Current Newsletter

Principal’s Message

2019 is off to a very busy start at Stephen Central Public School. Students and staff are tackling their academic endeavours and other school activities with the enthusiasm and optimism that a new year brings.

Term one is quickly coming to an end and first-term report cards will be going home on February 19. There will be no formal interviews with this report; however, if you have questions or concerns about your child’s report card, or would simply like to connect with your child’s teacher, please indicate this by checking the appropriate area on your child’s report or contact your child’s teacher at the school. We also encourage you to provide feedback and to work with your child to set meaningful goals for term 2 under the Student Comment and Goal Setting Section of the report card.

Please help us provide our students with the best learning experiences possible each day by ensuring that students arrive at school on time. When students arrive late, they miss very important teaching moments that begin as soon as school starts. While we understand that coming to school late due to an appointment is sometimes necessary, consistent late arrivals jeopardize the academic success of students and send a message to students that school is not important.

As part of our Safe Arrival Program, parents/guardians need to call the school each time their child is absent from school. Our Safe Arrival procedure requires our secretary, Mrs. Case, to call the parents/guardians of all absent students. She needs to call parents/contacts until she speaks with someone to be sure students are safe and accounted for. This process often consumes a great deal of time, and causes a lot of worry regarding the safety of your children, when we are not able to make contact. Please call the school each time your child will be absent. You can leave a message on the answering machine early in the morning or even the night before, 519-234-6302. We appreciate your help with this.

I would like to sincerely thank parents and guardians for their kindness and support of our students, staff and community over the past several months. This is a truly compassionate and caring community and I continue to feel blessed and privileged to be a part of the Stephen Central Public School family.

Have a fantastic February!
Donna Gregus, Principal

School Council

Well, it seems this week winter has finally arrived and with that comes thoughts of pot pies in the oven. Parent Council will be selling Jerry Rader’s pies as our final fundraiser for the year. Order forms were sent out. There will be meat and fruit pies as well as quiche for purchase by Wednesday, February 13, with pick up Monday, March 4. Parent Council will also be offering Stephen Central spirit wear for all those who wanted to order it. Please order these items through School Cash Online. This is not a fundraiser but as we have had a lot of inquiries we decided to offer it for those interested. Our next meeting takes place February 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the school library. Hope to see you there.
Thanks,
Tammy Wharram, Chair

Pink Shirt Day – Anti-Bullying Day

At Stephen Central our focus during the month of February will be on continuing to create a peaceful community free from bullying. On Wednesday, February 27 we will celebrate Pink Shirt Day. As part of our celebration we are encouraging all students and staff to wear pink in solidarity against bullying.

Thank you to:

• Godfathers Pizza, Exeter for providing the school with a free pizza coupon for our January newsletter winner
• the Huron County Foodbank Distribution Centre for their generous donation to our snack program

Character Corner

The character attribute of focus for February is ‘Perseverance’ – staying purposeful and committed.

This includes things like setting goals and sticking with them until they are completed, speaking up when others will not, completing homework and assignments, always trying your best, learning from your mistakes, and striving to do better.

My grandma used to tell me to just “put your mind to it, your back into it and get on with it.”

Quotes About Perseverance

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
– Japanese Proverb
Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.
– Vivian Komori
Self-regulation: The student…sets own individual goals and monitors progress towards achieving them…perseveres and makes an effort when responding to challenges.
– Growing Success, Ontario Ministry of Education.

Stephen Central Family Teams

Once again this year our whole school, staff and students, are divided into 12 family teams. Our teams meet monthly to do positive team building activities. Each team has their own coloured bandanas which they wear with pride during our monthly activities. Please ask your child(ren) about their family team.

Joyeux Carnaval!

Our “Carnaval” this year will be held on Friday, February 15 beginning at 11:25 a.m. The whole school will participate in activities to celebrate the winter season. It is a great school spirit event with activities such as snow tug of war, toboggan and obstacle relays, snow soccer, hot chocolate and a visit by Bonhomme! Students should be sure to dress warmly on this day wearing snow pants and perhaps even bringing an extra pair of gloves or mittens.

Me to We Valentine’s Day Bake Sale

The Grade 5 class is going to hold a bake sale on Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14 to raise money for the Huron County Foodbank. Goodies will be available to purchase from 25 cents to $1.00. Thanks to the Grade 5 students and families who provided bake sale items.

Jerry Rader’s Meat and Fruit Pies

Parent Council is excited to offer Jerry Rader’s meat and fruit pies for our winter fundraiser. For those of you who are not familiar with them, they are 5” meat pies that come in a variety of flavours. They also offer two different fruit pies for the sweet tooth. The pies only take an hour to cook directly from your freezer and will easily serve 1 adult. You can cook multiple pies as once. The pies cost $3.75 each and are a great warm meal for these colder months. These items are available to order on School Cash Online .

