Current Newsletter

Principal’s Message

Happy New Year to all of our BCES families and welcome back!

Thank you to all of our parents and community volunteers for once again making December a memorable and enjoyable time for students and staff at BCES. The holiday dinner was amazing, and we appreciate all of the additional classroom assistance we have received this month with baking, cutting, gluing, etc. in our primary division. I’d like to give a huge shout out to the students and staff, who did a phenomenal job with our Holiday Concert (and we appreciated the fantastic turnout at our Concert). The staff and students work hard to put on a show that never fails to impress!

I would also like to acknowledge and thank a number of families, businesses and other anonymous donors for a variety of special contributions made in the spirit of giving. We have received cash donations to our Eat & Learn program, many Christmas Bureau gifts and gift certificates for families in need. We have appreciated everyone’s generosity.

With the winter weather now here, it is important for students to come to school dressed warmly for outdoor play. Please send extra socks and mittens as sometimes they get wet when everyone is having fun playing. We will monitor the wind chill and temperature but for the most part we will be outdoors for two 20 minute breaks each day.

As always please call or stop in at the office if you have questions or would like to share something with me.

Christina Van Poucke

Our School Calendar can be found at :
https://avonmaitlandschools.ca/bluewatercoast/bluewater-coast-events-calendar/

Snow

Snow is lots of fun for students. Snow can bring its own unique challenges and rules for playing safely at school, and so I’d like to mention a few of those rules here in order to help families communicate with their children.

1. We do not allow snowball throwing or kicking of snow at other students.
2. We do allow forts to be built, but no tunnels (due to safety concerns around collapsing).
3. Snow forts tend to become territorial for groups of students. Please talk to your child about the fact that a lot of children live and play in the community, both during and after school hours, and that snow forts are not “owned” by any one child or group of children. If the snow is on school property, then it’s available for all to play.
4. The snow hill near the baseball diamond on the school property:
a) Due to the location of this snow hill (being so close to the roads, some trees, and the parking area that parents and staff use), it is highly recommended that students not play on this hill.
b) The hill is “out of bounds” during school hours, including our morning and afternoon supervision times. There have been a few instances where students stop to play at the end of the school day. When the dismissal bell goes, students should be checking in at home.
5. If your child is at home on an “snow day”, then they are not to be playing on the yard at any time during the school day or they will be invited in to class, where their peers are doing learning.

Parking at the Front of the School

Just a gentle reminder to parents and volunteers that we need to keep the parking area in front of the school clear for buses to park and load. There is a small parking lot to the East of the school that has a few spots. Otherwise, there is angle parking available out front of the school West of the sidewalk that enters into the new Kindergarten addition. Please look for the signage outside. It’s nice to have the sidewalk area clear for crossing students as it’s difficult to navigate around parked cars.

School Messenger

Text “yes” to 978338

Over the past few weeks we have sent several school messages out via School Messenger. These messages are short texts designed to inform our school community of school activities and events. School Messenger can also be used to quickly notify our families of any school or community emergency impacting our families. Almost 60% of our families have subscribed thus far. To opt in to School Messenger, text YES to 978338 from your mobile device.

Late Again?

In the past month, there has been a large increase in the number of students arriving to school late each morning. We understand that occasionally something interferes with arriving on time, but we have concerns when lateness becomes habitual. The entry bell rings at 8:50 am each morning, and attendance is taken at that time. Immediately following attendance, there are morning announcements for the school, then each class begins its day, usually by organizing and introducing the day’s activities. This is important learning time for your child, and sets the tone for success. When your child arrives late, he/she misses out on important routines and information.

We appreciate your efforts in teaching, encouraging and setting an expectation for promptness in your child’s daily routine. In the event that your child is late (arriving after 8:55 a.m.), a phone call is required from home and he/she is expected to enter the school by the front door, report to the office for safe arrival and get an Admit Slip so the teacher knows that the student has checked in at the office. Thanks for your assistance in making learning run smoothly.

Safe Arrival Calls (Especially on Snow Days)

Just a reminder that if your child(ren) are sick or absent from school, give us a call at 519-262-2833. On snow days, if your child is bussed, you don’t need to call in as we will assume they are home with you (unless you bring them to school, in which case we will change our attendance code). If you live in town, that safe arrival call is important to make on a snow day, as we assume that they will be attending school for regular school day learning.

We appreciate your help in knowing that our students are safe.

