Weekly Wildcat

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Dear Western families,

The days seem to be flying by with all the trips, special activities, and meetings taking place at Western. That is a sign that the end of the year is closing in. Next week, I will be joining our 8th graders on the Washington D.C. trip. I hope you all stop and think of me Wednesday night as I am on a boat cruise with 180 eighth graders. What I won’t do for the students at Western, right? To be honest, this trip is a great experience. Our students always rise to the occasion and represent Western very well. We actually receive this feedback often when we take our students off campus. Our staff come back shocked as to how students from other schools behaved and the staff at the locations we visit often comment on how well our students behaved. While they may drive us crazy during the day in school, they know how to behave when they are representing Western in public. It begs the question as to why they can’t act the same way for us each day, but that is probably what we all experience with our own kids. I always smile politely when others say how great my daughters are and how they are always welcome at their house. I bite my tongue from asking if I can take them up on that offer, because it seems when they enter my home all their manners go out the window, especially with one another.

Please read everything below as there is a lot of information about upcoming events and some highlights from the last week.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and I look forward to standing outside in the morning next week in what looks like will be much warmer weather.

Suzanne Coyne

suzanne_coyne@greenwich.k12.ct.us

(203) 531-5700

• Tuesday, May 21st to Thursday, May 23rd: 8th Grade Trip to DC

• Tuesday, May 21st: Maria Scrivan Author Visit to 6th Grade

• Friday, May 24th: Children’s Mental Health Day

• Friday, May 24th: Early Release

• Monday, May 27th: No School- Memorial Day

Mr. Cerruto has collaborated with Western’s Mental Health and Physical Education Departments to plan a day for all WMS students to engage in activities that promote positive mental health and appropriate physical activity. This will take place Friday, May 24th during Unified Art periods outside on the Western campus, including the recess black top area and the front of the building (since those are about the only outside space we have!). Students will participate in various activities including pickleball, basketball, four square, bracelet making, coloring, crosswords puzzles, bingo and sidewalk chalk. If you drive by there, you may see me challenging a few kids to pickleball, so you may remember that I like to win and winning against students makes me feel young again.

All parents of rising 6th, 7th and 8th graders should have received an email from their child's school counselor giving them instructions for how to access their child's course placements for the 2024-25 school year. Details and directions are within that letter for how to access these placements and what to do if you have questions or need to communicate any changes to placement recommendations.

This week kicked off our annual Alphabet Countdown to celebrate the final 26 days of school! This is everyone's most favorite countdown of the year. Check out the calendar below to plan out how you will celebrate the final days! It was nice coming today in clothes appropriate for exercising. I can just dress as I always do on Monday for Future Day (Dress for your future job), as that has already been determined for me!

As I have shared in previous emails, I like to win any competition. So far, 13% of our families have completed the district survey. We can do better than that Western families! We are tied with Central, but 16% of Eastern’s families have completed it. Our sports teams work very hard to try and beat Eastern, which has been challenging for years. Please help us beat them in something else! Please look for an email with the subject line “Greenwich Public Schools Family Survey” from Dr. Jones via k12insightllc.com. Be sure and check your spam folder if you do not find it readily in your inbox.

The trip to Broadway was a success! Thank you to anyone who supported the trip through the many fundraisers. It is a great way for the students and staff who devoted so much time to our play to be rewarded for their hard work.

Artwork created by Laila McQueen (6th grade) and Aylin Tuzman (7th grade) represented Greenwich Public Schools at the CAAA (Connecticut Arts Administrators Association) annual awards brunch on May 9th. Congratulations to our artists!