Dear Parents/Guardians:
For the 2017/18 school year, Webster’s Corners will be simplifying our student supply procedure by changing over to school-wide communal supplies. This means that the supplies will be purchased by the classroom teachers prior to September 2017, for all students to use in the classroom during the 2017/18 school year. Parents will be asked to pay a $47.50 supply fee per student, in order to help cover the cost of supplies which students will use throughout the next school year.
We piloted this idea of communal supplies last year with our primary students and found this method to be very effective in ensuring that all students had the same necessary supplies, right at the start of the year. Moreover, the idea of communal supplies fits nicely with the fact that now, all classrooms have group tables instead of individual desks. This shift reflects our belief that having students work in a more collaborative setting benefits their learning academically, socially and behaviourally. Having communal supplies at every table will facilitate this kind of philosophy.
Furthermore, this new practice will alleviate the issue of students having vastly different types of supplies, or perhaps running out of supplies, part-way through the school year. Instead, each teacher will purchase the necessary supplies ahead of time and students will use them as needed, taking them from a common area, throughout the school year.
Since each teacher will be buying the supplies for their own classroom, we would greatly appreciate it if all parents pay the supply fee before the end of this school year. This money will enable teachers to purchase all student supplies in the summer months, without having to pay with their own money (and then recouping it later in the fall).
We hope that our Webster’s Corners parents will appreciate the simplification in supply procedures, as now there will be no need for each family to individually shop for school supplies. Also, we look forward to a smooth transition back to school in September, with the help of this new procedure.
However, if you wish to opt out of this initiative, please feel free to email me at “rmehrassa@sd42.ca” and I will email you a copy of the supplies that teachers will be buying. Please be advised that even if you buy your own child(ren)’s supplies, all supplies in the classroom will be communal and shared by all students, under the supervision of the classroom teacher.
Thank you in advance for your support,
Ramin Mehrassa