Principal’s Message – December 22, 2020
Dear Spencer Ave Community,
My plan was to wait until the New Year to send this to you, however, with the government announcement regarding January and our board making plans to be shared next week, I did not want my first communication to you to be about remote learning and school opening. That will come next week.
I am so happy to be joining your school this January. I have heard incredible things about the staff and students, and about all the great things that happen here at Spencer Ave.
I would like to let you know a little bit about me. I have been an administrator with the Upper Grand District School Board for 15 years. I have been the vice principal at Credit Meadows and Hyland Heights, before becoming the principal of Hyland Heights and East Garafraxa. In fact, I was lucky enough to be at East Gary the year that Spencer Ave came to be. It was nice during my visit with Ms. Secord to see so many familiar staff. I will already know some of your families, although your children will look a lot different than when I left East Gary 6 ½ years ago to become the principal of Primrose. Prior to getting into administration I was a high school English teacher, a grade 5 teacher and a grade seven teacher. I have taught all grades from 1 to 12, and have worked as a curriculum leader for the board. I have loved every experience I have had and have learned a lot. I look forward to this next chapter of my career at Spencer Ave.
On a personal note, I am a married mother of two children. My daughter is 12 and my son is 8. They are wonderfully supportive and you will likely see them with me at our school events when the world returns to normal.
As you can imagine, I will be spending the month of January having many conversations, asking many questions, learning a lot and wondering…one of the core values of Spencer Ave.
As an administrator I value clear communication, promoting student voice and leadership, and working together to support the whole child. In order to keep you informed about what is happening in the school you will receive a weekly email from me called, “the Principal’s Message.” I am not a fan of a monthly newsletter as so much happens in a school during a week that if I wait until the end of the month the news is old. Also, I will post this weekly email to our school website. My goal is to keep the website and school calendar up-to-date so that you are able to go there if you have a question. You will find I am also a Twitter fan. I like to get out and about in the school and take pictures of what is going on. By posting images (with no faces) I hope to break down the walls of the school so that you can take a peek inside. Our Twitter name is @SpencerAvenueES. In addition, you are always able to leave a voice message for me at school or email me at [email protected].
I look forward to getting to know the students and finding out what they value and what they would like to have happen at the school. It is my goal to always be responsive to their ideas and views. I will be inviting some of our intermediate students to join the Principal’s Advisory Committee. This group will meet once a month to share the things that their peers are talking about and to work together to make Spencer Ave even better.
I look forward to getting to know you and this wonderful community in the months and years to come.
All the best,
Kimberly Dempsey-Jones
Principal of Spencer Ave
Categories: News