Check out our upcoming story times with Bedtime Shenanigans.
No pre-registration necessary.
Events are free!
Feb 11
Belmont Designs Pink Shirts For Anti-Bullying
The Sooke School District Supports Pink Shirt Day
On Friday, Belmont’s gay-straight alliance students unveiled their anti-bullying t-shirts made in partnership with the Department of National Defense. Students, teachers, and Principal Ray Miller all gathered around as they opened boxes containing 600 shirts! The shirts are selling for $10 to the public and $5 for students. You can purchase yours at the main office. The Department of National Defense is selling Belmont’s ant-bullying shirts to staff at their base and will wear them on Pink Shirt Day, which is celebrated nationally on February 26, 2014! Thank you DND for supporting anti-bullying and our gay-straight alliance students!
Check out the official Pink Shirt website for more information and history.
Invalid Displayed Gallery
Feb 07
BC Family Day
Ready, Set, Family! Enjoy BC Family Day on Monday.
Kids in SD62 are out of school on Monday. Do you need help with ideas or finding events? The BC Government has a webpage dedicated to Family Day – Free events included!
Event Ideas
- Sleep in!
- Enjoy a family swim, Sooke, 1-3:30 p.m. at SEAPARC’s Pool
- Movies – Enjoy two films at the Victoria Film Festival
- Guided activities at the Royal BC Museum
- Golf at the Cedar Hill Golf Course
- Play a board game or learn a new board game
- Search Pinterest for Family Day crafts
Jan 30
Ready, Set, Learn at WestShore Town Centre
Hands-On Learning!
Invalid Displayed Gallery
On Wednesday, SD62 hosted Ready, Set, Learn, with community partners at WestShore Town Centre and Sooke Community Hall. Parents, along with their kids, ages three and four, experienced hands-on learning activities. Parents also had the opportunity to meet some of our educators and discover how they can support their child’s development. Stations at WestShore Town Centre included early number sense, early literacy, the importance of play and learning, fine motor development, aboriginal education, and French immersion. Kids were also treated to story time and musical entertainment from Ed Peekeekoot and Maureen Garry!
Community partners: Juan de Fuca Public Library, Journey of the Heart Preschool, Success By 6, Belmont Preschool/Books for Breakfast, Sooke Family Resource Centre, Inter-cultural Association of Greater Victoria, Action Schools BC, Victoria Immigrant and Refuge Society, and CRD Parks .
Jan 29
Ecole Poirier Literacy Day
On Tuesday, I was invited to Ecole Poirier to celebrate their literacy day. I read the book “Wolf” by Becky Bloom to Grade 1,2,4 and 5 French Immersion students at Ecole Poirier. The story is about a wolf who learns to read in order to impress a group of farmyard animals he has met.
ABC Life Literacy Canada has 15 family games to make practicing literacy fun!
- Write a joke book with your family.
- Read a bedtime story to the grown-up putting you to bed.
- Make up a new recipe together and post it online.
- Tell knock-knock jokes together while doing the dishes.
- Organize a book swap at your school.
- Make up riddles and tell them to your friends.
- Create a family book club.
- Build a drum with your family.
- Surf the Internet and learn about your favourite animal.
- Make up a song about your day to sing to your family at dinnertime.
- Write messages to your family on sticky notes and post them around the house.
- Create a story about what you’ll be doing for Family Literacy Day.
- Play a board game together.
- Build an acrostic poem using your hero’s name.
- Make an origami boat and see if it will float.
Jan 28
Ready, Set, Learn!
On January 29 drop into one of School District 62’s Ready, Set, Learn events and meet some of our educators!
Jan 23
Spencer Middle School Poets
Young poets left to right: Emily Prosser, Paige Haire, Carmen Maria Saracho, Tia Arseneault, Kieran Arney, Liz Wignall, Jordan Grandfield. Missing from the photo is Emily Reimer.
Eight grade 8 students at Spencer Middle School are soon to be published authors thanks to their meaningful poetic verses and thanks to their English Language Arts teacher Mrs. Nixon.
A part of the curriculum in the English Language Arts class is to write free verse poetry. After reading her students creative writing, Mrs. Nixon entered her students’ poems into the free Young Writers Poetry Contest. The contest is run Canada wide and entries are reviewed and chosen by editorial staff. All of the poems from Mrs. Nixon’s class were accepted, which is a rare occurrence.
