Bruce Peninsula District School & St Edmunds Public School News
Submitted by Bronwyn Stanton
March was yet another exciting month for students at Bruce Peninsula District School (BPDS). The month started off strong in winter sports. The elementary ski team took 29 students—the largest team at the event— to compete at the Sawmill track in Hepworth. After a long day of incredible hard work from both our first-time junior skiers and our seasoned seniors, the team won the Bluewater Nordic Ski Championship trophy. The coaches are so proud of this team’s accomplishments. Congratulations, Panthers!
Also, in elementary, public speakers were awarded for their amazing speeches on March 5. Congratulations to our primary winners (Violet, Dawson, and Tucker), junior winners (Mabel, Trent, Emmet), and seniors too (Avery)! A special thank you to Kim White and Chris Mawdsley from Legion Branch 202 for their support, and to Ms. McIver for organizing. Mabel and Violet competed at the Zone level on Saturday March 22 in Owen Sound. There were many great speeches presented that day by competitors from around Bruce and Grey counties. Violet won third in the Primary division and Mabel won first in the Junior Division. Mabel will compete again in Brussels on Saturday April 5.
In secondary, the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) students from the Outers class took their First Aid training on the week of March 8. The students worked hard over two days to complete this training! Thank you to Anna Martens for being a wonderful instructor!
The Outers crew also completed winter practice and winter camp. Outers teacher, Mr. Clark noted, “This winter the Outers crew made the adventure down to the Bluewater Outdoor Education Centre (BOEC) to complete their winter camp. They used the knowledge of winter camping taught in class to spend 3 days and 2 nights outdoors. The students slept in quinzhees, cooked all their own meals on the fire, played lots of games and huddled together for warmth. They showed immense leadership and teamwork skills helping and supporting each other through the cold nights and windy days.”
The Secondary Student Council worked to organize a spirit week for March Madness after March break! Our whole school did a great job of dressing up for days including green day, monochrome day, decades day, rhyme without reason, and rock your socks day! Thanks to everyone who participated.
Finally, the secondary students kicked off their Experiential Learning Projects (The Expo). At BPDS, our teachers wanted to support students and the love of learning – whatever that may be! During this semester, every Secondary student is working on a passion project and are being given time to learn a new skill. We have students fixing engines, learning languages, doing nail art, learning to bake, learning how to rollerblade, learning how to play instruments and so much more!
This project was supported with Bluewater District School Board’s Experiential Learning funding, so teachers can provide the resources that students need for their projects and support our community experts coming in as well!
I would like to take a moment and introduce myself: I’m Bronwyn, the new grade 11 co-op student at Bruce Peninsula District School. I will be authoring the school’s article for the next couple months, as I work on refining my writing techniques, social abilities, and audience engagement. I look forward to providing an inside scoop of the goings on at the school and developing my journalism skills! Thank you to Mrs. E Cameron for the opportunity.
Stay tuned for information about more great events at BPDS.
Report from the Principal’s Office
Submitted by Brenda Brewer, Principal, and Breanna Heels, Vice-Principal
We are now into what we like to call Apr-May-June! Hold onto your hats as we fly our way to the end of the school year – but hopefully not too quickly because these next few months are some of the best!
We are excited to welcome Spring at BPDS, as we engage in more outdoor learning as the weather starts to warm. The JK/SK and SK/1 classes have already been out and about on the yard looking for signs of Spring!
As we welcome the vibrant season of Spring (hopefully as you are reading this, it is more vibrant than the ice storm we have just recovered from), we want to take a moment to reflect on the growth and renewal that this time of year brings. Just as flowers bloom and trees begin to bud, our students continue to blossom, showing incredible progress and enthusiasm. Spring is a wonderful reminder of the importance of embracing new beginnings, and it’s a time for all of us to celebrate the hard work and perseverance that have shaped our school year. This time of the school year is always so rewarding as we see so many students blooming as all of their hard work thus far in the year comes into fruition.
However, we aren’t done yet! There are still 60 more school days left in the 2024-25 school year, so approximately 30% of the school year! We still have so much learning to do!
March UN Global Goal: Goal 5 – Gender Equality
As a LSF (Learning for a Sustainable Future) Sustainable Future School, we focus on the UN Global Goals. Each month, we focus on a different goal, and March’s focus is Gender Equality.
A few things we did this month to focus and learn about Gender Equality this month:
• Daily announcements about Gender Equality
• Highlighting female leaders in our community that all graduated from BPDS!
• The Polished Pledge – students and staff painted one nail pink to show their support for Gender Equality. Thanks to UNESCO Club for doing the painting!
Upcoming Important Dates:
-April 9 at 5:30pm – BPDS School Council Meeting
-April 10 – Celebration of the Arts (see poster below for details)
-April 11 – PA Day
-April 15 – Kiwanis Festival
-April 18 – Good Friday
-April 21 – Easter Monday
-April 26 – Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser at the Tobermory Community Centre for St. Edmunds Public School New Playground
-May 1-9 – Europe Trip
-May 14 from 4-6pm – BPDS Kindergarten Orientation
-May 15 from 2:30-4pm – St. Eds Kindergarten Orientation
If you don’t already follow our Facebook page, you can follow us at Bruce Peninsula DS or St. Edmunds Public School Community to see all of the amazing things happening at the school. If you ever have questions or concerns, give us a call at (519) 793-3211 or by email: Brenda_Brewer@bwdsb.on.ca and Breanna_Heels@bwdsb.on.ca.
