IMPORTANT DATES

OCT 5 - 11 Fire Prevention Week
OCT 5 World Teachers Day
OCT 6 PL Day [No Schools For Students]
OCT 7 - 9 Thanksgiving Food Drive
OCT 8 KES Walk for Breakfast
OCT 9 Immunizations Gr 6
OCT 9 Gr. 3 to Johnson Geo Centre
OCT 9 CIVIX Vote Gr. 4-6
OCT 13 Thanksgiving Holiday
OCT 21 Visit from Qalipu First Nation (AM) and Author Judy Falle (PM)
OCT 24 JAMARAMA
OCT 28 Lifetouch RE-TAKE (am)
OCT 31 Halloween
NOV 10 -11 Remembrance Day / Fall Break
NOV 17 Report Card Preparation - No School for Students
NOV 28 End of Term 1
DEC 3 Report Cards Issued
DEC 4 Family-Teacher Conferences [Early Closure at 11:15]
DEC 19 Last day before Break
DEC 20 - JAN 4 Christmas/Winter Break
JAN 5 First Day Back to School
FEB 23 Winter Break
MAR 6 Report Card Preparation - No School for Students
MAR 13 Term 2 Ends
MAR 16 St. Patricks Day Holiday
MAR 18 Term 2 Reports Issued
MAR 19 Family-Teacher Conferences [Early Closure 11:15]
APR 3 - 12 No School for Students [Spring Break]
MAY 18 Victoria Day Holiday
JUN 3 - 4 Gr. 6 to Echo Pond
JUN 25 Last Day of School for Students

(Other dates will be added on our webpage when available)

OUR MISSION

At Vanier Elementary School, we are committed to fostering lifelong learning in an atmosphere of caring and mutual respect, which encourages personal achievement and development, and promotes a sense of responsibility to society and the world.

OUR VISION

Learning, sharing, growing—preparing for the future | En apprenant, en

partageant, en

grandissant—on se prépare pour l’avenir

Vanier Sea Star Song

I am a Sea Star

At Vanier

I follow our matrix

Each and every day.

In the bathroom, the hallway,

At gym and music too,

Playground and classroom,

Respect for me and you.

I am RESPONSIBLE.

And KIND you’ll see,

RESPECTFUL and POSITIVE,

And practise SAFETY.

And then I am proud

When I look up and see,

I earned a Sea Star

I'm the Best I Can Be!

Happy Fall from Vanier!

We hope you are enjoying this beautiful Fall day!

And a very special belated HAPPY WORLD TEACHERS' DAY to our staff, who are second to none!! This day is celebrated on October 5, and reminds us of the important work teachers do here at home and around the world to help students in their learning journey.

This weekend we will celebrate Thanksgiving, and we know we have so much to be thankful for at Vanier. Thank you to our Vanier community for all you do to support our students. Thank you to our wonderful Vanier Volunteers for your assistance with so many activities and programming throughout the year. The month of September has brought new routines and friends and learning. Our virtual presentation of our Curriculum & Connections Night is available here if you have not yet viewed it.

Staffing Changes

We are sad to say goodbye to Ms. Carolyn Strowbridge, Student Assistant, who joined us at the beginning of this school year but has now accepted a position at another school. Thank you, Carolyn, for supporting our students this past month and we wish you the very best. We also have a new Crossing Guard, who is an employee of the City of St. Johns but a big part of our Vanier family. Ms. Heidi Taylor, who is actually a former student, is back home with us at Vanier. A warm welcome back to you, Ms. Taylor. We ask that all heed our Crossing Guard's directions on Ennis Avenue. Finally, we have to say good bye to replacement Speech Language Pathologist Ms. Paulette Jackman who has been replacing Ms. Sheila Greene this past month. A big thank you to you for all your work with our students. A warm welcome back to Ms. Greene!

TD Walk to Breakfast ~ Kids Eat Smart ~ Walk to School

Vanier will be participating in a Walk to School to support our Kids Eat Smart Breakfast Program on Wednesday, October 8. We invite students to walk to school (or ride their bike) on that day, if possible, and we will do a walk at school as well. If you would like to support the Kids Eat Smart Breakfast Program with a donation, you can do so and directly support our school program at https://www.kidseatsmart.ca/ . Our KES Breakfast Program currently runs three days a week (Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday) with a wonderful group of volunteers! If you would like to help us by shopping for supplies or preparation/distribution of food to our students, please contact hughkeenan@nlesd.ca. Thank you to Mr. Keenan who organizes our KES Breakfast Program.

