Good Times @ EPE

Dear Families,

It is that time of the year when we share our School Development Surveys for completion by those in our community to help guide us. It is an opportunity for us to celebrate the great things that are going on @ EPE, and a chance for us to reflect on areas where we could grow and develop further as a school. Your thoughts are truly valued during the process, and they help us to focus our energies.

Last year, our surveys noted a trend towards a need for a focus on wellness and positive relationships. We have taken time this year, and will continue into the 2025 / 2026 school year with a focus in this area. We have been working to enhance communication, improve opportunities for local partnerships, expand our extra curricular offerings and ensure that our building is as warm and welcoming for students and families as possible.

We thank our families, and our wonderful school council for their thoughts and ideas as we work along this journey, and encourage as many families as possible to complete the survey below.

The Team @ EPE

School Development Surveys are conducted annually to gather feedback from students, staff, and parents/guardians to inform the school development process. The survey results will be provided to your child’s school and used with other data to identify the school’s strengths and challenges. Your child’s school will then create and implement a plan to build on successes and address areas of challenge.

The survey is anonymous, which means that we cannot connect your survey responses to you. We encourage everyone to participate so that we have the most accurate representation of family perceptions at your school.

The Family Survey will be available on February 24th, 2025. Please complete the survey by April 4th, 2025 by clicking on the following link: https://ca.research.net/r/SDFamily2425EN. If you do not have internet access contact your school.

Ramadan Mubarak to all of our families who celebrate. A reminder that we have an alternate arrangement for lunchtimes in the LRC available for those students who celebrate. For more information on Ramadan have a look at the link below:

Our Grade 5 students were so lucky to take part in an NSO workshop recently. They represented the school amazingly well and learned all about how orchestras work!

A gentle reminder about a couple of items as we look to ensure that the building is as safe as possible for all of our learners:

• Parents and Guardians should only enter the school at the office entrance and check in at the office.
• Visitors should sign in at the office and collect an ID tag from Ms. Frost or Ms. Engram
• For dismissal during the school day please collect students at the office
• A reminder that students should be in school for 8:20 each day. Students that arrive after this time should check in at the office before proceeding to class.
• Please avoid pickup changes during the school day unless absolutely necessary. Please contact the office by phone if there is an emergency to change these (teachers are often unable to access emails during the work day).

Thank you, in advance, for your assistance with this

NL Schools strives to create and promote a safe and caring learning environment for all students and staff. All parents, guardians, families and partners play a pivotal role in achieving that goal.

As outlined in the Safe and Caring Schools Policy, parent responsibilities related to maintaining a safe and caring school environment include (but are not limited to):

● Modelling positive social behaviours, both in person and online;

● Practicing positive social interactions both in person and online;

● Engaging in positive, nonviolent, conflict resolution.

As an employer, NL Schools has a legal obligation under its Workplace Harassment and Prevention of Workplace Violence policies to prevent and protect employees from workplace harassment from all people. NL Schools takes its responsibilities to protect students and staff very seriously and will take any necessary intervention to address inappropriate behaviours directed to school staff. We encourage all families to visit the NL Schools website to review school policies as needed.

Friday, March 21

Tuesday, March 25

Wednesday, March 26

Thursday, March 27

We are so excited to host our annual Scholastic Book Fair between the 24th and 27th March. It is always a great time for our students to explore new literature and enjoy some excellent books. As always, the week goes so much easier if we have some of our fantastic volunteers to help Mr. Aikens during this exceptionally busy week. If you are interested in helping out, please email Mr Aikens @ aaronaikens@nlschools.ca

We thought we would take a moment to share some of the Professional Learning that has been going on this year in the building. Sessions have included:

• Crisis Prevention and Intervention
• First Aid / CPR
• Co Regulation and Social Emotional Learning
• The Science of Reading (Primary and Elementary)
• Literacy Assessment
• Using AI to transform practice
• Trauma Informed Practice
• Wellness for Educators
• Kids in the Know
• Math Games
• Math Assessment
• Alternate and Augmentative Communication

Our educators have also attended various conferences and learning opportunities as we look to ensure that our students have the best learning environment possible.

Calendar
The 7 day Calendar for 2024 - 2025 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)