Dear Vincent Massey families,
With another week of classes behind us, students are settling in to regular routines and are fully engaged in learning. Students are completing reading, writing, and math assessments, which provide insight for teachers as they plan for each student's growth this year. At the same time, we are building community through events such as our Terry Fox charity work: yesterday's 'wax-a-thon' was a big success and more activities will be happening next week, culminating in our school run day next Friday. We appreciate your support of this important Canadian charity and tradition and we look forward to welcoming Terry's brother Fred to the school on September 24.
Homeroom teachers will be sending messages today with a summary of the learning activities in each class. These updates will come every two weeks. If you are not receiving updates, your first point of contact should be your child's homeroom teacher. Teacher contact information can be found on the staff page of our website.
If your child requires extra help with their learning, Massey Mastery is a great place to start. These extra help sessions run before (8:15-9) and after (4-4:45) school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Mastery is staffed by at least one Math/Science teacher and at least one Humanities teacher. Students attending in the morning should come to the north parking lot doors, not the front door.
Additional information about your child's Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies classes can be found through teacher's online presence in Google Classroom for Grade 7 (part of Google Workspace for Education) and Brightspace by D2L for Grade 8 and 9. We use these different platforms at those grade levels because students in Grade 7 are familiar with Google Classroom while D2L is the normal high school platform. Links to these and other resources can be found on the CBE website at this link.
We have three very important parent events coming up over the next two weeks, all of which start at 6:30pm. On Thursday, September 17, we will be having our band parent meeting. As this includes the mandatory meeting for band camp, it's important that at least one parent/guardian of every band student attends. On Wednesday, September 23, we will be having our first school council and parent association meeting. These meetings are great to find out what's going on at the school, provide input on school planning, and support fundraising. On Thursday, September 24, we will be hosting our meet the teacher open house. More details will be shared next week but your child will be able to guide you through their typical schedule at Massey that evening, so please plan on attending from 6:30 to 8 that evening.
Here's a quick overview of the key events for the next two weeks:
- September 14
o Grade 9 ODL Meeting before school
o Boys Soccer Match vs TB Riley at home
- September 15
o Girls Soccer Match vs TB Riley at home
o Cross-country running meet #2 @ North Glenmore Park
- September 16
o Boys Soccer Match vs West Ridge at home
o Terry Fox 'Pie-the-teacher' fundraising activity at lunch
- September 17
o Picture Day
o Grade 9 ODL Meeting
o Girls Soccer Match vs West Ridge at home
o Band Parent AGM, 6:30pm
- September 18 – Terry Fox Day, special activities day at school
- September 21
o Boys Soccer Match vs Griffith Woods at home
o Cross-country running meet #3 @ North Glenmore Park
- September 22
o Grade 9 Outdoor Education City Bike Trip
o Girls Soccer Match vs Griffith Woods at home
- September 23
o Boys Soccer Match away vs AE Cross
o School Council and Parent Association Annual General Meeting @ 6:30pm
- September 24
o Grade 7 Assembly with Fred Fox, Terry's brother
o 'Meet the Teacher' Open House, 6:30pm to 8:00pm
- September 25
o Professional Learning Day, no school for students
Best wishes,
David Pugh
Principal