Simcoe County District School Board

Dear Families:

There are many great things happening at Ferndale Woods! Last week, we in-troduced monthly Character Assemblies to our school. The school spirit and community support at the assembly were amazing to see. There are many other great activities that have been happening at Ferndale. It is a testament to our awesome staff, students and community that these are just some of the pro-grams that are happening here: Family Math Night, Cross Country, Patroller Team, Flag Football, Volleyball, Leadership Team, Field Trips & so much more! We have many opportunities for our Falcons to get involved. Not only does it help out the school, it creates school spirit and develops charac-ter. We are proud of our students who participate and we are thankful for our staff who dedicate their time to make Ferndale a better place.

Best regards, Mrs. K. Jessop & Mrs. C. Millar

Parking Lot procedures

All visitors are asked to only park in designated spots in our parking lot. Unfortunately one of our staff members was recently hit by a vehicle in the parking lot because the driver could not see past cars that were illegally parked. If

parking isn’t available in our lot, additional parking can be found on side streets around the school. There is also a parking lot off of Sommerset Drive, beside the park.

Balanced Day Schedule

9:10 School Begins

9:10 – 10:50 Learning Block

10:50 – 11:30 Nutrition/Activity Break

11:30 – 1:10 Learning Block

1:10 – 1:50 Nutrition/Activity Break

1:50 – 3:30 Learning Block

3:30 DISMISSAL

Principal: Mrs. Kadri Jessop Vice-Principal: Mrs. Cathy Millar

IMPORTANT DATES

Nov. 2nd - Photo Retakes

Nov. 5th - School Council Meeting 6-7

Nov. 12th - Dental Clinic

Nov. 13th - Gr. 7 Immunization

Nov. 16th - Progress Reports go home

Nov. 19-23rd - Parent/Teacher Conferences

Nov. 21st - Dunlop Street Wendy’s Night

Fundraiser

Nov. 23rd - P.A. Day

FERNDALE WOODS E.S.

November 2018

170 Ferndale Drive South

Barrie, ON L4N 8A1

Safe Arrival 705-733-5636 Ext. 1

School website: http://fer.scdsb.on.ca

Ferndale Fridays and Spirit Days! Ferndale Fridays will start in November. Every Friday students and staff are encouraged to wear house colours or Ferndale colours (teal and purple) or Ferndale wear. In addition, we will have special Spirit days including Sports Jersey Day on Friday, November 30

th and PJ Day on Friday, December 21st.

Spirit Wear will be available to order starting the week of November 5th.

If you need help with sizing, samples will be available in the office November 5

th-16

th. More info will be available when spirit wear is made available on

School Cash Online.

Rainbows for Grieving Children

In an effort to continue to support the needs of our students at Ferndale Woods E.S., we are offering a program called Rainbows for Grieving Children. Rainbows is a peer support program for children who are cop-ing with the emotional pain of loss through separation, divorce, or

death. Participation in a support group with others, who are experiencing the same struggles and feelings, can be beneficial to students. Rainbows is a program that helps students build confidence and begin to cope with loss through a peer support format. All Rainbows sessions are guided by trained teacher-volunteer facilitators and are provided at no cost to families.

If you are interested in learning more about the Rainbows program, please contact your child's teacher or Ms. Tara McKernin, our school's Rainbows Co-ordinator tmckernin@scdsb.on.ca.

Ferndale Woods Restorative Practises room As part of our ongoing commitment to support students with their ability to resolve conflict with peers, we will be starting a Restorative Practices Room during nutrition breaks both in the morning and afternoon. The aim of Restorative Practices is to develop community and to manage conflict and tensions by repairing harm and building relationships. For effective teaching and learning to take place, we believe that good relationships need to be at the heart of everything that happens at Ferndale Woods Elementary School. Restorative Practices is a process that puts repairing harm done to relationships and people over and above assigning blame and dispensing punishment. It shifts the emphasis from managing behaviour to focussing on building, nurturing and repairing relationships. The room will be staffed with a caring adult to help support students who need support with conflict. This is typically done in 1-2 recesses. The Room will be open to any students who have received a Blue Sheet from a teacher in the building. (See the ‘Blue’ sheets a the separate attach-ment.) The students will work with the caring adult to work through the questions on the Blue Sheet in order to resolve the conflict and create a plan for future situations. We know that a whole school restorative approach can contribute to: 1. Happier and safer schools

2. Mutually respectful relationships 3. More effective teaching and learning 4. Reduced exclusions

5. Raised attendance 6. Addresses bullying behaviour 7. Raises morale and self esteem 8. Helps promote a culture of inclusion and belonging 9. Increases emotional literacy

Lost & Found Please be sure to drop by our lost and found (located in the old milk room) or ask your child to check the lost and found to see if you can locate any lost items. Smaller items like jewellrey, sunglasses, house keys, stuffed animals and ‘odds and sods’ will be kept in the office on Mrs. Hennessy’s desk. Please come by to see if any-thing belongs to you. Many thanks!

