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WHALEY WEEKLY: September 20, 2023

posted on 9/20/2023 9:00:00 AM

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Opening Remarks

We enjoyed seeing many of you at our Back to School Picnic last week. The sun came out and so did the community! What a great way to kick-off the year. 

Wellington’s Curriculum Night is Thursday September 28th from 6:30pm-8pm. The PTO is organizing a Parent/Guardian Night Out following the school event. Join us at Olespana Whiskey & Tapas at 645 Mt Auburn St in Watertown immediately following curriculum night. We look forward to mingling without the kiddos and hope to see you there!

 

Notable Mentions

School Picture Day is Friday, September 22 for K-4 students.

  • We sent home order forms in the communication folders, and remember all pre-orders help support the PTO! Online orders are preferred and strongly recommended. Click the link www.haywardphotography.com then the blue “Prepay for Photo Day” button. Enter your school code to place your preorder: WELF23
  • We are piloting a new offering - Sibling Picture Day this Saturday September 23rd from 11am-1pm at Wellington.
    • Here is the link to the Sign-up Genius to reserve your time to photograph your Wellington student(s) and their sibling(s). *If all slots are filled, we can add an additional hour. 
    • These are a separate offering from the in-school picture day; siblings who are not Wellington students are welcome!
    • This is different from the regular school pictures in that there is no pre-order option. Within two weeks of the event, each family will receive an email with the information needed to access an online proof gallery of their children’s photos.
    • As we navigate this new event, please send your questions to the co-Presidents at wellingtonptopresidents@belmontschools.net

What does the Fun Run fund? FIELD TRIPS! We are at 10% of Goal!

We believe families should not have to fund field trips out of pocket, so the PTO supports field trips for all students: Habitat (Kindergarten), Acton Discovery Museum (1st Grade), Museum of Science (2nd grade), Plimoth Patuxet Museum and Boston Tea Party Museum (3rd grade), Harvard Museum of Natural History and Museum of Science (4th grade). The Fun Run on October 13th is our most anticipated event and biggest fundraiser for our school community, and we are off to a great start, already at $2000 or 10% of our goal, with 10% of students registered!

Next Steps:

  1. Register your student: Wellington Fun Run Hub
  2. Reach out to family and friends by sharing the donation link
  3. Volunteer to help out or cheer on the kids on October 13! (CORI form required)

Library Volunteer Sign-ups

The Wellington library relies on volunteers to help throughout the year. To run  smoothly, we aim to have 4 primary volunteers. Many Kindergarten and Third Grade classes are still in need. If you have time approximately once per month, please consider signing up. Here are the sign-up links for each grade / class:

If you have questions or want more information, please reach out to our PTO Library Volunteer Coordinators: Erin Jones, Amy Heuer and Lara Lind (wellingtonlibraryvolunteer@gmail.com).

ASE

Registration was bumpy on Monday. Our third party vendor has never experienced a surge of this much demand. They implemented a bunch of speed improvements over the summer, but these improvements were not enough to handle the traffic. We apologize and are equally frustrated. We are working with our developers to make sure that this issue doesn't happen again. We appreciate your patience. Thanks for your understanding.

There are still spots available for the Fall Session! Register today! 

 

Important Dates

BPS School Calendar 2023-24

September:

Sept 22:       School Picture Day (K-4) *if there is inclement weather, we will reschedule
Sept 23:       NEW! Sibling Picture Day - Saturday from 11am-1pm at Wellington
Sept 26:       Last day to register for fall ASE

October:

Oct 2:          ASE fall classes begin
Oct 4:          International Walk, Bike, Roll to School Day
Oct 13:        Fun Run - our biggest fundraiser of the year! - during school hours

November:

Nov 14-16:  Book Fair

 

DEI Corner

Are you interested in bringing more awareness about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the Belmont community? If so, sign up to get involved with the District-wide DEI initiative as a Wellington representative. Check the box for ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Liaison(s)’ in our Volunteer Interest Form.

 

Thank You To...

Jas Kaur and Maggie Croy, the PTO’s VPs of Community Events for organizing our fabulous Back to School Picnic Night! The sunshine brought us together and it was a great time reuniting with families as we kicked off the new school year. Thank you, Jas and Maggie for a great evening - and thanks Wellington for joining us! 

 

Open Positions

The PTO runs on our volunteer engine and we have many opportunities throughout the year for families and guardians to participate and support our students. The best place to start is by completing our PTO Volunteer Interest form - here. 

Here are our current open positions and volunteer opportunities::

  • School Advisory Council: 
    • The School Advisory Council is seeking members for the 2023 - 2024 school year. The Advisory Council is a group made up of parents/guardians and school staff that discusses big picture issues related to the governance of the school (school improvement plan, budget, etc.).  Meetings are about 5 times a year.
    • The only requirement / qualification is being a parent or legal guardian.  There is a parity requirement per state guidelines.  This means that although as many people as are interested can attend meetings, only a limited number of parents/guardians will be able to be members of the council. 
    • If you are interested, email: wellingtonptopresidents@belmontschools.net
  • ASE Volunteer Coach / Runner wanted!
    • Are you available from 2:55 pm - 3:55 pm on Mondays from 10/2 - 11/20 (excluding Indigenous Peoples’ Day)? Get in a workout and join marathoner mom Mary Ellen Birenbaum in co-teaching ASE’s Track Club.
    • Basic understanding of running is preferred although not necessary. 
    • Positive attitude required!
    • We will walk though the basic principles of pacing, racing, stretching and strategy. The focus of our weekly meetings is preparing Our runners to develop strategy and a positive attitude for attempting hard things in running and life. 
    • Sneakers and the ability to slowly run a mile encouraged. 
    • Contact ase.wellington@gmail.com to sign up.

Important note to all volunteers: Everyone will receive a CORI form (one per household - feel free to make a copy) in your Communications Folder. If you can support the PTO and would like to volunteer, CORI forms are required for every parent volunteer. You must bring the completed form and a form of ID to the Wellington office to complete the process. CORIs are valid for three years! We highly recommend you get these completed early in the school year.

 

Reminders

  • PTO Annual Appeal - learn more about how you can support the efforts of the PTO to fund programs that benefit our students and teachers throughout the year. Read more about upcoming programming and how you can get involved in this letter coming home in your student’s Communication Folder.
  • Traffic Safety - Please remember to be considerate when parking around Wellington and do not block the crosswalks or the driveways of our neighbors. There is no active pick up. Please do not pull into the parking lot or driveway at dismissal to retrieve your child.
  • A Note about PTO Communication Channels:
    • Whaley Weeklys (the PTO newsletter you are currently reading!) will be emailed to you every Wednesday with updates on events, volunteer opportunities, school happenings and more! 
    • Communications Folders - Be on the lookout for a blue folder coming home with your student(s). They will include some pertinent information from the PTO, particularly our community and fundraising events. Your child’s folder comes home everyday as a way to get their school work and Wellington happenings into your hands! 
    • Room Parents - each classroom will have PTO volunteer Room Parents who act as liaisons between the classroom teacher and class parents/guardians.
    • Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wellingtonpto 

 

Lindsay Kalmakis & Aisha Foxx Telfort
Wellington PTO Co-Presidents
wellingtonptopresidents@belmontschools.net 

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