Bruce Peninsula District School & St Edmunds Public School News
Submitted by Brenda Brewer, Principal, and Breanna Heels, Vice-Principal
It might not feel like we are getting closer to summer with these cooler temps, but I can’t believe that we are! April flew by, and here we are in May. However, with the way the weather changes these days, it might be warmer by the time you are reading this! We are in the final two months of the school year, but there is still so much to learn and do!
With just six weeks remaining, we are focused on finishing strong! The next couple of months are a time of celebration, with special events like showcases, class trips, class celebrations and graduations highlighting our students’ growth and achievements as we move toward a successful close to the year. Thank you for being such an essential part of our vibrant school community!
April UN Global Goal: Goal 13 – Climate Action
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 April’s focus was Climate Action.
A few things we did in April to focus and learn about Climate Action:
• Earth Day litter clean-up – around Bruce Peninsula District School (BPDS) and around Lion’s Head
• Survival Game – Grade 6-8s played a game of survival. Predators and prey had to avoid the wrath of disease, the kills from the hunter and the elements of earth. They scavenged the playground for food and water and visited Mother Nature to mate or beg for lives.
• Outers and Grade 8s went to Inglis Falls with Grey Sauble Conservation to clean up invasive species
• Kindergarten did a different action each week – Pick up litter, turn off the taps, turn off the lights and use less paper
• Litterless Lunches
• Grey Sauble Conservation donated trees and Grade 8s planted them on our school yard!
• Grade 2/3s went bird watching at Bruce Peninsula National Park
We now have TerraCyclers at BPDS – one for snack wrappers and one for coffee pods. TerraCycle is an organization that recycles the unrecyclable: waste streams that aren’t typically curbside recyclable.
-Coffee Pods – Please drop off any pre-packaged beverage capsules used in capsule-specific machines to make hot beverages. The capsules do not need to be emptied or cleaned, the grounds will be composted!
-Snack Wrappers – Please drop off any brand and size of flexible plastic-based candy and snack packaging and wrappers.
Feel free to drop off your coffee pods and snack wrappers to BPDS!
Experiential Learning Expo at BPDS – Friday, May 16th
This year at BPDS, as part of our School Improvement Plan and to address the BWDSB Critical Question of who our current practices are not working for, we have been focused on student re-engagement, perseverance, sparking curiosity and a love of learning. As part of this, Secondary students have been participating in an Experiential Learning project this semester where they have been allotted time each week to work on self-directed learning to develop a skill or a passion – entirely of their choice. We have students who learned how to paint landscapes, rollerblade, fix an engine, learned a language, learned to play the guitar and the cello, bake macarons, learned to sew and SO much more! Through this project, our goal was for students to know that we value all learning and that learning sometimes takes time. It is also about sticking to something and developing perseverance and grit when learning gets hard.
Our students are ready to showcase their skills and their learning, and we hope you will join us! Please join us on Friday between 9:30am – 11:30am to come see what our students have been working on! It will be set up like a fair, and you will be able to explore student learning and ask questions!
We hope to see you at The Expo!
This project has been supported by the Experiential Learning funding, as well as community members who have served as mentors for the students.
Upcoming Important Dates:
-May 14 from 4-6pm – BPDS Kindergarten Orientation
-May 14 – Outers Emmett Lake Trip
-May 15 from 2:30-4pm – St. Eds Kindergarten Orientation
-May 19 – Victoria Day – No School
-June 2-5 – Celtic Trip
-June 3-5 – Footprints
-June 3-5 – Grade 3 and 6 EQAO at BPDS
-June 3-4 – Grade 3 EQAO at St. Eds
-June 6 – PA Day – No School
-June 20 – 26 – Secondary Exams
-June 24 – Grade 8 Graduation
-June 26 – Grade 12 Graduation
-June 26 – Last day of classes
-June 27 – PA Day – No School
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.
