October News
From your administration:
September has flown by and we are now into regular routines in the school and the classroom. We were thrilled to be able to host a pipe ceremony and Treaty 4 Flag Raising at Ethel Milliken School. This important event is a symbol of our school and community commitment to reconciliation. We are also thrilled to welcome our newest staff member, Mr. Rod Belanger, our school knowledge keeper, who will join us each Wednesday to assist our staff and students with a variety of activities and to teach us Indigenous ways of knowing, Treaties in the classroom and to support our work actualizing the recommendations set forth in the TRC.
Ethel Milliken is Getting a Facelift:
Regina Public Schools Facilities Department is going to be doing some upgrades in our school. This will include painting the interior of the school including the classrooms, painting the ceilings and replacing some of the metal cladding with suspended ceiling, upgrading lighting throughout the school, updating the change rooms and bathrooms and replacing some of the flooring as required. We are very excited at the prospect of modernizing our building! This work is set to begin soon. This will cause some inconvenience to our regular school business as each classroom will be relocated for approximately one week as the facilities workers move throughout the school with the painting and updating. All products they use have no or very low VOCs and any dusty or loud work will be completed after school hours to ensure minimal disruption. Thank you for your co-operation as we work to beautify our facility and bring it into the 21st century!
Autumn is here:
As the weather turns colder, it is important that students are dressed appropriately for outdoor play. Students will be outside at recess and before school and will need warm coats and soon will need toques, mittens and scarves. We also ask that students have both indoor and outdoor footwear so we can ensure our floors remain clean. In the event of an evacuation, students need to have shoes on their feet and do not have time to stop and put on boots/outdoor footwear.
Attendance Matters:
Regina Public Schools has partnered with the United way of Regina to promote attendance. The goal for each of our schools is 96% attendance. Ethel Milliken had 95% for the month of September. As part of the attendance matters initiative, students with less than 80% attendance for the month will receive an attendance matters letter by mail. This is a division wide strategy to assist in promoting positive attendance while also identifying and trying to provide support for students who are falling into the warning or chronic absence area. Did you know that if a student misses two days of school a month from Kindergarten through grade 8, that student will have missed an entire year of school? Thank you for supporting the attendance matters campaign and for ensuring your children are at school regularly and on time! Better attendance generally results in higher achievement; the majority of students with 90% attendance or better are able to read at grade level and grade level reading is the most important indicator of future success!
Healthy Hunger Lunches:
Students who stay at school for lunch are invited to participate in our Healthy Hunger lunches. These lunches can be ordered online if your family chooses to participate. For instructions on how to sign up for the program click here. Supervisors are present for students who have registered and paid for lunchrooms or who have registered for lunchroom and are transported by Regina Public Schools. If your child goes home for lunch, he or she is welcome to order from the Healthy Hunger but must take their order home to eat.
Our first Healthy Hunger lunch will be Boston Pizza on October 17 and the deadline to submit orders for this lunch is October 9!
Halloween at Ethel Milliken:
The Ethel Milliken Student Representative Council has planned some fun activities for Halloween. Students are welcome to bring their costumes to school on Thursday, October 31. Costumes cannot have masks, no weapons or accessories and must be school appropriate. We will put our costumes on at lunch time and the SRC will be hosting a dance and canteen and other fun activities for the afternoon of October 31. Stay tuned for more information.
