May 2024
Monthly Update

Every month, our school council (CASC) meets to discuss events, fundraising, and other school-related topics. As part of the meeting, our teacher representative provides an update on some of the events that occur in the school.   In addition, our principal sends out a weekly email which often includes a bit of information about what's happening around the school. While this post does not capture every event that happened this month, it does provide some highlights as shared by our staff.

• Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we start our day with a morning circle at 8:00am. During morning circle we share a land acknowledgement, school-wide announcements, birthdays, mention upcoming events and we sing O Canada together. This new initiative has been a great way to continue to connect with each other and build community. Parents are always welcome to join us at drop off on those days.

• May sharing was a huge success with many parents attending the event. 

• 70 students in grades 3-6 from Churchill participated in the 3on3 alternative basketball tournament at Summit. As usual, Churchill demonstrated amazing teamwork and sportsmanship throughout the day.  A total of 180 students from all 4 alternative schools attended the tournament. The staff vs grade 6 basketball game also took place - many students lined the gym to cheer! 

• Open gym was offered throughout May and June with a different sport offered each week: Bordenball, soccer, tchoukball, floor hockey, basketball, badminton.

• Our Kinder Wolves and Kinder Bees visited the Museum of Science and Technology and discovered so many interesting things! Thank you Kinder team and our many volunteers for this wonderful day. 

•  In the Grade 4 Dolphin class, students began their journey by examining the essential components of a biography, and gaining an understanding of its structure and significance. Following this introduction, they enthusiastically embarked on research endeavors, exploring the lives of various individuals from diverse backgrounds. Upon gathering a wealth of options, each student selected a person who particularly piqued their interest, initiating in-depth investigations into their chosen subject. This personalized approach allowed for thorough exploration and immersion in the lives and achievements of their selected figure. The Dolphin students thoroughly enjoyed this assignment as it allowed them to explore the lives of intriguing individuals but it also provided foundational knowlegde about researching and crafting biographies.

• School of Rock was busy preparing for the June 6th shows with over 50 students practicing almost everyday.  

• Staff and students had an amazing time at the Danceathon and we cannot thank the Dancemania team enough for the time and energy they put into this event and to members of CASC who led the fundraising. 

• A HUGE shout out to the Cacti and to our amazing school community. With your support, we were able to collect an impressive $1015 for W.E.Gowling’s play structure fundraiser! Someone in their school community will match our donations for a total of $2030. Thank you to everyone on behalf of the W.E. Gowling staff and students.  

• Throughout the year we have been able to acknowledge and celebrate the many different employee groups that make Churchill such an incredible place to be.   This month we said a HUGE thank you to Ria and Kathleen for all they do for all of us and today we had the honour of thanking and recognizing the AMAZING EA team that work tirelessly to support not only our students but our staff and families too. Thank you to Kether, Jennifer, Sara, Lyne and Gode!