École Doncaster Elementary School

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1 École Doncaster Elementary School N E W S L E T T E R Message from the Principal... September 29, 2016 I would like to thank the students, staff and families of École Doncaster School for welcoming me to the community and the school. I have enjoyed my first month getting to know the students and many of the families in my new role of Principal. This is an exciting time of year filled with new possibilities as students enter new classrooms. Children come prepared with their new school supplies and teachers are excited to greet another new group of eager learners. The teachers at Doncaster have many great activities and learning experiences planned for the students this year. One of the exciting projects we are working on is the creation of a Maker Space in our library. Students have been working collaboratively to solve mini design and building challenges. Many of the challenges that the students have been working on with Ms. Labelle include activities from STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Math). All of them incorporate hands-on learning using a variety of materials. Some of the challenges our primary students have taken part in during September include: The Golf Ball Challenge - design a transport vessel to move a golf ball across a room The Zipline Challenge - the goal was save the Prince from a tower by designing a zipline The "Stronger than the Big Bad Wolf" House-building Challenge - save the little pig from the Big Bad Wolf by building a house that will withstand the powerful puffs of the wolf. We are excited to work as a team at Doncaster to build on these opportunities by creating a space central in our school where our students have opportunities to create, invent, explore and design. We will continue to update you as this project evolves. Brenna O Connor Principal Creating our Mak- DATES TO REMEMBER Golf Ball Challenge Creating a Zipline Wednesday, October 5 P/T Interviews Early Dismissal 11:50 Thursday, October 6 P/T Interviews Early Dismissal 1:50 Monday, October 10 Thanksgiving - no school in session Friday, October 21 PRO D day no school in session Attachments Monthly Calendar

2 École Doncaster Elementary School Newsletter...page 2 Walk to School Week October 3-7 is walk to school week. This is an annual global event taking place each October. It is a mass celebration of active transportation and its related issues are used to introduce communities to the Active & Safe Routes to School (ASRTS) program. To encourage your participation we have included park and walk location that are close to our school. Please see the map attached. Park and Walk Locations: Cedar Hill Golf Course (end of Derby Rd) an eight minute walk to school, Cedar Hill Recreation Centre (Corner of Finalyson and Cedar Hill Rd) a 14 minute walk to school, Kings Pond (Ascot Dr and Queensbury Ave) a 12 minute walk to school. Alternative Park and Walk locations that can be used during Walk to School Week (please use only during drop-off and pick up times): St. Luke s Church parking lot (Corner of Cedar Hill X Road and Cedar Hill Road) a 12 minute walk to school. Shelbourne Street Church of Christ gravel parking lot (Shelbourne and Cedar Ave - please do NOT use the Derby St Parking lot) a five minute walk to school. Active and Safe Routes to School Project We are excited to announce that École Doncaster School is participating in the Capital Regional District s Active and Safe Routes to School project. School Travel Planning is a process that involves students, parents and community partners to find new ways to encourage, motivate and support more children and their families to safely walk, bike or roll to and from school. Active transportation is a great way to support increased physical activity and contributes to our region s environmental, economic and social priorities. We are currently looking for interested parents and students to work with decision makers, law enforcement agencies and community partners to explore barriers and generate solutions that can make it easier for families to choose active modes more often. For more information or to sign up to help, contact Brenna O Connor.

3 École Doncaster Elementary School Newsletter...page 3 Swim Club École Doncaster School is happy to support the Tyee Aquatic Club School Swim League to offer classes to all students who wish to participate. The program will take place from October 18 th to November 22 nd. The 6 swimming sessions will be on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 4:15 at Crystal Pool. If you are interested in participating, please check in at the office for a registration form. Cross Country A big congratulations to all cross-country runners for a fantastic start of our Fall season! We have a broken record of 73 students participating this year. Bravo! Please note there is NO PRACTICE Friday, September 30 th due to our annual Terry Fox Run. Your coaches, Mmes Lampard, Spicer and Paris Upcoming Cross Country Meets: Monday October 3 rd - Lambrick Park Tuesday, October 11 - Clover Point Monday, October 17 - Lambrick Park Monday, October 24 (Finals at Beacon Hill Park) Scholastic Book Fair Volunteers Needed We are looking for parent volunteers to help with our book fair from Thursday November 17th until Thursday November 24th. If you could help, please see Hilda in the office. Last year seventy percent of the proceeds came back to the Library. Let s do it again!!!

