December 16: Winter Choral Concert
December 24 - January 2: No school - Winter Vacation
January 3: School resumes
January 4: School Council
January 5: Early Release / Guidance Parent Evening - Gap Year Panel (7 pm - virtual - links forthcoming)
***The next WHS PTSO Newsletter will be shared in early January once school resumes***
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Resource List from Positive Psychology Webinar |
Thank you to everyone who joined the WHS PTSO/WMS PTO-sponsored "Positive Psychology" webinar last Monday with Katie Hurley, LCSW. Katie gave a great presentation with concrete strategies and tools for parents and guardians to use with their teens and tweens. As promised, the flyer below (also linked here) contains some resources shared by Katie for our parent/guardian community. |
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WPS PTOs/PTSO Message Regarding Covid |
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The WPS PTOs/PTSO would like to thank you for your ongoing efforts in battling this pandemic in an effort to keep students, staff and families safe. We are thankful for a return to school and most activities, but must continue to be vigilant as we work through the winter months. As you might be aware, there has been a continual increase in covid cases locally and nationwide, as well as concern for a new variant.
As a community of PTOs, in collaboration with the administration and leadership in our schools, we wanted to reinforce some of the safe covid practices in and out of school. We are all experiencing covid fatigue, but it is very important to adhere to WPS guidelines and protocols and exercise caution and responsibility. We all share a common goal to keep our students in school.
As always, if you have questions about any of this, please feel free to reach out to your respective PTO Presidents.
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Review WPS Nursing's home screening protocols if your child is experiencing any covid symptoms.
- Be mindful with social events and gatherings outside of school, especially when unsure about the vaccination status of others.
- Remind your children about proper mask use (mask covering the nose and mouth) in school and outside of school for indoor gatherings.
- Get a vaccine or a booster shot, if eligible.
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Continue to participate in pooled testing (for eligible younger grades). The importance of catching asymptomatic cases is vital to stopping the spread. Click here for more information and to provide consent.
Thank you for your attention to these guidelines and for your cooperation. We are all in this together, and we will get through this together.
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Conversations with School Committee Members about WHS |
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The School Committee is doing a tour of the different school levels to provide an additional forum to listen to parent feedback on the schools. This is an important opportunity for families to talk about topics important to you.
The School Committee will host a one-hour Zoom with two of their members together with Jamie Chisum and David Lussier as an informal opportunity to have a dialogue with parents and a Q&A session with School Committee members.
For WHS, the session is scheduled for Monday, 12/20 from 4:00-5:00 pm. Zoom information is below. There will be a waiting room on this Zoom and people will be let in one at a time for their conversation.
Zoom access details:
Meeting ID: 882 3361 8534
Password: 961667
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Wellesley Scholarship Foundation: Application Window Open! |
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In 1951, the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation (WSF) was founded with a mission of supporting students from our community with financial assistance for their post-secondary education. WSF will be accepting applications for scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year until March 1, 2022. For more information about the WSF scholarship program and to apply, please visit: https://www.wellesleyscholarshipfoundation.org/apply
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The WHS School Council is composed of Dr. Chisum and faculty, student, parent and community representatives. It meets on the second Tuesday of each month from 2:40-4:00 pm to advise Dr. Chisum on matters within WHS, and to discuss changes to school policy, the annual School Improvement Plan (SIP) and other issues as they arise. Here is a link to the School Council's page within the WHS website.
The elected parent representatives are Lisa Fico, Tarah Hirschey, Victoria Ostler and Ann Trenk. Although not affiliated with School Council, the WHS PTSO facilitates the election of 2 parent representatives to School Council each school year. Representatives are elected for 2 year terms, which are staggered.
School Council agendas are posted in advance on the Town of Wellesley’s Agenda Center in the “School Councils” section. It is an open meeting and all are welcome to attend. The minutes of the meetings are available through the School Council page on the WHS website.
At the next meeting in January, the Council expects to continue its discussion about the School Improvement Plan, and a proposal from the WHS Student Congress to move to a semester grading system. This topic had been under active discussion prior to the pandemic, when semester grades were trialed in several classes during the 2019-20 school year. Discussion on this topic has resumed recently and the parent representatives of the Council would be pleased to have your feedback on this or any topic.
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Please join the Wellesley PAC for our monthly coffee on Thursday, January 6 at the home of Christine Mizzi at 16 Suffolk Road from 9:00-10:30 am. It is a nice opportunity for families with children getting special education services to connect. We hope to see you at a coffee soon!
The dates for the PAC coffees for the remainder of the 2021-2022 school year are as follows:
Thursday, February 3
Thursday, March 3
Thursday, April 7
Thursday, May 5
Thursday, June 2
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Wellesley Hills Junior Women's Club Presents: Marketplace POP! |
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Save the date and support your local community! Wellesley Hills Junior Women's Club (WHJWC) is pleased to announce a mini pop-up version of the traditional Marketplace at Linden Square this weekend. Wellesley Marketplace Pop! will showcase nearly 55 vendors with crafts, gifts, specialty items, baked goods and more. Shopping hours on Sunday will be 9am-4pm. Please follow @wellesleymarketplace on Instagram for updates regarding special events and vendor highlights!
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Important Guidance Information |
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Be sure to regularly check the Guidance Department's website using this link. The website includes important information for students and their families, including information on deadlines for transcript requests for seniors who are applying to college, Wellesley Scholarship Fund application information and procedures for signing up for AP exam registration! |
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