9188 Plank Road, Box 94 Straffordville, ON N0J 1Y0 Phone: 519-866-3021 Fax: 519-866-3268 Principal: L. Trewin Vice-Principal: B. Olver Admin. Assistant: P. Vereecken Custodian: S. Dean Superintendent: P. Sydor Trustees: M. Ruddock & B. Smith School Council Chair: tbd in October

MESSAGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM

September has flown by and both staff and students have been busy.

Thanks to the many parents/guardians who attended the school’s Meet the Families Open House on September 26th. It was a pleasure to see and talk with many of you. Thanks for supporting the BBQ — a fundraiser for the grade 8 trip.

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your time with family and friends!

Mr. Olver and Mrs. Trewin

If you require information contained in this document in an alternate accessible format, please contact the school office.

Straffordville

Public School htpp://straffordville.tvdsb.ca

School Goal: under construction

The Ram Reader — October 2019

UPCOMING DATES

Please be sure to check out the calendar on our website. You can view in list format as well as in the calendar perspective.

We will endeavour to keep it updated!

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) confirmed that job action will begin across the province on Monday, September 30th. CUPE members include custodial, maintenance, school-based and central clerical, educational assis-tants, early childhood educators and information technology staff, who provide important services in our schools and workplaces. Thames Valley schools remain open to staff and students during this phase of job action. We are working diligently to minimize any impact on students and the school community; however, we will be unable to completely eliminate all impact. We respect the collective bargaining process and are hopeful for a negotiated agreement. As always, ensuring that our schools are safe environments is our top priority.

UPDATE

EQAO RESULTS

We recently received the re-sults of last spring’s (2019) Pri-mary and Junior EQAO As-sessments.

The chart displayed here shows the percentage of stu-dents at or above the provincial standard (Levels 3 and 4) at school, board, and province.

Every assessment captures the performance of students at one point in time each year. We need to consider these results along with other information about students’ achievement in reading, writing, and mathemat-ics. This is one piece of data that is used to inform future im-provement areas.

At the end of September/beginning of October, parents and guardians received their child’s Individual Student Report (ISR). This report contains their child’s results from the As-sessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Primary and Junior Divisions, administered in spring 2019. These re-sults did not impact students’ report cards last year. EQAO results offer an independent snapshot that shows whether students are meeting literacy and math expectations from The Ontario Curriculum. In receiving the ISR, there is an opportunity for parents and guardians to have discussions about their child’s achievement within their family or with a teacher (e.g., parent/guardian-teacher interview). EQAO data should be considered alongside other information—such as in-class assessment re-sults, report-card grades and teacher observations—so parents and guardians can build a fuller understanding of their child’s learning. Parents and guardians can learn more about assessment results through EQAO’s website (www.eqao.com) or by clicking the following links: Parents: Grade 3, Primary Division or Parents, Grade 6, Junior Division

STRAFFORDVILLE’S EQAO RESULTS

HOME CONNECTIONS IN MATHEMATICS

SCHOOL COUNCIL

A copy of the School Council Annual Report for 2018-2019 is availa-ble from the office if desired.

Parent/guardian members of the School Council for 2019-2020 in-clude: Abe Berg, Stacey Broughton, Melissa Duhamel, Mary Giesbrecht, Janette Hill, Lindsay Hindmarsh, Patricia Lord, Shana

Miller, Dianna Shelly and Bridget Wilson. There are still open spots for parent mem-bership. Let Mrs. Trewin know if interested.

First meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 7, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. in the school’s Maker Space.

CRIMINAL BACKGROUND/VULNERABLE SECTOR CHECKS FOR

STRAFFORDVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS

Our volunteers provide important help and support for the staff and students at Straffordville Public School. Those of you who offer your services to assist are appreciated. To ensure that students are appropriately protected, the Thames Valley District School Board has a policy which requires all volunteers to have a police check. For those parents who wish to volunteer at our school in any ca-pacity involving our students (classroom, transportation, field trip, coach, etc.) and Have Not completed a Criminal Background Check, the necessary forms are available in the school office. The form should be accompanied by two types of ID. Please be sure to check acceptable forms of identification.

For those who have a criminal background check on file at the school office, an Offence Declaration sheet must be completed each year. This form is to be filled out by each volunteer and sent back to the office. Forms are available from the office. Thank you for your efforts in this regard. If the Of-fence Declaration is not filled out for a year, then a new police check has to be completed.

BUS ZONE VS PARKING LOT

Please remember to NOT park in the bus loading zone in the front of the

school. Please drop students off around the side of the school, not the front.

Thanks for your cooperation.

NUTRITION PROGRAM

The Snack program began in September. We are always look-ing for more support/volunteers. If interested in helping, please contact the school’s office.

SAFE AND ACCEPTING SCHOOLS

Please see our Straffordville website for our Safe Schools Action Plan and our Bullying Prevention Intervention Plan (BPIP).

We have changed our Character Trait program. Instead of monthly assemblies, student award winners will be announced the last Monday of the month during morning announcements. The students will come to the office to have their photo taken. Their photos will be transferred to a certificate. The certifi-cates will be posted on the bulletin board across from the office and beside the library door.

Congratulations to Our September Winners! Kayda L— great transition to school

Nikolai S — great transition to school Talen C—excellent transition

Addelyn E— best transition Luke H — perseverance

Jakob B — best transition Peter Z — respect

Asher S— great transition back to school Hope G — responsibility

Rory H-B — great transition back to school Breanne J — responsibility

James B — perseverance Tanner D — honesty

Noah M — perseverance Logan P — respect

Emily L — respect Ella B — enthusiasm

Nylah R — respect Benny W — participation

Evelyn S — kindness Rebecca B — respect

Corny B — kindness Dylan S — perseverance

Jackson S — inclusion Abram H — empathy

Aiden M — inclusion Logan P — cooperation

Damien K—accountability Kyle E — cooperation

Miles R — caring and acceptance Aubree M — cooperation

Alexis W-C — caring and acceptance Ella J — cooperation

Carly B — caring and acceptance Arianna A — great effort

Ella A — excellent transition Michael H — great effort

IN RECOGNITION OF THOSE DEMONSTRATING POSITIVE CHARACTER TRAITS

IMPORTANCE OF REGULAR ATTENDANCE

MUNICIPALITY OF BAYHAM FIRE DEPARTMENT

SOUTHWESTERN PUBLIC HEALTH

Pack a rainbow in your child’s lunch!

Did you know that each different colour of vege-

table or fruit has different vitamins and miner-

als? Boost the veggies and fruit in your child’s

lunch by packing all different colours of the rain-

bow! Try these kid friendly ideas:

Add grated carrot to egg or tuna salad.

Pack veggies or fruit in small bite size pieces.

Get creative and make fun shapes out of veg-

gies and fruit. Try using tools like melon ballers,

vegetable crinkle cutters, cookie cutters or even

an egg slicer to add some fun.

Add a shake of cinnamon for flavor to cut

fruit that tends to turn brown.

Send a small container of yogurt to dip fruit

in; try hummus for veggies.

For more ideas, tool and resources to support

packing healthy lunches, check out ‘Healthy

Lunch Ideas for the New School Year’ or go to

www.unlockfood.ca and search ‘Healthy Lunch

Ideas for the New School Year’.

Adapted from www.brightbites.ca