It’s cold today. It feels like one of those days I can imagine a polar bear and a penguin talking to each other and asking that age old Saskatchewan question of, “Is it cold enough for you?”

Our Cold Cats club has about seventy names of K-7 students listed and again it’s nice to see so many of them who took advantage of that option on the few indoor recess days we have had. We will continue to run this as an option to staying inside – please make your own wishes known to your elementary students about if you’d like them to head outside. We won’t be forcing students on the list outside if they want to remain in especially when the rotation has them in the gym at noon. That said if they intend on going out, make sure they have warm clothes and understand they have to wear them.

Semester one exams started on Wednesday this week and many classes are reviewing and studying to prepare. Next Tuesday January 29^th is the midway point of the year and a day for report cards to be prepared and planning to begin for Semester two. There are no classes on that day for all K-12 students. Semester two classes begin on Wednesday, January 30^th.

I want to encourage all grade 11 and 12 students who are interested to see me about finishing a Youth Apprenticeship Program. It sees students working through some simple apprenticeship assignments that will give them a step ahead of others who might be also looking to enter an apprenticeship agreement to start their career. It’s also important to note that we have had a few grade 12s already receive conditional acceptance to university programs starting in the fall. It’s an exciting time for them all as their life after grade 12 begins to take shape.

February break will start on Family Day, February 18^th. The Grade 12 Work Experience Week 2 will take place following the break as we’ve had in practice for a few years. 

The School Community Council would like me to mention that we still have copies of the Community Calendars available at the office that families ordered this fall.  The cost remains at $10 each. They are also looking forward to seeing their purchase of two new water fountains installed this year that have water bottle fillers. Thank you SCC members for investing in our school building.

I was very proud of the school and community to see so many donations this season to our call for clothes and food items to help those in need. What a great example for our students to see and witness the generosity and assistance for others.

I would also like to remind you that we have $5 tickets for sale on the Legion Community Lottery 2019. The prizes are pretty substantial items donated by Western Sales and the money taken in for each ticket sold stays with our school to support our own projects. Thanks for supporting it and please consider selling some tickets for us. A number of families already have and we can’t thank them enough!

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.   Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.

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.

We were dealt an early blow of cold fall weather it seems this month to welcome us back to school. Those temperatures always change a bit depending on the year. Please check with your student that they dress appropriately for those times outside at recess.

A number of new faces are in our hallways, students and staff alike! Welcome to everyone and we look for-ward to your additions to our school as our enrollment is up from our projection and we’re sitting at 265 students! Mrs. Zak will be our Kindergarten teacher this year, and Miss Ward is our grade 1-2 teacher and Mrs. Menshenfriend is our grade 5 teacher. Welcome back to Mrs. Koroll and to Mr. Tyndall who were away for a portion of the last school year and to Mrs. Button who will be permanently filling the SERT role in our school. We also welcome Miss Wajahat who is interning in our school with Mr. Block. We hope you all enjoy your time at Hanley Composite School.

Classes are fully under-way this month as you will read and timetables for each student are in place. Please keep up to date on your senior student’s progress and stay in contact with their teachers to help support them, including talks about what life after grade 12 looks like. We will be taking the grade 11 and 12 to a career fair at the start of November.

Extra curricular programs are well underway as well with nice results in the football, volleyball and cross country activities. Well done students for getting involved.

Many schools are omit-ting the use of cell phones for students in schools. We have adopted the following position. Students in elementary grades will not have use of cell phones during the day. We would like to have them focus on developing relationships with others at breaks and not have the distractions. Parents please call the office and
pass a message through Mrs. Block. Students can use the student phone at the office as needed during breaks. High School students have been instructed to not bring their cell phones to class due to the disruption they can create.

We’re looking forward to the Meet the Staff evening in October and invite you here for a BBQ burger if you can make it. It will be the first night of interviews as well.

That’s all from me for this month. Monthly newsletters will follow like other years before. 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. Take care and I’ll talk to you soon.

Chris Tucker
Principal

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

And then it was May! We have hit this good weather running. We are going to be outside as much as possible from this point forward. Please feel free to send your child with sunscreen in their backpack. Also, a quick reminder that ticks are out in full force so please make sure to check your child at the end of the day! We are going to Brightwater Greenhouse with our Grade 3 Plant Buddies. We are excited to tour the grounds and see some beautiful plants. We had so much fun at the Grade 1/2 movie theatre. They put on such a great show and it truly felt like the real deal. The Ks loved going through the concession and being lead to their seats by an usher. On June 14th, Brickz4Kids will be coming to our classroom in the afternoon to lead us in a fun LEGO activity. We’re looking forward to it.

Wow, does anyone else feel like this year has flown by!? Busy as usual in the Grade 1/2 room. We have been working on finishing up our last Math Units, and will now be moving on to some review of the year and problem solving for our last month of school. In Science our Plant Unit is coming to an end, and our Marigolds we worked so hard at keeping alive are now delivered to their intended recipients. Hopefully they can be transplanted at home, and enjoyed all summer! Our class received a letter from a boy in Kennedy, SK to participate in “The Great Canadian Mail Race”. We accepted the challenge and learned about writing friendly letters. We chose cities/towns from all over Canada to send our letters, some within Saskatchewan, some as far as Nova Scotia. This was a great opportunity for our class to connect with students from far and wide, and we are anxiously awaiting their replies. We also were so lucky to get a tour of the post office! Our class loved the puppet show “Munsch it up!” that we got to see at Kenaston School. They were so well done we had a hard time deciding which was our favorite! On May 10th we turned our classroom into a theater and had the K/3’s come watch our Fairytale Movies we had made. It was a great day, and the students did an awesome job selling tickets, running the concession, taking tickets, ushering students to their seats, and announcing before each show. WAY TO GO!

This month the grade 3’s are starting their last units in every subject. In math we will begin our unit on multiplication and division, in ELA we will be performing an author study on Roald Dahl, in social studies we will begin learning about communities around the world, and in health we will finish learning about family differences and begin a unit on harmful substances. We also started our last science unit off with a field trip to the Saskatchewan Science Centre last week. At the Science Center, we began our unit on structures with a workshop where students built structures over a “person” (an alka-seltzer tablet) who needed to stay dry. There were three stages of “rain” (a spray, squirt bottle, and cup of water) to test the strength of the structures. The grade 3’s did so well with this activity! Afterwards they spent some time exploring all of the interactive exhibits and concluded the day with the IMAX movie, A Beautiful Planet. We look forward to all of the exciting learning that will take place for the rest of the school year.

The grade 4,5,6 class has been busy reading the novel Tunnels of Time. It is a very exciting story. The main character goes on many adventures in the tunnels of Moose Jaw as she travels back in time. We are also working on multi paragraph writing with a story about themselves. In Science we have been learning all about flight. The students have been given the opportunity to work with aspects of flight through some hands on activities. In phys. ed., we have begun a unit about track and field events to prepare for the annual elementary track and field day. Ms. Bishop Moisan