Happy Holidays and Happy New Year

All the staff at Bayview Fairways would like to wish all of our families a safe and fun-filled winter break.  We would also like to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  Thank you to our families who attended the Winter Concert.  The children performed beautifully.

We look forward to seeing everyone back at school on 

Monday January 4, 2016

Week Ahead January 4 to 8

Clothing Donation

Thank you to all of our families in the Bayview Fairways community who donated clothing to help  with the winter clothing drive for the Syrian refugees, whom we are welcoming to Canada. 

This is a wonderful way for our students to understand, firsthand, the character traits of compassion and empathy.  Just this week, the students in grade 5/6 were discussing the refugee crisis in class. One of the questions the students were discussing in talk partners was, 

"As you see it, how should the world respond to recent events in Syria?  Give reasons to support your response".

This type of lesson, focuses on social justice issues through the lens of the inquiry approach and is part of our social studies curriculum.

Movie Night

We would like to thank School Council for organizing and running a great Movie Night.  The kids had a wonderful time watching movies in their pyjamas and eating popcorn.  

As always, our Bayview Fairways community was very generous in bringing in socks as a donation for the homeless.  We have donated 262 pairs of socks.  

Movie Night at BFPS Thursday December 17

EQAO Dates for 2016

To our families of students in Grades 3 and 6, please note the EQAO dates below for 2016.

The Primary and Junior Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics will take place from:

May 25 to June 8, 2016

Please mark these dates down to ensure that students are at school for the dates and times of the assessments.  Please try and schedule appointments around the dates of the EQAO testing.

Last Day for Food and Clothing Drive

To all our families at Bayview Fairways P.S. we are very thankful for your generosity at this time of year.  The clothing and food drive has been a huge success. The food donations will be picked up on Wednesday December 16 and  the clothing will also be delivered on that same day.  We are asking that all final donations be dropped off at the school on Wednesday morning please.

Please note that the Sock Drive will continue through to the end of the movie night which takes place on Thursday December 17.

Again thank you for so kindly supporting these initiatives.

The Week Ahead December 14 to 18

Modern Learning

Modern Learning is authentic, relevant, deep learning that enables learn​ers to create, to connect, to communicate, to share their learning with the world and be ready for t​he future. 

One of the goals for the York Region District School Board is

to ensure that all our students are receiving the tools that

they need to be ready for their future through a focus on 

Modern Learning outlined in the graphic above through 

Vision, Mindsets, Deep Learning and Skills. 

At Bayview Fairways P.S. we are well on our way to 

providing this modern learning experience to our students 

through our approach on growth mindsets,  our focus on 

social skills in classrooms and in programs provided by our 

Child and Youth Workers, and our use of problem solving 

models to help students make sense of problems in all 

subjects. We are engaging our students by encouraging real-

life learning situations and integrating technology as a 

modern-day learning tool that motivates their interest. 

Our students have been engaging in creating code to design computer programs for minecraft and teachers are introducing our students to a math, "Prodigy" program connected directly to the Ontario curriculum.  In addition, we are working towards turning our Library into a, "Learning Commons" with many exciting spaces for our students to use, such as;  a green screen area to create videos and a makerspace to create items that students are interested in and might form the basis of an inquiry project.  We  are very excited about these opportunities at Bayview Fairways. 

Upcoming Events at Bayview Fairways P.S.

Here is a reminder about some of the events happening at our school this week and next before we break for the Winter Holiday.

December   7 -11   Book Fair
December 11         Progress Report Card Goes Home
December 16         Last Day for Donating to our Food and                                             Clothing Drive
December 17         Movie Night and Sock Donation
December 18        Winter Concert at 9:40 a.m. in the Gym
                             

Winter Break:  December 19 to January 3

January       4          School Resumes for the New Year

Inclement Weather

As the weather begins to change, please be reminded that all our students will be expected to be outside before and during school in most weather conditions. Please make sure that your children come to school dressed properly for our invigorating winter days and play outside during recesses. It is advisable for students to bring extra pants and socks. A change is often necessary due to the wet and cold weather of the winter months. 

