Hi all,
We are back! Learning might look different moving forward but we have the same commitment to ensuring you get great supplemental learning experiences. Thanks for your patience during our educational pause. Please check our YouTube channel for daily announcements!
Welcome back! I sincerely hope that everyone had a wonderful summer break! Here we are at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. It is the beginning of another fresh school year full of promise, opportunities, and future memories. I sincerely hope that for all our students your previous memories have been positive and that you are looking forward to making new ones. To all parents and students if there is anything I can do to assist you during your time at Peacock Collegiate do not hesitate to contact me directly. My phone number is 306-693-4626 and my email is swanson.dustin@prairiesouth.ca. There are many ways to stay connected to Peacock through our web site (www.peacockcollegiate.ca), twitter (https://twitter.com/AE_Peacock) , Facebook, and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/aepeacockcollegiate/). There is much to know and be involved in over the school year.
For this year starting blog I want to focus on the importance of regular school attendance and of getting involved in school extracurricular activities. Research and experience make it clear that both are critical to success in high school.
There is a well known phrase in the education world known as “Attendance Matters”. It is a statement and phrase that our students, staff, and parents heard often last year. It means that each and every school day is an important one and that we want students here each and every day. We know that students will get ill or have appointments or incidents which do affect their ability to attend every single day. However, as a general expectation we think that 95%+ attendance is a reasonable goal for all students. Of greater concern sometimes are the absences that can be avoided by some planning and focus. We believe that teachers are the simply the best at helping our students to learn and are available to help student catch up when absent. However, the discussion, presentations, activities, and overall learning that happens in a classroom with peers can’t be replicated through a homework sheet. I’m asking that should parents have a choice of keeping your child at school as opposed to pulling them out of class that you opt to keep them at school. Simply put, attendance matters. Last year we had some incredible school growth in regards to attendance. In fact, we achieved our target of 90% overall attendance for the entire school throughout the year! Thank you very much for all your support and we look forward to keeping the trend for this school year!
We have a very hard working staff and community volunteer base that volunteer thousands of hours so that students can have extracurricular activities. I’m a firm believer that some of the most important life lessons happen in the gym, on a stage, or the sports field and strongly encourage all students to get involved. We have a wide variety of sports, fine arts, and clubs available to students. During the first week of school there are sign-up sheets in the main office so we hope to see everyone down to sign up for at least one activity this year. For students who are returning don’t forget that you are never too old to try something new! The Wayne Gretzky quote on my office wall is there as a reminder for us all that “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. Make sure that this is the school year you take your shot!
Thanks for reading my blog and I look forward to working with you all over the year ahead!
On Thursday, June 27 we celebrated graduation with our annual cap & gown service. Congratulations graduates and on behalf of the entire staff we wish you best of luck in your future studies, travels, and adventures!
The graduation service also marked the end of the school year at Peacock Collegiate. The work of our school does not happen without the dedication of talents of our staff and volunteers. Thank you to the countless number of staff and parent volunteers who help to ensure all our students get opportunities to be deeply involved in learning and extracurricular programs at Peacock. The commitment and your dedication of your time and talent are crucial to our school.
Each year several of our teachers and staff also “graduate” and move onto new opportunities. This year we are saying goodbye to Mrs. Saylor, Mr. Porter, and Ms. Verge. All three are moving on to new opportunities, including retirement in the case for Ms. Verge. Thank you for all you have done for current and former students and staff and best of luck next year.
We also welcome four new teachers to the school next year including Mr. Brendan Fedoski who will be teaching social sciences; Ms. Sarah Clarke who will teach physical education, Mr. Cody Pylatuk who will teach welding and AutoCAD; and Mrs. Jennifer Hemstock who will teach choral and some other fine arts and electives. Welcome to the Peacock Collegiate family!
Finally, it has been a privilege and an honour to work with the students, staff, and families throughout the past school year. Our students have routinely demonstrated their commitment to high achievement in a caring environment. We wish you all a restful and safe summer. We look forward to working with returning students and wish all the best for the Class of 2019!
Hope you all had a relaxing week off last week during the February break! Good luck to all the winter sport student athletes as you prepare to finish up your seasons.
A big congratulations to the cast, crew, and volunteers of the Wizard of Oz musical production that wrapped up last weekend. Thank you for being involved and to all those who came to support the show. Thank you all for being a part of our 47th consecutive musical tradition!
This weekend is the annual Peacock Polar Bear. On Sunday, December 9 at 12:00pm at the speed skating oval in the beautiful Wakamow Valley come join in a 5K run/walk with all proceeds going to the Terry Fox Foundation.
