January, 2023 Newsletter
A new year brings a fresh start and a time to set goals. Teachers will be reviewing goals students set earlier this term to track progress and re-evaluate if needed. As a school we are setting high expectations, striving to fill in any gaps in learning and challenge students to achieve their personal best.
Parents sometimes ask how they can help their child at home with Math. We encourage parents to focus in on measurement over the next few months. Time and money are two areas students often struggle with. At home you can be saying things like, “In ten minutes we will….” or “Bedtime is in a half hour”. This will give students a sense of ten minutes and a half hour. You can be pointing out the time on an analogue clock and a digital clock. Metric units are also something that can be discussed, be it kilometres, grams, or Litres. If your children are with you in the grocery store you can point out the number of grams or litres of beans or milk you are purchasing. If you are cooking with your child you can have them measure out quantities called on in the recipe. If you are traveling in the car you can talk in terms of Kilometres. Finally, money is also an area that can be challenging, so when shopping with your child talk about money amounts, how to make change and what change you should be getting back.
Kindergarten registration (for students new to Junior Kindergarten in 2023) is between January 10th and January 27th at 4:00 p.m. Parents can register students online at www.ugdsb.ca/kindergarten or click on the Kindergarten Registration button on our school website. They will still have to come to the school to show us proper documentation after they have registered online; the registration is only complete after this step. If you know of anyone in the neighbourhood with Junior Kindergarten aged students please let them know.
Happy New Year to you all and I hope that you will have been able to have some valued time with family and friends over the winter break.
Carla Anderson
Principal
Victory Soirée & Winter Carnaval
The deep winter months are almost here and that means it’s almost time to cast off those winter blahs and embrace winter here at Victory! Our annual Soirée is back and will be held on February 2nd from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. and our all day Carnaval will be on February 3rd! Mark your calendars and note that we also have a snow date for the Soirée on February 9th and a snow date for the Carnaval on February 10th. More information will follow in January, but start thinking of creative ways to make ice blocks, and please consider volunteering! M. Elrick needs volunteers. If you are able to help on either of these dates, please send M. Elrick an email at: [email protected].
Merci beaucoup!
JK Registration
Parents, mark your calendars…Kindergarten registration for September 2023 is Just around the Corner. Our *online registration process* for both English and French Immersion JK and new SK students is available at www.ugdsb.ca/kindergarten . Registration will occur January 10‐27, 2023 at your home school.
Kindergarten Registration Flyer 2023 24
Children born in 2019 are eligible to begin Junior Kindergarten in September 2023. If you are registering your child for French Immersion you must have your registration complete, including all documentation, by 4:00 p.m. on January 27th, 2023.
A Change of Plans
If your child is not to go home as he or she normally would after school, please inform us in writing. Our school can be very hectic at the end of the day, and phone messages are difficult to relay at this time.
Creative Playground News
This is a reminder that our creative playground structures have been closed for the winter season. Weather permitting, we will be opening them again for student play on Monday, April 3, 2023. Please don’t let your children play on the playground equipment between Nov. 1st and March 31st including before and after school.
Visitors to our School
In the interest of school safety, we ask each visitor in our building to report to the office, sign in, and pick up a visitors’ tag. If you are picking up your child(ren) during the day we will have them called to the office for you once you arrive at the school. Please assist us by following this procedure upon entering the building.
Family Day – February 20, 2023
This year Family Day falls on Monday, February 20, 2023. As a result, all schools and Board Offices will be closed on this day.
Dress for the Weather!
Winter has arrived and the snow is here! Students are on the playground for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon, and their comfort is dependent upon dressing properly. We know that fresh air and exercise throughout the day improve learning. These breaks also provide opportunities for children to develop essential social skills of cooperative play and conflict resolution.
Please help your child come prepared for this weather by providing them with boots, heavy coats and snow pants, warm mitts, scarves, and hats. It’s helpful for children of all ages to have an extra pair of socks and mittens in their backpacks. Please label all clothing and ask your child to check the Lost and Found for missing items.
Avoid school suspension by keeping immunization records up-to-date!
Student’s immunization records must be provided to Public Health in order to attend school. In the next few weeks, Public Health will be sending notices to students with incomplete immunization records. Anyone who gets a notice should contact their family doctor so they can update their vaccines, and then report their new vaccines to Public Health.
Report every vaccine to Public Health using one of the following methods:
Online: Fill in the form at www.immunizewdg.ca
Email: Send a photo of the immunization record to [email protected]
Call: 1-800-265-7293 ext. 4396
If a student is not getting vaccinated for medical reasons, reasons of conscience or religious beliefs, an exemption form must be submitted to Public Health. The forms are available at www.wdgpublichealth.ca.
Public Health is committed to helping students update their vaccination records so they can avoid suspension from school.