To avoid adding to our clothing collection in the Lost and Found, please be sure to label all articles of clothing. Boots, jackets, hats, mitts, scarves, snow pants and a warm winter coat will make recess more enjoyable. 

In the event of inclement weather (rain, or a significant wind chill factor), students will be kept inside during all or part of the recess break. The principal will keep a close eye on weather conditions and make decisions based on what is best for the students.

To ensure the safety of students, school bus service may be cancelled from time to time due to inclement weather, extreme temperatures and/or poor road conditions. In these cases, parents and students should develop alternate care/transportation arrangements. 

Parents, students and school staff are asked to access the following radio and television stations after 6:00 a.m. to receive bus cancellation information: 

RADIO and TELEVISION 590 AM 640 AM 680 AM 860 AM 1010 AM 1050 AM 1540 AM 1580 AM 88.5 FM 89.9 FM 92.5 FM 93.1 FM 94.9 FM 95.9 FM 97.3 FM 98.1 FM 99.1 FM 99.9 FM 101.1 FM 102.1 FM 104.5 FM 100.7 FM 107.1 FM Television: CITY TV CTV Barrie CFTO TV CP24 GLOBAL NEWS.

A bus cancellation message will also be available at www.schoolbuscity.com and by calling 1-877-330- 3001.

Hour of Code at Bayview Fairways P.S.

During the week of ​December 7-13, people from all over the world will be participating in "The Hour of Code" to demystify coding and show that anyone can learn the basics to be maker, creator and an innovator (www.code.org).

Our junior and intermediate classroom teachers will be working with their students and a guest presenter to instruct students on coding. I am sure the students will learn alot and have fun in the process. Please enjoy the video below to give you an idea of this international activity.

Happy Hanukkah

To all of our families who celebrate the festival of Hanukkah, 

we want to wish you a happy holiday full of light and

 happiness with family and friends!

Pizza and Sub Lunches

Online Ordering for Pizza and Sub Lunch has re-opened.  If you have not already signed your child up to receive notifications from school cash online, please remember to do so.    

• Pizza:   Feb 5 – end of the year 
• Subs:    Jan 6 – Mar 30

Please go to our school’s website at:  http://www.yrdsb.ca/schools/bayviewfairways.ps/.   

The link to school cash online is in the bottom right-hand corner of the website.  If you do not have your child’s student number, please call the school.

School Cash Online will be used in our school for many various activities, such as hot lunches and field trips.  We are trying to create as paperless as possible an environment, as well as maintain a paper trail, avoid lost cheques and money, as well as offer families the convenience of online ordering. Pizza and Sub lunches are hosted by School Council and are operated by parent volunteers. All of the profits are used by School Council to improve your child’s educational experience at Bayview Fairways P.S. Some items supported by School Council include: 

• purchasing technology, 
• purchasing musical instruments for the band program,
• graduation events, 
• helping to fund school trips, 
• and various community events.

This year, School Council will be funding a renovation in the school library. School Council greatly appreciates your support.

The Week Ahead Dec 7 to 11

Holiday Window

Thank you to School Council for the beautiful window display for the Holiday Season in our front foyer.

Food and Winter Clothing Drive

Dear BFPS Community:

We wanted to let you know about two ways we are trying to help the community over the next three weeks.

Food Donations

We will be continuing our annual tradition of collecting food donations for the Thornhill United Church.  The Church then puts all of the food into baskets and delivers it to those in need in the Thornhill area.  The most useful items to donate are listed below:

 tinned soups, meat, fish, pasta sauce, fruit and vegetables, cereals packaged soup mix, pasta,   rice, sugar, flour, muffin mix, jello and pudding  jam, pickles, mustard, tea, coffee, hot chocolate,   cookies and chocolate

Please check expiry dates on food before sending as we cannot use and must throw out any expired items.

