Hi Whiteside families!

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by new Princial-for-a-Day, Ms. Loland:

It was a fantastic week at Whiteside. The grade sevens went white water rafting on the Cheakamus River. The primary classes released their butterflies. Today we had fun making sports day posters in Family Teams. Tonight our cool PAC is having family movie night. We are excited to see you there.

Thank you families for caring about our school. You are invited to the park on Wednesday morning for coffee, a treat, and picnic reading. Bring a book and join us!

The Richmond Board of Education acknowledges and thanks the First Peoples of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language group on whose traditional and unceded territories we teach, learn and live.

 

Coming Soon:

June 13             Band concert at 6:30 p.m.

June 14             Sports Day and Hot Lunch

June 21             Grade 7 farewell celebration

June 25             Year end assembly

June 27             Last day of school for students

 

WHITESIDE INFORMATION AND EVENTS

Parent Appreciation Morning

We appreciate all the care and support you provide for your children, our school, and our community. To show our appreciation, we welcome all our families to join us in the field by the playground for coffee and treats at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12.

 

Sports Day PreSchool Race and Bike Parade

We welcome our little sisters and brothers to join us at 9:10 a.m. on Sports Day for our preschool race. These little ones will line up on our field and run to their families on the other side while all of Whiteside cheers them on. We also welcome all our students to adorn their bikes, scooters, roller blades, roller skates, skateboards, and anything else with wheels with their team colours for our bike parade at 9:00 a.m. (Please no e-bikes or e-scooters. Bike parade is child-powered only.)

 

Lunch will be at 12:10 p.m. All families are welcome to enjoy a great hot lunch with their children in the South Arm Park.

 

Shape of the Sports Day:

Before school, bring bikes, scooters, etc. to the gym.

8:40 a.m. – check in regular classrooms

9:00 a.m. – 9:55 a.m. – bike parade, preschool race (bring your little brothers and sisters), school wide dance.

9:55 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. – Recess

10:10 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. – Sports Day stations

12:10 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. – Lunch

12:50 – 2:45 p.m. – Tug o’ War and Shoe Toss

2:45 p.m. – Dismissal

 

Library Reminders

Next week is the last week of library book exchanges for all divisions. All library books are due back to the library on Monday, June 17^th. Thank you.

 

2024-2025 School Calendar

Our 2024-2025 school calendar was released this week. Please see the attachment.

 

Movie Night – June 7  

It’s tonight! Bring a friend, blanket, and pillow to join us for our final movie night on June 7. Entry is free. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Movie begins at 6:30 p.m.

 

Hot Lunch – June 14

Celebrate Sports Day with Triple O’s on June 14. Orders and full payments must be received on munch-a-lunch by no later than Friday, June 7th.  Please ensure that you have fully paid for your children's order by this date, or their order(s) will be cancelled.

 

Play N’ Eat Breakfast Club

Our final Breakfast Club was today. We look forward to bringing it back next year.

 

Year End Band Concert – June 13

Please join us in the gym to enjoy our final band concert of the year. Doors for our audience will open at 6:15 p.m. and the show will begin at 6:30 p.m.

 

PAC Meetings

Our PAC will hold their AGM next month. We encourage all parents to attend this meeting and ponder joining our PAC executive. Our PAC is a great group of parents that care for our school and students. PAC are amazing resources for our entire school community. A strong PAC bonds our school community with our families. PAC is an excellent way for our families to connect directly with the action at our school as well as develop relationships within the parent community. Our next meeting is our AGM on Tuesday, June 18^th at 6:30 p.m.!  We hope to see parents out to join our PAC next year. Please reach out to our PAC at whitesidepac@hotmail.com for more information.

 

Whiteside Fundraising

To help support new learning experiences, Whiteside has partnered with Return-It Depot to fundraise.  Return your cans and bottles to our local Return It depot (Unit 110 - 11020 Horseshoe Way), go to the Express area, type in our number 604-668-6419, affix the label to your bag, drop, and go.

 

DISTRICT INFORMATION AND UPDATES

Student And Family Affordability Fund

The provincial government recently announced a renewal of one-time funds for the Student and Family Affordability Fund. This fund is designed to assist families who require financial assistance with school-related costs in the following areas:

• school and course fees.
• school supplies and course materials.
• field trips.
• school-related extracurricular opportunities. 
• clothing and footwear required for sports and school activities. 

Please reach out to our principal, Brett Cameron, (whiteside@sd38.bc.ca) if you need assistance.  As always, all requests will be treated with dignity and your privacy will be respected. We want to work with our families to ensure that our students, your children, have everything they need to be successful at school. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can help.

 

Feeding Futures

Recently, the provincial government announced a new Feeding Futures School Program Fund, designed to assist schools in the development and enhancement of school meal programs and other nutritional supports for students. If you would like to request support for your child at school, please reach out to our principal, Brett Cameron (bcameron@sd38.bc.ca). We currently provide breakfast and lunch options for students daily. All requests will be treated with dignity and your privacy will be respected. We want to work with families to ensure that your children have everything they need to be successful at school. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can help.

 

Cybersafe from Exploitation – Video Link and Parent Resource Package

Thank you to Grade 6 and 7 parents as well as caregivers who were able to join the Cybersafe from Exploitation virtual talk on May 23. This session provided key tips to parents in keeping their children safe and respectful to others, while raising the profile and normalizing conversations around cyber-safety.

 For parents and caregivers who may have missed the presentation or would like to review the content, you can access a recording through this link (link) (password is #cybersafe24). The link will be available until June 29, 2024.

In addition, the Exploitation Education Institute has provided a parent resource package which is attached to this email and https://www.thepreventionproject.ca (link) is the direct link for free resource videos.

 

THE MORE YOU KNOW…

National Indigenous History Month

In June, Canadians recognize and celebrate National Indigenous History Month to honor the history, heritage, and diversity of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Please visit: the NIPD site or the NIHM national site for more information.

 

COMMUNITY INFORMATION AND EVENTS:

 

Fire & Flower Empowerment Camp

This camp is for girls and non-binary youth aged 10-12 during the week of August 19-23 at Terra Nova Rural Park. Please see the flyer attached to our weekly newsletter for more information.

 

City of Richmond - $29 Summer Active Pass

The $29 Summer Active Pass (richmond.ca/SummerPass (link)) is now available for purchase. This low cost, unlimited pass is for 5 to 18 year olds to participate in select drop-in activities including:

• Swimming, fitness centre access and select drop-in group fitness classes at Minoru Centre for Active Living and Watermania
• Swimming at South Arm and Steveston Outdoor Pools
• Skating* at Richmond Ice Centre (public skating only)
• Golf** at West Richmond Pitch & Putt (Monday to Thursday, 12-4 p.m., excluding holidays)
• Fitness centre access and select drop-in group fitness classes at Cambie, City Centre, Hamilton, South Arm, Steveston, Thompson and West Richmond Community Centres
• Select drop-in activities at community centres

 *Skate rentals extra. **Golf rentals extra; children under 12 years old must be accompanied by an adult.

 

City of Richmond – Community Services Connectors

Established in January, the City of Richmond will be continuing its Community Services Connectors program for the remainder of 2024. This weekly drop-in is offered at Ironwood Library every Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. and is an opportunity for people with lower incomes to connect with community services in Richmond (i.e. social service benefits, affordable housing supports, affordable family services, free and low-cost food, employment resources, transportation, as well as other community programs and assistance).

 

 

Have a great weekend!

 ~Whiteside Elementary