PMPS Weekly Update January 12th
Good evening PMPS Families,
We hope you and your family had a great holiday season. We’re glad to have our students and staff back, they have settled back in nicely. We have a number of great things going on here at PMPS: our grade eights are excited this evening to be heading over to ODSS for their information night, our curling team starts practicing and competing next week, and Family Transition Place has started their series of presentations and workshops with our juniors and intermediates. Our Twitter account is full of updates, please check it out: @margaret_ps. I update our website regularly as well: www.ugdsb.ca/PrincessMargaret/ .
Upcoming Spirit Days:
Friday, January 13th: Lohri: Bold Colours Day
Friday, January 20th: School Colours day
Monday, January 23rd: Lunar New Year: Red & Gold
Thursday, January 26th: Favourite Character Day/ School Colours
Important Upcoming Dates:
January 26th: Grade 8 grad photos (more information will be coming home)
January 26th: Class Picture Day ( pictures of classes, not individuals will be taken)
January 27th: PD Day: No School. Teachers will be working on report cards. Report cards will be available on February 16th.
A Few Reminders as We Start a New Year:
Safety in School Parking Lot: Please remember to use the designated sidewalks and not cut through the parking lot. If you need to enter the parking lot, please be mindful of cars pulling in and backing up. Please try to hold small childrens’ hands. It’s a good idea to always use our school crossing guards to cross the road as well. We want everyone to get home safely.
Parking at the Front of the School (Bus Loop): Please do not park in the bus loop. We have a few buses that need to come and go as they pick up and drop off at various locations. This is before and after school. Thank you for your cooperation.
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.
Period Equity Products: A reminder that period products are available here for any students who need them. Our machine can be found upstairs in our use for all bathroom (single stall).
Parent WorkShop: Please join Women In Crisis Educator Cindy McMann and Jaseth Purcell, Human Trafficking Counsellor for an informative webinar which will provide information to parents and guardians about human trafficking: what it is, how traffickers operate, red flags and risk factors and ways to talk about this issue with young people. January 31st 6pm-7pm on Zoom. Registration link
Updated Screening Tool:
The School and Child Care Screening Tool has been updated to align with recent recommendations from the Chief Medical Officer of Health. The link to the tool is above and can be found on Public Health’s website. Families and staff are encouraged to self screening before coming to work/school each day.
Milk Sales: Our wonderful Student Council continues to sell milk. The milk costs $1.00 each. Milk sale profits support our Student Council.
ABSENCE TRACKING:
Our new fully automated student absence tracker is available and live on the board’s website. To view immediate trends on daily absence rates please click on the link below. This information is publicly available and will help parents be informed about the impact of illness across the system on student attendance. https://www.ugdsb.ca/board/daily-school-absence-reporting/
Take care. See you tomorrow for another day of learning.
Andrea Papavasiliou, Principal
Please see below for an update from our School Council. We recently met to gather feedback about our Holiday Craft Fair that was held December 3rd. Our next School Council Meeting will be on February 6th at 6pm (virtual).
A heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for all your hard work that was put into this event. It was a huge success. THANK YOU!
Holiday Craft Fair Review:
* The event was clearly a success! We had over 1525 visitors. We raised $3,345 in vendor profits and $5,168 in silent auction profits!
* Our biggest obstacle was parent involvement. It was agreed that most members of the Parent Council felt thinly stretched, both leading up to and at the event, and we need to come up with a way to entice more parent volunteers. A good idea put forward was to create small teams within Council, hopefully recruiting more volunteers just for the event, with each person doing less but that still collectively achieves what is needed. We need to explore this further before next time.
* Vendors set-up time needs change on Friday. 5pm-8pm was proposed, to allow for wrap-up of the school day and then allow for working parents to get to the school in time.
* Many years ago, a portion of profits were shared with the Student Council. But because the Parent Council is always happy to share any monies when required, this was stopped. Student Council’s role is critical for the Holiday Craft Fair and so we can explore the idea of returning to donating a portion (10%-20%) of profits to Student Council at our next meeting.
* Tape official spaces on the gym floors for vendors, to help keep vendor spaces in correct placement.
* Add another entrance to allow for accessibility & look into any special parking permits. The lot where the train used to be, across the street, was discussed as a possibility for vendor parking.
* Are we spreading ourselves too thin, with rooms like “Minute to Win It” and face painting that were less popular?
* Can we think of ways to encourage visitors to visit all vendor booths? Middle sections received far less traffic than those around the outer edge of the gym. Perhaps arrows on the floor next year?
* Perhaps next year, we can issue digital drink tickets to vendors, to save time handing them out and to save the paper?
* Another volunteer is needed for helping the vendors next year. That aspect was short-staffed.
* The Kidpreneur feature was great but made for a long day for those kids. Perhaps next year they can decide whether they do a full or half day?
* Items at the Bake Sale could have been reasonably priced higher. We can discuss selling these items on a sliding scale or by donations for next year, to raise more money. This room was so popular, there was a line-up and consistent traffic.
* Tickets used to be sold for everything, now only for face painting and Kids Shopping. Need to encourage more ticket sales, keep this station busier. Ticket purpose also needs to be made more clear to visitors.
* Bird feeders were the most popular outdoor activity (about 25 made). The parking would have interfered with the other activities, had the weather been better. More help needed at this station next year. Kindness Calendars were popular.
* Visitors and vendors were hoping for more items at the Cafe. Perhaps savory breakfast items can be considered next year?
* Kids Shopping room was a huge success! 422 tickets, great flow. Sabrina wants this room again next year!
* Clothing room was a good idea, raised around $200, but lots of clothes left over. Kim called CP who came to pick everything up.
* People liked the music in the hallway!
* Student Council were a HUGE help. Great help to vendors. They enjoyed helping out.
* Does anyone have signs? Please keep them safe and get them back to the school ASAP in the New Year.
If you have anything to add, please send me a note. Otherwise, we will see you all for the next meeting on February 6th (virtually).
Categories: News