School Council 2025

Outgoing members Ms. Heather Tobin , Ms. Suzanne Orsborne, and Mr. Stephen Pope (end of third year term) have made important and valued contributions to our School Council over the past three years and our students have greatly benefited from their care and commitment. We have fundraised and worked very hard together and we thank them for their support. We are looking for volunteers to come forward and be part of our Council. Council meets a minimum of five times per school year and advises and supports our school with regards to programming, school development and fundraising. Please see this Nomination Form for Parent Representative to submit a nomination. If we receive more than one nomination, we will hold an election. Nominations are due on Wednesday, October 9th at noon. If you are unable to access the electronic form, we can supply a hard copy at the Office.

Thanksgiving Food Drive and Holiday

Vanier will be closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Monday, October 13th. We are accepting non-perishable food items this week until Thursday, October 9. These will be collected by Metrobus for the Community Food Sharing Association on Friday morning. Thank you for your generosity to help feed those who are in need of support this Thanksgiving, and a big thanks to Ms. Tara Barrington for organizing this event for our school.

JAMARAMA for the Janeway

We will participate in the Janeway Jamarama this year on Friday, October 24th. Students are invited to wear their pyjamas that day as a reminder of our support for those students who have to learn in their PJs at the Janeway. If families wish to donate to the Janeway, you may do so at this link and search for Vanier Elementary in the Team section.

Terry Fox Walk

Thank you to all in our community for helping us raise $2175 this year in Terry's memory and for the continued research of cancer treatments and advancements which give us all hope that Terry's dream of a world without cancer will be realized.

BlueSky Social Media

We have moved from Twitter to BlueSky and can be found @velementary.bsky.social. This is our only social media account. It will be used to share good news and events happening at Vanier, but it is also a very efficient way to share information regarding unexpected school closures or other timely information we need to share. Please follow our account on BlueSky to gain access to this information about our school.

Allergy Alert

These allergies exist in our School Community. Please do not send these items to school.

PEANUTS TREE NUTS SCENTS SESAME SEEDS FISH
Wow Butter is not permitted.
If your child is diagnosed with an allergy or any medical condition during the school year, please let us know.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CROSS COUNTRY RUNNERS!

Our Cross Country Running Team earned outstanding results at the NLAA Meets at Bowering Park! Huge thanks to Coach Bazeley and Coach Johnston, and of course Ms. Shortall. Results can be found at this link. All should be very proud of their participation and effort in this great annual event!

WEDNESDAY GARDENING SESSIONS

Thank you to all our volunteers who have been working with our Garden Committee, teachers and students to ensure that our garden is well taken care of and will have a good yield this Fall. A big thank you to Ms. Catherine Abbott for your work with our Gardening Committee and Mr. Keenan for your work with our upcoming Soup Day (further details to follow, planned for November). We are very proud of this Vanier Garden to Table project.

FIRE PREVENTION WEEK

This week is Fire Prevention Week.

We will have Fire Prevention activities and messages.

We remind families of the theme of this year's Fire Prevention Week:

Charge Into Fire Safety - Lithium Ion Batteries in Your Home

Presentations with the Qalipu Nation

On October 21, we will have four presenters who are visiting Vanier to work with classes and help us learn and experience more around the culture and traditions of the Mi'kmaq. Alicia Whiffen, Monica Ford and Jessi Martin will be with us in the morning, and in the afternoon we will have author Judy Falle.

Ms. Falle has authored a collection of books, and if a student would like to pre-order a signed copy, an order form has been provided. The order form can be accessed electronically at this link Judy Falle Order Form, if families would like Ms. Falle to provide a signed copy of one of her books to your child(ren).

HELP US GROW VANIER'S LEARNING GARDEN!

A message from the Gardening Committee:

Thanks to a new grant, Vanier's Learning Garden is getting a big upgrade: We are replacing our old wooden garden beds with durable new metal ones! Now we need your help to bring this exciting project to life.

