Friday 19 September 2014

Send This Instead

The “Send this Instead” app empowers kids giving them a voice when they are under pressure to send intimate images of themselves online.
Have you heard about this app?

Members of the Ontario Provincial Police, Child Sexual Exploitation Unit in Ontario, have launched a sexting alternative app for teens called Send This Instead.

They asked all the funny people they knew, “What would you say if someone asked you to send images you didn’t want to?” They then took their answers and made posters and developed the app. The posters are witty, sarcastic and meant to help get the point across – using humor as a strategy.

The app is available on Android and Apple devices.


Visit the website to find out more: http://sendthisinstead.com/?page_id=76

Band Parent Association AGM



École Golden Gate Middle School's Band Parent Association will be having their Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, September 24th at 6pm. The meeting is open to all band parents who are interested in joining the Association's Executive.  We will meet in the band room at 6pm and will have a brief meeting to get us started for the 2014-2015 school year.  Thank you for your support! 

Wednesday 10 September 2014

Letter Home

September 10, 2014

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Over the last few days we have experienced significant delays with our afternoon buses.  This is due to: 1) construction sites throughout the St. James-Assiniboia area which has slowed down traffic considerably, 2) new bus drivers learning their routes, and 3) incoming student registrations and additions to bus rider lists and drop off spots.
 
The St. James-Assiniboia school division is taking these delays very seriously and has approved the addition of two more afternoon buses to the fleet, with the intent of alleviating traffic delays that are impacting our buses.  We expect that bus routes will be worked out shortly and new drivers will soon become more familiar with these routes.

Please know that the safety and well-being of our students is of the utmost importance to us and that we are working as quickly as possible to rectify the current situation and to return your children home in a timely manner.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern these delays have caused and thank you for your understanding.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call the school at (204) 837-5808.

Sincerely,

Mme J. Buckwold         Mr. S. Thomson        Ms. C. Banks
Principal/Directrice         Vice Principal/Directeur adjoint        Vice Principal/Directrice adjointe


Tuesday 2 September 2014

Welcome Back

Bonjour et bienvenue! Welcome back to École Golden Gate Middle School.

We are looking forward to spending another great year with all of our students! We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new grade six students and a welcome back to our grade 7 and 8 students. The older students are excited to get to know our grade six students and help them navigate in their new setting. We would also like to welcome new staff members, Ms. Banks, M. Molloy, Mme Smith, Mme BenAissa and Ms. Anderson. Welcome back to Mme Morneau who is returning from maternity leave.

The beginning of a new school year gives all students the chance to renew friendships and to make new friends within our multi-age homeroom setting. These homerooms allow older and younger students to mix so that each grade of students has contacts and friends across grade levels. Parents are reminded to contact the homeroom teacher advisor with any concerns and s/he will forward the concerns to the appropriate staff members.

The homeroom teacher is the parents’ link to all of us in the school. This will also save parents time as all siblings have the same homeroom teacher. If you wish to communicate with a teacher, please feel free to email him/her or leave a message with one of our administrative assistants. We believe communication with parents is of the utmost importance and we encourage and welcome your questions. The Golden Gate staff is very enthusiastic and they are sure to make this year a fun and memorable one for our students. We encourage students to get involved in many activities offered at the school. École Golden Gate Middle School offers a wide variety of extra-curricular activities thanks to our amazing and committed staff. We are entering our second year of the divisional iPad initiative.

To date we have seen a great deal of engagement in our classrooms through digital learning. We will be sure to inform you and provide you with all pertinent policies and agreements as well as the date and process for the iPad distribution during the month of September. We look forward to another great year!

 The Administrative Team