We will be accepting orders until Wednesday, February 13, 2019. We regret to inform you that no late orders will be accepted. Pies will be available for pick-up on Monday, March 4, 2019 at the school from 3:00 – 5:30 p.m. Please note that we cannot hold pies at the school as they are a freezer item and the school does not have extra freezer space. Thank you for your continued support.

Tigers’ Spirit Wear

We are excited to share with you a wonderful opportunity for students to purchase Stephen Central Public School Tigers’ spirit wear. These items are available to order on School Cash Online beginning Friday, February 1 or through the use of the order form. Orders are due by Thursday, March 21, 2019 and orders will be here and delivered to students on Thursday, April 18, 2019. We are excited by this opportunity to celebrate our Stephen Central Public School Tiger pride!

Save the Date for Our QSP Spring Fundraiser

QSP Spring Fundraiser Kickoff Assembly will be held on Monday, April 15 at 2:00 pm. Our campaign will run from Monday, April 15 to Friday, May 3, 2019 for magazines and cookie dough. Delivery date, more details and specific dates to follow.

The Snack Program

We are asking for donations for the Snack Program. Please remember that we are a nut free school. We would appreciate the donation of nutri-grain bars, arrowroot cookies, granola bars(no chocolate please), any fresh fruits and vegetables like apples, carrots, clementines, etc., yogurt, cheese bars, cheese strings, applesauce, crackers, shreddies, cheerios, pretzels, gold fish crackers, spoons, small zipper bags and napkins. Any donation of the above items is greatly appreciated.

Silver Birch News

The Silver Birch students have enthusiastically been reading the books from the three Silver Birch programs. So far the students have read 17 Fiction books, 63 Express books, and 25 Nonfiction books. Bravo!

Congratulations Eric M, Avery D., and Alyssa S.! Eric will be voting in the Express category. Alyssa and Avery will be voting in the Nonfiction category. Awesome work! Silver Birch students continue reading and make sure you see Ms. Wondergem to mark the books that you have read on the Silver Birch charts in the library. Voting takes place April 24, 2019.

Talk to your child about the book(s) that he/she has read from these programs. Does your child have a favourite book so far?

Blue Spruce News

Mrs. Jeffrey and Miss Anderson’s class started the Blue Spruce reading program in January. There are ten books written by Canadian authors in this program. Once all ten books have been read to a class, the students from the class will be voting individually. Please be aware that the students in each class are encouraged not to share their votes with their siblings and friends until all classes in our school have had an opportunity to vote. They may share their votes with their parents/ guardians, if their siblings are not present. When voting for their favourite book, we want each student to make their own choice without the influence of family and friends. Mrs. Jeffrey’s class will be voting near the beginning of February.

Teachers in JK – grade 3/4 will be reading the Blue Spruce books to their class between now and April. Ms. Wondergem totals all students’ votes for our school and submits them to the Ontario Library Association in Toronto in April. All classes will have completed their voting by April 12th.

Book Swap and Pyjama Day

A wonderful celebration of literacy took place at Stephen Central. Students and staff wore their pyjamas and brought in old books to trade for some “new” ones. Family Literacy Day is an annual event held each year on January 27.

Sports and Extra-Curricular Activities

Junior Volleyball at Central Huron Secondary School, Clinton on Tuesday, March 5 (snow date, Thursday, March 7). More details will be sent home shortly.

Upcoming events

– Wednesday, February 1 to Thursday, February 15 – order Milk & Meals for March
– Friday, February 1 to Thursday, March 21, 2019 – Order Spirit Wear
– Friday, February 1 is a P.A. Day – no school for students
– Monday, February 4 – School Council Meeting in the Library
– Wednesday, February 13 – Deadline to order Jerry Rader’s Meat & Fruit Pies
– Wednesday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day – Spirit Day – wear red/pink/white
– Wednesday, February 14 – Me to We Grade 5 Bake Sale
– Friday, February 15 – Joyeux Carnaval!
– Monday, February 18 – Family Day – no school – enjoy your day with your family
– Tuesday, February 19 – Report cards to go home with students
– Wednesday, February 27 – Pink Shirt Day- Anti-Bullying Day
– Thursday, March 1 to Thursday, March 15 – order Milk & Meals for April
– Monday, March 4 – Pick up Jerry Rader’s Meat & Fruit Pie orders
– Tuesday, March 5 – Junior Volleyball @ Central Huron Secondary School (snow day Thursday, March 7)
– Sunday, March 9 – Daylight saving time begins – set clocks ahead one hour
– March 11 to March 15 – March Break
– Thursday, March 21, 2019 – Spirit Wear orders due
– Friday, April 12 – Blue Spruce voting
– Monday, April 15 to Friday, May 3 – QSP Spring Fundraiser
– Thursday, April 18 – Spirit Wear home with students
– Wednesday, April 24 – Silver Birch voting

Congratulations

Congratulations to Karsyn and family who were the winners of the January newsletter draw. They received a free pizza coupon from Godfathers Pizza in Exeter.

February Newsletter – If you received and read this newsletter, please return this tear-off section for a draw. The student(s) from the winning family will receive a prize.

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