Winn Brook PTA News and Announcements

 Winn Brook Newsletter

September 2021

Welcome Back

Welcome back to school Winn Brook Families!  We hope you had a wonderful summer, and that you are excited for a new school year that is, we hope, closer to normal than last year!  We know that there will still be some COVID challenges, but we are committed to providing as much PTA programming in as many formats as we possibly can during this upcoming year.  We look forward to working with you all, new and returning families, to enrich the school experience for our students, support our teachers, and grow and reconnect our community after these last 18 strange months...and remember, if you’re a parent, you’re part of the PTA!   

See you around Winn Brook 

Holly and Fitzie

Recent Events

• Popsicle Playdates

Thanks to everyone who made our events so far a rousing success! We had a wonderful series of Kindergarten Popsicle Playdates this summer, even including the First Graders (who missed their own chance last year due to COVID) in our second event. Extra thanks to Elisa Perry, our Popsicle Playdate Chair, Aylin Kentkur for spearheading the inclusion of the First Grade, and to all the wonderful families who came out for a fun evening!

Photos courtesy of Aylin Kentkur

• Back to School Breakfast

Thanks to everyone who attended one (or both!) of our Back to School Breakfast mornings.  It was wonderful to reconnect with some families and to meet others. We are thrilled to have so many enthusiastic folks who expressed such willingness to join in all our efforts as a PTA.  

We are looking forward to a year filled with more fun events and are incredibly grateful to all the volunteers who made these first few events a success!

Donations

Each year we ask all of our Winn Brook families to contribute financially to the PTA.  Rather than have families engage in the many frustrating activities (who wants to sell wrapping paper anyway?) of many PTA organizations, we have found that a direct appeal is the most effective way to reach our families with our request without burdening them with excessive activity.  The money we raise from this annual appeal supports our Enrichment activities such as field trips (both in person when allowed, and virtual), classroom and grade level visits from relevant presenters (in the past we have had Habitat and other Audubon society presentations as well as theatrical presentations), and other activities.  It also supports extra subscription services that our teachers use to help our children learn in and outside of school such as RAZ kids, and others.  Our annual appeal additionally supports our support endeavors such as teacher stipends for critical classroom needs, and larger projects such as replacing all the carpets in classrooms just a few years ago.  All of our fundraising goes directly towards improving Winn Brook for each and every student.   We ask that each family give what they can, but suggest a family donation of $125.00. 

You can access our paypal link here:  

Paypal Link 

Or you can print out a donation form and return it with a check to the front office, or 

Mail to: PTA donations, Winn Brook School, 97 Waterhouse Road, Belmont, MA 02478 

Winn Brook donation Form

Upcoming Events

• Wednesday September 29 5:45PM: Ice Cream Social. 

Come join the whole school community to indulge in some sundaes and have some fun!  This event is, of course, subject to change due to COVID-19 restrictions, but we are remaining hopeful.  We will also hopefully have our first food truck of the year available, so you can purchase dinner before the ice cream social!  Link to come for possible food truck ordering.

• Monday October 4 7:30PM: Our first PTA meeting.  

We will be hosting these meetings virtually over zoom for the foreseeable future both due to COVID and also because we heard loud and clear last year that there was a desire for more accessible evening meetings.  Agenda TBA, but we do hope you will save the date and plan to come.

• Wednesday October 6, All Day: Student Picture Day.  Mark your calendars and prepare your finest, because this will be Picture Day for Winn Brook!

Get Involved

Each year the PTA has myriad initiatives that we need help with, and we need everyone, whether you can offer an hour to set up tables or pour cocoa at Skating night, or you can offer a recurring amount of time each month to organize the lost and found!  Whatever of your time you have to give, we have a need and an activity that will match your skills!  Please go to the link below to indicate your preference for possible involvement.  Choose as many as you like, and we will make sure to connect you with the teams of like-minded and wonderful parents.  Thank you for all you do to make our PTA the best it can be.  

Volunteer Form 

Thank you