It’s a bit unreal to be ringing in a new year and seeing it written as 2020. Where has

the time gone? The good news is that we can celebrate a wonderful start to our school

year and look forward to great things happening as we enter 2020.

We are happy to report that we had an amazing Volleyball season with both the Junior

Boys and Girls winning the Area Tournament. As well, our intermediate girls had a

strong season and reached the semifinals at the DSBN Tournament. Congratulations

to the coaches and the athletes on their great performances. In the new year we will

be competing in the area basketball league for our intermediate students.

Thank you to Mr. Shatford for his leadership with our Christmas Concert. We were

able to see first hand what Christmas means to our Gainsborough students and our

community. Thank you, as well, to all participants for your wonderful performances

and preparation.

Let’s go Wildcats!

Scott Anderson, Principal

gainsborough.dsbn.org/calendar.html

(Mon) Jan 6: Back to School

(Mon) Jan 13: FEB/APR/JUNE Hot

Dog Order LIVE in Cash Online

(Mon) Jan 13: FEB/MAR Milk

Order LIVE in Cash Online

(Wed) Jan 15: Little Caesar’s

Fundraiser ENDS

(Mon) Jan 20: Int Basketball Be-

gins

(Tue) Jan 21: Hot Pasta Day

(Thu) Jan 23: Grad Photo Day

(Thu) Jan 23: KDG1 Scientists in

the Classroom

(Tue) Jan 28: FEB/APR/JUNE Hot

Dog Order DUE in Cash Online

(Tue) Jan 28: FEB/MAR Milk Or-

der DUE in Cash Online

(Tue) Jan 28: Character Trait As-

sembly (11:25am)

(Tue) Jan 28: School Council Mtg

(6:45pm)

(Wed) Jan 30: Kindergarten

Open House (10:00am - 6:00pm)

(Wed) Jan 30: Little Caesar’s

Fundraiser PICK UP (2:30pm -

5:00pm)

Contact Info:

5459 Hwy 20, RR2, St. Ann’s, ON, L0R 1Y0

Phone: 905-386-6223

Scott Anderson, Principal

Gainsborough

JK/SK OPEN HOUSE

Wed., Jan 30, 2020

10:00am - 6:00pm

We look forward to

meeting our new

Wildcats and their

families!

Please register online

in advance, then

bring proof of birth &

address (see instruc-

tion to left) to the

Open House.

CLICK HERE).

A HUGE THANKS...

Way back in October, we held a food drive for our local Community Care. Mrs. Gravelle (with the help of some students) was able to get all of your donated boxed and canned food items to our West Lincoln chap-ter in time for Thanksgiving. We brought in a WHOPPING 300 lbs. of food!

Also, because of your generous support of our Halloween Candygram campaign, we were able to make a $150 donation to the Southridge Shelter, to purchase hygiene products for those that are homeless, and a $150 donation to Jumpstart Canada in memory of our former student Liam Boverhof, to promote his love for sport.

Thank you so much for helping us to support these three valuable organizations in our Niagara community! The Spirit Team (& Ms. Haveman)

Jr Girl’s Volleyball

Miss Norton and Mrs. Cervi are so proud of our Jr. Girls Volleyball Team! We came into the tourna-ment at Nelles Public School with smiles and deter-mination; and it worked!!! We are tier 2 champs! Way to go girls! we are so proud of your hard work, because hard work really does pay off! Your 2019/20 Jr. girls team: Ashley B., Morgan C., Makayla H., Catherine H., Alexis K., Lily M., Hanna M., Lauren M., Sophie P., McKenzie P., Alina R., Jaelynn R., Keira S., Hanna T., Katari-na T., and Addison V.

Coaches: Mrs. Cervi & Miss Norton

Jr Boy’s Volleyball

The Jr. Boys Volleyball Team had a wonderful season this year and showed much growth from the begin-ning of the season. On Wed., Dec. 4, 2019, we had the opportunity to participate in a full day triple ball tournament at Nelles Public School. The boys en-joyed the tournament day and played with great de-termination, skill and team spirit. We are very pleased to announce that they finished the season as the tournament CHAMPIONS for our area! Way to go Wildcats, you made us proud! We would like to thank Johnny for volunteering his time to help out with the team during breaks. It was very much ap-preciated.

