January 12-16, 2026

Week at a Glance

Great Way Martial Arts will be here all week!

Monday, January 12

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Tuesday, January 13

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Wednesday, January 14

Last day to order pizza! Please go to https://centralokanagan.schoolcashonline.com/ to order

Thursday, January 15

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Friday, January 16

Skating - Casorso and David 11:45am-2:00pm

**Please check out the monthly calendar on our website for upcoming important dates**

PAC Pancake Lunch

A huge THANK YOU to our parent volunteers that helped to serve up a pancake lunch for all our learners at HGE! The pancakes delicious and LOVED by all students. It was a great way to end our first week back.

As we begin a new year and jump into the adventures of January, we wanted to remind our families of our Handle with Care procedure. Please know that if your child or family are experiencing any sort of difficulty at home, we would like to provide additional support at school. We understand that you are not always able to share details, and that’s okay. If your child is coming to school after a difficult night, morning, or weekend, please email your child’s classroom teacher with the subject line “handle with care.” No text within the email body or explanation is needed, and no questions will be asked. This will help us know that your child may need extra time, patience, or help during the day.

Central Okanagan Public Schools is hosting two different opportunities for parents to share their voice and connect with the district as a whole. The first is a Public Engagement Sessions for staff, leaders, students, families, and partners to help imagine the future for our students. Your participation matters and we’d love to see you at the West Kelowna event on Thursday, February 5, 2026 (6:00–9:00 p.m.) at Mount Boucherie Secondary School in the main foyer.

The second is a Parent Symposium (COPAC Partnership). Central Okanagan Public Schools is pleased to collaborate with COPAC on a Parent Symposium designed to deepen two‑way engagement and amplify family voice on Saturday, February 28, 2026 (8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.) at the School Board Office in the Education Learning Centre at 1040 Hollywood Road South in Kelowna.

Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI)

Central Okanagan School District has partnered with the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) at the University of British Columbia to measure and promote children’s social and emotional development, health, well-being, and assets through the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI). The Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI) is a self-report questionnaire that asks children in middle childhood about their thoughts, feelings and experiences. The MDI is the first survey of its kind to gather information about the lives of children both in school, in the home and in the community, from their own perspective. The survey questions align with the BC Ministry of Education’s K-12 curriculum, which includes a focus on promoting children’s personal and social competencies.

Grade 5 students are invited to complete the MDI during class time between:

January 13th and March 13th, 2026.

For more information and to view the questionnaires:

https://earlylearning.ubc.ca/monitoring-system/mdi/mdi-overview/

Parent FAQs:

https://earlylearning.ubc.ca/monitoring-system/mdi/parent-caregiver-info/

If you have questions about the MDI, please contact Jessica Anjos at jessica.anjos@sd23.bc.ca or the MDI project staff at mdi@help.ubc.ca

HGE PAC NEWS

We are pleased to introduce you to the 25-26 PAC Executive. They are:

President: Dani Walls
Vice President: Kacy Martin
Treasurer: Jacqueline Pizzey
Secretary: Britney Morrison
COPAC Rep: Selena Hermann
Hot Lunch Coordinator: Kacy Martin
Special Events Coordinator: Laura Gustafson/Selena Hermann
Volunteer Coordinator: Melanie Boomhower

HGE PAC Dates for 2026

January 6
February 10
March 3
April 7
May 12
June 2

HGE Hot Lunch Program

Visit the Munch a Lunch website at: https://munchalunch.com/schools/helengorman/ and use this helpful guide HERE for more information to access and order.

Childminding @ PAC Meetings

A friendly reminder that childminding during PAC meetings is available only for students in Kindergarten to Grade 5. Childminding is offered through HGE PAC in the school gym and students are supervised by interested Grade 5 students. If you have a responsible intermediate interested in babysitting please email the PAC at hgeparents@gmail.com. Please know that the grade 4 or 5s who do take on this important role of "babysitters" during these meetings, do so knowing they are caring for younger children and having older middle students attend can make it challenging for them to lead with confidence. While we value connections with middle school students, we ask for your support in keeping childminding limited to children in grades K–5. If you have any questions, please contact the HGE PAC President, Dani Walls by emailing hgeparents@gmail.com. Thank you!

HGE Parents Facebook Page

Please join us at the "HGE Parents" Facebook group for ongoing updates and communications from the PAC and parent community.

Quick Link Reference: https://munchalunch.com/schools/helengorman/

EVENTS IN COMMUNITY

Learn about events in our community by clicking on the links below:

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