Dear Bates Families,
Our students have enjoyed a week of playing in the snow, but many of us welcome the arrival of this week’s warmer weather! On Wednesday we had a wonderful Winter Concert, with performances by our fifth grade chorus, the Bates and Upham band and orchestra. We look forward to our next performance in which all students will perform, the All School Concert on February 14 at 9:00 a.m. I hope you will join us if you are able.
I would like to highlight an upcoming opportunity for all families on January 22 at 7:00 p.m. at Wellesley High School. WEF is sponsoring an evening with Ken Kay, CEO of EdLeader21, that will engage parents in a provocative and interactive conversation about preparing students for their 21st century lives. In this presentation that is open to the entire WPS community, Ken will explore the following questions:
- How do we define student success in the 21st century?
- What are 21st century skills?
- Why are these important for our students?
- What knowledge, skills and habits of mind do we want all of our WPS graduates to have?
For more details and to register for this event, CLICK HERE.
As many of you may know, beginning in 2016 the Bates School participated in the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge and initiated a recycling initiative in the Bates cafeteria. With the help of many community leaders, town and school employees and parent volunteers, our students are now independently recycling and diverting over 120 lbs. of cafeteria waste from landfills each week. This number will increase with the introduction of new food waste diversion efforts. Recently, the Health Department gave Whitson’s Matt Delaney and Wellesley Public Schools permission to pilot a pre-consumer food (kitchen leftover) rescue and post-consumer (share table) food rescue initiative at the Bates, Fiske, and Sprague Schools. If you would like to learn more about this exciting program, you can read about it in this Boston Globe article.
Finally, Evan Rosenberg has informed me that the Elmwood and Weston Road crossing guard will be temporarily needed in another location near the Hardy School. Please be aware that for approximately two weeks there will not be a crossing guard at the Elmwood and Weston Road intersection. Evan explained that this intersection is currently experiencing little foot traffic, so he expects this move will have a minimal impact on our community. Please let me know if you have a concerns about this temporary measure.
Finally, as a reminder there is no school on Monday in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday.
Warm regards,
Toni Jolley
Upcoming dates:
Monday, January 15 No School in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday
Week of January 16 P.E. Open House
Friday, February 2 Progress Reports sent home
Wednesday, February 14 All School Concert, 9:00 a.m. in the gym