January 9th, 2018

Hello Keatsway Families! 

Welcome Back!  I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing holiday filled with a lot of  family time and laughter.  It’s great to be back!  We sure had a lot of snow over the last few days.  When I go outside and look out at the fields it makes me happy to see all the children having fun and playing in the snow.  They are building snowman, forts and snow angels!  Please remind your children to be safe at all times with the snow.  Remind them that is it not safe to play on snow banks that are close to parking lots or roads and that we don’t throw snowballs at school. We want everyone safe and happy this winter season.  We look forward to many exciting activities and events in 2018 and hope to see you there!

A note from Mr. Rowbottom:

Dear Keatsway Community,

This winter we are going to have an ice rink at Keatsway. Mr. Craig, Mrs. Maclean and Mr. Rowbottom came in over the break to flood the rink and thanks to the cold weather the rink is ready for use. The rink is located behind portables 1-3.  We are looking for volunteers to help with the maintenance of the rink. Maintenance will include shoveling snow off of the rink and flooding the rink. If you are available to help out, please contact Mr. Rowbottom. His email is jason_rowbottom@wrdsb.ca and he will share a Google spreadsheet with you, which you can sign up on. If no staff member has signed up in a time slot, then there won’t be any maintenance happening at that time.

Teachers will be using the rink for Gym and for DPA. In order for your child to use the rink, students are required to wear a CSA approved helmet. If you have a gently used helmet that you wish to donate, please send it in with your child. We are also accepting skate donations. Students need to wear appropriate winter wear in order to use the rink.

Regards,

Mr. Rowbottom

Keatsway Musical is in the works!

Shiver me timbers, matey! It’s time once again for our Keatsway musical. This year we are proud to present Pirates Two! Mr. McIntyre will be meeting with grade 5 and 6 students in early January to share information and a short video about the musical so that students will have a better understanding about what to expect. After this, grade 5 and 6 students will be invited to audition for acting and singing parts. Students who wish to audition will bring a short script home to practise speaking clearly using expression. We want to get a sense of what kind of personality your child is able to present so that we can try to match them with a suitable character. Our goal is to have everyone who auditions have a part in the play.This is a wonderful opportunity, so we encourage all interested students to get involved.

Upcoming Events

Pizza Lunch – Every Monday

School Council Meeting – Thursday January 18th

All parents/caregivers are invited to join us for our School Council meeting in the school library. Free babysitting is available during the meeting.

Snack Program- begins January 22nd

Science Fair – February 28th

News from School Council

Our Playground Thermometer continues to climb!

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our fundraising efforts this Fall. The Winter Marketplace, pizza days and the Gift of Play fundraising campaign have all been great successes! Thanks to your generosity and your donations being matched by our anonymous donor, we were able to pass $60,000 raised for the playground!! Awesome job everyone! If you would still like to make a donation in honour of someone else and receive a “Gift of Play” card to give that person (minimum $20 donation), cards are still available. They make great special occasion gifts, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, teacher gifts, etc. We are getting so close to our goal of $75,000 raised to build this Spring. We still have approximately $11,000 left to claim from our matching donor, and will be continuing fundraising throughout the New Year to raise these funds and reach our goal! Keep watching our progress on the thermometer outside of the main office.

 

Pizza Mondays

We will continue to serve pizza each Monday for grade 1-6 students. Cheese or pepperoni pizza are available for $2.00/slice at first break each Monday. The proceeds from pizza is being put towards the playground and being matched by our donor. So take a break from making lunch, and help support the playground at the same time!

Corporate Donations

To help us reach our goal of building this Spring and to include the wider community, we are launching a corporate donation campaign this January. Businesses will receive a charitable tax receipt, as well as a variety of “recognition acknowledgements” to show our gratitude for your donation. If you are interested in more information, or have suggestions of companies we should contact, please email keatswayschoolcouncil@gmail.com

School Council Meeting

All Keatsway parents and caregivers are invited to join us for our School Council Meeting on Thursday January 18th at 6:30pm in the school library. Free babysitting is available for all council meetings.

Snack Program resumes January 22nd

The Nutrition for Learning Snack Program is on a brief hiatus and will resume on Monday January 22nd. Thank you to our awesome volunteers who organize and implement this daily snack program! If you are interested in volunteering, please email keatswayschoolcouncil@gmail.com

Family Science Night

It’s time to start thinking about project ideas for Keatsway’s Family Science Night, which will be held at Keatsway on Wednesday, February 28th. All students are invited to participate in this fun, non-competitive science fair by preparing a display on a favourite science topic with the help of family members. Projects will be presented to volunteer science professionals after school on February 28th, and to other families and community members during an open house that evening.  A full information package will be available soon, but meanwhile any questions may be directed to Sheila atsrvardy@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful January!

P. Miller

Principal