February 11, 2022
Dear UA Parents,
We had a great day celebrating the results of our students’ Read-A-Thon efforts! Students enjoyed the opportunity to wear their home clothes today. Congratulations to all our Grade 1-8 students who participated in this year’s Read-A-Thon, which raised over $10,000 for the new Tinkerspace. UA readers logged a total of nearly 1,400 hours of ‘fun’ reading and we celebrated with a fun literary home clothes day today. A special congratulations to Sikeenah Budhwani-Chesterman who was the school’s overall top reader, reading more than 88 hours, and to Zoya Panjwani in Grade 2, our top fundraiser who raised $1,375! Further details and the full list of winners are below.
Some of you may be aware that one of our teachers, Ms. Fischer, is pregnant and will be leaving on maternity leave sometime in April. I am very pleased to let you all know that I have been able to hire a familiar face to fill in for Ms. Fischer and teach her Kindergarten students until the end of June. I would like you all to give a warm UA welcome to Ms. Twaites. Ms. Twaites is a regular here at UA, filling in as a TOC in many classes throughout the year. We are very pleased to have Ms. Twaites join the UA team on a full-time basis through the end of the school year. She will start after Spring Break.
Congratulations to our first-ever Entrepreneurship 6/7 class from Term 1. The winning group from the Lion’s Den has now been able to bring their product to the UA marketplace. Please read below to find out how you can purchase a UA branded wireless USB mouse for your laptop or computer. It is a great way to support our budding entrepreneurs.
Once again, thank you to everyone for your cooperation and adherence to the COVID protocols here at UA. It appears that we have made it to the other side of the Omicron surge at school. From a peak 4 weeks ago to fewer than a handful of students who are away due to COVID, being symptomatic, isolating, or home out of precaution. I am looking forward to hearing Dr. Bonnie Henry’s next press conference as the current restrictions are due to come to an end next week. It will be interesting to see what changes are put in place for the province.
I have been very fortunate over the last few weeks to spend some time in almost every teacher’s classroom. It has been wonderful to be in the class observing, and even sometimes participating. We are very fortunate to have the dedicated teachers that we do at UA. Their hard work is reflected in the students and the fantastic work they do every day. I am looking forward to visiting with the last few classes over the next few weeks.
Yours in education,
Mr. Slinger
