Bonjour BP families:

 

I want to start this message by expressing my thanks and congratulations to our Assistant Principal, Michael Cutler, who has been appointed the Acting Principal at F.E. Osborne School starting on November 6th. Michael has brought commitment, joy, kindness, empathy, and has complemented BP so extremely well over the time he has been here. Michael, you will be extremely missed amongst the staff and students here, and we wish you nothing but success in your interim role. I will be working with our Area Office and Human Resources to work on filling the Assistant Principal vacancy here at BP. I will update you with more information as it follows. 

Artist In Residence 

We are excited to welcome our Improv Artist in Residence, Mat Mailandt, to Bishop Pinkham over the next two weeks as he works with our students across all of our programs to integrate arts/drama/language into curricular objectives. You may have seen Mat on TV in the Leon's commercials (the Hipster husband). He brings an air of creativity and excitement to our classes in an engaging manner. One of the activities we are anticipating for next week is Mat leading the Reunis en Francophonie students from BP, Western Canada High School, and Westgate Schools in an improv activity. Reunis en Francophonie is a club that includes students in the Immersion program (from our family of French Immersion Schools). At various points in the year, they come together and work on activities to see how French language exists outside of the classroom doors and explore possibilities of what French can bring them in the future! 

Fees are now online 

Please note that school fees have now been uploaded into your MyCBE account. Please log on to make the allocated payments at this link MyCBE Account 

Phys Ed Clothing 

As the weather shifts, please make sure your child is prepared to be outside for Phys Ed with the appropriate attire. Students will need boots, coats, toques, mitts/gloves, etc.  Although we know that the "official" junior high uniform is a hoodie, hoodies alone are not enough (parents, am I right?).

  

Thurs. Nov. 2, Gr. 9 Take Your Kid to Work Day 

The annual Take Your Kid To Work Day is facilitated by the Student Commission of Canada: https://www.studentscommission.ca/en/take-our-kids-to-work  

This is not a CBE sanctioned event and teachers will plan regular classes for students who attend school.  However, many corporations plan special events this day for Gr. 9 children of employees.  Parents who are employers themselves or work for organizations that would support having a Gr. 9 student participate with them at work and to learn more about particular occupations are welcome to do so. If you plan on having your grade 9 student participate, please notify the office of the absence. 

Halloween 

Halloween is nearly here, and a great number of our students are planning to dress up in costume on the 31st.  If you are in the process of finalizing costume selection with your student in advance of the day, please consider these questions together: 

·   Is your child's costume consistent with school norms around reasonable attire (i.e.: is there a risk of over-sharing? Will they be able to participate in all of their learning while in costume)? 

· Does your child's costume involve a weapon? 

· Does your child's costume represent a negative stereotype? 

· Does your child’s costume involve a mask that hides their identity entirely? (we do need to be able to recognize if the student in costume is a BP student.) 

· Does your child’s costume allude to committing acts of violence against others? 

· Does your child’s costume involve excessively gory elements? 

· Does it involve changing the colour of their skin? (Shrek green is ok, however emulating another nationality/race is unacceptable). 

· Does it allude to a culture that is not the child's own, such as a kimono, a turban or a feather headdress, etc.? 

· Does it mock religious beliefs (nun or priest or cleric or imam or rabbi, etc.)? 

· Does it mock the LGBTQ+ community? 

· Is it based on tragic or violent historical moments, such as slavery, the Holocaust, residential schools or cultural role play? 

If the response to any of these questions is yes, we would ask you and your child to reconsider the costume that they will be wearing to school. We may ask them to change into attire that meets our standard of dress. 

It is our hope that the whole BP community will be able to enjoy the Halloween activities without feeling insulted or otherwise upset or uncomfortable. 

Important Dates  

October 26- BPPC/BPPA meetings 6:30-8:00 PM Click here to join the meeting 

November 8- Remembrance Day Ceremony- 9:45-11:25 AM (tentative time) 

November 9- Non Instructional Day. No school for students 

November 10-14- Fall Break. No school for students 

November 15- Classes resume, also photo retake day in the morning 

November 23- Parent teacher interviews 3:30-8:00 PM. Sign up details will follow 

November 24- Parent teacher interviews 8:00-12:00 PM. Sign up details will follow 

November 27- WCHS IB Open House 6:30-8 PM 

November 30- Healthy Hunger (Golden Bell) www.healthyhunger.ca  

December 7- Band Winter Concert 6:30-8 PM 

December 8- Non Instructional Day. No school for students 

December 22- Last day of classes before winter break 

January 8- Classes resume 

Keep warm this week, 

Rishma Hajee 

Principal | Bishop Pinkham School