Winter Clothing Drive

We are sure you have heard about the 25,000 Syrian refugees who are coming to Canada over the coming months.  10,000 of them will be here by the end of December.  Many of these refugees are coming to the Greater Toronto area and they will not be prepared for our winter.  Therefore, we will be collecting gently used (or new) clothes to help them out.  Winter clothing is preferable, but all donations will of course be gratefully accepted.

           

All food and clothing donations will be accepted until

Wednesday, December 16^th, 2015.

Yours truly,

The Staff at Bayview Fairways Public School

Book Fair

Dear Parents and Families:

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to our school! What better way to promote reading to our students than by supporting this important literary event.

We invite your entire family to participate by purchasing the latest and greatest in children’s books. Your support of this vital literary event is a key part of helping us obtain new books and resources for our library and classrooms. You’ll find hundreds of quality books at our Book Fair with a wide assortment for all reading levels.

Students will be bringing home a flyer, which lists some of the books in the Book Fair.  The flyer also contains a special Family Event Draw ballot that parents can deposit during our Family Event. You could win $50 in books – $25 for your family PLUS $25 for your child’s classroom!

Don’t forget to mark the Book Fair dates on your calendar. Thank you, in advance, for supporting this great literary event. Thank you for believing in books and the impact of reading on your child’s future.

Please take a look at their flyer to see some of the books being offered.

Book Fair Dates:      Monday, December, 7^th to 

                                  Friday December 11^th

After School:            Tuesday, December 8^th  3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Location:                  Bayview Fairway’s Library

We accept cheques made payable to our school. Visa, MasterCard and American Express are welcome, too.

Kindergarten Registration Information for 2016 - 2017

Kindergarten Registration for the 2016-17 school year will commence on January 15, 2016. 

Registration forms are available on YRDSB's website: www.yrdsb.ca. 

Children who turn four or five years old during 2016, live within the school boundary and whose parents are public school tax supporters will be eligible to register for kindergarten. A Welcome to Kindergarten Information session for parents is being planned for this spring.  

For more information, please visit the YRDSB Website or contact our school.

Documents for Registration:

• Elementary School Registration Form
• Junior/Senior Kindergarten Questionnaire

Required Documents: 

• Birth Verification of student, which may include, but not limited to, birth certificate; statement of birth; birth registration; refugee claimant form; permanent resident card; confirmation of permanent residence (not application for); baptismal certificate; passport; citizenship card; First Nation, Métis, Inuit ancestry; record of landing; substitute registration of birth or adoption; or other Ontario government-sanctioned document approved by the superintendent of schools
• Custody/Adoption documentation if applicable
• Proof of Residency of the student - two documents, one from each of the categories below showing the home address;
  • Category A - notice of tax assessment, current rental/lease agreement, agreement to purchase including proof of purchase provided before the pupil attends the school, or property tax bill, and
• Category B - utility bill, bank statement or other official document
Additional information about more specific situations is available in the School Admissions Policy and Procedure or through your home school.

Revised Date for Gifted Screening

Please note that the  date for the Gifted Screening for ALL grade 3 students will take place on December 8th in the morning at Bayview Fairways P.S.

French Immersion Registration

French Immersion Registration will take place from January 15 - February 12, 2016 

Information sessions for the French Immersion (FI) program will take place at French Immersion schools on January 14, 2016 at 7 p.m. 

Our feeder school for French Immersion is Yorkhill Public School.

French Immersion registration will begin January 15, 2016. In order to streamline the registration process, parents or guardians of Senior Kindergarten students entering Grade 1 in 2016, and wishing to enrol in the FI Program, can visit or call their home school office (where your child currently attends) and request an:

Office Index Card - short version.

The Office Index Card must be signed by the principal of the home school. Parents or guardians then take this form, along with one piece of identification showing their address to your designated French Immersion school to register between January 15 and February 12, 2016. This eliminates the need to provide duplicate enrolment information or to pre-register.
  

