PMPS Weekly Update April 25th, 2024
Good Evening Mustang Families,
It’s been another busy week here at PMPS. Thank you to all parents/caregivers that were able to come in for special education meetings and for Officer Amy’s presentation on cyber safety on Tuesday evening. We appreciate the parent engagement and know this makes a big difference in the lives of our students. Thank you. Our grade 6 students organized our school wide Earth Day clean up. We are thankful for their initiative and passion.
Today, our Director of Education and Superintendent toured our building. The first stop was to hear our amazing grade 6-8 band. To think that most of our students had never picked up their instruments before September, to now when they played beautifully. They were awesome and I am so proud of them for their hard work. Our students and staff received great feedback. Director Sovran commented on the culture of our school; how warm and welcoming it feels. He saw how hard the students and staff were working. He commented on the quality of the student and teacher work on the walls: from math, to literacy, to science, and the arts. He loved the math work and questions in the hallways. He appreciated our focus on the arts: we are lucky to have talented teachers like Ms. Ellis, Mrs. Mikulik, Mrs. Penney, and Miss Shaw who are sharing their talent of the arts with our students. It was a great visit!
Our Twitter account is full of updates, please check it out: @margaret_ps . I update our website regularly as well: www.ugdsb.ca/PrincessMargaret/ . Our school council also posts to Instrgram @princessmargaretps. Please take a moment to have a look.
Grade 6-8 Summer Literacy / Numeracy Program: Registration is open for any students looking for the 8 day non-credit skills improvement summer program. There is an information flyer attached).If you and you child are interested, please reach out to me, Andrea Papavasiliou at [email protected] to register. Please be sure to indicate your child’s name in the email and what program you are interested in (numeracy (math) and/or literacy). Thank you.
Gr. 6-7-8 Lit Num Handout for Parents.pdf
Cracker Food Drive: Congratulations to Mrs. Hickey’s class who brought in the most boxes of crackers with 33. It was, as Mr. Westlake’s class brought in 30! Thank you for your support of our school nutrition program.
Tick Information: The memo below and links from Public Health may be helpful if you are looking for information about Ticks.
Blacklegged Tick and Lyme Disease
https://wdgpublichealth.ca/your-community/ticks-lyme-disease
Little Ceasar’s Fundraiser: Thank you to everyone who was able to support our school and purchase from Little Caesars. Our School Council is happy to announce that we raised $775 that goes directly back to Council to help our school.
Emergency Response Training & Spring Drills: Our drills are now completed for the spring after a rainy day last Friday. Thank you to our students and staff who followed directions beautifully and understood what to do in each drill. Today’s drill took 1 minute and 35 seconds to clear almost 330 people from our building. That’s pretty great.
Grade 8 Grad Outfits at ODSS: The ODSS Prom Committee is looking forward to welcoming the community to the Dress and Suit Drive this Thursday, April 25th from 4-7pm. We have found that we have many Grade 8 graduating students who come and find their perfect outfit for graduation. While this is generally the biggest fundraiser for our prom (cash only), if there is anyone whom the cost is a barrier, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we’d be happy to outfit your student at no cost.
National Day of Mourning for Persons Killed or Injured in the Workplace – Sunday, April 28, 2024: Our flag will be lowered from sunset on Friday, April 26, 2024 until sunrise on Monday morning, to mark the National Day of Mourning for Persons Killed or Injured in the Workplace.
Important Upcoming Dates:
–May 6th: Theatre Orangeville comes to PMPS to present a play to grades ⅔-8.
