The break for school runs from Dec 22nd to Jan 6th. We look forward to seeing everyone again January 7th as high school starts to prepare for the semester one exams to end those classes.

On behalf of the staff here, I’d like to wish you our very best and hope that you are able to enjoy the upcoming holidays. We hope you can all rest, relax, recharge and renew as we move into 2019 and look forward to what a new year provides us all.

I’m finding it once again an amazing thing that we’re already at the week before Christmas holidays! Where do the school days go? The snow seems to be disappearing all around us with the warm temperatures the last couple weeks. The sun has reappeared after that week of frost and fog we put up with – and with the sun
some melting temperatures. Hopefully we’ll still see a whiter Christmas for
everyone to enjoy and for some snow activities to help pass the break.

If you were here for the Christmas Family Fun Night then you had a chance to enjoy some songs, games, snacks and crafts. As always it’s a great chance for us to get together and celebrate the Christmas season together. We also were selling the Community Calendars for those who wanted to pick theirs up. If you’ve ordered one this
year, please pick it up at the school office. Same price as previous years for ten dollars. We were also selling some Football clothing items as well as the Cold Cats shirts. They are still available for those who want them.

There were a lot of opportunities this month to contribute to some food hampers and I want to celebrate what a great response we had, whether it was support through food donations, money donations, or a combination. We are committed to keeping those donations for local families who can use them. Thank you for your generous spirit during this season. I’m proud of you all for your part.

The Grade 12s made it out to their first week of Work Experience in December. What a great program that is and the students are lucky to have the opportunity available to them to “try a career” on for size to confirm that it’s for them or (and just as important) that it’s not for them. The second week is coming up in February on the week following the school Winter Break. We’ll keep you posted. Grade 12 students, keep checking the
bulletin boards for Careers info as it comes to the school. Scholarship and bursary info is also found at the link on the bulletin board.

Parents, remember that the PowerSchool program has a parent access feature that you can register to use to check up on how your son or daughter is doing through their assignments. There are a number of great features available, including just seeing a snapshot of their progress. It was a handy tool for students and families to access when we were having division report card program glitches with printing out the paper copies. Contact us to help you sign up for this if you want to give it a try.

Our basketball teams have been already into practices for a couple weeks, and I know that curling and drama are in the preparations for their seasons as well! What fun it is to be a student!

That’s all for now. For further information and updates from the students and classrooms, check out our school website at https://blogs.spiritsd.ca/
hanley/. As always, Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to drop by the office or give us a call. Talk to you soon.

It’s that time of year again when we need to offer a reminder about a few division policies regarding cold weather because we’ve had a taste of it already, and I think it’s a safe bet that more of it’s on its way before we see spring.

Remind your students to wear the proper warm clothes to school again this season, including snow pants for elementary students headed outside to slide around and play in the snow, as well as for any of our students being picked up by bus.  Bus Drivers do have the authority to refuse students entry to the bus if they don’t have proper clothing for cold weather.  In the case of a breakdown, all students should have proper clothing to ensure they are safe and warm on the bus while waiting for support to arrive. While on the topic of bussing – a reminder that a combined temperature and wind chill that drops to minus 40 degrees will cancel buses for the day. If a bus doesn’t run in the morning, it will not run in the afternoon. Classes will never be cancelled on those days – the school is required to remain open for those students who do make it to school, including those whose parents drive them in.

We will be continuing this year with our Cold Cats club for students in grades K-7. Again, remember that this is an option on the indoor recess days for students who still want to go outside for some fresh air and outdoor play. I’ll be supervising them on those days on the playground until they’ve had enough. They can go back in when they get cold or once they’ve had enough, but it’s sure great for many of them to get some fresh air and exercise, even though its that cold. Please ensure those students are prepared with warm clothing and accessories so they can enjoy the recess. Call or email the school to sign up your Cold Cat student to be on our list. We even have Cold Cats shirts for sale!

