Byron Southwood P.S.

From the Principal’s Desk

May is shaping up to be an eventful month at Byron Southwood.

For Education Week, we hope you joined us for one of our spring concerts.  Students enthusiastically practiced in and out of class to prepare favourite tunes from the seventies.  Later this month, budding stars will be auditioning and performing at our Talent Show Assemblies.  Every student from grades 4 to 8 were given the opportunity to compete at our in-house Track and Field Day. The successful athletes will be coached by various teacher-coaches to prepare for this spring’s competitions.  May also means “Jump Rope for Heart” and this is evident by the number of students skipping on the playground at recess.  This event is not only a great way to improve fitness; over the years our students have raised substantial funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.  Our intermediate teaching team has met several times to plan our Grade 8 Graduation ceremony.  This week, grade 7 parents will join us to organize the celebratory reception.  Our School Council has also been busy organizing a favourite perennial event:  The Spring Fun Fair.  Volunteers are needed - this is a great way to become involved and get to know staff, students and parents.

We have received many quotations from our families around the gardening, growth and diversity theme.  Thanks to those that have participated thus far – we are still collecting so please email your favourite ones to us.  The Saunders’ Art students will arrive mid-May to begin their work with our students.  This group of artists will have a great time creating our mural and choosing the text from a growing list of great ideas!  Be sure to send in all your recycled containers and lids as well.

With year-end approaching and to measure our students’ academic progress many of our teachers are administering important summative assessments.  Students from SK to grade 6 are presently completing their Developmental Reading Assessments (DRA).  Our school’s Speech and Language Pathologist is doing Phonological Awareness Screening with our SK students.  Preparations for our Primary and Junior Provincial Testing (EQAO) are taking place in our grade 3 and 6 classrooms. 

This is an exciting time for our teachers.  The results of these important tests never cease to amaze.  The tremendous academic growth within our students affirms the continuous daily work of both teachers and learners.

Great things happen every day at Byron Southwood - we invite you to come and celebrate our learning with us.

Liz Gonser