Families registering students who do not currently attend a YRDSB school will need to complete full registration paperwork at their designated FI school. Information required for registration includes:

• Proof of child’s age (Birth Certificate/Passport)
• Any legal documents related to custody arrangements if applicable
• Proof of Residency of the student - two documents, one from each of the categories below showing the home address;
• Category A - notice of tax assessment, current rental/lease agreement, agreement to purchase including proof of purchase provided before the pupil attends the school, or property tax bill, and
• Category B - utility bill, bank statement or other official document.

YRDSB’s FI Accommodation Plan provides long-term consistency and equity of access to all students in York Region and will enable YRDSB to continue to offer the FI program to all who wish to enrol. The FI program will be offered in Dual Track or Single Track settings, in a variety of configurations. In order to meet community needs and optimize available space in our schools, a community's Grade 1-8 FI program may be provided over more than one school during the course of a student's FI education. This will allow flexibility in addressing community needs and the opportunity to use existing space in schools. Please note: Some of the FI accommodation plans will require facility modifications or the development of new schools and will require short-term transition plans that might include overflow while we work toward the long-term vision. Overflow refers to situations in which the Board directs students to attend a school other than their community school or optional program for a specific period of time, as defined in Policy #108.

The Week Ahead November 30 to December 4

Gifted Testing

This year, the Gifted Screening for all grade 3 students will take place on December 3rd in the morning at school.

This year's grade 3 Gifted Screening procedure is a two stage process. Stage one involves the administration of the Canadian Cognitive Abilities test (CCAT) to all Grade Three students.  If a student meets the CCAT criterion, they will be referred for Stage Two in the process, an Intellectual Screening, with a member of the YRDSB Psychological Services department.  Letters to parents of students who met the criterion to participate in stage 2 and forms to obtain their consent for the second stage of the gifted screening will be distributed to those parents in January, 2016.

Interviews and PA Day November 27, 2015

Please note that this Friday, November 27 will be a PA Day.  There will be no school for students on this day and please note the important Elementary Progress Report Card Information below:

Elementary Progress Reports

Our teachers are currently completing the  Progress Reports for students in Grades 1-8. As referenced in our Director's letter on November 3, 2015, these Progress Reports will be distributed in our school on December 11, 2015. If your child’s teacher has concerns with your child’s progress, she/he will contact you to set up a meeting. If you have questions about your child’s progress and a meeting has not been set up, please speak with your child’s teacher. Please note that because progress is tracked differently, reports are not being completed for distribution to students in Junior or Senior Kindergarten.

Parent Teacher Interviews

These meetings will be initiated by your child’s teacher where there are concerns regarding student progress and may occur on the evening of Thursday, November 26, 2015 or during the day on Friday, November 27, 2015. Teachers remain committed to ongoing communication with parents regarding student progress.

Kindergarten Progress

Your child’s teacher will initiate a meeting with you if there are concerns regarding progress. As always, if you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher directly.

Individual Education Plans

If your child has an individual education plan (IEP), you will receive an updated copy during the next reporting cycle in January.  Please contact your child’s special education resource teacher (SERT) if you have any questions.

Volleyball News

Over the last two days, our Intermediate volleyball teams played in the area tournament at Baythorn.  

The tournament involved our school and four others and Ms. Ng and Mr. Parfitt are very happy to say that our teams played with a lot of heart, skill and determination against some stiff competition. 

Both of the boys and girls teams each won three games….the boys made a miraculous comeback when down many points to come back and win one of these games.  The girls lost a real “nailbiter” against the best team there…losing 30-28.

BFPS should be proud of all of our team members for a great season!

The Week Ahead November 23 to 27

The Week Ahead November 16 to 20

Remembrance Day Assembly

Thank you to our staff and members of our community for participating in a very meaningful and moving Remembrance Day Assembly at Bayview Fairways P.S. on November 11.  Each class worked diligently to create beautiful wreaths to present during our assembly.  The students learned about resilience, courage and why peace is so important.  

Please see our wreaths below.

