June 2012 Newsletter - Campbell River School District

SOUTHGATE MIDDLE SCHOOL
Southgate Gator
June 2012
Principal: Jeremy Morrow
School Email: southgate@sd72.bc.ca
Vice-Principal: Shawn Cowan
Website: www.sd72.bc.ca/school/southgate
Telephone: 250-923-4253 (Press 2) Attendance Telephone: 250-923-4253 (Press 1)
Principal’s Message
It has been a very busy spring that has been marked with many changes. For all of our
grade 8 and 9 students, this month marks the final few weeks before they go from Gators to
Wolves. We know that they will do brilliantly in their next adventure and wish them all the
best!
For many of our staff, the reconfiguration of our schools has also been a time of significant
change. I would like to extend congratulations to the staff members who will be taking on
new assignments next year. The decision for our teachers was a difficult one and I deeply
appreciate the many ways that these teachers have worked to meet the needs of our
students, some who have been part of Southgate for many years. We wish you all the best
in your new school and know that both Carihi and Timberline are fortunate to have you.
Kerri Perras, Rita Tambellini and John Bowers will be transferring to Carihi. Chris
Patterson, Sabrina Fonagy, Dawn Koomen and Barb Donahue are going to Timberline, and
Celine Ouellette will be splitting her time between both Carihi and Timberline.
I would also like to take a moment to offer congratulations to Reid Herkes on his retirement
at the end of this school year. Reid has orchestrated the leadership program which has been
involved in so many of the activities and ideas that have been key attributes of Southgate’s
culture and spirit. As a new member of the school community, I have personally
appreciated the wisdom, advice and enthusiasm for the future that Reid has consistently
demonstrated. He, along with the other staff that will be moving on, will be dearly missed.
Due to reconfiguration and declining enrolment we are also sad to have to say goodbye to
Lorraine Moreland who has been one of the friendly faces in the office for the last 3 years.
It has been a pleasure working with Lorraine and we have appreciated the many
contributions that she makes, often behind the scenes with little recognition. We are going
to really miss Lorraine and we wish her all the best in her next assignment.
Mary-Lou Vanstone is also retiring after many years of valuable work as an educational
assistant in the district, 9 years being here at Southgate. Many students have benefitted
from her knowledge and caring ways. We wish her well and much happiness in the future!
While it is sad to say goodbye to so many good people we also are able to extend a warm
welcome to some new teachers. At this time we are fortunate to welcome Aaron
O’Shannessy, Louise Panziera, Erin Stephens and Mike Rennie. These teachers will be
working in our 6/7 program. As the staffing process proceeds we will continue to welcome
a number of new staff members.
Message continued on next page…….

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Principal’s Message continued:
This spring we have appreciated the work of our district painters and are proud to say we have a gym
that looks brand new! It has been great seeing new places of color in the halls and some areas getting
repainted. We welcome you to come in and have a look at some of our new feature walls and the gym.
A special congratulations to Danita Lewis and Nicole Ross for the exemplary first nations exploration
that was created at the school this year. With over 260 entries, our first nations expo received a
“change makers award”. It has been a program well received by our students and has set a great
example of a sustainable and accessible first nations program. Thank you Danita and Nicole for all the
extra efforts to create this experience for our grade 7 students.
I would like to recognize Terry Johnson for the incredible effort and dedication she demonstrated in
organizing, fundraising and orchestrating a memorable Hawaii trip for nearly 60 band students this
spring. The concert and jazz groups performed at various venues, the most memorable being on the
USS Missouri. The students also enjoyed a workshop at the University of Hawaii. They received
numerous compliments about their conduct, especially from other tourists. The group would especially
like to thank all the adults that chaperoned the trip. In addition, this spring our senior and junior jazz
bands performed at the Westcoast Jazz Festival. Both bands received gold medals and nominations to
next year’s Canadian Nationals. The senior jazz received the highest mark that Southgate has attained
since becoming a middle school and would have qualified to the nationals at a college level.
Congratulations to all of our band students on your performances as well as your exemplary behaviour
on these trips. Well done gators! Also a thank you to all the staff, parents and families that supported
the band program this year.
We are excited to welcome our new students on June 8 th for a tour of the school. A reminder to our
current parents that Friday, June 8 th is an I-Day. It is going to be a very busy month and we are
looking forward to our beach day Monday, June 18 th as well as our awards day Friday, June 22 nd . The
last week of the school year is organized to support students who require additional time to complete
projects and final assessments. If your child requires this additional time your son/daughter’s teacher
will contact you.
As I reflect on the year I would also like to express my appreciation to our parents for supporting the
school in many ways this year. Your contributions of time, energy, fundraising, and support are deeply
appreciated and we look forward to finding more ways to expand our partnership with you next year.
Our website has recently been reconfigured so please check it out at www.sd72.bc.ca/school/southgate
for updated information. We are getting really excited about next year and look forward to welcoming
our new students and their families.
Kind Regards,
Jeremy Morrow

