Princess Margaret Public School

PMPS Weekly Update December 14th, 2023

Posted December 14, 2023

Good afternoon Mustang Families, 

It’s been another good week here at PMPS. Our students are starting to get excited for the upcoming holidays. Our staff are striving to keep routines as consistent as possible as we continue to learn right up to the holidays. Please note the last day of school is Friday, December 22nd. 

We are thankful for all of our student leaders. From pizza days, milk sales, the craft fair, our daily announcements, our outdoor sign, office helping… our students do it all and we are appreciative of their leadership and service. Last week we welcomed Tracey Cain to PMPS. She talked with our grade 4-8 students about her ancestors and untold stories of Black Canadian history. Tracey told part of her story through music and photography.  She captured everyone’s attention, showing us that we have so much more to learn about Black history in Canada. 

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. 

We continue to still have challenges in the front of our school. Our front parking lot is closed from 815am to 310pm to traffic with the exception of school buses and parents/caregivers who have special needs parking permits. Please do not park in special needs parking spots, unless you have a permit. We have parents/caregivers who need these spots but they do not have access because other parents/ caregivers are using these spots who do not have permits. Please also follow the flow of traffic (enter through the entrance and exit through the exit), and do not park in the bus loop or in no parking areas. Last week, we had someone run over a cane  that was needed by one of our parents and we had a car hit, due to unsafe parking lot behaviour. Orangeville Bylaw continues to visit our school to enforce rules. We are looking into having more signage added to our parking lot as well. 

Important & Upcoming Spirit Days: 

–December 15th: Grade 4-6 Trip to Theatre Orangeville

-December 19th: Kindergarten Celebration Assembly 9am

–December 22nd: The last day of school before the winter holiday break.  A reminder that there is No Pizza Day on the 22nd. 

–January 8th: The First day back to school after the holiday break

Spirit Days: 

Information: 

Family Transition Place: In January our grade 5-8 classes will be participating in programming  put on by facilitators from Family Transition Place. These programs focus on empathy, bullying, kindness, stereotyping, bias, and other important topics.  The programs from FTP are fantastic and we are very lucky to participate again this year. Thank you to our School Council who generously paid for these workshops this year and again for the 24/25 school year. 

Slips, Trips & Falls: Please make sure that your child(ren) and you are wearing appropriate footwear for our wintery weather. This helps prevent slips, trips, and falls inside and outside our school. 

Popcorn sales: Our student council is selling popcorn each day next week for $2.00 at first break. All proceeds go towards our student council. Thanks for your support.

Milk Sales: Our wonderful student council continues to sell milk this week and next, until we run out. We do not want an inventory over the holidays. The milk costs $1.00 each. Milk sale profits support our Student Council. 

School Council: The minutes from our last meeting are posted at: https://www.ugdsb.ca/princessmargaret/school-council-minutes-december-7th-2023/. We are meeting again on February 1st, 2024 in the library at 6pm. We are always looking for new members to join. Everyone is welcome. 

No Bus Days: We Are Open for Learning! A reminder that on no bus days, we are here for learning. A very small percentage of our students are bussed, so teachers carry on with a normal learning day. Our school is open for all who can safely make it here. If your child (ren) will not be attending school, you need to call in their absence please. This helps Mrs. Mckenize with her safe arrival procedures in a timely manner. Thank you for your help with this. If a no bus day falls on a pizza day, we go ahead with our pizza day.

Reminders: 

Emergency Lunch and Recess Supervisors Still Needed:  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.

Community Recognition Board: We are #MargaretProud. If your child has done something wonderful in our community or accomplished a big goal, please send in a picture and a short note and/or a clipping from the newspaper or online site  to Mrs. PapaV. We have a board celebrating our amazing PMPS students across from the gym. 

Take care. See you tomorrow for another day of learning. 

Andrea Papavasiliou, Principal

Categories: News