November 23rd, 2018

WEEKLY UPDATE – LOOKING AHEAD….

Tues, 27 Nov – Extended Day Open House, 3:30pm to 5:30pm

Thurs 29 Nov – Swim to Survive Grade 3 – Last day – Bring a Swimsuit and a Towel

Mon, 3 Dec – Dental Screening for JK, SK, Grades 2 & 4

Tues, 4 Dec – Grades 2 & 3 Humanities Theatre Trip

Wed, 12 Dec – School Council Meeting – 6:30pm

Wed, 19 Dec – Holiday Concert – 1.30pm

(Please be advised that parking is NOT permitted at the school for the Wednesday Holiday Concert performance)

Thurs, 20 Dec – Holiday Concert – 6:30pm

Winter Break – 24th December to 4th January – Return to School, 7th Jan 2019

STUDENT DROP OFF & PICK UP IN THE PARKING LOT

First and foremost a HUGE thank you to all of the Sandhills Community who have been doing their part in promoting safe, healthy options for student travel to and from school each and every day. Options, like walking to school informally or taking part in the Walking School Bus, and using the “Drive to 5” options MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE!

You may remember our “Taking Back the Parking Lot” campaign back in September. It was successful in that it spread the word about parking lot safety and several community members made adjustments to their routine to do their part.

Unfortunately, with the return of the winter weather, we have had an increase in issues surrounding student drop off and pick up in the parking lot. A particular issue is that parking spaces are being taken up in the afternoon by folks waiting to pick students up at the end of the school day such that our afternoon staff have nowhere to park, which creates a barrier to their service. The biggest concern though continues to be student safety. There are simply too many vehicles driving about in a small space at the same time – we don’t want anyone to get hurt.

We wanted to remind the community that the expectation is and continues to be that there is no student drop off or pick up in the school parking lot. This does not apply to special circumstances like an appointment throughout the school day, or special circumstances that have been pre-arranged with the office.

We also wanted to give the community some advance notice that as of Monday we’ll be making another push in our “Taking Back the Parking Lot” campaign efforts.  As part of this we will be turning vehicles away from the parking lot, so please make alternate arrangements for drop off and pick up – “Drive to 5” is a great option that keeps vehicles a safe distance from the school, and builds independence in students and their ability to walk to school. A map is attached for your convenience.

Thank you for your assistance and ongoing support of all we do here at Sandhills!

Sandhills traffic safety booklet Nov 18

ATTENDANCE

With the winter weather upon us, we acknowledge that it takes extra time in the morning to get your student(s) dressed for school with the appropriate clothing. We want to extend our sincere thank you to parents for this and the extra effort in adjusting your schedule to allow for extra time in the morning to ensure students arrive on time for the start of school (8:35 am) to assist in our safe arrival process. If your child is going to be late due to an appointment don’t forget to call ahead on 519-744-4430 – extension 1, or email shl-attendance@wrdsb.ca. If you are running a little behind and get to school a few minutes after the school bell please go directly to the office and pick up a late (green) slip.

DID YOU KNOW?

Healthy snacks are as important to your child’s growth and development as healthy meals. Young children have small stomachs and can’t get all the nutrients they need from just 3 regular meals. Older children need snacks to stay alert and energetic throughout the day. Because snacks give children calories, these calories should come with nutrients.

If you have some time, please take a look at the attached link which gives useful information on healthy snacks and links to healthy eating guides, which detail recommended serving sizes and food groups. REMEMBER, we are a peanut free school. Any snacks brought into the school should be healthy and peanut free.

Caring For Kids Link

Snacks that meet the grade

UMBRELLA PROJECT

We are so proud of our students this month. Our Gratitude Character trait has been a wonderful success and we celebrated our achievements on Friday, 23rd November at our Spirit Assembly. We also introduced our next trait which is G.R.I.T. We are using this acronym to help students understand the meaning of Grit:

G – Give it your Best

R – Redo if necessary

I – Ignore the Urge to Quit

T – Take the Time to Do it Right