SOUTHGATE GATOR
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Important Dates:
June 6 : Grade 8’s & 9’s to Timberline
June 6 : Band Concert at 7 pm in the gym.
June 8 : Grade 6’s & 7’s come to Southgate.
June 8 : Project Completion Day
June 15 : Banana Split Day - Bring your own
banana to receive a banana split at lunchtime!
June 18: All School Beach Day.
June 21 : Skills for Life Awards night. 6:30-
9:00pm in the SFL room. (Doors open at 6:15.)
Refreshments and goodies included.
June 22: Athletic and Academic Awards.
Last day of regular classes.
June 25-28: Project Completion Days (See
more information on this page.)
June 29: Administrative Day
Dress Code Reminder
With the warmer weather arriving, we are
noticing that some students are coming to school
wearing inappropriate clothing. Clothing that is
physically revealing, or clothing that displays
offensive words, symbols or references to drugs or
alcohol should not be worn to school. Clothing
should effectively cover tops of shoulders, chest
area, backs and bellies. Shorts or skirts should
cover the leg appropriately. A teacher may refer a
student to a counselor or administrator to discuss
inappropriate clothing and he/she may be asked to
change or cover up. We expect that the guidelines
will be followed. We respect student’s right to self
-expressing, but not at the expense of the learning
environment.
Project Completion Days
Project Completion Days are scheduled for June
8, 25, 26, 27 and 28. The purpose of Project
Completion Days is to give students the opportunity
to complete school work that was not completed
during the regular period of instruction. Teachers
will inform students and parents if they are required
to attend on these days. The 25th to 28th are
organized into specific classes only. (See calendar on
last page.) Students who are not in attendance on
these days are reminded not to visit other schools in
the district as they will still be in session.
Library Book Returns
It is that time of year when all library books need to
be returned! The final due date is Monday, June 11,
2012. Please gather up any and all library materials
you have at home and bring them in as soon as
possible.
Lost books must be paid for, and all outstanding
overdues and/or fines appear on students’ final
reports. Please email the teacher-librarian, Mrs.
Betsy Muir, betsy.muir@sd72.bc.ca, if you have any
questions or concerns. It has been a pleasure serving
students this year! I encourage students to take
advantage of the Vancouver Island
Regional Library system over the
summer and I look forward to seeing
all returning students in September!
Summer Band
Forms for the summer band program are available
in the band room. The session runs from
July 9th-20th at Timberline Secondary.
Register by June 22nd to hold your spot!

SOUTHGATE GATOR
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Want to Meet the World
The School District 72 International Program is looking for host families.
Students from overseas will be coming to our schools and they’d love to stay with a family.
We will have a variety of students coming to Campbell River from all over the world and staying for
2-10 months. Many students would prefer to stay in families with other students, especially
students their own age. We encourage all families, with or without children, to get involved.
We provide training and lots of support!
Families are compensated $700 and are expected to provide:
A warm and welcoming home environment
A private bedroom
Internet access
3 healthy meals per day, plus snacks
Interested Contact:
Jo-Anne Preston at 923-4918, ext. 2237, or
jo-anne.preston@sd72.bc.ca
Miyuki Matsuzawa at 923-0554, or world777@telus.net
A Message from: Vancouver Island Health Authority
Helping Children Make Healthy Choices
How do we teach children to make decisions, to choose responsibly Start early and reinforce often.
Children make decisions every day about what to wear, what to eat, what to do and who to play with.
Success with simple decisions such as these, can lead to success with the hard decisions that come with
adolescence. You can help by reinforcing the decision-making process with your child.
Define the problem to be solved—list facts and feelings
Think of at least three options for the problem
List the “good” and “bad” of each option
Think about how options will affect others
Choose the best option
Evaluate the decision
For more information contact:
Campbell River Health Unit at 250-850-2110
HealthLinkBC at 8-1-1 (a free call) or www.healthlinkbc.ca
www.viha.ca/children

