Good Times @ EPE

We hope that this newsletter finds everyone well, and that you had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend.

We wanted to take a moment to say a huge thank you to our amazing Grade 6 students and teachers for their amazing work last week for our Thanksgiving Assembly and for their work with Choices for Youth. To see our students giving back so much to our school community is fantastic and we are so proud of our Grade 6 team for their work with this.

As always, we invite you to reach out if you have any questions or concerns - you can get us on email at elizabethparkelem@nlesd.ca or by calling the school. Have a great weekend.

Alun, Gail & The Team @ EPE

Please be aware that we are working hard to try and extend our School Breakfast program to ensure that all students have a nutritious and healthy start to the day. In order to accomplish this challenging feat we are on the hunt for the most amazing volunteers to help us on this journey. If you are interested, and can volunteer an hour for one morning a week please reach out to gaildyke@nlschools.ca

• Friday October 25th - Jamarama Day
• Friday, November 1st - School Closed for PL
• Wednesday, November 6th - District Closeout (School Closed)

• Monday, November 11th - Remembrance Day Holiday (School Closed)

• Friday, November 22nd - School Closed for Report Card Writing Day
• Tuesday, December 3rd - Term 1 Report Cards Released
  
• Thursday, December 5th - Family Teacher Interviews Term 1
• Thursday, December 12th - Christmas Concert
• Friday, December 20th - Last Day before Christmas Holidays (Dismissal at 12:30)
• December 21-January 5 - Christmas Break
• Make Up Date for Photos to be confirmed

Our School Clothing Orders are now open - order at the link below. A reminder that ordering will close on October 20th. We thank our friends at Universal Clothing for their help with this.

https://elizabethparkschoolclothing2024.itemorder.com/shop/sale/

On Saturday, October 19th, the Newfoundland and Labrador School Chess Association (NLSCA) is planning to hold the first NL scholastic chess tournament for this school year at Brookside Intermediate School in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's. Full details are given in the event announcement below.

Brookside-Fall-2024-Announcement.pdf (chess.nl.ca)

We are also excited to support the Janeway's annual Jamarama. This will take place on October 25th, and we encourage all of our students to come to school in their finest PJ's! Donations can be made at the link below:

https://janeway.akaraisin.com/ui/Jamarama/p/4c6ffca1476a43c6b45bd1a3a262fc98

Families will have to click Donate and search for “Elizabeth Park”

There will be 7 professional learning days scheduled for all NLSchools staff throughout this school year. Professional Learning days will be communicated to families at least two weeks prior to the scheduled dates. All days, once confirmed, will be posted to our school website calendar and will be communicated to families via our weekly update or by separate email. The following dates for upcoming professional learning in November have been confirmed. There will be no school for students on these days.

At this time of year much of our PL time is spent working on the life safety aspects of our role (First Aid, Crisis Prevention), new curriculum implementation, and School Development.

Friday, November 1st (School Closeout)

Wednesday, November 6th (District Related Closeout)

Friday, November 22nd (Report Card Preparation)

Education Accord NL is working toward a 10-year education transformation and wants to hear from you to improve educational experiences and outcomes in our province.

Please take 15 - 20 minutes and share your thoughts by completing the Education Accord NL online survey at educationaccordnl.ca/survey. All responses from the survey are anonymous.

We are looking for feedback from educators, educational support staff, administration, parents, caregivers, community members, and students who are 15 years of age or older.

Visit our website for more information educationaccordnl.ca

Halloween is always an exciting time of year! This year, as in the past, our students will wear their costumes all day, and have a small class party in the afternoon. In line with the NL Schools nutrition policy, and from a social justice perspective, we kindly ask that families not send in food or non food treats for classes.

Students and staff are invited to wear costumes for the full day. When planning costumes, please keep the following in mind:

- Masks should not be covering the entire face and can only be worn at the desk.

- Accessories for costumes that are (or could be mistaken for) weapons are not permitted.

- Any makeup and hair should be completed before arriving at school.

- We do have an extreme scent allergy in the building. Please be aware of this as you select any products to be used.

- Inflatable Costumes are often (literally) a load of hot air. They are a struggle to learn in and generally puncture by around lunchtime. We recommend avoiding these for school.

The days following Halloween are often the most dangerous days in a school for our students with allergies. We encourage all of our families to send healthy treats that help to protect students that have an allergy.

Please connect if you need any clarification or have any questions. You can access some Halloween safety advice by clicking on the pumpkin picture.

We are so excited to begin to get our sports teams up and rolling here at the school. Please see the registrations below.

Please be aware that many of our programs will be organized and coached by parent volunteers with RNC Criminal Record & Vulnerable Sector Clearance. Teacher sponsors will be available for some activities, but not all.

We thank our amazingly dedicated coaches for all of their hard work in getting these extra curricular programs up and running.

Calendar
The 7 day Calendar for 2024 - 2024 is available here:
https://epe.nlesd.ca/school-calendar

Please be aware that we have severe allergies to the following products at the school:

• Nuts, Tree Nuts, Peanuts (please do not bring Wowbutter or similar products either)

• Sesame Seeds (often found in burger buns or hummus)

• Fish, Shellfish

• Visible Egg (often found in Breakfast Sandwiches)