March Newsletter
Principal’s Message:
Hello Parents and Caregivers!
Welcome to March 2025. I hope you are well. Brookside continues to be a great place to be. Students are happy, busy and settled back into routine after many snow days. Staff remain committed, hard working and resilient.
Once again I want to thank you. You are doing a great job too as parents and caregivers. Packing lunches they enjoy, ensuring your children are dressed appropriately for the weather, and getting them to the bus on time each day are things that take a lot of organization and commitment, and doing them well and consistently makes a huge difference immediately and overall.
March break is almost here. I hope it provides some fun family time at your home.
Thank you for reaching out if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions. I encourage you to keep doing this. Communication is key, something I know you appreciate.
With Respect,
Angela Cowley
Principal
Brookside Public School
Social Emotional Learning ( SEL):
Across the AMDSB, we are celebrating International Social-emotional Learning (SEL) Day on March 3, 2025. Here are some resources to better understand what SEL is and how you can support it at school, at home and within the community:
Understanding SEL for Caregivers
SMHO By Your Side- Caregiver Resource
What is SEL and why does it Matter?
March Umbrella Skill Focus - Autonomy
March’s Umbrella Project skill - Autonomy - helps us think and do for ourselves to feel like our life is in our control and that we can confidently make our own choices when faced with uncertain situations.
When we have autonomy we feel empowered to make decisions that can improve out lives. This is instead of feeling that our lives are outside of our control. When we have autonomy our motivation and ability to do things for ourselves increases and can make tasks feel less like work and more enjoyable. Research on autonomy in more thant 80 countries has shown a positive connection to our well being. The feeling that our lives are self-directed instead of controlled by others has wide reaching positive implications. Autonomy forms the foundations of our independence.
What can you do to build autonomy in your children? Here are a few ideas:
- resist the urge to compare them to siblings and peers
- instead compare them to themselves, celebrating positive progress from their baseline
- encourage your child to go down their own path at their own pace
- when they set a goal help them figure out what they need to accomplish it and who could help them in a positive and supportive manner (not doing it for them)
- offer constructive choices; this helps them to problem solve and gives them a sense of control and teaches them to accept responsibility for their choices
Smile Cookie Campaign Donation to our Eat & Learn Program:
We would like to express a huge Thank You to Tim Hortons Cookie Campaign for their recent generous donation. It will be used for our school Eat and Learn program. With their donation it helps to ensure that every student at Brookside attends school well nourished and ready to learn!
Attendance Tips:
Please do your best to have your child(ren) to school on time every day. It's an important part of their routine to enter school with the rest of the students. Encourage your child to attend every day even if school routines and programs vary. If your child’s sleep routine changes during holiday times, you can help by gradually re-establishing regular bedtimes and wake up times prior to coming back into regular school days. If your child(ren) have excessive absences there will be letters sent home in regards to those absences. Continue to use the School Messenger options to report absences. Long term absences should be communicated and a Temporary Absence Form will need to be filled out. If you require one please email Ms.Cook at [email protected]
March Break:
Just a reminder that March Break is scheduled to start from Monday March 10th to Friday, March 14th . First day back is Monday March 17th. Have a safe and enjoyable break!
March 21, 2025:
Rock your Socks Day for Down Syndrome Awareness
Every year on March 21, people all around the world come together to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day by wearing brightly colored, mismatched socks. March 21 is symbolic because people with Down syndrome have 3 copies of their 21st chromosome. Socks were chosen because the karyotype of Ds chromosomes actually looks like mismatched socks! Brookside will wear our mismatched socks on Friday March 21st.
Purple Day-Epilepsy Awareness:
Tuesday March 26th Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26th annually, people in countries around the world are invited to wear purple and host events in support of epilepsy awareness. Brookside will do our part in bringing awareness to all! Students are invited to wear purple on Wednesday March 26th!
Food Orders:
April Pizza and Milk orders will be due on March 24th. We are holding another Mr.Sub day on March 25th. Mr. Sub is available to purchase on School Cash Online March 3 and will close on March 17th. No Late orders will be accepted.
