Montessori Buzz – Dec. 17, 2024
Dear MA Families & Friends,
Winter Break 2024
This holiday season, let’s take a cue from our Junior High students and “be present”… because time together is the greatest gift! The school will be closed from December 23-January 3. School resumes on Monday, January 6, 2025! We wish all our families a fun and festive Winter Break. Happy Holidays!
Policy Update: Weather-related closure policy will now follow LDCSB
Effective immediately, Montessori Academy will align our Winter Weather Closure policy with the London District Catholic School Board. The LDCSB clearly states on their website that they will announce any weather-related school closures “usually” by 6:30 a.m. This better reflects our own winter-weather school closure and delayed start policies.
This change will allow Montessori Academy to relay our own school closure messages early enough to help support the safety of staff who open the Early Hours programs and any of those in our community who live outside the city limits. As well, this new alignment is more reasonable, as it is the LDCSB that impacts our sports programs and related schedules. This is the school board that allows us to participate in all of the sporting and intramural events for our older Elementary students.
Montessori Academy will only close our school if all LDCSB city schools are closed due to severe weather.
2025-2026 Financial Support Applications due Jan. 6
Applications for Financial Support are now open and due by Monday, January 6, 2025. All families currently enrolled for the 2024-2025 school year are eligible to apply. Full details on how to apply, along with a Financial Support FAQ can be found in the Notices section of our MA Parent App. Or, through our website: https://montessori.on.ca/admissions/financial-support/ Please contact Jennifer Rayman at 519-433-9121 ext. 211 or jrayman@montessori.on.ca if you have any questions.
Sibling Applications due Jan. 10
We look forward to welcoming siblings to MA next school year! Applications are due by Friday, January 10, for the 2025-2026 School Year. We continue to provide priority enrolment to families who apply before the deadline.
Sibling applications can be found in the new MA Parent App under More… / Parent Portal / Sibling Applications. Offers of Admission for siblings of current students will be provided shortly after re-enrolment closes in February. Please contact Jennifer with any questions: jrayman@montessori.on.ca or 519-433-9121 ext. 211.
Fundraising Updates
Save the Date: Winter Fun Fair is March 2, 2025
The Winter Family Fun Fest returns to BGC London on Sunday, March 2, 2025! Don’t miss this exciting winter fundraiser filled with fun for the whole family! Highlights include: A Live Pirate Magic Show, Inflatables & Carnival Games, Swimming & Food, Balloon Twisting, Glitter Tattoos, and more!
Get involved!
Sponsorship Opportunities We’re halfway to our sponsorship goal and need your help to make this event a success! Sponsorships start at $250, with great benefits at each level. Your generous support helps make this day magical! View our Winter Family Fun Fest Sponsorship Guide (PDF) here, or contact Tonya at tdendrinos@montessori.on.ca.
Parent Volunteers – Join the Winter Family Fun Fest planning committee and help bring the fun to life!
Prize Donations – We are looking for small and large prizes for the event! Donations of unused gift cards we can use to purchase prizes, or small (new/unused) kids items (toys, markers, pencils, erasers, fidgets, squishy balls etc.). Please bring any donations to the main administrative office – 719 Waterloo St.
Thank you for supporting our community – we can’t wait to see you there! For more information, contact Tonya at tdendrinos@montessori.on.ca.
FYI: 2024 Charitable Tax Receipts
Thank you to everyone who has donated towards the 718 Waterloo St. Kitchen so far! Your donations have brought us closer to our goal of transforming our Toddler and Casa kitchen into a modern to support the growth of our youngest learners. We continue to fundraise for this important project until the end of June 2025.
If you are planning to make a donation by cash or cheque, your donation must be received by the school by Thursday, December 19th to qualify for a 2024 Charitable tax receipt. Cash and cheques received after this time will receive a 2025 tax receipt.
Missed the deadline? You can still donate online up to December 31st , 2024 and receive an instant 2024 Charitable Tax receipt. Donate Online: https://montessori.on.ca/donate. For questions regarding donations please contact Tonya Dendrinos at tdendrinos@montessori.on.ca
Red Door Summer Camp registration opens in January
Our MA-zing JH teacher and visual storyteller extraordinaire, Shawn Butler, is hosting a summer camp/program for MA students currently in Years 6-8. More details will be shared after the break. For now, you can take a look through the website to see what it’s all about: https://reddoorstory.ca/camp
Take a look at the teaser video: https://vimeo.com/1039467327/7056a55a8e?ts=0&share=copy
PJ Day Tally
Money has been collected, sorted, rolled and counted! Thank you to all of our families and staff who sent in loose change – your contributions in support of ChildCan really added up – our grand total was $2,176.40! WOW!!
Photos from the Week
Winter Concert
Bravo to all of the performers and staff who did such a spectacular job with this year’s Winter Concert.
Kwanzaa Mkeke mats!
As part of their study of celebrations at this time of year, the Casa 3 students have been learning about the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa. The children decorated their own Unity Cup and our senior students did some paper weaving to create Mkeka mats. Happy Kwanzaa!
Latkes in LE2!
We love it when our parents join us in the classroom to teach about their culture and traditions! In Lower El 2, the students prepared Latkes and learned about Hanukkah!
Go Trailblazers!
Our first hockey game! Everyone had fun playing with their classmates. Great job, Trailblazers! And they loved having MA alumnus Adam Harris refereeing the game!