We're looking for parent volunteers to join us for a one-day Garden Build Event to dismantle the old beds and assemble the new ones. If you’re handy with tools, enjoy working outdoors, or just want to lend a helping hand, we’d love to have you join us.

This is a great chance to support your child’s school, meet other Vanier families, and make a lasting impact on our garden space.

Healthful Halloween

At Vanier it has been a long standing tradition to enjoy a 'Healthful Halloween'. For us this means that we do not bring or distribute treats at school for Halloween, in keeping with our School Food Guidelines. We know that our students will get lots of treats as they go Trick-or-Treating, so we do not add to this with extra treats from school. Thank you for your support with this! Students may bring their costumes to school and teachers will be in touch with specific plans for your child(ren)'s grade/class.

School Messenger / Safe Arrival

Did you know if you download the app SchoolMsger you can enter attendance for your child directly in our school attendance system? When attendance is not entered, our Safe Arrival system will trigger a phone call and emails to be sure that your child has not had any issue with arriving at school and is safe at home with you. Please reach out if you have any questions about the School Messenger service.

SATURDAY MORNING CHESS CLUB

This Chess Club, while held at Vanier, is not exclusively a Vanier Chess Club, but is attended by several schools in the metro area. Mr. Chris Dawson, Mr. Michael Pickard and Mr. Ryan Pickard of the NL Chess Association are the leaders of this club which takes place on Saturday mornings, 9:30 - 11:00 in our gymnasium. For information, please reach out to chris.dawson@chess.nl.ca or the Facebook Group Newfoundland and Labrador School Chess Association. Or you can come to the school gym on Saturday morning to connect with the Club!

MORNING ARRIVAL

Thank you to everyone for helping our morning arrivals go so smoothly! We do ask that you please take note of the following:

All Courtesy Seating Applications for bussing have now been processed. If you have not yet received a response, please contact tinamaloney@nlschools.ca
No parking/stopping in the signed areas coming down Ennis Avenue. Parking here makes it difficult for everyone crossing to be seen.
Always drive slowly in the area and watch for students crossing on the lot or on Ennis.
Stop by the volunteer/staff member on the parking lot near the K entrance to drop off your K-3 child.
It is helpful when students are sitting on the passenger side for quick and efficient exit.

RYCOR Payment System and Online Forms

Thank you for setting up your account and submitting forms using this online service. Please go to this link if you have not yet set up your account. At this time, the following forms are available to all families on Rycor, as well as some grade-specific forms:

Acceptable Use of Technology
Media Consent Form
Permission - Vanier Library Learning Commons
Core Digital Tools Consent Form

GYM CLASS HEROES

Ms. Shortall is launching a wonderful activity that complements our physical education program. By grade level, students will be walking and tracking our steps, with the goal of walking all the way to Port Coquitlam, BC.

Why Port Coquitlam? This is the hometown of Terry Fox, and where the dream of his Marathon of Hope began. We will add our collective steps to do this virtual walk to Terry's hometown, 7821 kms away, as we learn more about our country, setting goals and healthy activity, all with a focus onTerry's legacy.

Responding to Mass Messages from Your Vanier Team

We regularly use a mass email service, School Messenger, to communicate important messages to families.
This service does not send return messages directly to our inbox when you respond (your response will land in spam).
If you wish to respond to one of our 'Dear Vanier Families' messages, please send a separate email to tinamaloney@nlschools.ca , hughkeenan@nlschools.ca or traceyhurley@nlschools.ca
We do not want to find your email in our spam file as this will likely cause delays.

Student Handbook

A reminder to review the 2025-26 Vanier Student Handbook and our Behaviour Matrix for our shared expectations and routines at Vanier.

Emergency School Closures

If you have not yet informed teachers of your intentions in the event of unexpected school closure, please get in touch . We will post on our BlueSky Feed, as well as our website, and use our mass email system to alert you any time this occurs.

Dressing Warmly Every Day

Just a reminder to continue to dress for the weather every day! We believe in getting our students outside for learning and play as often as we can, as fresh air and exercise are so important to our growing learners. If your family requires assistance providing a coat/hat/mittens/snow pants at this time, please get in touch. And if you have gently used clothing to share, we happily accept these in our Vanier Vault.

VANIER VIRTUAL GALLERY ~ NOTRE GALERIE VIRUTELLE

Follow us on BlueSky @velementary.bsky.social

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