Intermediate Girls and Boys Volleyball:
On February 11th our Brookside intermediate girls’ and boys’ volleyball teams headed to CHSS along with Mrs.McDonald and Mrs.Luiting as their coaches. Despite so many snow dates and a later start to the season, all players showed great improvement in their skills. The girls team had very even sets against the other teams all day and were able to win one of them. The boys team won 3 sets throughout the day. Both teams displayed great sportsmanship and teamwork against other schools in our region.
Public Speaking:
Brookside Public School held its annual public speaking competition on Tuesday, February 6 and what a success it was! There were some first time speakers in the gym this year. What a great experience for them and for the audience. This worthwhile event led up to the competition at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 309 on Feb 23. All primary speakers came from Brookside Public; there were eight junior level speakers, 4 from Brookside Public and four from Lucknow Public. In the intermediate division there were four speakers from Lucknow Public. Brookside Public took home 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards at the primary level of the competition and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards at the junior level of the competition. Well done, Bulldogs!
Coldest Nights of the Year Walk:
A small but mighty Brookside Bulldogs team participated in the Coldest Night of the Year Walk on February 22. Many thanks to those that helped raise $1645.00 toward Huron homelessness initiatives! #bulldogsgiveback #brookside proud! See you next year!
Bus Safety:
Just like the rest of us, our bus drivers will definitely be looking forward to spring. Better conditions will certainly make driving a bit easier. Students are reminded that they must follow the bus rules and the requests of the drivers in order to guarantee the safety of everyone. Students who are not following the rules will draw the driver’s attention away from the road. Please review the rules of being a safe passenger with your child and remind them to follow the instructions of the drivers.
Students are expected to:
- sit in their assigned seat
- talk quietly to the students around them
- respect the driver
School Council:
Our next school council meeting will be held Tuesday, April 8th at 6:30 p.m. in the Brookside library. Everyone is welcome to attend. Any questions please reach out to School Council Co-Chair: Miriah Drennan at [email protected]
Camp Kintail Summer Information:
Camp Kintail has Summer Camps and Day camps each week for July and August. We have day camp buses running from Goderich the following weeks of summer:
K2DAY - July 7-11
K4DAY - July 21 - 25
K7DAY - Aug 5 - 8
K9DAY - Aug 18-22
We also have a day camp bus running from Lucknow the last week of summer.
K10 - August 25-29th
This is for ages 5-13 (turning 5 this calendar year)
Campers will swim, canoe, make crafts, and learn about their faith in their own cabin group. A hot and tasty catered lunch will be provided everyday and campers will have the opportunity to grab fruit from our snack bar throughout the day for an extra snack!
Goderich Bus departs from Knox Goderich Church, Newgate Street Parking Lot sharply at 8:45am. Campers can then be picked up from the same parking lot at 5pm. There will be a Kintail staff member to sign-in campers and ride the bus to and from camp with them.
Lucknow Bus - will leave from the parking lot of the tennis court (Victoria Park-Hamilton Street) just to the north of Lucknow Presbyterian Church at 8:45am. Campers can then be picked up from the same parking lot at 5pm. There will be a Kintail staff member to sign-in campers and ride the bus to and from camp with them from Monday to Friday.
Start every day with a smile from staff as you arrive and bring home memories to share at the end of each day!
For more information please check out the website at www.campkintail.ca or email [email protected] or call at 519-529-7317
Dates to Remember
March 3- Social Emotional Learning Day
March 3- Spirit Day- Comfy Cozy/PJ Day
March 3- April Pizza/Milk available on School Cash Online
March 3- Mr.Sub Day available to purchase on School Cash Online
March 5- Spirit Day- Hat Day
March 7- Spirit Day-Vacation Ready Day
March 8- International Women's Day
March 9- Spring Ahead Time Change. Remember to change your clocks!
March 10-14- March Break
March 17- St. Patrick’s Day
March 19- Elmira Chicken delivery day. Time for pickup will be sent by school messenger.
March 24- April Pizza and Milk Orders close on SchoolCash
March 21- Rock Your Socks Day for World Down Syndrome Day
March 25- Mr.Sub Day
March 26- Epilepsy Awareness day - Wear purple
April 18- Good Friday No School!
April 21- Easter Monday No School!