Westminster Public School

We're having fun riding our bikes to school...why don't you and your children come join us for Bike to School week at Westminster?
Guess who...bikes to school?

Our annual Community BBQ and Fun Fair is coming next week!! June 2, 4:30-7:30 p.m. rain or shine. 

Please remember to submit your pre-orders for the BBQ by Monday, May 30th to make sure you have dinner waiting. We will have very limited meals available for sale on the day so best to pre-order and not be disappointed.  Also, please send in an item for your child's class basket by Monday as well.  If your class hasn't chosen a theme don't worry about it, just send in any item you think would be suitable to be included in a class basket.  

We hope to have many interesting "surprise" baskets to be raffled off to the lucky winners. Remember all proceeds go to enhancing our school and also to supporting our charitable campaign to help Fort McMurray. Hope to see you all there!

Message from EQAO...
                          #EQAOFacts Social Media Campaign
Throughout this year’s provincial assessment period, EQAO will be using social media to help all of its stakeholders better understand how EQAO assesses student achievement ofOntario Curriculumlearning expectations. Over a period of three weeks, we will be profiling questions from past years’ tests, showing the link to the curriculum expectation and providing information about how students performed on the particular question.
We invite you to follow this campaign and to share it with your own social media communities.

We're so glad the good weather has finally arrived!  It's so hot now that we feel like going to the beach!.....so our spirit committee has decided that our May spirit day will be Beach Day on Friday, May 27th.  

Everyone is welcome to come to school in their shorts, sundresses, sunglasses, hats and towels to show their spirit and get in the mood for summer.  A reminder that our school dress code still applies which means that proper coverage is still expected, (no bare midriff or tank tops and appropriate length of shorts or skirts needed etc.).  Also, a reminder that flip flops are a safety hazard and cannot be worn at school but back enclosed sandals are permitted.  

So let's be safe and respectful while we have fun with our Beach Day on Friday!

We have a small but mighty group of children representing us at the Special Needs Track and Field meet on May 25 with rain date of May 27. Good luck to all our athletes going to this regional meet. Go Wildcats Go!

Good luck to our Grade 6 and Grade 3 students who will be writing the EQAO provincial assessment during the next two weeks. We know our students will do their best to demonstrate their learning of the curriculum expectations. 

Between May 25th-June 7th, students in Grade 3 and Grade 6 will participate in the Education Quality Accountability of Ontario province-wide testing, known as EQAO.  These tests are administered to all students in Ontario and provide the Ministry of Education and the public with critical information about how children are performing in Language Arts and Mathematics curriculum. The data from these tests help our school move forward with our school improvement initiatives.  Each year we use the results of these curriculum based assessments to make adjustments to our programs in order to better meet the needs of our students.

You can support your children and the process by avoiding appointments and absences during these times, ensuring that your childrenare well res…

Triple P Free Parenting Seminar: May 26, 2016 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Location: Brownridge Public School
65 Brownridge Drive, Thornhill L4J 7R8

Raising Resilient Children
 Recognize and accept feelings
 Express their feelings appropriately
 Build positive feelings
 Deal with negative feelings
 Deal with upsetting or stressful life events


For further information: Oksana Majaski, Community Resource Facilitator Oksana.majaski@yrdsb.ca or 905-738-5497 ext. 213
This presentation is brought to you by Brownridge P.S. in partnership with Blue Hills Child and Family Centre and York Region District School Board

Wishing you all a wonderful, fun-filled Victoria Day Weekend with your family and friends.

Remember that we do not have school on Monday.  Enjoy the long weekend!

This month there are a few opportunities to support real-life application of our character traits of 'empathy' and 'responsibility'. Through altruistic charitable campaigns, our students have concrete examples of what they can do to help others, be it in Canada through our Fort McMurray campaign, the larger world, through the Heart and Stroke campaign, or their own school, through our community outreach events. Thank you for helping your children see these connections and encouraging their participation.

CLASS RAFFLE BASKETS! Our School Council has asked us to help support raising funds for our own school as well by creating ‘class raffle baskets’. These baskets should include objects donated by our students or other places that you know that support schools. These baskets may include objects/equipment pertaining to sports, music, arts and crafts, games, movies or a basket of miscellaneous objects that your children and family would enjoy. Please consider donating items…

Just a reminder of our School Council Meeting on Wednesday, May 18th at 7:00 p.m. Come out and meet other WPS parents/guardians and talk about the initiatives happening at our school. Please join us to share your ideas and ask questions of our staff and other community members. Parents and community members like you can contribute at School Council to make Westminster the best that it could be! Come out!  

Save the date for our upcoming exciting community event. ....Community BBQ and Fun Fair on June 2nd 4:30-7:30. There will be BBQ, Bouncy Castles, DJ music, magic show, games, raffles and lots of fun for all ages. We need people to help on our organizing committee or on the day at the different stations. If you can help out in any way it would be very much appreciated. Let us know.   

Today we had our Jump Rope For Heart Kick Off Assembly. Students learned about the importance of maintaining a healthy heart and were reminded of the benefits of eating healthy, exercising, and making positive life choices.

Today an envelope will be sent home for your child to begin collecting donations. Last year our school raised over $2000, and we know that with some hard work we can surpass last years total! Students have been reminded to only collect donations from family and friends and to not knock on strangers doors. 