Skating

Our next skating time at the arena will be Friday, January 26, 2018. At this time, it is confirmed that the Junior classes will be going skating on this date in the middle block of the day. We will inform you at a later date whether we will be sending primary classes skating in January. Please remember to dress for the weather and that all participants must wear a helmet. We strongly recommend a CSA approved hockey helmet.

Open House for Grade 6 students going to Grade 7 at South Huron District High School in September 2018

South Huron District High School is holding an Open House on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 for students who are currently in Grade 6 and going to Grade 7 in September 2018. Please plan to attend to meet the staff, visit the school, and much, much more. Invitations will be sent home to all Grade 6 students.

Thank You to Local Church Groups

We want to acknowledge the generosity of two local church groups to our school. The Zion Lutheran Church of Dashwood is always collecting donations for our school, including new backpacks with lunch pails and school supplies. If ever you need this, please contact the office as we have extras. We would also like to thank the Exeter Pentecostal Tabernacle Church for the many donations of clothing, money, and food to families in need and to our tutoring program.

If you know of someone in need of gently used clothing or assistance, let us know at the school and we would be glad to connect you with one of these amazing church groups.

Huron County Christmas Bureau

Thank you for all your donations to the Huron County Christmas Bureau. This December, they provided gifts for 130 families. Your generosity in helping them meet these needs is greatly appreciated.

“For every act of kindness, for every thoughtful and loving act of charity, for every gift be it large or small, we are sincerely grateful.”

Eat and Learn

Bluewater Coast Elementary School would like to thank Tim Hortons in Clinton and Seaforth for their generous donation to our school’s Eat & Learn program. We received approximately $850 to put toward our program. These funds help to provide healthy, nutritious snacks for all our growing minds and bodies here at BCES. We have also been fortunate to have worked in cooperation with Community Living, the Huron County Food Bank Distribution Centre, and local food producers. These folks have been (& will be) providing snacks to our students for several days over a period of several weeks. The students have enjoyed a variety of tasty, nutritious snacks. We’d also like to thank our many families who have donated gift cards to the program as well.

Library Helpers

There are 23 enthusiastic library helpers, who help Ms. Wondergem in the library during first recess. Each student is assigned one recess every two weeks to assist with stamping, stickers, sorting, putting books away, etc. New grade 2 library helpers will be joining the group in January. Students are allowed to volunteer more often as well. Their assistance is greatly appreciated.

There are twelve computer helpers, who turn the computers in the library on and off each day. These helpers are divided into morning and afternoon groups. Four helpers were assigned to a daily commitment for each month. Ms. Wondergem looks forward to working with the library and computer helpers again in the New Year.

Silver Birch

Our Silver Birch reading programs kicked off on December 8th in the school library.  There are ten books written by Canadian authors for each of the three Silver Birch program. These books were selected by the Ontario Library Association (OLA), in each of the following programs: Silver Birch Express, Silver Birch Fiction, and Silver Birch Nonfiction. The programs are intended to encourage reading for fun. The students will have approximately five months to read at least five or more of the books in one of the three categories. Each student, who accomplishes this goal, will have the opportunity to participate in an Ontario wide vote for students. They will be choosing their favourite book near the end of April 2018 in one of these categories. All votes will be sent to the OLA in Toronto for tabulation. There is a banquet in May in Toronto to award each winning author.

Students will have the opportunity to read at school in the library during one recess per week. The books are also allowed to be checked out and taken home. Please refer to Ms. Wondergem’s staff home page on our school’s website for the Internet links to each of these reading programs. In order for students to take the Silver Birch Books home, the students must consistently return their library books and Silver Birch books on time. These reading programs are voluntary. If your child signs up for one of these programs, please encourage them to read, so they may obtain their goal to Vote in April!

Blue Spruce

Students in grades JK – 2/3 will be participating in the Blue Spruce Reading Program. Each teacher will be choosing a month between January and April to conduct this program with their class. All ten books in this program will be read to the students. Each student will then have the opportunity to vote in an Ontario wide student vote. They will choose their favourite book from the program. Please refer to Ms. Wondergem’s staff home page on our school’s website for the Internet link to this reading program. All votes will be sent to the Ontario Library Association in Toronto for tabulation. There is a banquet in May in Toronto to award the winning author.

Once these programs are completed at the end of April 2018, the Silver Birch Books and Blue Spruce Books will become part of the Bluewater Coast Elementary School library collection for all students to check out.

Community Announcements Vanastra Rec Centre

Free Swims sponsored by the Anglican Church of Clinton and Seaforth are December 28 and 29 and January 2 and 4 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. There are recreation swims on December 27 and January 3 and 5 from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at our regular admission prices ($3.25/child).