stmargaretadmin2

Dear Families,

On Wednesday September 29, 2021 students in Kindergarten to Grade Eight will be taking part in the Terry Fox National School Walk Day (rain date Thurs. Sept. 30).

St. Margaret School is proud to play an important role in keeping the legacy of Terry Fox going.  Students will have the opportunity to discuss and reflect on the heroic efforts of Terry as well as donate much-needed funds for cancer research.  Through our participation in the Terry Fox School Walk, we hope to encourage leadership in our students and create positive agents of change in our wonderful school community.

Donations will be solely online. Simply go to:

 http://www.terryfox.ca/StMargaretCSCambridge

The site is secure and receipts are sent to your email address. 82 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to cancer research!

On our walk day all students are encouraged to wear red and white to show support for our Canadian hero.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Sincerely,

The Staff at St. Margaret

St. Margaret School has a Boomerang Lunch program to help make a difference in our environment. We hope to reduce waste and encourage students and their families to review and rethink the way they prepare and package lunch and snack foods.

How does it work?

All waste from your child’s lunches and snacks will be returned home in their lunch bags. This includes any packaging, plastic bags, food waste and wrapping. It is our hope that food waste that comes home (e.g. apple cores, sandwich crusts, etc.) will be disposed of in your green bin or compost. Students will be encouraged to put food waste in their sealed reusable containers to help control bringing home a messy lunch bag.

What about recycling?

The Green Team has been working hard over the years to make sure that all classes are properly recycling items in their blue and white bins and that food waste goes into a green bin. This initiative has been successful, however in light of the current pandemic, Green Team is not able to meet for washing bins and taking care that recycling and green bins are maintained properly in the school.

Why are we doing it?

It’s the right thing to do for our environment! Much of the waste in our school come from disposable packagings, such as plastic bags and food wrappers. It is estimated that the average school-age child using a disposable lunch produces 67 pounds of lunch waste per school year! Although some of this waste is made of recyclable materials, it is still a huge cost to transport and process these items. Encouraging the use of reusable containers will reinforce that children can be part of the solution to our waste problems.

Boomerang lunches enable parents to see what their children are actually eating!

A boomerang lunch also provides parents with firsthand knowledge of the eating habits and preferences of the child. By bringing home the leftovers you will see what’s been eaten or not. Teachers see a huge amount of uneaten food go into the garbage day after day. This is not only wasteful but expensive.

Boomerang lunches work!

St. Margaret School prides itself in being a leader in the way we treat the Earth. We currently hold a Gold Level Eco-School designation. The boomerang lunch program is another area where we can show our respect for our environment. Many schools throughout Waterloo Region and other school boards have implemented boomerang lunches with tremendous success.

Thanks for your support with this very important initiative!

We know this program will require families to re-think food preparation and student actions. Our hope is that discussions will take place at home and school and habits will change. Packing a waste-free lunch not only helps the environment, but it can also result in healthier, more nutritious snacks/lunches as many prepackaged foods contain significant amounts of salt, preservatives, sugar and fat. There is also a cost saving as lunches made of prepackaged items cost significantly more than buying larger quantities and serving them in reusable containers.

We live in a global village, sharing the precious earth God has given us.

We are all called to be good stewards of the environment.

Thank you, The Green Team at St. Margaret School

Looking Out For Each Other – St. MargaretClemens Mill Version (1)

Hi Scottie Families, see below for the announcement about Intramurals for our Junior Students and Athletics for our Grades 7 and 8 students. We are talking to the students today. Stay tuned for more information about upcoming activities.

Mr. Schnarr

Looking Out For Each Other – an invitation

St. Margaret Families:

In collaboration with STWR (Student Transportation of Waterloo Region), and Clemens Mill Public School we are excited to celebrate new ‘Enhanced School Zones’ with the theme of ‘Looking Out For Each Other!’.

You may have noticed some road safety enhancements around the school like:

-enhanced signs

-traffic calming signs

-driver feedback boards

-road markings

This Friday September 17^th classes will be provided with sidewalk chalk to draw and print and create “Looking Out For Each Other” messages on the sidewalk from the front of the school towards Clemens Mill PS where the 2 school’s messaging will meet sharing common safety messages. Younger classes will share messages in front of our school.

We always encourage students to walk, bike, scooter, ride to school so we want to continue to educate parents and students about how to stay safe!

At 2:05 p.m. Friday at Saginaw Parkway Lions Can-Amera Park some of our Intermediate student ‘safety ambassadors’ will join students from Clemens Mill, STWR staff, Superintendents from both School Boards, Trustees, our Mayor, and Municipal Councilors for a media event.

At the end of the day Friday a virtual ‘take home message’ will be shared with parents.