“They were so excited and a couple of them couldn’t believe it,” says Nixon. “Carmen, our international student from Mexico was in disbelief. They were proud because they know they worked hard. ”
A few of the topics our young poets chose to write about include writers block, music, summer, imagination, and running (a metaphor). This isn’t the end of the road yet as the students are also entered into a second part of the contest which includes the possibility of winning money. The poems will be published in the Young Writers poetry anthology in June 2014.
Enjoy a couple of verses from our student authors.
A Writer’s Quest
My mind calms,
and I embrace the moment,
realising that my “nothing”
has become something. – Kieran Arney, grade 8
Piano
I can’t stop myself
The music healing my ears
Moving my hands right and left
Playing for years and years – Carmen Maria, grade 8
Read the congratulatory letter from the Poetry Institute of Canada
Jan 21
K-12 School Registration
It’s that time of year again parents! September registration for the 2014/2015 school year is coming up the week of January 27-31. Here is what you need to know.
Student registration takes place at your local Neighbourhood school from 8:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Find your neighbourhood school online under the Catchment Area Maps – www.sd62.bc.ca
Please Bring:
- Proof of Age
- Proof of Residence
New French Immersion (Grade K or 1), register at:
- École John Stubbs Memorial School (parent information night is Jan. 14, 7:00 p.m. at the school)
- École Millstream Elementary School (parent information night is Jan. 15, 7:00 p.m. at the school)
- École Poirier Elementary School (parent information night is Jan. 16, 7:00 p.m. at the school)
Late French Immersion (Grade 6), register at:
- École John Stubbs Memorial School (parent information night is Jan. 23, 7:00 p.m. at the school)
Please note – Registration for the Late French Immersion program will take place Feb. 3 – 7, 2014 at John Stubbs Memorial School.
Nature Kindergarten (at Sangster Elementary School):
Parent Information sessions:
- Wed., January 15, 6:30 p.m. at Sangster Elementary School
- Sat., January 18, 10:00 a.m. at Sangster Elementary School
Nature Kindergarten applications will be accepted starting at 8:00 a.m., Mon., February 3 at Sangster Elementary School. Application forms will only be available at parent information sessions and after 8:00 a.m. on February 3.
Please Note: Registration after these dates will be subject to space availability in each school.
District Bus Transportation: Any students requiring school bus transportation to and from school next Fall must pre-register. Registration forms will be made available at schools, the School Board Office on Jacklin Road and on our website.
Jan 20
Nature Kindergarten
Invalid Displayed Gallery
After a successful pilot of Nature Kindergarten at Sangster Elementary, the Board of Education at School District 62 is continuing to support the program into the 2014/2015 school year.
At SD62 we recognized that emotional intelligence is an important tool in education. Nature Kindergarten allows children to be immersed in nature where they engage all of their five senses at once. This produces positive results in the development of the child, physically, emotionally and intellectually. We think a program like this should be available to all students and so the district is exploring ways to expand what has been learned at Nature Kindergarten to other grade levels. As another positive step, the district will also be exploring opening one or two new Nature Kindergarten classes in September 2015.
Nature Kindergarten Registration (at Sangster Elementary School):
Parent Information sessions:
- Wed., January 15, 6:30 p.m. at Sangster Elementary School
- Sat., January 18, 10:00 a.m. at Sangster Elementary School
Nature Kindergarten applications will be accepted starting at 8:00 a.m., Mon., February 3 at Sangster Elementary School. Application forms will only be available at parent information sessions and after 8:00 a.m. on February 3.
Please Note: Registration after these dates will be subject to space availability in each school.
Jan 17
No Strike at SD62
As you may have heard in recent news, there is a possibility the Greater Victoria school district may strike on Monday. Naturally, there have been similar questions concerning a strike at School District 62. We want to let you know there will be NO strike or job action in SD62.
Our CUPE local 459 has ratified our agreement and it has been approved by government. Pay adjustments and retroactive payments to CUPE workers are expected in the very near future.
Again, there will be NO strike in SD62 schools (Colwood, Langford, Sooke, Metchosin, Highlands, Port Renfrew) this upcoming Monday, January 20th, 2014.