Spotlight Grade 7/8 - Mr. Cuello's class

 

Students in Mr. Cuello's grade 7/8 class designed their ideal classroom. 

Take a look at some of their innovative designs.

Parking Lot Safety and Student Drop Off

 Hello Aurora Grove Families,

Welcome back from March Break.  We continue to have snowbanks in our parking lot, but would like to remind families of parking lot routines to help keep all of our students, families and staff safe.

 

Parking

·       Please ensure that your vehicle is parked in a designated parking spot if you are leaving your vehicle

·       The diagonal yellow lines in the parking lot are considered fire routes and we have been informed by Town of Aurora By-law officers that they will be ticketing vehicles for this violation

·       There is available parking on the school side of Stone Road throughout the school day, where posted.  Please be aware of the signage.

 

Drop Off

• We are fortunate to have staff on duty in our drop off area. Their primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of our students. Please follow their instructions
• Students should exit the vehicle from the passenger side only. They should not exit into traffic.
• Parents should not be exiting the vehicle in the drop off area
• If parents would like to take their child(ren) to their entry door, please park your car in a designated parking spot or on the street and safely accompany your child to the school
• While in the drop off lane, vehicles should continue towards the front door so that we have space for all vehicles in the drop off lane
• Do not stop between the pylons near the intermediate doors unless directed by staff.  These are designated drop off spots for buses and taxis
• Please use caution when exiting the drop off lane for oncoming traffic
• Students and families should use the designated crosswalk by the office doors when walking through the parking lot

  

 

Afternoon Pick up

• Ensure that your vehicle is parked in a designated parking spot (see the red streets in the image below). Do not double park your vehicle. Consider parking on the school side of Stone Road and then meeting your child(ren) at their exit door
• Families of older students – consider meeting at a location within a short walking distance to the school
  • Primeau Drive (behind the school field)
  • Crows Nest Gate (across from Holy Spirit Elementary School)
• Students are NOT to cross through the parking lot without adult supervision. If you are parked in the parking lot, please meet your child at their exit door so you may accompany them through the parking lot 
• The morning drop off lane is a designated fire route and there is NO stopping or parking in this area.  Vehicles will be ticketed.

 

Community News

WELCOME TO AURORA GROVE

On March 8th, AGPS held our first Welcome event for families who had not yet had a chance to visit our school. Families who attended were given the opportunity to access useful resources, meet some of our staff, and ask questions. They were then led on a tour by a wonderful group of student ambassadors from grades 1-8. Our ambassadors were excited to be able to connect with families using their home language and were amazing representatives of AGPS!

The overwhelming feedback from students, staff and parents was that it was a valuable experience for all involved and we should continue with similar events in the future. We look forward to hosting our next Welcome event. Stay tuned for more information!

CELEBRATING NOWRUZ

On March 21st, Aurora Grove Public School celebrated the Persian and Iranian new year. Armita Brown, author of The Significant Seven: Sam's Nowruz Adventure, and proud parent in our Aurora Grove community, read her picture book to many of our students throughout the day. With the help of our School Council Chair, Nellie Mirshahi, and our grade 7 & 8 student readers, all K-6 students listened to the story and learned about Nowruz.

LIBRARY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

If you’re interested in volunteering in our library, please contact the school office aurora.grove.ps@yrdsb.ca.

FAMILY MOVIE NIGHTS

Since our first round of Family Movie Nights were such a success, we're doing it again!

• Thursday, April 13th: Kindergarten to Grade 2
• Thursday, April 20th: Grade 3 to grade 6

In addition to the movie, families will have the option to purchase pizza for dinner and eat it at school before the movie begins. 

Family Movie Night tickets ($6) and family pizzas will be available for order on SchoolCash Online. 

All funds raised will go toward bringing engaging and innovative learning experiences to our school.

More information coming soon...

TENTATIVE 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR

The tentative 2023-2034 school year calendar is now on the YRDSB website. Please click on the second tab to see next year's tentative calendar dates. 

