Squantum School

Stephen Sylvia - Principal

Meghan Healy - Assistant Principal

Dawn Flibotte - Secretary

Office #: 617-984-8706

Email: stephensylvia@quincypublicschools.com
Website: www.quincypublicschools.com
Location: 50 Huckins Avenue, Quincy, MA, USA
Phone: (617)984-8706

November 5: No School ~ Election Day

November 8: Care Pack Donations Due

November 11: No School ~ Veteran's Day

November 27: SQU Turkey Trot ~ Details to Follow

There is no school on Tuesday, November 5th due to Election Day and Monday, November 11th in celebration of Veteran's Day. All Quincy Public Schools buildings will be closed.

Thank you to all of the families that supported our Feed the Monster Candy Challenge! It was a huge success and vital in making our Trunk or Treat a success. Congratulations to Grade 1 on winning the challenge!!! Thank you to our PTO for organizing this fun school wide challenge.

In observance of Veterans Day each year, parent volunteers place hundreds of flags in the grass at Squantum School. These flags serve as a reminder of the duty and sacrifice of local veterans. We are asking each student or family to donate $2.00 (cash only) in support of this great cause, by November 15th. Thank you for your continued support!

We are happy to announce that our first trimester parent/teacher conferences will be held Wednesday, December 11th (Day & Evening) and Wednesday, December 18th (Day only). The conference times are set for 10 minutes, and we will try our best to accommodate requests for day/evening times on a first come/first served basis.

Conference Dates:

• Day and evening: Wednesday, December 11th

• Day only: Wednesday, December 18th

• Afternoon conferences will run from 12:30pm-2:30pm, and evening conferences from 5:30pm-7:00pm.

We are also very excited to announce that we are continuing to use PTCFast.com for online sign ups. Please follow the steps below to sign up for your child’s conference:

• Follow this linkhttps://ptcfast.com/schools/squantum

• Pick the name of your child(s) homeroom teacher(s). If you have children in several different grades, click the names of each homeroom teacher they have. (For example: If you have a child in 1st grade and in 5th grade you would check both Ms.Stravin and Mr. Regan)

• Grade 3, 4 and 5 Parents/Guardians should only book conference times with your child’s homeroom teacher

• Enter your child(s) name, your name, and your email address, click register

• You will then receive an email allowing you to sign up for the conference(s)

• Click the link in your email. From here you will be able to sign up for all conferences

Report cards will be posted in the QPS ASPEN student portal on Tuesday. November 26th. Please do not hesitate to email me at stephensylvia@quincypublicschools.com if you need a password reset or more information about registering for the upcoming report card conferences.

Congratulations to grade 2 student Nina Zhang for winning the summer reading program sponsored by State Representative Bruce Ayers.

Squantum School and State Representative Ayers have partnered for many years with a goal to promote literacy and encourage students to read during the summer months. Representative Ayers visited students in Ms. Curtin's class earlier this week to talk about reading and to present the wining student with a new bike. Special thanks to Representative Ayers for always supporting Squantum School and congratulations again to Nina and all our students participating the in summer reading program.

Bake Sale Volunteers:

5th grade families will be organizing the bake sale on Election Day, Tuesday November 5th. Volunteers are needed from 7:00am - 7:00pm. Shifts are 2 hours each. Responsibilities will include monitoring sales tables, collecting money, promoting sales, etc. All volunteers are welcome!

Please click here to sign up! Thank you in advance!

Bake Sale Donations:

We are still looking for baked good donations for the bake sale. All proceeds from the bake sale benefit grade five end of the year activities! We are looking for donations of cookies, cakes pie, cupcake, coffee & more. There is also an option to venmo and we will do the shopping for you!

Please click here to sign up to donate an item.

Donations can be dropped off the morning of Election Day! Please call or text Jenelle at 617-719-1607 to coordinate drop offs the day prior if needed.

Email Distribution List:

We are in the process of creating a 5th grade email distribution list to make communication about fundraisers and fifth grade events easier. It is our hope to have all fifth grade families on this list as soon as possible.

We are asking all fifth grade families to complete the Google Form to be added to this list. Please click here to complete one per student.

Email SQClassof2025@gmail.com with any questions.

The architect team will be working on phase two of the drilling out back during the week of November 4th-November 7th. This four day drilling will be focused around Geotechnical drilling and excavation as part of the new building project. Temporary fences will be set up and should pose limited impact as we have no school on November 5th (Election Day) and no lunch recess on November 6th (half day). As always, please reach out with any questions.

