will also be seeking feedback on future directions and things will look a little different than the Town Halls. Please stay tuned on how this will work. Also, please note that all of the suggestions you gave us last year and the things we are doing to address them are on our website. If you have any questions about them, please feel free to give me a shout. The new school design is almost completely done and the architects and our district will be sending out the tenders in the next couple of weeks. We are just working on the fine-tuning of the inside systems now...we are so excited about this great opportunity and we know you will love it. If you would like to see the newest 3D animation of the new school, please join us in the library at School Council on January 17 at 18:30h as Berry Architecture will be sharing the latest version of the school. Basketball is in full swing and the Wildcats will be playing their first games this week. Circle of Recognition will continue with a renewed focus in our first Advisory meeting of the year on February 1. We said farewell to Mr. Dave Cozens in December and wish him well in his retirement. Mrs. Grobe, our newly married Miss Nielson, will now be teaching his classes. We also welcomed Mrs. Kandis Langvand back from her maternity leave. We are so lucky to get her back to the Den. Alison Graham, an Educational Assistant from our Pathways program took a leave and we welcome Anique Ellis to take her place. We are excited for what 2017 will bring and as always...so proud to be Wildcats. Take care Wildcat parents and should you need anything...please give us a shout.

Yellow School Bus/ Transportation Please refer to the website to check on bus routes and for the latest information on changes to routes or pick up times. www.wms.rdpsd.ab.ca (Quicklinks>Busing and Transportation)

January Dates January 17 School Council Meeting

6:30 pm January 18 Hot Lunch - Papa Baldy’s January 20 Staff Learning Day – No School

School Fees

New Student Fee Account statements will be sent home with your student by January 31. Please remit payment as soon as possible. The deadline for ordering 2016/2017 $20 yearbooks is fast approaching. If you would like to order one, please let Mrs. Streit know asap either by having your student swing by her office or emailing her at kimberly.streit@rdpsd.ab.ca If you have not already paid - all school fees/balances are to be paid in full before May 2017. All forms of payment are acceptable...cash, cheque, money orders, debit ($1.00 service charge), Visa/MasterCard (2.55% fee on the transaction amount). Please feel free to make payment arrangements. Different payment options include: #1. Pay the full balance in one transaction. #2. Split the balance into 2, 3, 4 or 5 equal payments.

Collicut and GHD Centre Admission Booklets

Collicut Centre and G H Dawe Centre admission booklets are available at the school office. Cash/Debit/Credit Card accepted. Child (Ages 3-12) - 12 admissions

Youth (Ages 13-17) - 8 admissions

Family (2 Adults + children) - 3 admissions

Collicutt booklets - $35 each (Family, Youth & Child available)

Dawe booklets - $25 each (Youth & Child available)

School Council News Come to our School council meeting this month to check out the plans for the new WMS. Berry Architecture will be in attendance to tell us all about our new building. The meeting is January 17th at 6:30pm in the school library. The next hot lunch is Wednesday, January18th. We will be enjoying food from Papa Baldy's whose home is right here in Westpark. Want to pay cash for hot lunch orders? We will accept cash payments Feb 1 and 2nd for orders through June. Please send in your online remittance form with your CASH payment. Payments are to be given to Mrs.Streit in the office. February hot lunch is February 15th and Is being supplied by Extreme Pita. We are looking for people interested in forming the hot lunch team for the 2017-18 school year. This involvement is a minimal monthly time commitment. If you are interested, please call Crystal at 403-318-6080 or email wmshotlunch@gmail.com.

Ski and Snowboard Club begins

this month. The four dates to mark on the calendar are: January 25 February 1 February 8 February 15

Counsellor’s Corner Starting on Wednesday, January 18th, we will be running "PG" sessions with McMan Agency workers. The program is called a "prevention group" but we also think of it as 'parental guidance' connection for kids. Many students at this age are literally in the middle striving for independence yet dependent on parents' care and support. Through this group's sessions, we will be covering topics about decisions kids are faced with now and later, preparing them for positive choices presently and in the future. Speaking of in the middle, Denise Fredeen, of Alberta Health Services, has put together a "Move Your Mood" program for families. (Information and specifics is included in this newsletter.) If with work and other schedules etc., this is not possible for you to take on as a family unit, please encourage and report back any activity you and/or your child does. The moving and food and mood connection is good for all ages and the more participants we have, the better our chance of winning heart math monitors - very beneficial gadgets for all ages to help with positive emotional state shifting.

Health Canada has announced the launch of the First Nations and Inuit Hope for Wellness Help Line: 1-855-242-3310 (Toll free) Callers can access the Help Line 24/7 effective immediately. The Hope for Wellness Help Line is to provide immediate culturally competent telephone-based crisis intervention counselling to First Nations and Inuit young people and adults experiencing distress. Help Line calls will be answered by experienced crisis intervention counsellors, and service will be available in English and French. Callers may also ask about the availability of service in Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut.