February 2nd 2024
- PAC meeting 8:30am in the Millar room
- Collab Day: Early Dismissal @11:45am
- Staff meeting 2:30pm
- !!! Safer Schools Together Parent Zoom session !!! Click here to register.
- Lunar New Year: Year of the Dragon. Click here to learn more about Lunar New Year.
Dear Myrtle Philip Community,
We are thrilled to share an exciting update with you this week! Over the past year, we have been diligently working on the development of our new schoolwide Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (P.B.I.S) system. This collaborative effort has involved numerous meetings and consultations with our dedicated teachers, Parent Advisory Committee (PAC), and, of course, our wonderful students.
As a whole staff, we collaborated to uncover the core values that define our community here at Myrtle Philip Community School. After distilling these values into a few key statements, we formed a task force consisting of counselors, classroom teachers, learning services, and myself to precisely articulate what these values mean in practice. Since then, we have consistently gathered to create and refine our behavior matrix and carefully plan its rollout.
This week and the next mark the culmination of our efforts as we officially introduce the P.B.I.S system to our students. Each class participated in a rotation, immersing themselves in learning about the four P.A.W.S values and understanding how these values manifest at Myrtle Philip. Our students visited different teachers to explore the application of these values in various school environments, including outdoor spaces, classrooms, and shared areas.
The engagement and enthusiasm from our students has been amazing to see. They were introduced to the behavior matrix and actively contributed to brainstorming diverse ways of embodying each value across our school spaces. Additionally, our Grade 6/7 classes took the lead in organizing an assembly for the entire school, scheduled for next week.
We appreciate all parents for their support in this endeavor. Your encouragement and collaboration have played a crucial role in bringing this initiative to fruition. Together, as a community, we are creating an environment where our values are not just spoken but lived every day.
Thank you for being an integral part of the Myrtle Philip journey.
FEEDING FUTURES FUND
We would like to update you on the grant from the Ministry of Education and Childcare to make back-to-school more affordable for students and their families struggling with rising costs of living due to global inflation. We are mindful that many families in our community are struggling with the increased cost of living. We want every family to know that they are eligible for financial assistance through the Student & Family Affordability fund, no questions asked.
This one-time funding support (this year) will be allocated towards school-related expenses, including:
- School supplies
- Field Trip funds
- Family food security
- Basic necessities
- Clothing/footwear
- Other necessities
The funds will be available through gift cards from Nesters for foods and other supplies. We will also continue to support anyone who requires assistance with paying to participate in our hot lunch program. If you require support in one of the other above areas, feel free to inquire and we will do our best to accommodate on a case-by-case basis.
If you would like to access the affordability fund, please let the office know by email to myself at [email protected] & share what you may need support for from the above list. Please be patient while we organize getting these gift cards and a system in place to support our families. If for whatever reason you have not heard back from me within a week, please re-send just in case it was missed. We don’t want any barriers for you to receive this support.
The School District is happy to announce that they are also partnering with local food banks to specifically support school food programs. At Myrtle Philip we receive lunch items weekly from Whistler Community Services Society. Thank you to the volunteers who make this program possible.
- Bikes MUST be walked at all times on school property, with the exception of the actual roadways in the parking lot and bike loop. There should never be anyone riding any sort of bike on a sidewalk, a walkway or a crosswalk for any reason. Bikes should be dismounted from at the bottom of the Valley Trail hill (in the parking lot area), and before the green garbage can in the bus loop area.
- Bikes on the roadways MUST follow traffic laws and the flow of traffic. The bus loop must be entered on the same side a car would enter and ridden through in the same direction a car would go, and the parking lot should be ridden through in the same direction as cars drive.
- If a staff member asks you to dismount from your bike for any reason that staff member must be treated in a respectful manner and the direction must be followed.
- When dropping off or picking up in the bus loop parents must remain IN THEIR CARS at all times. This means no helping little ones with seatbelts, backpacks, or walking them to their classrooms. It is integral for safety that while in the bus loop the driver is always in the vehicle and behind the wheel.
- Parking in the bus loop is also prohibited. This is a quick drop off or pick up area. If you need to park please continue to the parking lot to do so.
- Children are walking through the parking lot all the time, please slow down to ensure safety.