4 École Doncaster Elementary School Newsletter...page 4 Drinking Water At Doncaster School, students are able to access drinking water and fill their water bottles from all of our fountains. There is a fountain located in each of our hallways. Classroom taps are clearly marked with a no drinking sign until filters are installed. For our youngest students, teachers have shown them these signs to explain what they mean. If you have any questions, please contact Brenna O Connor. The School District provided the following media release at the end of the summer: 150 SINKS AND WATER FOUNTAINS UPGRADED IN TIME FOR BACK TO SCHOOL REMAINDER TO BE COMPLETE BY END OF OCTOBER Monday, August 29, 2016 VICTORIA, BC Responsive to preliminary water testing completed in June noting elevated lead levels in some schools, every school in the Greater Victoria School District will have new filter systems in at least two of the highest use fountains, all staff rooms, and all cooking facilities, prior to students and teachers returning to school in September. The remainder of required upgrades will continue on a prioritized basis through September and be completed by the end of October. It was initially thought that most fountains would need to be replaced, however it was determined that in many cases, filtration systems could be added to the impacted water fountains and sinks at a lesser cost while effectively addressing the elevated levels of lead. In addition to new filters, the established routine of flushing water systems three times per day, will continue across all schools until all filters have been installed. Fountains or sinks not yet upgraded will be clearly marked for students and staff. A program and budget for system wide testing of all schools and necessary upgrades was approved by the School District Board in June upon receiving preliminary testing results. The program remains within the approved budget of $200,000. Testing by an independent environmental consultant, Goode Environmental Services, recommended by Island Health, has now been completed in all 47 schools. The detailed results are available on the District website. Parking Please remember not to block the bike lane while parking on Cedar Hill Road and to pull ahead in the drop off lane so cars are able to move through the area. Please consider alternate drop off areas including the Cedar Hill Golf Course and Cedar Hill Recreation Centre. These alternate drop off areas ease congestion in the immediate vicinity of Doncaster Elementary and provide students the opportunity to be active while walking to school.

5 École Doncaster Elementary School Newsletter...page 5 Doncaster Olympic Mascot Raffle: During the two weeks of the Rio 2016 Paralympics, Doncaster students brought loonies and toonies to school hoping to win one of two Olympic Games mascot stuffies, Tom and Vinicius. This raffle was undertaken in support of the Malala Fund for educating girls around the world. One of Malala's requests for World leaders is to provide 12 years of free, quality education for ALL children by Doncaster Grades three, four and five students from divisions 3, 6 and 8 volunteered at lunchtime to sell tickets for the draw. They canvassed classes and told students about the fund raiser and how they could win a stuffed animal. Doncaster families and students raised $165 for the Malala fund. The winners of the mascot stuffies were: Angus in Division 6 Rhys in Division 1 Aaron in Division 11 won a Rio key lanyard Congratulations to the winners! And many thanks the student volunteers and to all the children and families who participated and contributed to the Malala fund. Mme Cohen Malala Fund

6 École Doncaster Elementary School Newsletter...page 6 DONCASTER AFTER SCHOOL CARE 1525 ROWAN ST. ROOM 1 IS NOW ACCEPTING PRESCHOOL REGISTRATION 3 YEAR OLD PROGRAM TUESDAY & THURSDAY 4 YEAR OLD PROGRAM MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY BOTH PROGRAMS ARE FROM 9-11:30 AM PHONE OR DROP BY THE SCHOOL ROOM 1 FOR MORE INFORMATION JOIN LAKEHILL SOCCER Lakehill Soccer is looking for U5/U6 players. Come out, make new friends, have fun and PLAY soccer. No experience necessary. or registration@lakehillsoccer.com for more details.

7 École Doncaster Elementary School Newsletter...page 7 The Greater Victoria School District is very pleased to be a participating member of the Canadian MedicAlert Foundation s No Child Without school program The Canadian MedicAlert Foundation has developed a free program to protect children living with chronic medical conditions, allergies or special needs. This program is called No Child Without. It was developed to ensure children across Canada from age 4 to their 14 th birthday receive MedicAlert protection at no cost to the parent, school or Board of Education. Each participating school has No Child Without bar-coded brochures specific to the school. If you are interested in having your child participate in the program, please ask the office staff for a brochure and follow the information provided. The family is the nucleus of civilization. Students will have a choice of identity bracelets, listing their medical conditions and membership number. As a member of MedicAlert, you will receive a wallet card with all of the member s information, access to the 24 Hour Emergency Hotline, notification of personal emergency contact at the time of an emergency and a follow-up with parents after the emergency call has been made to the Hotline. Should your child move to another school in Canada, they are still protected. Visit to learn more about the program. Have you found the pink bin in the hallway outside the office. The year has begun and along side the children entering the building are the 15 retired teachers and principals who meet every Wednesday to sort your donations of books for babies and preschoolers. Every month we send books into homes with few resources. 110,000 books in five years! Please give the opportunity for early literacy to more families in our communities.

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11 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 2 3 X Country- Lambrick Park 9 10 Thanksgiving day X Country- Lambrick Park X Country Final at October 2016 Beacon Hill Park 4 5 Parent/Teacher 11 X Country-Clover Pt interviews-school ends at 11:50 am 6 P/T interviews school out at 1:50 DPAC meeting 7 pm DPAC Newsltr Pro D day 25 DPAC Hot Lunch 26 Photo Retakes gym 1:00 pm 27 School Newsltr (no school for students) 28 Halloween Dance 6 9 pm 22 29