Mustang Memo - September 1, 2023

Hello Mustangs!

With two full days under our belt, things are running smoothly here at Davidson Creek.

Thank you all of our families who dropped by for our Meet the Staff event on August 30. The halls were buzzing with excitement as kids found their classrooms, lockers and friends for the year. We would like to thank our school council and Davidson Creek Fundraising Society parent leaders for manning a booth all evening to let parents know ways to be involved in our vibrant parent community!

We were also happy to see so many families meeting one of our new counsellors, Mrs. Bashaw, to learn all about how we can support families with various social and emotional needs. 

Each year, we strive to improve upon our processes and routines so that school is a fun, safe and enjoyable experience. We've updated our entrance and exit doors to improve the traffic flow in our hallways. To further ease congestion in the hallways, some of our students are sharing lockers and taking turns being in the hallway so there is less wasted time pushing through throngs of students.

There are smiling students. much laughter and feelings of excitement popping up all over the school. We can tell that this will be an incredible year! Go, Mustangs!

Thank you to each and every family for joining our herd this year. In our conversations with parents before and after school, we have really appreciated the positivity and support you've shared with us!  Let's continue working together to make our motto, a place where we belong a reality!

Helene Hewitt & Jay Robertson

Principal & Assistant Principal

Table of Contents

Week At a Glance

Action

• Check Out the School Handbook
• Download These Bus Apps for a Successful Ride!
• Pay School Fees Online

Opportunity 

• Upcoming Parent Meetings
• Download the SchoolMessenger app
• Sync the school calendar to your calendar

Information

• Mustang Mentions
• Who's Who in the Office?
• Video Surveillance on Buses
• Parents Make the Difference

WEEK AT A GLANCE

ACTION

Check Out the School Handbook

Did you know that we have a school handbook? The handbook is full of information that can help you and your family become familiar with our policies and procedures. Click here to get reading!

Download these bus apps for a successful ride!

Have a child taking the bus this school year? Download the following apps to stay up to date with all the busing information you’ll need throughout the year.

Bus Status

A new version of the Bus Status app is available: Bus Status 4. The app provides the same features and functionality as before, but faster and more reliable for users. Families who previously used the Bus Status 3 app will need to download the new version from the App Store or Google Play. You won’t be able to update directly from one version to the next. New users can download Bus Status 4 directly now.

Through the Bus Status app, families can access information about buses that are running late or cancelled throughout the year. Simply save your child’s bus routes as favourites and turn on push notifications to stay up to date.

Refer to the Bus Status: Frequently Asked Questions for more information about the update, and plan to download the new version now.

Ride 360

The Traversa Ride 360 website and app enable parents and students to access their own secure data for bus stop location, route and pickup time. With Division buses equipped with GPS hardware, Ride 360 uses GPS geolocation to let users know when to expect their bus each day. Parents and students log in with their own information to access their specific routing information and details.

Ride 360 will be updated in the coming year. Families are encouraged to download the current Ride 360 app from the App Store or Google Play for the start of the school year and set up their account. When the update takes place, login information will seamlessly roll over to the updated app.

Refer to additional instructions and the tutorial video on the Division website for more details about setting up your Ride 360 profile.

For more information about transportation services, refer to the Student Transportation section of the EIPS website.

Pay School Fees Online!

School fee information for the 2023-24 school year will be posted on the PowerSchool Parent Portal in late September. All fees are due within 30 days of being posted. To access your fee information, simply log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal and go to “Student Fees.” There you can view your fees and pay online using a credit card.

Don’t forget to log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal regularly throughout the year. Fees are often added to your child’s account to cover the cost of certain school activities such as field trips, class projects, athletic-team fees and more. Additionally, junior high and senior high fees can change as courses are added and deleted.  

If you’re unable to pay your school fees, you can apply to have certain fees waived by submitting an Application for a Waiver of Fees. The application deadline is Dec. 15, 2023.

For more information about school fees, waivers and payment deadlines visit eips.ca. Alternatively, contact Christa Gawron at Davidson Creek at 780-467-5557.

OPPORTUNITY

Upcoming Meetings for Parent Groups

It's almost time for our first school council and Davidson Creek Fundraising Society (DCFS) meetings of the year! Join us on September 14, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. for the school council meeting followed by our DCFS meeting at 7:30 p.m.

School council is our parent group that provides feedback to the school. We share great information in these meetings such as our budget, school results, and upcoming initiatives such as when and where you can volunteer! It's a great place to meet other parents in the community and to lend your voice to the future of our school! You can also help us to decide on fundraising initiatives!

Come get involved! We have cookies!!

Lynn and Robyn 

School council chair and DCFS president

Sync the School Calendar to your calendar

Did you know you can sync the school calendar to your own calendar? Simply, visit our calendar page and click on the applicable subscription option:

· Download to iCal

· Add to Google Calendar

· Subscribe to Calendar

NOTE: Options are located above the calendar.

Once you click on the desired subscription option, follow the instructions. Within seconds, your calendar will contain all Davidson Creek Elementary’s important dates including holidays, school-closures days, planned activities, events and more.

Download the SchoolMessenger App

Davidson Creek Elementary and the Division use the SchoolMessenger platform for communicating with families—through both phone and email. Be sure to add communications@eips.ca and general.dce@eips.ca  to your safe sender list to avoid having important messages funneled into your junk mail folder.  

