Princess Margaret Public School

PMPS Weekly Update November 22nd, 2023

Posted November 22, 2023

Good morning  Mustang Families, 

I am sending the update a little early this week as we have some important things happening on Thursday, November 23rd including:

-Interview booking remains open until the 23rd at 11am. Interview evening is November 23rd from 3pm-7pm. 

–23rd: Pink Day – Anti Bullying 

-24th: PD Day (No School for Students): Interviews continue 830pm-250pm

I post lots of updates to our school Twitter feed: @margaret_ps . Some of our updates this past week included: our older students mentoring our youngest students,  students learning vertically with math problem solving, and all of the wonderful silent auction items that will be available at our Holiday Craft Fair- mark your calendars for December 2nd from 9am- 3pm. This is an annual event not only for our school, but our community and we can’t wait to have everyone come out and experience our vendors, bake sale, cookie decorating with Santa, kid entrepreneurs, and so much more!  

Choir continues along with the craft club and our intermediate students are going their volleyball tournament this week as well. Our Scholastic Book Fair is in full swing and will be open  during interviews.. Please check out our lost and found when you are in for interviews too. Anything that is not claimed by early next week will be bagged and donated to make space for the Craft Fair. Our school council also posts to Instrgram @princessmargaretps. I update our website regularly as well: www.ugdsb.ca/PrincessMargaret/ . Please take a moment to have a look. 

Christmas Assistance Program for Dufferin County: 

The Salvation Army New Hope Church, In person registration only.

Please call ahead for an appointment 519-943-1203 ext 1 

Dates: Tuesday, November 21st from 10am until 3pm and Tuesday, December 5th, 2pm- until 7pm. Pick up dates/times will be assigned at registration. 

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week: The parent/guardian web page entitled, “Bullying, we can all help stop it”, has been newly updated. This webpage has been updated to align with the PPM 144 and includes information related to what to look for and how parents/guardians can support their child or children if they experience bullying, witness bullying or may be engaging in bullying.The webpage will be available in 6 additional languages to English and French – these are the top 6 newcomer languages in Ontario.   

Grade 8 Information Night at ODSS: A note from ODSS: Orangeville District Secondary School (ODSS) is hosting our Grade 8 Information Night on November 30, 2023 from 7 – 9pm.  Please pass this information along to grade 8 students and their families.  It’s a chance for any families to meet the staff, learn about programs and courses, course selection process and get connected to ODSS about grade 9 opportunities. 

Parking Updates: I want to again give everyone notice that the Town of Orangeville Bylaw will be closely monitoring our school and have prioritized our school for morning and afternoon patrols. Double parking, parking in no park zones, and abuse of staff have all been noted as areas of great concern by the town’s bylaw officer. We have also had parents raise a good point about idling as well. Please do not park and idle while waiting for your child(ren)- it is not good for our students and for our environment.  Tickets can range from $80 to $150. Thank you to everyone who has cooperated and understands that we are trying to maintain a safe parking lot and efficient bus loop. I would like to again take this opportunity to share our board’s code of conduct, policy 213 with parents/guardians. This code of conduct is for all members of our school community, including parents/ guardians: 

https://www.ugdsb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/213-Code-of-Conduct-Policy-2023-06.pdf   Some of our parents are yelling and swearing in front of our students as they arrive and leave for the day when frustrated with staff direction. This along with the abuse of our staff is unacceptable. Although we want to hear your concerns and feedback, this needs to be provided in a respectful manner. Thank you. 

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. 

Upcoming Recognition/ Spirit Days:

Important Dates:

-November 20th to November 24th: Bullying Prevention Week 

-November 23rd: Dallas Squire visiting grade 6/7 & ⅞ classes: Indigenous games & lacrosse, Intermediate Volleyball Tournament 

-November 23rd: Interview evening 3pm-7pm (info with report cards or see below)

-November 24th: PD Day: No School Parent/Guardian Interviews (info in report card envelopes and below)

-November 28th: K-3 Dairy Farmer Presentations

-November 30th: Grade 8 Information Night at ODSS

-December 2nd, 2023: Holiday Craft Fair 9-3pm @PMPS

-December 7th, 2023: School Council Meeting- 6pm in the library  

–December 8th, 2023: Tracey Cain, Presenter Grades 4-8: Black Canadian Histories & Untold Stories 

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

Reminders: 

Online Signup for Parent-Teacher Interviews:

To sign up for a meeting: 

1)  Go to : www.ugdsb.on.ca/pti or use the UGConnect App – Parents 

2)  Enter your child’s OEN number (the OEN is on the progress report at the top) then their date of birth. 

3)  Select the teacher, day and time slot for your meeting  

 Important: 

Once you have signed up for an interview, it will be assumed that a parent/guardian will be participating in person.  Please email the teacher if a phone call is your preference.  You may receive a call from the School/Unknown Caller. 

Parents/guardians invited to complete WHY Survey to help improve well-being of youth: All parents/guardians in the Upper Grand District School Board are invited to complete the 2023 WHY Survey, in partnership with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. The purpose of the Well-being Health and Youth (WHY) Surveys is to collect information from youth, parents, and school staff about youth health and well-being. These surveys will identify issues that could be addressed by schools, school boards, and local service providers. The information will be used to inform planning decisions, including Board Improvement Plans. Because the surveys are conducted every two years, we can also monitor trends over time. The WHY Surveys include questionnaires for students, parents and school staff. Grade 4 to 12 students at schools within the UGDSB and Wellington Catholic District School Board will be asked to participate in the student survey. These grades were chosen so that we have a full picture of how students are doing throughout their time in school. All school staff and parents will also be invited to complete a survey. Participation is voluntary. Students, parents and staff do not have to answer every question and may choose to stop at any time. Additionally, the survey will not collect identifying information from students or parents and all information collected will be strictly confidential. Only aggregated data will be reported publicly to ensure anonymity for individual students, teachers, parents, schools, and boards. The surveys will run from November 13 to November 24, 2023. Parents/guardians can complete the parent/guardians survey at https://is.gd/2024parentwhy. Thank you for supporting this survey and our efforts to place students’ well-being at the centre of everything we do!

Professional Activity Day Description: November 24, 2023:

Information for Parents/Guardians

Date: November 24, 2023

Length: Full Day

Elementary Topic: Parent-Guardian / Teacher Interviews

Description: Elementary Staff will spend the full day communicating with parents / guardians about student progress in advance of Progress Reports being distributed at the end of November. 

Entity Hosting: Upper Grand DSB 

Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): Independent / Individual 

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. 

Milk Sales: Student Council continues to sell milk, Monday to Friday 1st break only for $1.00. Milk sale profits support our Student Council.

We’ll see everyone on Thursday at 830am sharp for school. A reminder that Friday is interview day, so there is no school for students on Friday. We’ll see everyone back on Monday. 

Mrs. Andrea Papavasiliou (PapaV), Principal 

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