The grade 11 and 12 students enjoyed another morning earlier this month at the annual Career Fair in Saskatoon.  Planning should be well underway for students to narrow their options for careers or education following grade 12.  For those students who are still struggling with ideas, help is always available from Mr Tucker who can lead the students to directions to start looking for answers.  I’ll also encourage any students who are considering an apprenticeship opportunity to spend some time to complete the Youth Apprenticeship Program this year as it offers many benefits to the student and the employer.

Our Christmas Family Fun night will take place on Dec 12 and the annual Christmas Lunch for students and staff will again be on the last school day of Dec 21. 

Just a reminder that the Grade 12 Work Experience week one is scheduled for the first week of next month, December 3 – 7.  Students are expected to meet with their work placement employer for their interview in preparation for the first day that week.  Good luck to each of the students as they spend a week in their chosen career areas.

We started sending progress reports home last week with students in elementary grades. Our system has had some troubles this go round so I want to thank you for your patience as we wait for the updates to the program and get the paper copies sent home. The first quarter of the year has passed us very quickly. Congratulations to students on all your wonderful marks and achievements already this year.

We had a wonderful fall of extracurricular teams doing well representing our school. Congratulations to the Senior Girls Volleyball team on their push that ended at Regionals! It was also a great season for the Junior Girls who played at District playoffs this year and also to the Senior Boys who had a team.

The same congratulations to the Football team for a well-played season and a tough provincial game against Hafford! The school is very proud of all players and coaches across the school for such great seasons thus far this year! As always, our students proved again that they are wonderful representatives of Hanley Composite School and their conduct continues to make us proud.

That’s all for now.  For further information and updates from the students and classrooms, check out our school website at https://blogs.spiritsd.ca/hanley/.  As always, Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to drop by the office or give us a call. Talk to you soon.

School visits, field trips, track and field practices, and a few meetings are making the month of May fly by for me. If someone can explain what the weather is doing these days I’d appreciate some information. Do the shorts come out of the closet? Can I pack up my winter coat yet? I’m not sure how to describe my relationship with the weather-person lately. Keep your fingers crossed that our upcoming outside activities have good conditions.

As I’ve written and explained previously, Hanley and Dundurn Parents, I’m constantly reminded what wonderful students we have at Hanley Composite School and many of us here are kept young by the fun interactions and smiles that working with them brings to us each day. We continue to be proud of their accomplishments, and their strides in growth and maturity each year. We, like you, are so pleased to see their progress each year and look forward to that continuing.

Plans for graduation continue to move forward as well as preparations for students’ lives after grade 12. If you have some questions about courses that we can help answer, or have some developments about future plans that you’d like to share, we’d always love to hear about what the students are planning on doing once their lives here move on.

Congratulations to our Drama club that had another great year and such good reviews at Provincials including winning the Overall Best Production for their play THE HOTEL. They received a number of awards and once again were lucky to see some great productions from other high school students. Way to go, Mrs. Griffin, Mr. Hutchinson, and the cast and crew! We’re very proud of you all!

We’re continuing to plan our Learning 4 Life presentation about our School Goals around Literacy that we present to the division each year at the end of May. This year’s implementing of a sustained school-wide reading time every day has made a wonderful impact on the amount of reading that’s taken place – studies show that extra reading time given where students can pick their own book, has a vast impact on their personal literacy, which then transfers into improved reading and comprehension in all subject areas. I am once again proud of our school and the progress that so many students are making in their reading. Our graduation rates (95% average over the last 10 years) continue to be higher than the school division’s which in turn are higher than the provincial average. For more information or details, please drop by or send me a note.

I’d like to encourage all the students to make all the effort needed to finish strong this year and if they have final exams, to give themselves lots of time to study. A final exam schedule will be in the makings and sent home next week by email to all families.

Well, that’s all for now. For further information and updates from the students and classrooms, check out our school website at http:// blogs.spiritsd.ca/hanley/. As always, Mr. Anderson and I would love to talk to you if you have time to drop by the office or give us a call. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon. Chris Tucker Principal Hanley School