JAMES POTTER PUBLIC SCHOOL
"Giving our students the wings of confidence to
soar into the future!"
Fanitsa Housdon – Principal Jeff deFreitas - Superintendent 905-451-2862
Tracey Paiva – Vice-Principal David Green - Trustee Ward 2/6 905-495-3423
Bernadette O’Toole – Office Manager
Telephone 905-595-1495 Fax 905-595-1498
september 2017 newsletter
Trustworthy * Environmentally-Friendly * Appreciative * MotivatedPositive * Life-Long Learners * Achieving * Youth-Leaders Exemplary Effort * Respectful
WELCOME
We hope that you enjoyed your summer holidays and would like to welcome back all of our returning students and their families.
A warm James Potter welcome goes out to those students who are starting junior kindergarten and to those who are new to our school. It’s a very exciting time! We are here to help support you and make your transition to our community a positive one! We invite you to get involved in your child’s education and to become an active member of our professional learning community. It’s through our partnerships, trust and teamwork that we collectively help our students develop socially, physically, emotionally and academically.
The James Potter staff are a talented and dedicated crew. They work collaboratively as a team and are committed to fostering and creating a learning environment where students feel safe, welcome and included. They encourage them to be engaged learners, helping them make connections and further develop their confidence to take risks and try new challenges!
We have much to look ahead to this year! We look forward to meeting all of you and working in partnership to support and encourage our children to be the best that they can be; striving to reach their full potential. Our collective commitments and focus on students’ success will give them the wings of confidence to soar into the future!
Sincerely,
The James Potter Team
NOTES OF APPRECIATION
Please join us in recognizing and thanking our custodial team;Mr. de Medeiros, Mr. Noble,
Mr. Rego and Ms. Robertsfor the endless hours that they spent over the summer months, preparing our school for the 2017-2018school year. We expect our students to take pride in our school and to join us in our efforts to help keep it a learning environment that we’re proud of!!!
Thank you to all of our staff who planned over the summer and came in the week before school started, to get their classrooms set-up for our students. Their efforts sure paid off and the students’ excitement speaks volumes of how appreciative they are to have such warm and welcoming classrooms to learn in!
Thanks to Mrs. Jansons and Mrs. Mosey, our Dynamic Office Duo, who have helped with operational start-up and who welcome our new and returning families to James Potter P.S.Their smiles are contagious and they truly areTEAMPLAYERS!
A final ‘thank you’ to all of YOU for taking such great care of our students over the summer and for helping to get them excited and organized for the upcoming school year!
SCHOOL HOURS
Please note that we will be on a
5 Day Cyclethis year and please refer to the following daily schedule for our school hours:
8:40 a.m.Entry Bell
8:45 a.m. Classes Start
11:00-1145 a.m. Nutrition Break #1
1:05-1:45 p.m. Nutrition Break #2
3:05 p.m.Dismissal
PUNCTUALITY
We ask for your cooperation in helping to promote the importance of punctuality. It’s a lifelong skill and helps students have a smooth and positive start to their day! Our Kiss n’ Ride area is open until 8:40 a.m. If you arrive after this time, we ask that you park on the street and walk your child into the school.
STUDENT AGENDAS
Please take time to read over the information items in the Student Agendas, with your child(ren). There you will find many answers to your questions and if not, please don’t hesitate to call the school and ask. The calendar pages in the Gr. 1-5 Agendas are an ‘Organizational Tool’ for students and a great ‘Communication Tool’ between the parent(s) and the school. Please establish a regular routine of reading the Student Agenda daily and signing it.
ALLERGIES
We have a number of staff and students at James PotterP.S. with severe life-threatening allergies. We ask that you provide your child with peanut-free snacks and lunches. This helps minimize life-threatening situations. We also ask you to remind your child that he/she isnot to sharesnacks or lunch items.
Due to food allergies, please do not send food items of any kind to school for birthday celebrations. In lieu of food items, ‘loot bag’ items (i.e., pencils, stickers) are an excellent and safe alternative. On occasion, classroom teachers may organize special events and celebrations where food could be included. In these cases, the teacher will inform you about the specific items that your child may bring to school. Your understanding and cooperation are greatly appreciated!
SCHOOL COUNCIL
School Councils are an advisory committee and their role is focused on Student Success. Nomination forms for Parent Reps on this year’s School Council are being sent out in the Start-Up Envelope. Elections, if warranted, will be held during our Open House, October4th.
Our first School Council meeting is scheduled for October 11th, from 4:00-5:00 pm. The elected Parent Reps will be deciding on the School Council Chair at this meeting.
We welcome all parents to join us at our School Council meetings and events.We will be hosting four additional meetings throughout the school year. School Council meetings provide an opportunity for members to discuss various educational topics, support school initiatives and discover exciting ways to boost parent involvement and contribute to our students’ success.
TEAMPLAYER PROGRAM
This year, our Character Education program will, again, focus on having our students strive to become true
James Potter TEAMPLAYERS. Each letter in this acronym represents a character attribute which we are committed to help further develop in our students. Students will be receiving a TEAMPLAYER bookmark and this will be a great tool to refer to when you discuss the program with your child at home.
To help kick off our program, we will be hosting two TEAMPLAYER DAYZ afternoons, in October and our monthly Awards Assemblies will be themed around the various attributes.
SEPTEMBER 26th PA DAY
Tuesday, September 26th is a Professional Activity Day.
The Peel District School Board has set aside September 26th to re-organize classes if enrolments warrant staffing changes. If we are not required to re-organize, staff will be engaged in planning and professional development activities. Please note that students do not come to school on this day.
TERRY FOX RUN
We will be participating in our annual Terry Fox National School Run Day Wednesday,
September 28th. We welcome parents/family members and caregivers who would like to join us for our event. We appreciate your support of this worthwhile cause. Further details pertaining to our Terry Fox fundraiser will be sent home closer to the date.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
Many of our families have started following us on Twitter @JamesPotterPS – what a wonderful opportunity for you to see the amazing learning that is happening in our school throughout the day! Pictures highlighting our assemblies, our Performing Arts, our Professional Learning, etc. are posted and you are welcome to tweet-out your comments!
LIBRARY
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”, by Richard Steele
Welcome back to our James Potter library. You can access Library eResources from home using the students’ intranet page
A few helpful tips:
-use the Library Catalogues (red tab) to search for books in our James Potter P.S. library
-please protect your library books from food, drinks and colouring items
-use the bag provided by the school to carry the library books to and from school
-keep track of your child’s library exchange period so that library books are returned to school on time; this enables your child to get new reading materials each week
Lost books: $20.00for Non-Fiction/Hardcover
$10.00 for Paperback/Board books
Thank you for partnering with
us to create apositive and
inclusivelearning and teaching environment for
ALL of our families!!!
Our James Potter TEAM is looking forward to another AMAZING school year
Trustworthy * Environmentally-Friendly * Appreciative * MotivatedPositive * Life-Long Learners * Achieving * Youth-Leaders Exemplary Effort * Respectful