It’s back to school

At Beurling Academy, new Principal David Abracen and his administrative team welcomed around 900 students to a building which, as we all know, had some major work done this past summer with the most noticeable being those shiny new windows and bright classrooms.

The Sec 1 students, new to high school life were welcomed with a BBQ hot dog lunch, cooked by the school’s celebrity chefs, comprised of Jim Colley, Richie Klimas, and Mike Loiseau, along with juices and Mr. Freezies thrown in for this hot day with some up tempo music to go along. The afternoon was for the Sec 2 to 5 students to get their schedules, and to renew acquaintances with teachers and classmates.

Over at Riverview, new Principal Deborah Gross and new VP Sylvie Martin welcomed with open arms over 260 students in their first day back and like most elementary schools, one could not help but notice the usual separation anxiety and some tears between parents and their 5 and 6 year-olds. I know the feeling.

Last but not least, at Verdun Elementary, Principal Joanne Brady-Merola, who has publicly announced her retirement, opened the doors for the last time to about 260 students including those in the pre-k. Here as well they got to renew friendships for another year of learning.

We wish to remind parents that all schools across Quebec must hold a General Assembly of parents by September 30th to elect parents to the Governing Board and to elect Sector Parents Committee Reps from amongst those parents. So it is important to attend those meetings. These parents represent you. We have the dates below.

As usual, there are 181 school days with the last day being June 23rd. There are 11 ped days during the school year, 8 of which are across the Board, and the other 3 being at the local level, so it is important to get a copy of your local school’s calendar.

The Christmas break is from December 22nd to January 2nd inclusive with the first day back on Monday, January 5th. The ever popular March break is from March 2nd to the 6th, and the Easter weekend is during the April 10th -13th weekend.

We have dates to keep in mind here. The meet the teacher evening/general assembly is slated for Thursday, Sept. 18th starting at 6:30 in the auditorium. School ID photos will be taken this Tuesday and next week on Monday the 15th, it is STM Bus Pass Photo Day.

Riverview’s General Assembly/Meet the Teacher evening is this coming Thursday and all parents are asked to gather in the gym for 6:30 p.m. The school picture day is next Wednesday the 17th, so this might be a good time to get the young ones in those new school clothes.

The first meeting of the Home and School, as well is next Tuesday, the 16th at 6:30 in the CLC Room, and these meetings are public, thus it might be a good time to bring forward some of our ideas for this year, and also the Annual Chocolate Drive starts on the 15th with those tasty Lamontagne Belgian chocolates. Yummy! Amongst the prizes this year will be one for the top selling class and an early bird draw for amongst all students who bring back a fully paid case ($80.00) before Sept. 20th, but we can’t tell you the prizes just yet. It’s a secret!

Verdun Elementary will be having their General Assembly evening as well this Tuesday evening starting at 6 with parents meeting their teachers afterwards to hear about the curriculum for the year. HAVE A GREAT SCHOOL YEAR.