You can directly manage your phone and email subscription preferences through SchoolMessenger. Simply log in to your account—or create one if you don’t already have one—and select the message types you’d like to receive to each phone number and email address on file.

The easiest way to stay connected is to download the SchoolMessenger app. Get the latest updates direct to your mobile device and enable push notifications to never miss a message. Families can also check back on past messages—for up to 30 days—directly in the app rather than searching to find an old message buried in your inbox. Download the SchoolMessenger app from the App Store or Google Play today.

INFORMATION

Mustang Mentions

Did you know that our school has a robust positive referral program called the Mustang Mention? Students who demonstrate examples of our 4 expectations can be nominated. Last year, we gave out over 1200 Mustang Mentions throughout the school year. Let's see if we can break that record this year!

Did you know that we have adopted the following 4 key expectations for students at Davidson Creek: 

• Be kind
• Be safe
• Be respectful
• Be your best self

As a community we want everyone to experience success and feel like they are an important part of our school! By following these expectations, we can create a feeling of belonging for everyone.

Mustang Mentions are a paper that celebrates the great things we noticed students doing. It will include their name, what expectation they were showing and a brief description of what they did that was so awesome and be signed by the person who nominated them.

Students will find out that they got a Mustang Mention during our morning video announcements. They will then take their Mention to the office so that we can celebrate them and cheer for them. Students can then enter a draw for a small prize as a little perk for making our school a great place!

Keep your eye out on those back packs for Mustang Mentions that go home throughout the year!

Who's Who in the Office?

With a few changes to the office team, we imagine you might be wondering who's who in our office!

Mrs. Gibson is our registrar. She is the person you see at the front desk who can help with registration, Parent Portal, and attendance as well as answering the phones and directing traffic. She is also pretty awesome at handing out ice packs and putting bandaids on boo boos! If you want to hear an awesome rendition of Happy Birthday, come and see Mrs. Gibson! You can also stop by and 

Mrs. Gawron (or Mrs. G) is our business manager. She is the money lady who helps with fees, ordering materials for our school and tracking our bottom line. She is also an incredible helper for students when they need help with first aid. You might see her in the front office area when Mrs. Gibson is away on a break or nestled away in her corner office. Mrs. G is an expert in preparing the weekly memo posted on our Facebook page!

Mrs. Bashaw and Ms. Mitchell are our new school counsellors. They help students to learn skills for developing healthy friendships, managing emotions, and having self-control. They assist us in setting a path for mental health and they also coordinate our student support plans and team meetings. They have a ton of experience as school counsellors and as teachers. Make sure to say hello! 

Mr. Robertson is our assistant principal. You may see him outside at recess or during supervision before or after school in an orange vest. He helps out when students have problems and need someone to sort it out. He is teaching Grade 6 math in Mrs. Kotronis' class when he is not busy talking about his favourite team, the Oilers!

Mrs. Hewitt is our principal. She is also outside in a pink vest before and after school. She loves helping kids to solve problems and she can often be found chitchatting with people outside. She loves all things K-pop (don't ask or she'll go on and on!) and runs the Daebak dance club. She is teaching FSL in Mrs. Kellough's class when she is not talking about Pokémon. 

Video surveillance on Buses

Did you know each EIPS bus is equipped with video surveillance?

Video surveillance and equipment help:

• ensure the safety of all students, drivers and property; and
• discourage destructive acts.

On a regular basis, EIPS Student Transportation reviews the video recordings, in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act. The recordings assist the department with monitoring student and driver conduct and may be used as evidence in a disciplinary matter.

EIPS buses are also equipped with Tyler Drive tablets. The goal: To enhance safety, improve communication, increase efficiency and provide oversight. These tablets allow bus drivers to stay on time with turn-by-turn route directions and show student pictures and information when bus drivers get to stop locations. To ensure students get where they need to go, there are now two distinct audible tones when students scan their bus pass boarding or leaving the bus. One tone indicates they’re getting on the correct bus or at the correct stop, and the other tone indicates they’re on the incorrect bus or leaving at the incorrect stop. By using live information, Tyler Drive tablets provide more accuracy than paper schedules.

For more information about the collection, use and disclosure of personal information, contact the EIPS FOIP Co-ordinator at 780-464-3477.

Parents Make the Difference

Each week we will post some interesting articles with tips to support the important work you do as a parent at home! Here is this week's article:

Start off the school year with a positive attitude about learning 

Children’s attitudes about school affect their desire to learn. The start of a new school year is the perfect time to bolster your child’s enthusiasm for education. Here’s how:

• Be a role model. If you have a positive attitude about school, your child is more likely to feel the same way. In addition to reinforcing the value of education, make it a point to attend parent-teacher conferences and school meetings for families. Supervise your child’s work time when possible and show interest in learning.
• Compliment success. When your child works hard, be sure to speak up. This reinforces the connection between effort and the good feeling of success.
• Link lessons to real life. For example, math skills can help your child calculate batting averages in baseball. A new vocabulary word may show up in a favorite book. Participating in a group project builds teamwork.

Reprinted with permission from the September 2023 issue of Parents make the difference!^®  (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2023 The Parent Institute^®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.