Monthly Archives: September 2022

Please see the important message from Director Tyrone Dowling regarding staffing updates.
2022-09-29-Staff_shortage_ltr

We have exciting news! Our first School Council meeting is next week on Tuesday October 4th at 6:30 pm in the Learning Commons (Library). ALL parents and guardians are welcome to attend. Come check out what our school council is all about.

Hope to see you there!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Every year the St. Elizabeth School Community participates in 2-3 food drives to help support the Food Bank through the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Once again, we are asking for your generosity in donating non-perishable food items. Any non-perishable food item is accepted and greatly appreciated. Below are some recommendations:

• Canned food
• Pasta (macaroni & cheese, spaghetti, and sidekicks)
• Pasta sauce and canned tomatoes
• Minute rice
• Jam, honey, and peanut butter
• Pancake mix & pancake syrup
• Apple & tomato juice
• Hamburger helper
• Jarred baby food
• Cereal

For each donated item, your child will receive a ballot for a chance to Torture-A-Teacher at an upcoming school assembly. Teacher Tortures include:

• A pie in a teacher’s face
• An egg cracked on a teacher’s head
• A bucket of ice water dumped on a staff member
• Spraying silly string at a teacher
• Face painting the principal!

If you are able to assist, please send your item(s) to school with your child between Monday September 26th and Wednesday October 5th.

Thank you,

The St. Elizabeth Student Leadership Team

St. Elizabeth Terry Fox School Run

On September 23^rd our school will be proudly participating in the Terry Fox School Walk/Run. Over 9,000 schools across Canada are taking part in the Run this year and that means that over 3 million students will be fundraising for cancer research in Terry’s name. This is one of our most favourite events of the year – we get to celebrate the life of Terry Fox, his Marathon of Hope and show our incredible school spirit as we come together to help others.

We all know that Terry Fox is one of our greatest Canadian heroes but sometimes we forget how hard his struggle was and why we continue to do the Terry Fox Run every year. Our event this year is an opportunity to take action, show leadership and set examples of compassion and kindness towards others. Students will be staying on school grounds for the run.

Unfortunately, we all probably know someone with cancer, whether it’s a family member or friend, we’re all touched by cancer in some way and now it’s up to us to help them. St. Elizabeth has been a proud supporter of the Terry Fox School Run for 13 years, and we have raised an incredible $51,879.40 for cancer research! Let’s add to our amazing total and continue to carry on Terry’s legacy. Gather family donations, or have your parents make an online contribution through the St. Elizabeth school page at https://schools.terryfox.ca/9207.  Donations can also be submitted to the school using Cash Online.  If you would like a tax receipt, your donations must be made on the Terry Fox website.  We ask to have all donations in no later than Friday, October 7^th.

Let’s go Eagles!!!

Thank you for your support on behalf of the staff at St. Elizabeth School.

The St. Elizabeth Staff
Terry-Fox-Run-2022

Pizza Days 2022-2023

Dear Parents and Families,

We want to share an important update about school buses. Due to the ongoing bus driver shortage and lingering impacts of the public board’s cyber attack on our shared bus planning software, some routes will need to be temporarily cancelled.

Most bus routes are operating normally. However, some routes are experiencing more frequent and prolonged delays (30 minutes or greater).

This temporary measure will be effective Monday, September 19, 2022 and will continue until Christmas, at which time our need for cancellations will be reviewed.

We understand the significant impact this decision will have on our students and their families and caregivers. Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region (STSWR) does this only as a last resort. We hope that this proactive message will allow families and caregivers to better prepare for and react to the cancellation of bus routes.

Please note that delays have not been caused by our current bus drivers.  When they are late, it is because they are trying to support students on bus routes that have no driver, with the best of intentions.  They do not have to do this.  They are trying to help.  Please be kind to them!

What Happens If A School Bus Route is Cancelled?

Effective September 19, 2022

A school bus route will be cancelled when the driver shortage causes a route to be late by more than 30 minutes consistently. Affected students and families will be informed immediately of the cancellation period.  Cancellations are done on a week to week basis.

Supporting Student Learning

If a school bus route is cancelled, families are responsible for transporting their children to and from school each day.

Where this is not possible, students should access asynchronous learning materials posted by their classroom teacher on their Learning Management System (LMS), either D2L or Google Classroom. Additional activities can be found here: .

Families should contact their school to let them know if they are unable to get to school.  The school can also help families to sign out a Chromebook if necessary.

Stay Informed

Families will be informed the day prior to any cancellation. Cancellations will be posted on the STSWR website with an expected return date.

• Register for notifications on the STSWR parent portal
• Check the Bus Delays page on the STSWR website

The Bus Delays page will be updated with cancellation information each afternoon by 4:30 PM.

Questions?

Please contact Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region (STSWR).

Exciting news everyone – our St. Elizabeth Spirit wear and Grad wear is back on sale!! We aim to have a St. Elizabeth spirit wear day once a month so grab your eagle wear now.  Please see the Spirit wear handout to set up your account and the form shows you the apparel you can order.

For our Grade 8’s, check out the GRAD 23 handout for your Grad wear items to purchase.   

All orders must be placed no later than September 27th. See the attachments for further information.

22 St. Elizabeth form

St. Elizabeth grad form

Good afternoon Eagles

We had a wonderful first week at St. Elizabeth! Just a couple of reminders that parents are asked not to park on school property for drop-off and pick-up.
Also – please remember that dogs are not permitted on school grounds. Please remind other adults who may accompany your children (babysitters, grandparents, etc.) that they may not bring their dogs onto school property while dropping off or picking up your  children.

There are children and adults with allergies or fears of dogs. We also do not want to have to deal with dog mess. In addition to this, it is very unfair on the animals to be subjected to excited children who may want to pet them.

However friendly your dog may be, and whatever the size of animal, please abide by these regulations which are designed to keep everyone safe.

Due to a software malfunction, STSWR and our bus operators will not be able to post late notices on websites for transportation routes that are not running on schedule.  Further, late notices cannot be sent to parents via e-mail or text message as normal.

We apologize for this late notice and the issues it will create to your schedules.

School BBQ – Meet the Staff Night  

Tuesday, September 13th

BBQ – 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Class Visits – 6-6:30 pm

We look forward to having you mingle with us, your St. Elizabeth School community friends!

$5.00 per person

Includes:

Choice of

4oz Burger/Jumbo All Beef Hotdog or Jumbo Veggie Dog

Single serve bag of chips

Bottle of water

*Please remember that all students attending must be accompanied by their parent.