First Week of School

Well....we managed to get through the first week of school with only a couple minor glitches.  With a number of changes in place, we have all been busy changing student timetables, getting programs started, figuring out the new computer system, meeting with grade groups, all while navigating through the current teacher job action.

Mrs. Webster and Mrs. Argue are meeting with Peer Tutors and Counsellors who are in the process of being trained before they go out into classes.  Graduating students are still waiting for the Moodle server to get up and running so they can start their grad transitions package (I hear the server will be up this morning).  This year, interviews will be booked with myself once students have completed their packages and submitted to one of Mrs. de Wynter, Mrs. Webster or Mrs. Argue.

The Yearbook committee has met and voted on their new editor....congrats to Kaleigh Horne.  The group will soon be starting work on this years edition.  The Grad Executive nominations are still open and being collected at the front office.  Nominations will close in the next couple days and there will be a meeting on Wednesday to vote where necessary for the new leadership team.  The Student Council will be having it's initial planning meeting in the next week or so.

On the sport front, all three girls volleyball teams have begun practices/tryouts as well as the boys soccer team.  Stay tuned for updates as the game schedules heat up. 

For those of you familiar with the GFSS News, the new team under the guidance of Mrs. Grootjes has just published their first version on the GFSS News You Tube channel....excerpt below

  .........I loved the "Godfather" impression.

Undoubtedly we have had many reactions to some of the facility switches, most specifically, the move of the library to the DLC and bringing the Fitness Room upstairs to the old library location.  While several concerns have been noted, many positive comments have come forward from students with many already taking advantage of the open, accessible location. Currently there are over 50 students participating in our personal fitness program where they workout before school or during the day if they have a study block (senior students).  Due to the declining use of hardcopy books, we retained the fiction section along with some other books that were being used, and have created a smaller library where students can still access and sign out books.  With only 20% of the library resources being used prior to the move, we felt that we could better use the space for student learning.  We have also retained three computer labs where students do most of their research.
Check out a quick video of students using our new fitness room in morning class before school....

I also wanted to mention some concerns we have over the Grad Camp Out that seems to have become an ongoing tradition.  The school in no way approves or condones this activity.  As we had to deal with some potential graduating students coming to school on the first morning unfit to be here, it sends the wrong message to our incoming junior students.  Perhaps it is time for next years graduates and parents to support a new tradition.....examples like holding a grad barbeque the first morning of school where all students can mingle and enjoy some burgers and hotdogs before heading home, and grads can use that as their first fundraiser, would certainly add more to supporting a positive culture to begin the year.....just a thought. 

Lastly...don't forget our first PAC meeting is next Tuesday night, Sept 20th at 7pm in the new library location.....hope to see you there.

As always, you can email any comments you may have to gfss@sd51.bc.ca