-May 6th-May 10th: Mental Health & Education Week
-May 7th: Art & Meditation Workshops: Grade 1, ½, and ⅔
-May 8th: Junior & Intermediate Chess Tournament at CMES (details coming soon)
-May 9th: Art Meditation workshop Grades 6-8 ( grade 7 first block, grade 6 middle block, grade 8 last block)
-May 9th: Grade 8 visit to ODSS- am only
-May 10th: Art Meditation workshop: Gr 3, Gr 4/5 , and Gr ⅘
-May 13th: Grade 7 History Class: Indigenous guest speaker
-May 15th: Bike Roadeo-am (information to come)
-May 16th: EA & CYC appreciation day
-May 27th to June 6th: Grade 3 & 6 EQAO small groups in library (information to come)
-May 31st: Grade ⅞ vaccination clinic
-May 31st: Grade 3 Swim to Survive
-May 31st: New JK Orientation (information to come for new JKs)
-June 6th-Annual Arts Night, Family Fun Night & Food (put on by Parent Council, more information to come)
-June 7th: PD Day (am: literacy & math, pm: report card writing)
-June 14th: Grade 3 Swim to Survive
-June 19th: K-2 Police Officer presentations
-June 21st: Grade 6 organized School Wide Clean Up
-June 21st: Jump Rope for Heart
-June 21st: Grade 3 Swim to Survive
-June 24th: Grade 8 grad
-June 25th: report cards go home
-June 27th: Last day with students
-June 28th: PD Day
Upcoming Spirit Days for Early May:
-May 3rd: Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you)- Star Wars, clothes representing space etc.
-More dates to come…
Reminders:
Supervision: Please remember that students should not be arriving before 820am in the morning and need to be picked up/ or leave the school at the dismissal bell at 250pm. Morning supervision begins at 820am and end of the day supervision ends at 3pm.
Attendance/ Lates/ All Visitors: If your child is not going to be at school, please call our school office and report the absence on our attendance line. Please also do this if your child is going to be late. If a student is late, they must check in with the office and get a late slip. This allows the teacher to know that the student has checked in with the office, so attendance can be accurate.
Our school day is from 830am to 250pm every day and it is important that students arrive on time, as there are important routines and announcements that they will miss if they are late. Thank you for your help.
If your child has missed 10% or more of the school year, there will be an attendance letter arriving home by mail in the next couple of weeks. Do you know that on average we have almost 14 absences per child and on average 10 lates per student at PMPS? This is out of 136 school days so far. We are here and want to help. Please give me a call if we can help your child arrive at school on time and be here more often. Thank you.
If you are coming into the school, please check in with the office. All visitors must check in with the office.
Dogs on School Property: Please remember that dogs are not allowed on school property. Some of our students have a fear of dogs. We had a significant incident last fall when an elderly person was injured. Please wait with your dog off school property for your child(ren). Thank you for your support.
Dufferin Parent Support Network: Please check out https://www.dpsn.ca/ for free parenting workshops. The Dufferin Parenting Support Network is a great organization of parents supporting parents.
DCAFS Behaviour Solutions: DCAFS offers a wide range of services designed to meet the unique needs of each child and family. They believe that every child deserves the chance to reach their full potential, and they are committed to helping them do just that. If you’re looking for support for your family within a safe and welcoming community, look no further than DCAFS! Please see the link for some different workshops and events: https://behavioursolutions.dcafs.on.ca/events/
Emergency Lunch and Recess Supervisors Needed Urgently: If you love working with wonderful children, who are enthusiastic, fun and engaging, Princess Margaret wants you as a Lunchroom/Yard Supervisor. We have an urgent need for supplies while our regular staff are away. We require individuals who are caring, energetic, and have the ability to ensure the safety and security of our students. The position requires a commitment of approximately 80 minutes per day (two 40 minute nutrition breaks: 20 minutes eating and 20 minutes outdoor recess time). This is a paid position, minimum wage per hour. Your responsibilities include: monitoring lunchrooms and outside recess. Our two nutrition breaks/ yard times are from 10:20- 11am and again from 12:30-1:10pm. Lunchroom supervisors are required to have a vulnerable sector criminal record background check. If you want to be part of a great school community with awesome students, please call me, Andrea Papavasiliou (Principal) at 519-941-3731 ext 223. Similarly, if you know someone who would be fantastic in this role, please pass this information along to them. Thank you.
Milk Sales: Our wonderful Student Council continues to sell milk. The milk costs $1.00 each. Milk sale profits support our Student Council.
We’ll see everyone tomorrow for another day of learning before heading into the weekend.
Andrea Papavasiliou, Principal
Categories: News