Donations will need to be brought back to school on our Jump Date which is Monday, June 6th. 

Thank you for supporting our charitable efforts and developing the empathy in our students. 

As most of you know a tragedy is unfolding in Fort McMurray, Alberta. More than 80, 000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes due to a wildfire that has ravaged the city and region. Many of these people have been left without anything including their homes, clothing, and essentials such as toiletries.
In an effort to assist those affected by this horrible event, Mr. Kaiman’s grade 6/7 class will be leading a fundraising campaign at our school to raise money in support of the victims of Fort McMurray. We will be selling frozen yogurt and popcorn starting next week. The popcorn and frozen yogurt will be sold at lunch recess with all profits from sales being donated to the Canadian Red Cross’ Alberta Fire Appeal.
In addition to raising money through the sale of frozen yogurt and popcorn, a donation box will be set up at the front of the school for those of you who wish to donate. Every dollar we donate will be matched by the Government of Canada.
If you would like to donate to th…

With the nice weather finally arriving we are happy to see our flower garden beginning to bloom! So pretty!

On Thursday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. we are welcoming our new Junior Kindergarten families to an information night.  Parents are encouraged to come out and learn about the Kindergarten Program from our teachers and designated early childhood educators. Come out and get an overview of a day in kindergarten and prepare your children for their big step to school in September.  

Westminster P.S. welcomes our new little ones and their families!

Dufflebag Theatre returned to WPS on May 9th!  As part of Arts Package, the performance this year was The Three Musketeers.It was a bilingual performance so our students from K-8 were exposed to French words as well as English to support our Core French Curriculum. 
About the Performance: 
The "nearly world-famous" DuffleBag Theatre performs well-known Fairy Tales and classic stories but in a new and fun way. They take the stories and make them come alive through improvisation.  In improvisation there is no script. The performers have a rough idea of the storyline and then they make up or adjust the story as they go along.  
During the show, they also invite audience members to come up and take part in the play.   All of the students become involved by having to listen for certain ‘cue words or phrases to which they must respond. (e.g. to “When the Narrator says “Prince Charming” everyone says “Your Majesty!”) 
Learning Goal You will be able to create characters and improvise sto…

"Mother’s Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society.  Mother's Day is celebrated in more than 46 countries throughout the world. On this day, some people spend time with their mother, some people pray in churches in honor of mothers, while some gift them presents on this day to express their love.  Some may have lunch or dinner at home with the family.

One of the most popular ways people celebrate Mother's Day is by giving their mother a card and bouquet of flowers. In schools, kids dedicate poems to their mothers and also perform various roles on this day." Wikipedia

However you celebrate this day, we wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day!  We hope that you enjoy the day with those that you love and create precious memories together. Enjoy!

On Monday, May 2nd, 2016, we attended the "Our Voice" Conference. Student representatives from all schools in York Region attended this conference and we were chosen to represent Westminster. The purpose of this conference was to build positive relationships in our schools through equity and inclusivity.  We got to see first hand how the power and strength of student leadership can give us a voice. Everyone has a voice and everyone's voice matters.
We got the opportunity to listen to potential student trustees and participate in the election process of choosing our new student trustee. The candidates discussed reducing the stigma of mental health, improving student involvement and how to make schools more Eco-Friendly. They also discussed the benefits of Modern Learning and how it engages students through authentic learning by focussing on students' strengths. 
In the afternoon, we covered topics on self-esteem and gender stereotypes. We learned how much influence the …

Remember to Join us for Westminster’sFamily Games Night
Thursday, May 5, 2016 6:00-8:00 p.m.
We hope you can all come out to our Family Games Night sponsored by our School Council.  Enjoy some fun games, arts and crafts and much more with your family and friends!  Thank you to all for participating in our community outreach activities.  Not only do these events give us an opportunity to connect with our children and our community of families but your contributions help us raise funds to benefit the school to purchase resources for our children.  Thank you!
Admission: $2.00/person

Limited Pizza for sale at 6:00 p.m. $2.00/slice (first come first served)
Snacks, Frozen Yogurt and Water for Sale
PRIZES!!!

A reminder of our PA day this Friday, May 6th.  Staff will be working on our School Improvement Plan goals and planning.  There is no school for students.
Thank you.

“Caring for the mind is as important and crucial as caring for the body.  In fact, one cannot be healthy without the other.”                                           (Sid Garza-Hillman)
Ensuring our students' Mental Health has been a focus for us at Westminster PS as well as the whole of our Board. Throughout the year, we have described the different events and activities that we have offered to promote a positive school climate and support our students and families. From teaching calming techniques such as "mindful breathing" to parent presentations to help de-stress family life, there are many things that we can all do to support the mental health of our children and adults alike. 

This year, Children's Mental Health Week has been announced for the week of May 2nd but it is something we focus on all year long.  We thank you for your support and welcome you to work with us in our focus on the mental well-being of all our school community.  
For your information:
To cele…

Our students were thrilled with the long anticipated arrival of our new basketball nets today! Go Wildcats!
Thanks to the support of our community through fundraising initiatives such as hot lunches, spirit wear and participation in community events such as our upcoming Family Games Night, we are able to update some of our school resources and equipment. Our students are loving our upgrades!