SOUTHGATE GATOR
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Southgate Water Bottles For Sale!
Throughout the month of June, we will be selling
metal water bottles that include the Southgate
name and logo. These bottles will be sold for $10
and are part of a “green” initiative to help reduce
the number of disposable plastic bottles used in
our school. Reusable bottles also encourage our
children to drink more healthy water! Students
who would like to purchase a water bottle can
bring a cheque or cash to Mrs. Harrison’s classroom
(A4) at lunch from Tuesday to Friday.
Summer Hours
The Southgate School office will be open from
8:30 am - 3:30 pm on Tuesday, August 21st to
Thursday, August 30th.
A tentative date of Thursday, August 30th,
beginning at 11:00 a.m. in the counseling area has
been set for a tour of the school for any students
who missed the Open House on June 8th.
Woodworking Class Request
Southgate is a Scent-Free School!
Our grades 7-9 woodworking classes have
embarked on a burl carving program, producing
fantastic quality burl bowls, tables, clocks, cribbage
boards, etc. If you have any new or old
burls kicking around we would love to have them:
any shape or size would be greatly appreciated!
Mr. Lagos will come and get them if it’s
inconvenient to drop them off at school. Many
thanks to the parents that have already donated
burls to our program! Many of these are now
gracing various houses throughout our
community being displayed with great pride!
Thanks for your continued support!
Lockers
It is imperative that students clean out their
lockers and leave them in good condition so they
can be reassigned to different students the
following year. We will have assigned times for
lockers to be cleaned out by students and a
deadline date when all students must have their
locks off and their lockers empty. After June
22nd, Grade 8’s and 9’s may sell back their used
locks in the main office for $3.00 as they can not
be used at the secondary level. We encourage
grade 7’s to tape the combination to the back of
their lock for use in September.

SOUTHGATE GATOR PAGE 6

SOUTHGATE GATOR
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JUNE 2012
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
27 28
29
30
31
1
Calzones
3.50
2
Day 1
3 4
Best Wok
3.00 or 3.50
10 11
Chicken Strips
3.25
Day 2
5
Ham & Cheese
Panini’s or Caesar
Salad 3.75
Day 3
6
Hot Dogs 1.00
Grade 8’s & 9’s
to Timberline
Band Concert-
7
Day 4
7
Subway 3.00
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 7pm Day 4
12
Calzones 3.50
13
BBQ Chicken or
Beef Burgers 3.50
14
Chicken Caesar
Wraps 3.50
Day 2
8
Project
Completion Day
Grade 6’s & 7’s
Visit Southgate
15
Crazy Bread 2.50
Banana Split Day
9
16
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 3
17 18
Subway 3.00
All School
Beach Day
Day 1
19
Best Wok
3.00 or 3.50
Day 2
20
Pizza/Crazy
Bread Combo
3.50
Day 3
21
Hot Dog & Bag
of Chips 2.00
Skills for Life
Awards Night 6:30
Day 4
22
Final Awards
Assembly
23
24 25
A.M.-A Block
P.M.-C Block
26
A.M.-F Block
P.M.-H Block
27
A.M.-D Block
P.M.-B Block
28
A.M.-G Block
P.M.-E Block
P r o j e c t C o m p l e t i o n D a y s
School is open for all but mandatory only for students
needing time to complete outstanding work.
29
Administrative
Day
(Students not in
attendance)
30
BLOCK Schedule:
Day 1: A B C D
Day 2: F E H G
Day 3: D C B A
Day 4: G H E F
School District No. 72
Southgate Middle School
740 Holm Road,
Campbell River, BC V9W 1W6
Phone: 250-923-4253
Fax: 250-923-4289
Email: southgate@sd72.bc.ca
Website:
www.sd72.bc.ca/school/southate
ATTENDANCE LINE (Revised)
Our attendance line has now changed. In the event of an
absence or tardiness, we ask that parents contact the school at
923-4253, and press 1 to access the attendance line. Please
leave a message with the date, time and reason your child will
be late or absent. Students are required to sign out at the office
if they leave during the school day, and sign in when they
return. Please call anytime with any questions or concerns
about your child’s attendance record.
At Southgate Middle
School, we recognize that
our students have unique
academic, social,
emotional and physical
needs. Our mission
is to meet these needs
in a respectful learning
environment.