What does it mean to be a community?
Well one thing it means is admitting when you mess up – it’s been a month since the last blog and that’s a mess up on my part…so my sincerest apologies Gator Community. I want to keep you in the loop as to what is going on at the “swamp” (that’s where Gators live right?) and to do that, we need more frequent communication. It’s been very busy around here which makes it hard to find time to blog – and yet, gives us so much to write about!!!
The end of September saw the launch of our school wide QSP Magazine Sale put on by our SCC (School Community Council). The magazine sale is the SCC biggest fundraiser and has enabled them to do, and support, many cool things going on around our school. Above, you can see Jeff (of “Wow Mom” fame in the jersey) in the photo from our launch on the left. In the photo to the right is SCC secretary and QSP chair, Lois Young-Hamel clowning around with yours truly during the presentation to our entire student body. The sale is technically over, however, you can visit our school website to get a link to the sale still.
Also, at the end of September the Gators raised money for and participated in the annual Terry Fox Run. Combined efforts with Gator Park daycare and our students helped raise just shy of $850 dollars for the Terry Fox foundation. We had a great day for the walk, even if we had to reschedule – many students pointed out that Terry wouldn’t have rescheduled and wanted to spend some time in the rain 🙂 proving once again Gators love the water.
Pictured in the photos on the right above are a couple of shots of Mr. Norman’s class who did a very cool trip near Avonlea as part of an Outdoor Education experience at the Badlands.
Orange Shirt Day was celebrated on September 30th and is a day that recognizes the legacy of harm caused by Residential Schools. As a school community, we are committed to working towards the reconciliation called for by Justice Murray Sinclair in the TRC Report, specifically, call to action #63 aimed at educators. This is reflected in our school LIP and a learning journey we, as a staff, are undergoing together.
Part of our Learning Journey involved our staff viewing the “RIIS from Amnesia” documentary with the director and producer of the film on our last PD day. RIIS is about the historic Regina Indian Industrial School and its current context.
This past summer, one of our soon to be grade three students was diagnosed with leukemia. As a school community we have undertaken a #TeamKaleb campaign that began October 12th and that ends on the 28th to raise support for Kaleb and his family. In true Argyle fashion the campaign has been going awesome with students, staff, and community joining in to raise funds for this Gator family. In the photos below you can see some of the things that have gone on in the last two weeks. These include the “We are #TeamKaleb” Wall, Bracelet sales, and a movie night for our community. We look forward to being able to present our support to the family when our campaign closes.
Last week, was Education Week and we were so happy to have a number of events that supported the theme of “Celebrating Today. Preparing for Tomorrow.”
As part of the week, we presented our class of 2025 (that’s the Kinders) with Class shirts that, at least fashion wise, welcomed them to our community!
One day was a dress up day entitled, “Dress as your future self and we had some great fun with that.
Our last event was the return of “Books, Bagels, and Belonging” on Friday morning which saw a great turnout of students and families to read and have some breakfast together!
For those of you who drive by Argyle regularly you may have noticed a change that has been in the works for a while. We now have a crosswalk that goes across Lakeview avenue from the corner of Kings Rd.. Please be conscious of our students as they use this new safety feature that our SCC has been pushing for for the last couple of years. Many thanks to our SCC for their ongoing efforts on behalf of our students and community.
You all know that this is a special place and I want to thank you all for what you do make this a community and for continually teaching us all what it looks like to be a part of the wonderful community that is Argyle.
At the end of the rainbow is our own little pot of gold 🙂
ARGYLE SCHOOL 