November 1st, 2011 Newsletter

Mustang Musings
Happy Halloween Mustangs!  The first two months of school are already behind us.  We have had lots of exciting events happen at the school in last eight weeks.  The football and volleyball seasons have come to an end.  The volleyball teams had a lot of success and we are very excited about the prospects for the future.  The football team once again had a re-building year that saw some great rookies introduced to the lineup that promise great things for the future of the team.  I want to send a big thank-you out to the coaches who gave their time to ensure that our Mustangs had teams to play on!  The flag football students wrapped up their season with a great Super Bowl game on Friday October 28^th!  Congratulations to all players who came out and played.  Hopefully everyone had a lot of fun and we will continue to look forward to more football in the future. 

In September, former student Rebecca Hennes applied for the Community Youth Challenge Scholarship Program which is sponsored by Fine Foods- Express Foods stores (such as Cat`s Video in Eston) in SK and MB.  Rebecca was chosen as the $2500 winner for SK... She will be presented her cheque at the Rider's game against Hamilton on Sat Oct 29th in Regina!  Congratulations Rebecca!  Mr. Brian Trainor, formerly of the Saskatoon City Police, will be here on Tuesday, November 22^nd to give our grades 4-12 students a presentation on cyber-bullying and internet safety.  In the age of technology it is so important that we know what is happening on our computers and that we are responsible for what we place on social networking sites like Facebook.  The School Community Council has generously agreed to sponsor this very worthwhile opportunity for our students.  We would also like to thank the SCC for their willingness to bring in our guest author and elder Sherryl Whitehawk as she made a presentation to the Native Studies Class in September of this year.  The 17^th to the 21^st of October marked Education week where we had a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Eston 95 Lions and a spirit week which followed that saw a lot of school spirit with some crazy hats and lots of school colors!

As we look into November we have Parent-Teacher interviews on evenings of the 15^th and 16^th.  We hope to see all of you out to talk about the student’s progress.  Make sure that you check out the SCC booth as our School Community Council would like a chance to help you understand what they do as important supporters of our school and our School Learning Improvement Plan.  The local fire department was here on October 28^th to distribute the grand prizes of a laptop computer and a Wii gaming system to the students who submitted a winning entry in our yearly competition.  Thank-you to Fire Chief, Don Brown,  and SGI, for sponsoring this very worthwhile project and for promoting fire safety in our community and across the province.

 Be sure to come out and see all the costumes at our annual Halloween parade on Monday Oct. 31^st!  Until next time, be careful carving those pumpkins and have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Yours in Education and Mustang Spirit,  John J McPhee, Principal

November and December - Grade 5/6 Kindergarten Lunch Helpers
Day 1 - Olivia and Shaya
Day 3 - Max and Jesse
Day 5- Baylee and Katie

SRC News
Since the school year began back in September, Eston Composite School has been a very busy place!  Our Student Representative Council has been very active promoting Mustang Morale in our halls.  We started off the year with our annual magazine campaign which once again proved to be very successful, especially when our SRC President, Katelynn Gardiner and Vice President,  Brooke Lobdell agreed to be “pied” in the face by the top magazine sellers.   Great Job Everyone! J  We also had the FCC Food Drive campaign and did amazingly well in supporting local food banks with donations.  We had competitions between the grades in both the elementary wing and the high school wing to see who could collect the most food items.  Our K-6 winner was the Grade 1 class and the Grade 7-12 winner was the Grade 12 class.  Way to go everyone!  Four students from our SRC Executive were given the opportunity to attend the Provincial Student Leadership Conference in Kindersley this year.  It was a great experience with many wonderful speakers that had the ability to get you really thinking!   Our sports teams have also been very busy with their fall seasons (and our SRC valiantly supporting them with food booths along the way!)   Our football and volleyball teams have been very successful and their spirit is what makes the rest of the student body proud to be called a ‘Mustang’! This last week we had our first of 2 Spirit weeks and it was a major success.  We started with ‘PJ Day’, and ended with ‘Mustang Colour Day’ and our Halloween Dance on Friday, October 28^th.  It has been a very fun week!  The SRC would like to extend a HUGE thank-you to the Eston Ministerial Association and our local churches  for providing the much anticipated “Muffin Mornings” once each month.  Also, to the Eston 95 Lions, thank you for generously providing us with a free pancake breakfast at the beginning of Education Week!   We are very grateful that you care enough to feed us!  It has been a great beginning to the 2011-2012 school year and I am sure that the best is yet to come!  Don’t forget to tune in next month for another edition of the ECS SRC News!