Frigid Temperatures
At minus 25 celsius (including the wind chill), safety patrol duty is reduced to the last five minutes of the morning scheduled time and the first five minutes of the afternoon scheduled time. Parents and patrols should check the local radio stations or internet weather reports for temperature readings.
School Council
Are you planning to make a New Year’s resolution to find out more about what’s going on at Victory, and possibly get involved? What luck! Our School Council meeting is Wednesday, January 11th and all are welcome — please join us in the Learning Commons at 6:30 p.m. If you would like to bring an idea or discussion to our New Business section, please give Mark Hallman a quick heads-up. Questions, comments and feedback are welcome anytime at [email protected].
Before and After School Yard Supervision
Teachers are on duty from 8:35-8:50 a.m. and 3:10-3:25 p.m. For safety reasons, we ask that you and your children plan your time so that students do not arrive before 8:35 a.m. or stay after 3:25 p.m. All children are reminded that they are expected to follow our guidelines regarding safe play (including snowball throwing and respectful interactions) before and after school as well as during the day. Thank you!
What Do We Do On “No Bus” Days?
Sometimes parents wonder what schools do on those days when the buses don’t run due to inclement weather, but the school is open. At Victory Public School, it’s business as usual. Even if some of our children don’t make it in, children who come to school will continue to be engaged and learning in their classrooms. It is always your decision whether it is safe enough for your children to go to school on inclement weather days. If you choose to stay at home with your children on a no-bus day, consider checking out our UGDSB School2GO website which is full of great activities for students. Using the username: jk1234 and the password: jk1234 students can find some wonderful opportunities for learning on line.
LIBRARY LEARNING COMMONS NEWS
In January, the Forest of Reading program begins at Victory – and in schools & libraries across the country. Forest of Reading helps to celebrate Canadian books, publishers, authors, and illustrators…but most of all, this program is designed to encourage a love of reading in people of all ages.
The books nominated for the Forest of Reading programs are all curated by educators and librarians across Ontario. 100 books have been nominated in 10 categories of different levels and age groups. An overview of the program and a complete list of nominees can be found at www.forestofreading.com.
Victory School Council has once again generously supported our participation in The Forest of Reading so that these wonderful books become a part of our Library Learning Commons collection once the program is completed.
The Blue Spruce English picture books target Kindergarten to Grade 2; Silver Birch Express are a mix of English fiction and non-fiction for Grades 3 & 4, while Silver Birch Fiction are intended for students in Grades 3-6. Select titles from the Yellow Cedar, Grades 4-8 non-fiction nominees have also been purchased for Victory. On the French side, both the Prix Peuplier picture books and the Prix Mélèze early fiction can be used with the Immersion students we have here at Victory.
Each category has 10 titles for teachers and students in all Victory classes to read and explore starting in the new year, with students across Ontario having the opportunity to choose their favourites in each category to win the Awards in the spring.
As Librarian, I love that the Forest of Reading program is an opportunity to introduce books that students might not have chosen on their own, but that often become treasured. It is anticipated each year and will have teachers spending the next months reading aloud, exploring, leading activities and facilitating conversations around these incredible titles.
Thank you again Council for helping Victory to celebrate Canadian books and investing in our Learning Commons and in student literacy. Happy reading, everyone!
Mdle Megan Brodie
Report Bullying and Identity Based Harm
We take all incidents of bullying and identity based harm seriously. If your child is the victim of bullying or sees bullying behavior at school, please encourage him/her to speak with someone at school or use our board’s online reporting tool. Report Bullying and Identity Based Harm gives students and parents 24/7 access for reporting bullying. You don’t have to identify yourself – just your school – and your message gets sent directly to the school principal for follow-up. You’ll find the Report Bullying and Identity Based Harm button on our school’s website to assist parents in distinguishing between conflict and bullying.
Is conflict the same as bullying? People may sometimes confuse conflict with bullying, but they are different. Conflict occurs between two or more people who have a disagreement, a difference of opinion or different views. Conflict between students does not always mean its bullying. Children learn at a young age to understand that others can have a different perspective than their own, but developing the ability to gain perspective takes time and the process continues into early adulthood. In conflict, each person feels comfortable expressing his or her views, and there is no power imbalance. Each person feels able to state his or her view point. How people deal with conflict can make it positive or negative. Conflict becomes negative when an individual behaves aggressively by saying or doing hurtful things. Then the conflict is an aggressive interaction.
Conflict only becomes bullying when it is repeated over and over again and there is a power imbalance. Over time, a pattern of behaviour may emerge where the person who behaves aggressively in the conflict may continue or even make it worse. The person who is the recipient of the aggressive conflict may feel less and less able to express his or her point of view and feel more and more powerless. That is when negative conflict may turn into bullying. A school will respond to bullying and conflict differently. For example, in the case of a conflict, a school staff member may try to have the students come together to tell their side of the story and help them resolve the situation together. In the case of bullying, a principal will consider progressive discipline, which may include suspension or expulsion.
Categories: News