Mr. J. Schnarr

Principal

Tuesday September 14^th, 2021

St. Margaret School Community:

We continue to focus on and practice safe routines and protocols. Daily Screening of staff and students, Mask wearing, Hand Hygiene and Distancing are our priority!

We are excited to be creating an additional classroom in our Intermediate Division, due to our increasing enrollment. As a result, we will have much smaller class sizes in most of our Junior and Intermediate classes.

There are no changes from JK classes to Mrs. McKinley’s grade 3/4 class.

Here are some of the changes:

-some students moved between the grades 4, 4/5, 5/6 classes

-in the Junior Division we will now have classes of grades 4, 4/5, 5, and 6

-in the Intermediate Division we will now have classes of 7, 7/8 and 8. We welcome Mr. Nguyen as our NEW grade 7/8 teacher.

-changes will take effect beginning Wednesday September 15^th

Staff have worked collaboratively to make the best of classroom changes that meet our new class requirements and support the needs of the students.

I have been into all classes where students are moving to share the news and answer any questions they may have.

Due to the number of changes, individual families will not be contacted. Students moving classes will get a welcome email / class invite tonight (or asap). The new classroom teachers will support the students with any emotions related to this change.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at the office or JodieSchnarr@wcdsb.ca

Mr. J. Schnarr

Principal

Student census memo

Scottie Families:

Thanks for helping make this a great first week back to school! It was awesome to see parents wearing masks for drop off and pick up, and trying to keep safe distancing!

We thank the Arias Family for the ‘Majestic Balloon’ entrance to the school.

The staff and students have done an amazing job being safe and practicing our protocols.

Remember to continue with the daily screening, sign and bring the student sheet each day next week.

We will continue to monitor our Parking Lot to keep the whole yard safe for your drop off and pick up times. The lot at the side of the school is for STAFF ONLY. Parents that have contacted the office needing to use the parking lot for a personal reason will receive a Parking Pass to display in their car. All cars in the lot must remain parked in a parking spot until the bus has left!!

We are excited to announce that due to increasing enrollment we will be adding a classroom and new teacher in grades 4-8. This will happen early next week. This will mean that there will be changes in all classrooms from grades 4-8 and students will be moved around. It will also mean smaller class sizes in these grades or the opportunity to create some ‘straight’ grades. We are in the process of creating new classrooms and will keep you posted of the changes and when they will take effect.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. J. Schnarr

Principal

Bussing:

If you need to know if you qualify for bussing based on your address, please go to student transportation link bpweb.stswr.ca/TransportationEligibility

If you are a parent who is eligible, please use this electronic form to request transportation or decline if you are choosing to walk or attend daycare.

https://www.stswr.ca/policies/information-for-parents-students/do-not-ride/

Aspen Parent Portal

ALL PARENTS need to have an ASPEN account. The WCDSB sent all families a notification email with a code. Families registering in the past year will automatically have an account.

The school has no access to the codes that come from the board office as this code is secured. Here is the email that parents would of received:

Welcome to Waterloo Catholic District School Board Aspen Parent Portal

The Aspen Parent Portal is our Student Data System where registered Parents/Guardians (primary contacts only) are given access to many school features such as: Online registration, School Announcements, Student information verification/updates, Report Card Documents for download. This is like the Aspen portal access that students have now for schedules etc.

This notice was sent to the confirmed email address you have registered previously with the WCDSB and specific school. The email sender will show as noreply@pd.myontarioedu.ca .

You will only need to sign up once for Portal access and all your registered children will be visible in the portal at a future date. This can only be completed on a PC, Mac, Chromebook at the moment. (no mobile devices or tablets)

Your first step is to copy the security code (type it how you see it) included in this email and enter it in the field after clicking on the link provided below. Fill out the requested information and follow the process.  Please ensure you fill out a recovery password question/answer as we cannot recover your password. Once you have completed the process, a confirmation email will be sent to you, please confirm your email to complete the process.  Once you login after confirmation your registered student(s) may not appear right away. There will be a second process internally that will associate students to your account so please be patient with this new process.

If you have any challenges getting registered for a portal access account, please contact our home support line 519-578-3677 ext. 2316

Today ALL students received a letter ‘Daily Screening Tool Confirmation’.

The intention is that every day after a parent completes the student Covid Screening for their child , and they are given the ok to go to school, the tool is signed and brought to school. (Past days can be signed at this time).

Each teacher will check the signed sheets in the morning as part of the opening routine. This is in effect for one more week ending Friday September 17th. The sheets will be kept in the school office after that time.

Thanks for your support. Please call me at the office if you have any questions or concerns.

Mr. J. Schnarr

Principal