Yours in Mustang Spirit,  Jordan Andrew, SRC Secretary
 

Mom’s Pantry Orders …
The SRC will be collecting Mom’s Pantry Orders up to and including Monday, November 14^th.  If you would like to order anything from Mom’s Pantry please have your order completed and returned to the school no later than that date. 


School Community Council News
Your School Community Council would like to introduce ourselves and make you aware of some of our past and future projects. We welcome your feedback regarding any of these as we are here for the betterment of the learning environment at ECS- for the benefit of students, teachers and staff and parents alike.

We are: 
Rob Lobdell, Keith Powers, Janelle Bayda,   Shawna Cumiskey, Lavina Wagner, Lillian Hill, Lee Hanson, Tawna Hanson, Ellen Owens, John McPhee, and Katelynn Gardiner (SRC rep)

Our recent SCC Projects include:
September
- Author Sherryl Whitehawk's visit to our school
October
- the presentation of a $5.00 gift certificate to each student in the grade 1 class, to be used toward the purchase of one book of the student's choice from the Scholastic Book Fair
- the SCC assisted WCRR with the clean out of 2010/11 grain.  We raised $500.00.
November
- Brian Trainor will be conducting several class presentations on Cyber-bullying on November 22 for grades 4-12. Parents are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to attend these sessions as the issues discussed are current to the challenges our children face in their media-centered environment.
- members of the SCC will be present at the Parent-Teacher interviews that will be held November 15 and 16. We welcome parents to stop by and visit!

For further information on any of these projects please contact the school office, or any member of the SCC.

AboutTAKE OUR KIDS TO WORK – Submitted by Mrs. Denise Schneider, Division Career Counsellor
On November 2^nd, 2011 hundreds of thousands of grade 9 students from across Canada will experience a day in the life of an adult – at work.

This program is an annual nation-wide program that helps parents, relatives and volunteers host grade 9 students at their place of work. The program enables the entire community – parents, teachers, employers and employees – to play an important role in the development of young Canadians.

The goals of Take Our Kids to Work™ are:
� To give students a chance to explore their future
� To help students understand the importance of staying in school
� To help students appreciate a parent’s role in making a living and supporting a family

Research suggests that today’s students will have multiple careers over the span of their working years. They will need to master both new technologies and complex social and organizational systems. Today’s students need a strong sense of self and values of personal and social responsibility in order to succeed in the future.

High school students generally have limited access to workplaces. This program was borne out of the idea that awareness leads to knowledge. The more students understand about the jobs of their parents and relatives, the more informed the decisions about their own future career will be.

The first Take Our Kids to Work™ event took place in 1994 in the Greater Toronto Area. Since then, The Learning Partnership has expanded the program across the country. Take Our Kids to Work™ is now active in all provinces and territories across the country with more than 1.5 million students and 75,000 workplaces having participated since its inception.

UPCOMING DATES:
November 2 - Flu Clinic at Plus 50 Club
November 3 - Math Mania for the grade 1 and 2 parents (7:00 p.m.)
November 10 - School Remembrance Day Service at 10:45
November 11 - No School – Remembrance Day
November 14 - last day to turn in Mom’s Pantry Orders
- Babysitting Clinic (sponsored by Eston 95 Lions)  3:30 at the Lions Hut (notes have been sent home with the students who signed up)
November 15 – Picture Retakes at 9:00 a.m. (please note the date change!)
- Parent-Teacher Interviews (6:00 – 8:30 p.m.) (letters were sent home in late October)
- Babysitting Clinic at the Lions Hut (3:30)
November 16 - Parent-Teacher Interviews (6:00 -8:30 p.m.)
November 18 - NO BUSES – NO SCHOOL

A few ECS Staff in Costume for Halloween 2011