Please note: Calendars are not official until they receive formal Ministry approval which is expected in late May 2023. Until then, please do not finalize plans. The updated calendars will be updated here at that time.

CELEBRATING NEURODIVERSITY

Check out April's Student Mental Health and Addictions Newsletter.

BLOG NOTIFICATIONS

Want to change the time that you receive email notifications for new Community Update blog posts? Here's how:

• Visit https://follow.it/intro
• Log in
• Click "No I'm a reader and want an easy way to follow the news"
• Click settings on the left
• Under Delivery settigs, select the desired time you want the blog updates to arrive in your email inbox
• Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• April 11: School Council Meeting
• April 13: Family Movie Night & optional pizza dinner (Kindergarten to Grade 2) 
• April 20: Family Movie Night & optional pizza dinner (Grade 3 to Grade 6)

Planning Ahead Together

 

Aurora Grove P.S. has already begun planning for the 2023-2024 school year.  In many respects, the work we do now is especially important, because our accuracy with anticipated enrollment helps us better plan, and optimistically, minimizes the need to move students across classes (‘reorganize’) in September.  We are asking you for your help!

First and foremost, if you know you will be moving out of the area in the months ahead or you know your child will be attending a different school next year, please let the office know as soon as possible, to help us be accurate with our enrollment estimates.  Similarly, if you have a child who will be joining us at the school for the first time in junior kindergarten (or any other grade) and you have yet to register, we would kindly ask you to do so at your earliest convenience.  And if you meet someone moving into the community, or have a neighbour with kindergarten-aged children, please encourage them to register sooner rather than later!  To update any information or get the registration process started, simply email the school at aurora.grove.ps@yrdsb.ca.

We aim to be as meticulous as possible in our preparations for next year, so we thank everyone in our community in advance for their support with our school planning.

Spotlight Grade 7 & 8 - Ms. Lombardi's Classes

Our Core French students have been doing mini-projects featuring notable francophones to increase their cultural awareness and knowledge.  This particular project was an art integration and features the work of Le Pho, a Vietnamese artist who studied at both École des Beaux-Arts in Hanoi and École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The paintings of Le Pho are linked with Surrealist and Impressionist art movements. He was heavily influenced by Victor Tardieu. 
These are intermediate student representations of his actual artwork.  The medium was watercolour pencils on watercolour paper.

Spotlight Grade 1 - Ms. Wolf's Class

 Check out what Ms. Wolf's grade 1 class has been learning!

Spring Into Spring School Dance - Friday, March 10

 

Elementary and Secondary Virtual School in 2023-2024

The Ministry of Education (MoE) mandated for the 2022-2023 school year that school boards were to provide a virtual learning option for students. While we continue to await specific direction from the MoE, we plan to proceed with a virtual learning option as this continues to be in the best interests of our students, families and staff. This will also align us with the decisions of other boards. For the 2023-2024 school year, YRDSB will continue to offer Elementary Virtual School (EVS). For secondary students, we are currently assessing the viable options in how to best offer virtual learning, taking into account the projected enrolment.

Elementary Virtual School

• Please note that due to limited enrolment, French Immersion programming will not be offered in EVS in 2023-2024. 
• Families currently enrolled in EVS are being asked if they wish to remain enrolled next school year. 
• Students currently attending in-person schools may contact their home school to request a transfer to the Elementary Virtual School for the entire 2023-2024 school year. 

Secondary Virtual School

• YRDSB is investigating virtual learning options for secondary students for the 2023-2024 school year. 
• Please note, due to the limited number of students expected in SVS it is possible that the virtual school program may include more asynchronous classes and fewer synchronous offerings. 
• Families who have students presently enrolled in SVS have been sent a survey, asking for their preference of learning model for next year (in-person or virtual) with a response deadline of March 6. 
• At this time, students in in-person schools are currently unable to choose to transfer to the virtual school for the entire 2023-2024 school year. Details will be shared once a process regarding the transfer to SVS is finalized.

Spirit Week is coming up!

March 6 - March 10 is Spirit Week at Aurora Grove!

Let's see those colours!