The Holiday season is full of special celebrations stretching from late November through to the end of January. For a majority of families in Golden, including mine, this is the time to celebrate Christmas. I also know through family stories that I have ancestral roots in Eastern Europe and I know somewhere in the world there are distant relatives, unknown to me, who are cele-brating Hanukkah right now. In addition to Christmas, my family honours this ancestry by displaying a menorah and engaging our kids with our little stuffed “Mench”, whose presence serves to remind my children of the story of Hanukkah. (Mench is a Yiddish term meaning “a person of integrity and honor”.) I know of many other significant days that happen at this time, too, and I was curious to know more. I looked online and found the University of British Columbia’s Days of Sig-nificance calendar (http://equity.ubc.ca/days-of-significance-calendar/). Through January there are people around the world marking a number of significant days, including: Kwanzaa, Gantan-sai (Shinto New Years), Mahayana New Year (Buddist), Epiphany (Christian), the Feast of the Nativity (Orthodox Christian), Maghi (Sikh), Timkat (Ethiopian Orthodox Christian), World Religion Day (Baha’i), Vasant Panchami (Hindu), and Tu B’shevat (Jewish). Whatever your family celebrates, and in whichever manner you celebrate, I hope you have a restful and restorative holiday season, and from my family to yours I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Sincerely,

Mr. Wilson

Nicholson News Rocky Mountain

School District

December 15, 2017

“Home of the Nicholson Nighthawks”

Principal’s Perspective

This newsletter is available online at www.sd6.bc.ca/schools/nes.

Home Reading continues over the holidays! Remind your child to read over the Christmas break. Home Reading Calendars will be due back the first week of January.

For Parents of Grade 3 Students- Gr. 4 Entry French Immersion Program at Lady Grey School 2018-2019

In September 2018, parents of Grade 3 students have the option of registering in the

French Immersion Program at Lady Grey Elementary School. If you have questions, please

contact Blaine Broderick Principal at Lady Grey School (250-344-6317).

A big thank you to Santa who took time out of his busy schedule to visit us at Nicholson Elementary School on Tuesday, December 12th. Each student received a new book as a gift. Santa would like to thank the parents who helped the elves wrap gifts, as well as all of those who purchased books from our recent Book Fair.

Parent and Tot Program at Nicholson Friday mornings from 9:00 am to noon. Please join us for some fun for your toddler!

NOTICE OF POLICY CHANGE – Policy 3600 Transportation of Students The Board of Education of School District No. 6 (Rocky Mountain) has reviewed it’s policy regarding the transportation of students and has approved the following chang-es which come into effect January 2, 2018:

Transportation Assistance paid to parents of students eligible for transportation who are not receiving bus transportation has been increased from $0.26/km to $0.40/km.

Transportation Assistance is paid on a per-family basis.

The calculation cost weighting factor which favors bus transportation over transportation assistance for students who live in sparsely populated areas has

been changed from 20% to 30%.

Following the annual review of bus routes, route cancellations will occur if the cost of continuing the service would exceed the cost of the corresponding trans-portation assistance allowance plus 30%. In this circumstance, families affected by the change shall be notified in writing at least two (2) months prior to the change taking effect.

These changes to the policy have changed the cost calculations that we use to determine whether or not to run a bus to and from sparsely populated areas of our School District. As a result of the changes the following additional school bus services will be provided in Golden zone: Routes 4 and 8 will now travel to Harrogate School District Operations personnel over the coming weeks will be contacting the families who have been affect-ed by these changes to provide details of the new bus routes. If you have any questions please contact: Al Ure, Operations Supervisor (250) 344-8642 al.ure@sd6.bc.ca or Steve Jackson, Director of Operations (250) 342-9243 ext. 4676 Steve.jackson@sd6.bc.ca

Christmas Concert Success!!!

The students did a WONDERFUL JOB with their production today. Thanks to Ms. Calladine for all her hard work. Great job to all the students who memorized lines and songs!!!! Thank you to the PAC for organizing the raffle and 50/50 draws. Congratulations to the winners and thank you for supporting the PAC!

Nicholson School is a Leader in Me School. Our Student Lighthouse Leaders would like share with you some resources to use at home. Online Resources for the 7 Habits – Ways to Support at home Take a moment to log on to http://www.theleaderinme.org/parents/ and visit the parent’s page for an outline of the 7 habits, a list of parent-child activities that will reinforce the 7 habits, and colouring pages available for printing. There is an option to download a Leader in Me Parent’s Guide as well.

“Learn, Love, Lead!”

January 2018

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Happy New Year!

2 Back to School NO Hot Lunch

3 4 5 6

7 8 Hot lunch: Meatloaf

9 10 Grades 2 & 3 XC skiing

11 12 13

14 15 Hot lunch: Chicken Caesar Wraps

16 Grades 6&7 XC skiing

17 Grades 2 & 3 XC skiing

18

19 20

21 22 Hot lunch: Burritos

23 Grades 6&7 XC skiing

24 Grades 2 & 3 XC skiing

25 26

27

28 29 Hot lunch: Sweet and Sour Pork

30 Grades 6&7 XC skiing

31 Grades 2 & 3 XC skiing