Sept 2024

Dear ESQE Families,

Welcome back to another exciting school year! We are thrilled to welcome our students in for another great year of learning, fun and exploration. This year promises to be filled with engaging activities, new friendships, and plenty of opportunities for your child to shine.

We encourage you to stay involved and connected with our school community. Pleaser mark your calendars for our upcoming events, stay in the loop with our Friday email updates, and review our monthly newsletters!

Thank you to our families for getting in all the forms for the start up as quick as possible, this helps us get ready for the year and is very much appreciated. If you have not already, please verify the contact information in MyEd is up to date as of this year.

A reminder that there is no school tomorrow as our teachers will be engaging in professional development and there is no school on Monday, September 30th as we acknowledge National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Take a look below at all the September learning and fun!

Have a wonderful Weekend

Sarah Hain (She, her, hers)

SQE Principal

Important Upcoming Dates

Oct 4th Hot Lunch Day
Oct 8th - Oct 11th Scholastic Book Fair
Oct 8th PAC Meeting 6:30pm
Oct 10th PAC Halloween Swap 3:15 in the gym.
Oct 11th PAC Soup Day! Volunteers Needed
Oct 14th Thanksgiving. School closed to staff and students
Oct 15th Grade 6 Immunizations
Oct 16th Individual Photo Day
Oct 16th & 17th Teacher & Parent Conferences, 2pm Dismissal
Oct 18th Hot Lunch
Oct 25th Professional Development Day. School closed to students
Oct 31st Halloween Parade: Optional for students to wear their costumes

National Truth and Reconciliation

On Monday, September 30th it is National Truth and Reconciliation Day. This is a day to bring awareness to the impact and history of residential schools, as well as honouring the children who never returned home and the survivors. Today we opened our school day with a drumming circle lead by Jaime Williams at the front of the school and we continued our learning with activities and more drumming throughout the day.

Conflict Resolution at ESQE

Peer Conflict

- EAs, teachers and Admin will support students with problem solving in a kind and respectful way using restorative language
- Students may complete a 'fix it' page in the office/classroom. This is a visual tool that guides students through their conflict, recognizing what they were feeling, mistakes made, and actions to restore.

Hands on Conflict

- - For incidents that include punching, hitting, kicking, and significant pushing, students will connect with the teacher, principal or vice principal.
  - Students may complete a 'fix it' page in the office. This is a visual tool that guides students through their conflict, recognizing what they were feeling, mistakes made, and actions to resolve and restore.
  - Incident may result in loss of time outside during recess, loss of a specific activity for a period of time, and/or walking with an adult.
  - All families of students involved are notified

If parents/guardians have questions or concerns, please connect directly with the school team, whether that be classroom teacher or principal/vice principal. Please do not connect with the other children involved at anytime.

Photo Day - Oct 16th

Wednesday October 16th is individual Photo Day! Just for fun, here is a little blast from the past! Can you guess who our staff members are below from their elementary photos?! Fun fact, one of these photos were taken AT Squamish Elementary when the staff member attended this school!

Lost & Found!

This year we will be doing something a little different to manage our lost and found. We will be donating all remaining items once a month on the dates shown below rather than every few months.

Please put your child's FIRST and LAST name on clothing (especially those coats and sweaters!) so that we can use this information to return as many items as possible prior to the donation.

The lost and found is located in the front foyer just past the office and is accessible to parents/guardians and students during the day to look for any missing items.

Donation Days

Friday Oct 4th
Friday Nov 1st
Friday Dec 20th
Friday Jan 31st
Friday Feb 28th
Friday March 28th
Friday April 25th
Friday May 30th
Friday June 20th

Collaboration Day & Professional Development Days

Collaboration afternoons are designed to give time to our teachers to collaborate about our school goals of literacy and collaboration.

This month, we had teachers exploring Raconte moi L'alphabet a literacy program for K/1 that targets pre-writing and reading skills. Teachers are also learning about the UFLI literacy program, Carol Fullerton Programs, and Centered Based Learning.

During the Professional Development Day we have teachers participating in workshops at Totem Hall, including learning about carving, art, herring, and the seasonal calendar. Others are learning about differentiated literacy and phonics programs, the Mathology program and French Immersion UFLI Literacy.

Celebrating SQE

This month our school ran the Terry Fox Run. Mme. Hryhirchuk and her class were hard at work during the month of September mapping out our route and making posters to represent each province in Canada that Terry Fox ran.

Mrs. McQueen's grade 1/2 class is learning all about their brain and how it works!

Mme. Duncan, our Art Prep Teacher was busy this month with our whole school participating in a collaborative dot art activity, based on the book "The Dot" by Peter H. Reynolds.

Mrs. Busschaert's class took advantage of some of the sunny September weather we had and did some learning outside!

Mr. Dion's class is rocking wild hair styles in their science lessons, and working collaboratively in STEM activities!

Ms. Dalzell had students working on "island survival" a collaborative art activity where students had to agree upon which 5 items (from a list) they would keep to survive on a BC island. These students will next work together to design their island.

Mme Regnier's grade 2/3 class cleaned up our garden beds and even enjoyed eating some nasturtium - an edible flower, some enjoyed it for the first time!

Library Message from Mrs. Antonios!

SQE Parent Advisory Council

The Parent advisory Council (PAC) started the school year off with a bang, hosting a Welcome Back Picnic and a school wide pancake breakfast.

The next PAC Meeting will be on Tuesday, Oct 8th at 6:30pm. During this time snacks and child care is provided. Whether you want to take on a project, lend a helping hand, or just hear about what is going on - we would love to have you join!

Have any costumes you are looking to donate! Our PAC will be hosting a Halloween Costume Swap on Oct 10th. The PAC will be collecting lightly used costumes for this event! Keep your eye out for more details!

Halloween Safety

Halloween will be here before we know it! We want to make sure everyone stays safe on Halloween. Check out this link for some suggestions! Click Here

It may be dark out, so make sure you are visible! Using reflective tape, flashlights, or glow sticks can help keep you safe.
Walk with an adult and stay with your group
Have a safe adult check your trick or treat haul before enjoying!

Also! Our PAC is hosting a Halloween Costume Swap!

Community Updates

Reminders

For any absences or early pick-ups please email [email protected] as this is more efficient than calling in.
Please send your child to school with appropriate clothing and shoes for the weather, the rain is here!!
Please remember to send a water bottle with with your child
We still need your help to keep our students and staff save in our parking lot. Please find a proper spot to park and do not park or idle in the bus loop or round about.
If you're child is sick, please keep them at home