Bus

Cancellation Information

Reminder

All information regarding cancelled buses in Simcoe

County is posted on the Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium (SCSTC)’s bus infor-mation website at www.simcoecountyschoolbus.ca. Our school is in the central zone. When buses are cancelled, schools remain open for student learning, unless otherwise noted.

The Consortium and bus operators try to make the decision to cancel school buses before 6 a.m. and make every effort to post announcements before 7 a.m. Inclement weather cancellations are effective for the whole day and buses cancelled in the morning will not run at the end of the day. You can follow the Consortium on Twitter @SCSTC_SchoolBus for bus cancellations and other information. You can also subscribe to re-ceive bus delay notifications here: https://scstc.ca/Subscriptions

For school event cancellations in case of inclem-ent weather, follow our school’s Twitter account at @FerndaleWoods or listen to your local radio sta-tion for event cancellation information.

Treaties Recognition Week takes place Nov. 5 to 9

Did you know we are ALL treaty people? Treaties Recognition Week is the first week of November every year - this year it’s Nov. 5 to 9. The Simcoe County District School Board is located on territory covered by several pre-confederation treaties - Treaty 5, 16, 18, 19 and 82, as well as the 1923 William’s Treaty.

Treaties Recognition Week was introduced in 2016 to honour the importance of treaties and to help Ontarians learn more about treaty rights and treaty relationships. Take some time this week to learn about the treaty in your area. To learn more about the treaties and how we can honour them, visit www.ontario.ca/page/treaties.

Safe Water in Our Schools

The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, along with the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, works with local school boards in their efforts to ensure children are protected from unnecessary expo-sure to lead from drinking water. All schools are re-quired to flush their plumbing regularly and sample their water to test for lead. Samples must be collected at every tap that provides drinking water or that is used to prepare food or drink for children under the age of 18. Schools are required to test both standing (water that has been sitting in the distribution lines) and flushed water (water which has run through the lines) for lead on a regular basis (e.g. annual-ly). Flushing has been shown to reduce lead levels in water and is a recognized lead reduction strategy. If a school’s drinking water test result is above the provin-cial drinking water standard for lead, the schools com-municate these results to the local Medical Officer of Health and the Ministry of the Environment Conserva-tion and Parks to ensure corrective actions are carried out and the problem is resolved. Information provided by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit

Library News…

Do you have some craft materials you wish to get rid of in the coming weeks? We are looking for an assort-ment of craft materials that can be put in our Maker Space area for projects. If you are uncertain about what are acceptable donations please contact me directly via email. (swoodrowhewitt@scdsb.on.ca)

The Barrie Public Library offers a Battle of the Books contest and our school will put together a team. The recommended book list has been published. If any parents/students would like a copy of the genres/titles please contact me. A paper copy can be sent home or I can email the lists. The book list provides a guide to encourage independent reading at the grade appropriate level for all students.

Ferndale Family Movie Night Show Date: November 30th at 6:30pm (doors open at 6pm)

Where: School Gymnasium

$3.00/person entering the school Tickets will be available beginning Wednesday, November 21st.

- Purchase your tickets using School Cash Online to have your name added to the attendance list (no actual paper tickets will be issued) - Buy your ticket early as there will be no additional tickets will be sold due to gym capacity. - Join us in your pajamas, bring a blanket, bring a pillow and bring your parent. - Treats will be sold:

Water, $1 Popcorn, $1 Sour keys, $0.50 each Licorice, $0.25 each Chocolate, $1

*Movie will be screened in English. ** Regardless of age, students must be accompanied by an adult with a paid ticket.

*** Please note that our school parking lot may fill up and parking is not permitted in the Kiss and Ride/fire route areas. Alternative parking is available on both sides of Summerset Dr., at the tennis courts on Summerset Dr., on one side of Gore Dr., and behind the school on both sides of Nicholson St. Please observe the parking by-laws when parking for this event to ensure you do not receive a parking ticket.

From our Kindergarten Teachers Thank you Ferndale Families for supporting our Kindergarten division by choos-ing to participate in our Steeped Tea Fundraiser! We are raising funds to enrich our classrooms in a variety of ways. Check out School Cash Online for Ordering information.