HET School September 2023

I truly hope that all our students and families enjoyed a fantastic summer with lots of rest and relaxation and most importantly connections. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our new staff members; our new Junior High teacher Mr. Pushkarenko, and our two new Educational Assistants, Michelle Larson and Brenna Young! I would also like to welcome all of those students and their families who are new to our school; we are so happy to have you join our Helen E. Taylor family. A warm welcome back is also extended to all of those students and families returning to our school. We are very much looking forward to an exciting year ahead. We started the year with a full week of court activities. It was wonderful to see the students working together as a team, especially our older students helping out our younger students. We have lots of great dress-up days planned, as well as our monthly assemblies, and other very special celebration days. I encourage everyone to check our webpage and our Facebook page, as well as class emails to keep up to date on these special events. I sincerely hope all of our students and families have a fantastic year!!!

Cindy Young, Principal

cindyyoung@pwpsd.ca

Welcome back everyone! I hope you were able to get some rest and relaxation before jumping back into the September routine! I am so excited to be back at HET for another year.

September is a month of transition, with its unique blend of change and new beginnings. I’d like to thank you for giving grace as we navigate through the start of a new school year. It has been a smooth start and we have parents, students and staff to thank for that. I look forward to working with you as we continue through this 2023-2024 school year!

Allicia MacAlister, Assistant Principal

alliciamacalister@pwpsd.ca

You may have noticed this lovely piece of artowrk as our newsletter background?! Mrs. Johnson's daughter, Madeline, created this, as well as the dinosaur mural in our Library. We are so fortunate to have this beautiful piece of art hanging in our school. Thank you, Madeline!

Helen E. Taylor School is a grade 4 - 9 school with 180 students. We are called the Knights and have 4 "courts" that compete with each other throught the year--Wizards, Jousters, Warrios & Dragons. HET has a breakfast program that is free to all students. We also have a hot lunch program where parents can order & pay for items online. We have a great outdoor space where our students go for 2 20-minute blocks of time throughout the day, paired with 2 20-minute eating blocks. All of our students have Physical Education classes for 40 minutes everyday. All Elementary students have Fine Arts 40 minutes daily and our Junior High Grade 8 and 9 students go to BRHS for "Comp" elective classes every Wednesday morning. HET has a Compressed School Week (CSW) because of bus-sharing with the high school which means we get some Fridays off to compensate for our longer school day. We are raising funds for The Terry Fox Foundation again this year by doing our Tery Fox Run next Friday. HET students will also being running a Turkey Trot in October. We have an annual school-wide Nitehawk trip and our Grades 4 & 5 take swimming lessons. Our Junior High students can join our Volleyball, Basketball & Badminton teams and our Elementary students may get a chance to also participate in some of those same sports. HET has a Run Club in the Fall and track & field days in the Spring. Our Grade 4s have done a "Night at the School", our Grade 6s have done a "Camp Day" and some our Grade 9s are doing Travel Club, heading to Eastern Canada in the Spring. You can keep up with all things HET on our Facebook & Instagram pages, our website, calling the office/emailing your child's teacher or by atttending our school council meetings.

Please feel free to contact us anytime. You can call the office (780) 766-9103 or email any of our staff memebers. Click here for a list of staff members https://het.pwpsd.ca/apps/staff/

You can also follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HelenETaylorSchool/ and please check out our school website https://het.pwpsd.ca/

If your child will be absent from school, please phone the office (780) 766-9103 or email barbaramurphy@pwpsd.ca or your child's teacher. Our automated call home goes out at

9:05 AM so if you have not notified us prior to that, you will receive a call.

We mark your child late after 8:30 am. Our first bell rings then so if kids arrive after that, they are considered late. Our doors open at 8:15 am so there is ample time to be here on time, ready to go. Please try to ensure your child is arriving to school on time.

HET has a closed campus policy. This means that your child can NOT leave the school without you signing him/her out, in person. You can appoint another adult to do so, please call the office and let us know who that may be.

Thank you in advance for your support with this school rule.

If you are sending your child to school with a cell phone/personal device, our expectations are:

Elementary students--no phones (unless teacher approved).

Junior high students--phones ONLY at breaks 10:45 - 11:25 am & 12:45 - 1:25 pm (unless teacher approved).

If your child does not have a lock on his/her locker, the phone can be locked in the offfice.

If you need to get in touch with your child, please call the office (780) 766-9103 and you can speak with him/her or get a message to him/her.

Thank you in advance for your support with this school rule.

Please refrain from parking in our school parking lot OR our bus lane. They are for staff vehicles/buses ONLY. Thank you. Visitor parking is in front of the sign by the main doors.

We are just kicking into gear, tryouts happening this week. Thank you to Miss Tetreau & Mr. Pushkarenko for coaching this year.

Mr. Hopkins had a great turn out, over 20 students!! These die-hards are meeting Wednesdays & Thursdays, EARLY in the morning!! Enjoy the cool, crisp air, Runners!

Thank you to so many of our parents/guardians who have already completed their forms. These are emailed out to the "primary" contact on file, to make any changes to contact information, to update any medical needs, to give permission to leave school property on a field trip, to "register" your child for the new academic year. Please check your Inbox, Spam or All Mail for an email from "REGISTRATION" with "Helen E. Taylor School Returning Student Demographic Form for...". If we do not have your latest email or are unable to find this email, please contact our office for assistance.

Our first School Council meeting is on Tuesday, September 19 @ 6:30 pm in our school library. We would love to see parents join our HET School Council. Please read the attachment--you may be surprised to know what the role of a School Council is. Looking forward to seeing you at our next meeting!

Be sure to have BUS STATUS 4--it is the latest & greatest updated version of the app.

This is a great resource for our country/bus kids BUT ALSO for our Town of Wembley students who ride the bus to BRHS.

HET will be wearing orange on Friday, September 29 to recognize and raise awareness about the history and legacies of the residential school system in Canada. We will be honouring the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on this day with some school activites.

Say "Cheeeeeeeese!"