December Update

Welcome to December!  We are only two weeks away from the Winter Break.  We hope that you find these monthly updates helpful to stay up to date with what is happening at SWL!

Parent Involvement Group:  As our recruitment efforts have not been successful in meeting the minimum number of members we need for a School Council, Ms. Stafford and I have committed to meeting regularly with interested parents.  We will be meeting virtually over the remainder of the year and any and all interested parents are welcome to join.  We held our first meeting last week.  Thanks to those parents who joined us!  Our next meeting will be at the end of January.  If you are interested in attending, please call the office to leave your name.

School Name Review:  With the new Glen Site school opening in September, Elizabeth Bagshaw School will be closing.  Most of the students will be moving to SWL.  As part of HWDSB policy, this kind of school consolidation means that our school name COULD be reviewed if there was interest from the communities.  We welcome any input you may have on this topic.

Happy Retirement:  Congratulations to Mrs. Radojewski on her recent retirement announcement.  Mrs. Radojewski’s last day will be Friday, December 18th.  I know the whole community joins us in wishing her all the best on her well-deserved retirement.  Mrs. Radojewski has been at SWL since it opened!  She has had the pleasure of teaching all grades, from JK to Grade 8.  She thinks she may have taught in every single classroom in the school!  Mrs. Radojewski served as the school librarian at SWL for many years and has fostered a love of reading with many of our students.  She has dedicated 36 years of her life to teaching and we will miss her!!  Congratulations!

Visitors to School:  As you know, visitors to school are restricted this year.  We have appreciated everyone’s understanding and cooperation.  We do know that many parents drop students off in the morning and pick up at night.  We remind parents that all people on property MUST wear a mask or maintain a 2 metre physical distance from others.  We appreciate your adherence to this important protocol.

Covid Updates:  If you subscribe to our website, you will get Covid updates right to your inbox.  Recently, we have had a couple of important updates about the positive case and subsequent outbreak designation.  We understand that this is concerning for many families.  As noted in our communications, the staff members who tested positive do not provide direct instruction to students and no student cohorts impacted.  Due to privacy reasons, we are unable to share any further details about these cases.  Please subscribe to our website to receive these important updates.

PA Day:  We recently had our PA Day, with the focus being on parent communication.  Hopefully you took the opportunity to speak to your child’s educators and set some goals for this term.  Our next reporting period ends in February with reports going home on February 19th.

Fundraising:  As previously communicated, fundraising activities are on hold this year.  We have been given approval to hold Spirit Wear Sales as well as school photographs.  We have already concluded our Grade 8 Grad Wear sales and we have booked school Photo Day for April 7th.  You will be able to purchase individual student photos only (no class photos this year).  We will also do our Grade 8 Grad Photos on this day.  More information will be sent home in advance of this day.

Spirit Week:  To generate some excitement in advance of the Winter Break, we will be holding a Spirit Week.  As things will be different this year (no Winter Assembly, no sending in food/treats, etc), we did want to do something fun and safe for our students.  We will be holding a Spirit Week from December 14-December 18.  A class survey is being issued to see what kind of activities students want to take part in.  Stay tuned for the results next week!

Wishing you all the best of the season!