Dolphin Weekly Waves

From the Principal

This fall, West End (and all schools in SDPC) will go through the accreditation process. This process involves working with a recognized accrediting body. We will work with COGNIA - a group of folks who are skilled at helping educational organizations determine their strengths and weaknesses. We need your help! This process begins by surveying our families to gather input that will be used in the accreditation process. Please use the following link or QR code to complete the 5 minute survey. Thank you for helping us work to continue meeting the needs of your children!

The survey will be open through September 18th, 2023.

Please click here to take the survey

We are thankful for all who were able to visit us for Open House. We had over 600 folks stop by!

Calendar Note.... Picture Days - Tuesday and Wednesday, September 26 and 27 - A schedule will come soon.....

We are continuing our journey to be the BEST each of us can be! Have a wonderful week!

Angie Garrison, Ed.D.

Principal

West End's Mission: Our West End Community maximizes students’ potential by providing instruction that builds our students’ knowledge, strengthens their skills, and develops in them career-ready characteristics for success in an ever-changing world.

Did you know that:

1. Pickens County has a highly successful adult education program which year after year is among the state’s most effective programs in a number of categories,
2. The Learning Center served over 500 residents of Pickens County during the last school year by offering GED preparation, high school diploma completion, workplace literacy, ESL and civics instruction, parenting classes, career preparation, and assessments for SC Works,
3. The Learning Center had 78 graduates last school year and a combined 339 graduates in the last four school years which includes the “Covid years,” and
4. The Learning Center partners with Tri County Tech to offer the IBEST program in healthcare, manufacturing, and College 101. Students can be concurrently enrolled seeking to complete a GED or high school diploma while earning college credit and workplace-recognized credentials – all at no cost to the student?

Interested? Contact SDPC Adult Education at 864-397-3800 or visit the Learning Center website .

We will be welcoming various first responders into our classrooms to share a book about patriotism this week. The book is called "F is for Flag." Ask your child about their special visitor!

656 of you attended our "Kick-off Open House" event last week! Thank you so much for coming out! We hope you were able to hear more about our school and the efforts we are putting forth to help your child succeed academically as well as behaviorally and socially this year. Let Mrs. Simpson know if you have any questions about the information- all of the parent presentations were shared in Schoology by grade level.

Do you have what it takes to “Crack the Case”? Come get clued in to the best new books at the West End Elementary Book Fair!

September 18-22, 2023

Monday - Thursday 7:30 am – 3:00 pm

Friday 7:30 am - 2:15 pm

PLEASE add 7% SALES TAX when sending in money for your student to shop.

Visit our Online Book Fair to shop or purchase a gift card. https://efairs.literati.com/?school=west-end-elementary-school-easley-sc

Your purchases allow us to add books to our school library! Thank you in advance for your support of our students and school!

West End families, we value your opinion on school related matters! Please use the Google form below to give us input, feedback, new ideas, or ask a question! We appreciate your time and how you make West End better! This form will be opened all school year long!

For the month of September, we are learning about confidence. Confidence is the belief you are capable. It means viewing mistakes as learning opportunities, saying “I can” instead of “I can’t,” and believing you can face life’s challenges and succeed.

When defining confidence, it is also helpful to speak about what confidence is not. Confidence is not:

• Being arrogant or thinking you are better than others.
• Getting it right every time; being perfect.
• Burying your emotions; pretending you are never nervous or scared.
• A constant—everyone has moments they don’t feel confident and that’s okay!

Teachers will be choosing a student from their homerooms that have greatly demonstrated this core skill all month long to be our second "Distinguished Dolphin!"

If your child is absent, please remember to send in parent notes, doctor/dentist notes, etc. so that attendance can be coded correctly in PowerSchool. You can also complete the Google form at the link below with details for the absence. A message is sent to our Data Entry Clerk via email including that information as a note for the absence(s).

If you have a child birth to 5 years old, be sure to sign-up for Dolly Parton's Imagination Each month, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails a high quality, age appropriate book to all registered children, addressed to them, at no cost to the child’s family. Click the picture and scroll down to the "Can I Register My Child Box?" to sign-up!

Tech fees for all students in grades K5-5th are due. They are $25 per student. Tech fees are required each year, and cover accidental damages to the device during the school day and at home. Each teacher decides when the device is needed for at home use, but will not be allowed to send it home with your child until the tech fee is paid. Our administrative team has begun contacting families that have not paid. Please reach out to us if you have questions about this.

Each month, you have the opportunity to honor a teacher of your choosing as the "West End Teacher of the Month!" Simply complete this form telling us why the teacher you chose is deserving. You may nominate as many times as you wish. Thank you for supporting our teachers and recognizing the hard work they put in to teaching your child each day. 😍

Parents- your child attends a schoolwide Title 1 school. We would like to tell you more about what that means. Please read the 2023-2024 West End Title 1 Newsletter. We will discuss this more in detail at our "Kick Off" Open House event on September 7.

• MySchoolBucks - Sign up for a MySchoolBucks account for online payments for tech fees, field trip fees, t-shirt sales, etc.

• All students K5-5 will be assigned a device for classroom and home use. Before sending the device home, a $25 Tech it Home user fee to cover accidental damage to the device, charging device, and carrying case should be paid. More information about the Tech It Home Fee.
• Schoology is a learning platform that allows parents to communicate with teachers, stay on top of student assignments, and monitor student progress (grades 3-5). Access Codes will come home soon. Please let us know if you need help getting connected.
• Securly is a powerful tool designed to help parents monitor and set limits on their child's school-issued device. Please let us know if we can help with the program.

Be sure to follow West End on Facebook!

West End Website

Twitter- @westendelem

Instagram- @westendelem

Phone (864)397-2500

Dr. Angie Garrison, Principal Email: angiegarrison@pickens.k12.sc.us