                                                                                 

                                                                               

Green Apple Grant

Congratulations!
Bayview Fairways P.S. has been awarded a Green Apple School Program grant of $1,000 to create healthy eating programming! 

We will use this money to augment our healthy snack program and to continue to engage students in healthy eating and in learning about healthy food options.

   

Diwali

Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights is celebrated this year on Tuesday, November 10th . Some Temples may celebrate this day on November 11th .

Diwali, (short for Deepavali, meaning 'line of lamps'), also known as the Festival of Lights is a Hindu, Sikh, and Jain festival that originated in India. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. Diwali also signifies many different things to different people. 

For most Hindus, Diwali is dedicated to the Goddess of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. In Bengal, Diwali honours the goddess Kali. For Sikhs, the festival commemorates the return of the sixth guru to the Holy city of Amritstar after his release from detention. For the Jain community, it commemorates the passing into Nirvana of Mahavira. It also may be the beginning of a new year for farmers who plant their crops after Diwali, as well as for business people and merchants who traditionally settle all accounts on this day and begin the new financial year. 

Everywhere it is celebrated, it signifies the renewal of life. To celebrate this joyous and important festival, people get together with friends and family, exchange gifts of sweets and greet each other with the words 'Subh Diwali’. Some set off fireworks and wear new clothes. Many light little clay lamps, called dipas or diyas, candles and even neon lights.

We would like to wish our  families, students, staff, and members of the community at Bayview Fairways Public School who celebrate Diwali, a happy and festive time with friends and family. 

The Week Ahead November 9 to 13

Remembrance Day Display in Front Foyer

We would like to thank our School Council for the meaningful Remembrance Day Window Display in our front foyer.  The display contains authentic material to help all of us reflect on what Remembrance Day means for us and how much we are grateful for all the veterans who served our country so that we can enjoy and cherish the freedoms we experience today.

Our Remembrance Day Assembly will take place on Wednesday November 11 at 10:00 a.m. in our school gym.  

School Bus Cancellation Information

To ensure the safety of students, school bus service may be cancelled due to inclement weather, extreme temperatures and/or poor road conditions.  In these cases, parents and students should develop alternate care/transportation arrangements.

Since some busing schedules begin by 7:00 a.m., cancellation decisions must be made by 6:00 a.m. to allow time to communicate this message to bus drivers.  Cancellation decisions will only be made after thorough consultation with the Safety Officers of school bus companies servicing York Region and are based on several factors including precipitation, air temperature, road conditions and weather forecast.

Please note the following;

• A decision to cancel school bus service will be region-wide meaning all school buses, vans and taxis will not operate. 
• When bus service is cancelled all school tests and/or examinations will be cancelled and rescheduled.
• Student trips involving the use of school buses will also be cancelled.
• School bus routes may be cancelled when severe weather may not be affecting all municipalities in York Region.  Both the YRDSB and YCDSB operate many regional educational programs.  Students attending these programs are transported over large attendance areas encompassing several municipal boundaries.  This limits the ability to cancel bus service using a municipality or zone methodology. 
• Unless otherwise stated, schools will remain open and parents can make arrangements to transport their children to and from school even if school bus service is cancelled.  If buses are cancelled in the morning, they will not operate in the afternoon. Therefore students transported to school by parents will require the same transportation home.

Parents, students and school staff are asked to access the following radio and television stations after 6:00 a.m. to receive bus cancellation information:

RADIO

590 AM            640 AM            680 AM            860 AM            1010 AM          1050 AM

1540 AM          1580 AM          88.5 FM           89.9 FM           92.5 FM           93.1 FM

94.9 FM           95.9 FM           97.3 FM           98.1 FM           99.1 FM           99.9 FM          

101.1 FM         102.1 FM         104.5 FM         100.7 FM         105.9               107.1 FM

TELEVISION

CITY TV     CTV Barrie     CTV Toronto     CP24     GLOBAL NEWS

A bus cancellation message will also be available at www.schoolbuscity.com and by calling 1-877-330-3001, or by following the YRDSB and YCDSB on twitter.