Waltha High School's very own, Zoe Rodriguez, (Class of 2024) submitted a piece for the NYTimes 100-Word Personal Narrative Contest. Her beautifully written 100-word personal narrative was selected as one of 13 published in the New York Times! Students from all over the world — 12,448 of them — answered the call to write a 100-word story about moments from their lives big and small, funny and heartwarming, ordinary and extraordinary. From those thousands of submissions, their judges selected 82 finalists — 13 winners, 23 runners-up and 46 honorable mentions!
Here at WHS, she created and runs the creative writing club at the high school every other Monday at the library and hopes to become a writer.
The Instructional Technology and Math Departments participated in the Hour of Code. Every year in December Waltham students join millions of students around the world celebrating Computer Science Education Week! The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, using fun tutorials to show that anybody can learn the basics.
ACCESS TESTING BEGINS THIS WEEK
Happy New Year! We hope all are well. The WPS Multilingual Department is committed to building on the strengths of students. We value the cultural and linguistic knowledge every student contributes to our school community.
ACCESS testing will begin on January 5 and continue through February 9 in Waltham Public Schools. This evaluation is required for students who are English language learners. The four sections of the test (listening, reading, writing, and speaking) will give us information about the progress of students.
The next virtual SEPAC meeting will be on Wednesday, January 11 at 6:00 p.m. The link can be found at https://walthamsepac.com/
The WSEPAC is a state mandated and supported advisory group comprised of parents, guardians, teachers and administrators working in partnership to promote an innovative environment where children with learning challenges have equal access to educational opportunities, while ensuring that our schools strive to improve educational outcomes for all children. Contact us at walthampac@gmail.com
WELCOME CLASS OF 2036!
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION TO BEGIN IN JANUARY Children whose parent/legal guardian(s) are living in Waltham may enroll in Kindergarten with the Waltham Public Schools if they have reached 5 years of age on or before September 1, of the new school year.
Online registration for the 2023-2024 school year will be available beginning January 1, 2023. Instructions and registration information can be found at this link https://www.walthampublicschools.org/o/wps/page/kindergarten-registration-information. The communication for our 2023-24 Kindergarten Registration will be mailed out in January to families on our list of expected kindergarten students. If you do not receive this notice from our office, you are encouraged to contact us and confirm that your child is either on our list or needs to be added so that you will receive communications and mailings for Kindergarten registration.
Families wishing to participate in the Dual Language School lottery must notify the PIC at the time of registration. The Dual Language lottery will be held in May 2023 (date TBA) and to qualify you must submit all required documents. We look forward to welcoming your child and working with your family throughout the registration process.
COVID TEST KITS
We distributed COVID test kits to each student and staff to be used prior to returning from the winter holidays. If you need more test kits, please contact your School Nurse. Remember to wash your hands and monitor your children and yourselves for symptoms. If you have symptoms or concerns about exposure, please test!
PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF SEASONAL RESPIRATORY ILLNESSES IN SCHOOLS
Across Massachusetts, schools are seeing a concerning increase in seasonal respiratory illnesses, particularly COVID-19 and influenza. The best guards against severe illness are vaccinations against both. Finding locations for shots may be searched on this Vaccine Finder. The Department of Public Health recommends that every person over the age of 6 months get a flu shot annually.
The following resource, Flu Facts playlist, contains a range of videos on topics related to both flu and COVID-19.
Other preventive measures include reminding staff and students to stay home if they are not feeling well, take a COVID-19 test and seek treatment if needed; wear a mask if desired; and wash their hands.
