We are just days away from heading back to class.  I certainly hope that each of you found time to relax and enjoy the extended holiday break.  As we gear up for the remainder of the school year, please take note of the following reminders:

Back To School

Classes at GCS will resume on Monday, January 8th at 9:00 AM.  Please come prepared for a full day of classroom instruction!

School Cancellations & Delays

When announcements are made for a delay or closure, GCS follows the PEI Public Schools Branch.  Alternatively, sometimes only certain schools will be delayed or closed and will be announced by “family of schools”; GCS follows the Bluefield Family, Colonel Gray Family, and Charlottetown Rural Family of schools.  If any of these are delayed or canceled, GCS will be also.

In the case of a “one hour delay”, school will begin at 10:00am, while a “school closure” or “system wide shutdown” results in no school at all for the day.

There are a number of ways to know if there is a school delay or closure; they are as follows:

  1. We will post on the GCS Facebook (Grace Christian School – Prince Edward Island), Twitter (@gcs_pei), and Instagram (gcspei) accounts.
  2. Each PEI radio station regularly announces delays/closures (as “Public Schools Branch”)
  3. The CBC Stormcentre website (http://www.cbc.ca/stormcentre/pei/) (as “Public Schools Branch”)
  4. The PEI radio station websites also post delays/closures on their sites (as “Public Schools Branch”)
  5. Families can opt in to a GCS text message notification.  If school is delayed or canceled, a text message can be sent from GCS to one cell phone in the family to notify of the delay/closure.  This is an OPT-IN ONLY program.  If you would like to use this option, please email Jordan Ellis (jellis@gcspei.ca) with the cell phone number that you want to have the text message notification be sent to.  If you opted in last year and still have the same cell phone number, it is already still in the system.

We strongly encourage you to follow us on one of our social media platforms and to register for our text message system for cancellations if you haven’t already. Please note that if school is closed (not simply delayed), any after-school or extra-curricular activities will also be cancelled (such as sports, after school care, clubs, etc).

Student Teacher- Please Welcome Mr. Wood

Please join me in welcoming Mr. Mike Wood to our Grade 5/6 classroom.  Mr. Wood will be joining us for a period of 14 weeks to complete his teaching practicum.  He has studied at Kingswood University in Sussex, NB and is eager to begin working with the staff and students of GCS.

Assignments & Assessments

Thursday – Spelling Quiz
Friday – Math Quiz

Important Dates

Feb 2 – Professional Development Day
Feb 8 – Parent Teacher Conferences (pm)
Feb 9 – Parent Teacher Conferences (am) – No Class
Feb 19 – Islander Day – No Class

That’s all I have for now!  Enjoy your final few days of vacation. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mrs. M