Newsletter

This is the QE News Blast for the week of September 23rd.

This is ALLY WEEK for the Durham District School Board. This means at Queen E our classes will be participating in activities that teach our children the importance of being an Ally. Being an ally means being willing to act with and for others in pursuit of ending oppression and creating equality. ... An ally is someone who fights oppression and prejudice and educates oneself about different identities and experiences.

Secondly, this Thursday is our first School Community Council Meeting. It begins at 6:15 and usually ends around 7:15  pm. We want to have as many parents attending as possible. This is where you will get to hear information about what we are planning for your children, you get to share your thoughts, ask questions and speak freely. You can also vote on proposals if you attend regularly. Yes we do talk about fundraising as well and this is especially important given our recent Dairy Aware challenges. Regular pizza is obviously not dairy free. We need to come up with some other ways to raise money for the school in future years.

Finally, just a quick reminder that this Friday is Picture Day for our students. We will be getting our Kindies and Grade 1s done early to avoid the messy lunchhour.

That is all and thank you until next time. 

This is the QE News Blast for the week of September 16.

This is SAFETY WEEK for the Durham District School Board.

In keeping with this, we will be practicing both an ‘unannounced’ fire drill this week as well as the first of two LOCKDOWN Drills.

The LOCKDOWN Drill is scheduled for Thursday, September 19^th at 10:30 am. Our School Liaison Officer from the Durham Region Police Service will be in attendance to go through the drill. If you feel this drill may cause some anxiety for your child, please begin talking to them about this now and be assured that our teachers will be doing the same this week. The total drill takes about 20 mins and as far as our students go, they just hide out of sight in the classroom until the drill is over. Students in the hall, office, library or other locations are scooped into the nearest classroom to wait with those students and teachers.

Some other safety reminders worthy of mention are… #1 the no bikes, skateboards, scooter and wheelies rule.  This does not mean students can not ride to school. Bicycles can be locked to the bike racks at the north and south ends of the school yard at the beginning of the day. Skateboards, scooters and wheelies are, however, a bigger issue. As they can’t be locked up at the bike racks realistically, they are a liability in the hallways and on the yard. Students and staff have been run over by students on these toys in the past. If your child likes to ride one of these to school, please take it home and bring it back at the end of the day to ensure our school yard remains safe for all.

In addition related to safety, parents in the hallways continues to be an problem for us. When arriving with your children each day, please turn them over to the teacher on supervision duty at the entry bell. If students are arriving late, we will have someone walk them down to either the Kindergarten classes or the Grade one classes. We cannot have parents or guardians in our classroom hallways during the school day.  While we welcome parents and guardians in the foyer of the school anytime, as indicated by our Queen E Café, the double doors leading to the north and south areas of the school are our boundaries for student safety. This is not just a Queen Elizabeth Public School rule. All schools in the DDSB share the same concerns for student safety and ask that parents and guardians comply with this rule.

Meet The Teacher Night is this Thursday. Burgers will be available for purchase, along with chips and pop.  The BBQ will run from 5-6:00 pm and classrooms will be open from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.

Finally, we are once again offering school spiritwear t-shirts to our community. Order forms will come out tomorrow. Sizers for these staydri shirts will be available in the office beginning this week. They will be available the night of Meet the Teacher, this Thursday, if you prefer to size your children at that time. 

Welcome to the first Queen E’s 1^st Official News Blast of the 2019-2020 school year.

These News Blasts will come out biweekly with information about upcoming events.

Firstly, PIZZA Days start this Thursday, September 12^th. The cost of one slice of pizza is $2.00 and the choices are cheese or pepperoni.  As we have some concerns about allergies this year we are adjusting our pizza offerings and going with Grade 1 through Grade 8 only. We will be setting up an alternative offering for our FDK students a little later in the fall. This is the main QE Office fundraiser this year.

Secondly, just a quick reminder of our Curriculum Night coming up on Thursday, September 19th. We are hoping to have either BBQ or Pizza available this year for families to enjoy before they visit classrooms. Classrooms will be open from 6:00 until 7:30. Please come and meet your child’s teachers. We are also hoping that parents and guardians will participate in a sticker survey we will have running to help us build our new Vision Statement supporting our Motto  “SOARING TO SUCCESS”.

Thirdly, we are planning to continue our Parent Talk initiative this year. Parents, guardians, community members are welcome to join us from 2:00-3:00 pm to discuss various topics such as parenting techniques, current events, safety at our school, etc. Some of these Parent Talks will coincide with new Open House Days where we invite our school community into our classrooms. Stay tuned for more information.

Fourth, we will be beginning our Healthy Snack Program next week (Sept 16^th). Students will have cheese and crackers, bagels and cream cheese, fruit, etc everyday to boost their energy for learning. Finally, signup for Gifted Testing will begin soon. Any student from Grade 3 and upwards can be tested for this programme. Please contact the school if you are interested.

Fifth, we would like to begin a formal Breakfast Program. Unfortunately, the Intermediate Breakfast Club we were running last year in unavailable. Successful breakfast programs at other schools are run by parent volunteers. We do not have staff to run this. We believe there is a high demand for morning nourishment before school in our community. If you are interested in running or helping to run this program, please let Mrs. Savard know ASAP.

Sixth, we have started up our House Colour system again. House colours are RED, BLUE, YELLOW, PURPLE, ORANGE and GREEN. All students and staff at Queen E will be given a house colour. We plan on holding in school events throughout the year to boost this teamwork initiative. The first event students will be asked to wear their colours will be at our Terry Fox Run on Thursday September 26^th. Please ask your children what colour house they are in.

Finally, for our Terry Fox Run on Sept 26^th, we are hoping to celebrate the reasons we hold this event every year. Most people have been touch by cancer. If you are a cancer survivor or know of someone who is a cancer survivor or currently battling cancer and you/they would like to participate in this event on this date, Please contact the school at 905-723-7042 ASAP and we will get back to you with our plan.

That is all and Thank you until next time.