Team consisted of: William B., Liam B., Logan C., Jacob D., Matthew K., Kyle M., Joe R., Michael R., Jack R., Matthew R., Carson T., Cole W., and Tucker W.

Coaches: Mrs. Kotsis & Mr. Anderson

REMINDER

Fri., Jan. 17, 2020 is a PD Day.

There will be no classes for students.

Please enjoy your extended weekend.

Singing, dancing, ringing, prancing--this year's Christmas concert had it all! The holiday spirit was alive and well as, on Tue., De-cember 17th, staff and students presented a celebration to mark the season. It was so good to see faces shine as they performed and enjoyed the Arts at Christmas time. Many thanks to staff and students--and family members--for your contributions to the success of the event.

Merry

Christmas

to all!

by Mr. Shatford.

HEALTH NOTES

The flu and cold season is here! One way to help control the spread of germs is to educate our youngsters about the importance of coughing into their sleeve rather than their hands and to wash their hands frequently; especially if they have the sniffles.

Not sure when to send your child to school if he/she isn’t feeling well? We appreciate the desire to not miss school, but for the sake of the healthy children we ask students with bad coughs, sore throats and flu (i.e. fever, diarrhea) to stay at home. A good rule of thumb - if you think your child

is not well enough to go outside during breaks, then he/she should probably not be at school. We do not have facili-ties or staff available to supervise students who are ill.

WINTER SAFETY

Winter weather usually brings lots of opportunities for fun in the snow, however, it can also bring danger when students don’t play in a careful way. Snowballs, can especially cause serious injury. Therefore, we have a NO THROW SNOW policy.

The climbing equipment will also be off-limits to students during snowy and/or icy weath-er as boots, snow pants and gloves or mittens make it difficult to get a good footing or grasp when climbing. It is also important to remove drawstrings on clothing.

Please make sure your child comes to school dressed warmly on cold days since the wind can be harsh as it blows across our open playground. A pair of shoes to wear in the building when boots are removed is also a necessity. It is also a good idea to send an extra pair of mittens/gloves and socks (labeled with your child’s

name) in case these get wet during first break and haven’t dried sufficiently to second break.

The boys in Rm 13 would like to give a great big shout out to men at the Smithville Legion (Branch 493) for their generosi-ty in purchasing sensory toys to promote self-regulation to encourage learning. The photo to the left shows the children enjoying their new sensory toys. Mrs. J. Pankhurst

Mr S., in Little House, would like to thank the women at the Smithville Legion (Branch 493) for providing a weighted jacket to pro-mote calming and readiness in learn-ing. It is wonderful to have the support

of our community! Thank you!

Thank you to all the families who took time out of their busy schedules to come and celebrate Christmas with us during our kin-dergarten Jingle Mingle Open House. We

really enjoyed the opportunity to share with you some of the magic this time of year brings! We wish you all the best in the new year! by Mrs. Irwin

We hope

you all have

a wonder-

ful, memo-

rable and safe winter holi-

day! Our first meeting of the

the year will take place on

Tue., Jan. 28, 2020, here at the

school. It’s never too late to

see new faces and all are wel-

come to join! Please email

Julie Adams

(julie.adams.88@gmail.com) if

you require childcare (as child-

care is provided) or have any

questions.

MARCH BREAK

March 16, 2020

through

March 20, 2020

The Kindergarten Jingle Mingle, in room 9, was a big success this year! All the Kindergar-ten students and their families came together to celebrate the holidays in a big way. Stu-dents built gingerbread houses, enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate, and even took part in a Christmas performance. Thank you to all the families and the Gainsborough staff

for making this possible! Merry Christmas!

by Mrs. Bouhuis

A huge Holiday Shout Out to the gentleman who paid for our break-fast at the Flat Top Grill Restaurant on Thu. Dec. 19th.

Our two “Little House” classes went to the “Flat Top” for breakfast and when the teachers, Mr. Degraw and Mr. Steingart, went to pay the bill, it was already taken care of. Goodness as well as kindness still abound in the hamlet of Bismark and the sur-rounding area.

Thanks again. To whoever you are thank you so-o-o much! Your ges-ture is greatly appreciated and we will be absolutely sure to pass your kindness on!!