Hello Tom Baines Families,

We hope you’ve been able to enjoy the weather these past few days after our deep freeze. It’s been a great few weeks of learning this month. Tom Baines is always busy and we are grateful for that. Please read below for some important information.

Important Dates:

January 29 – 31 – Grade 6 Youthlink Field Trips

January 30 – Report Cards available online

January 30 – Grade 9 trip to Churchill

January 31 – Term 2 begins

February 7 – Grade 7 Band Camp Meeting @ 6:30 pm – information will be sent out by Mrs. Siemens.

School Council – thank you to all of the parents who attended our January school council meeting. Our next meeting will be on February 26 @ 7:00 pm in the Learning Commons. The focus of that meeting will be on our School Development Plan goals and the progress we are making. We will also be welcoming our MLA, Julia Hayter, to that meeting. A Teams link will be sent out in our next parent communication.

Term 2 – our second semester begins on Wednesday, January 31. Students in Grades 7-9 will move into their second semester complementary courses. As most of our comps are full, we will not be permitting students to switch without an exceptional circumstance.

Yearbooks – just a reminder that yearbooks are no longer ordered from the school. All students received information from Jostens about how to purchase a yearbook.

Dismissal – a reminder to parents that students need to be picked up right after school or after a club or practice. School is dismissed at 3:30 pm and students should be picked up by 3:40 pm. Most of our practices and/or clubs end between 4:30 – 5:00 pm and should have a ride waiting for them, unless they walk home. Thank you to those parents who ensure this happens. Over the past few weeks we have noticed some students waiting up to an hour for their ride to arrive. There is no supervision during that time so we need to ensure they are picked up promptly.

Next Year – you have seen many communications come out about the Grade 9 transition to high school and how Tom Baines is a capped school. Students currently enrolled at Tom Baines will stay here. All of our Grade 9 students will be automatically designated to Churchill, unless they live out of area. We will designate you to your appropriate high school. We expect to be able to take all of our incoming Grade 5 students from Edgemont and our Grade 6 students from CJP. If you have moved out of the area or are planning to move out of the area and your child will not be attending Tom Baines next year, please contact the school.

Social Media – we all know that social media can be a fun, creative and helpful tool. We also know that it isn’t always so positive. We have seen an increase in inappropriate, rude and hurtful behaviors on social media between our students. These interactions are always at night or over the weekend as cell phones are not permitted in class. Unfortunately, many of the problems that arise over social media find their way into the school and we have to spend many hours problem solving with students. We ask you to continuously monitor your child’s social media use and ensure they are well aware of how to use it appropriately. Our focus at Baines is belonging and we want to make sure everyone feels this both in and out of school.

Attendance and Lates – we continue to see a large number of students arriving late to school. If students arrive later in the PM after going off-campus, they lose those privileges. Students who arrive late in the morning will be expected to attend Homework Hotel over the lunch hour to make up for lost class time. Please have your student here between 8:30 – 8:40 am. As far as attendance – the number one indicator of success at school is regular attendance. If you have any concerns with your child’s attendance, please reach out to our main office.

Thank you so much for your continued support of our staff and students. We are so grateful to be a part of such an amazing community.

Derek Siakaluk, Principal

Duncan White, Acting Assistant Principal