Thank you to the teachers, staff, community & PTO for another fun filled Unity Day where Squantum students stood up to bullying! This day was filled with focusing on kindness, acceptance and inclusion through the use of community circles, class lessons, and discussions. Thank you to the PTO for sponsoring a school wide assembly around storytelling as part of our Unity Day celebrations. The assembly was broken up into two assemblies, one for K-2 and the second for 3-5.

Caregivers of children in grades K-2 are invited to join Bridget Vaughan, QPS Literacy Coordinator and Victoria Mulkern from the National Council on Improving Literacy (NCIL) to learn and explore ways that they can support their child's literacy development virtually on Tuesday, December 10th from 6:00-7:00.

Families will come away with a toolkit of resources that are important for them to better understand, support and address their child's literacy needs.

Please click here for more details & the zoom link.

Quincy Public Schools will be hosting a Parent Academy with Strengthening Family Programs on Wednesday November 7th from 5:00 - 6:00. This Parent Academy will focus on parenting skills, children's life skills and family life skills. Please see below for details and the QR code for registration. A translated flyer is also included.

Attached please find the 2024 Squantum School November calendar for important dates happening around our school community.

Quincy Public Schools Nutrition Department is excited to present the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). Every Tuesday and Thursday free fresh fruits and vegetables will be delivered to your child's classroom, during snack time, for students to sample. The goal of FFVP is to help schools create healthier school environments by providing healthier food choices, expanding the variety of fruits and vegetables children experience and increasing children's fruit and vegetable consumption. All snacks are individually wrapped.

Please contact QPS Nutrition Department at 617-984-8768 with any questions.

Please click here to view the Quincy Public Schools 2024-2025 school calendar for all important holidays, school closures, and early release day information.

Just a friendly reminder to not to block neighbors driveways during drop off and pick up! Also please do not park on the corner of Mayflower and Huckins as it makes it extremely difficult for the school busses to turn. Thank you in advance for your help with this!

Please click here for the Squantum staff list for 2024-2025. This list includes email addresses to help with communication.

If your child is going to be absent please email dawnflibotte@quincypublicschools.com, your child's teacher, or call the main office at 617-984-8706 by 8:30. Safety is our top priority, so we will call home if we do not hear from you.

In order for an absence to be considered excused, a written note must accompany the student the first day back in class. The note should include the date returning, child’s name, date absent, and the reason for the absence. Any absence for which the school does not receive appropriate notification will be unexcused.

All students that arrive after 8:20 or after the doors are closed, must report to the main office to check in with an office staff member.

Families are expected to provide their child’s regular daily dismissal plan to the classroom teacher at the beginning of each year. If a child’s routine dismissal plan changes or if a different pick up will be occurring, families should notify their child’s teacher and the office in writing by sending a note or email to the teacher as soon as possible. Students will not be dismissed to an unauthorized adult without a note or a phone call to the main office at 617-984-8706. This will ensure that all safety protocols remain in place.

If a student needs to be dismissed early from school, the parent/guardian must send a note to the classroom teacher or call the school’s main office. An authorized adult must report to the office to sign the child out. Children are not allowed to leave the school grounds prior to the regular dismissal time without the authorization of a parent/guardian.

Students are given the opportunity to receive a school breakfast, lunch, and/or milk, as part of their daily routine.

Lunch and breakfast will be free for ALL students again this year. QPS strongly encourages parents/guardians to continue to complete the free and reduced lunch application this year in order to receive other benefits from the state, including P-EBT benefits. Menus and applications can be found on the QPS Food Service website.

Breakfast is available for all students beginning at 8:00 am. Any interested student may buzz in through the main door and walk down to the cafeteria. Breakfast is also available in the classrooms once students have entered the building. Please remind your child to let their homeroom teacher know if they need breakfast.

Lunch will be served in the cafeteria during your child’s assigned class time. Lunch will continue to be offered to students on early release days. This time will be built into classroom schedules.

We continue to make great progress on the new Squantum School building. There is a lot happening around the school to prepare for the temporary building along with the new building. All updates will be posted on the design website. Please click here for more information.

Click here for the SQU building project website!

Throughout the day teachers incorporate digital practice in both ELA and Math. These platforms allow students to practice skills at individual lessons. Students are encouraged to continue practicing at home, if they are interested. Students can access these using their Clever log in information. Please see below for some popular websites.