I am excited to be part of the Hermon Public School community as your new Principal.  During the month of January, I have been working along side Ms. Resmer to get brought up to speed.  My first order of business is to get to know the students.  I have brought home the school photo directory and am working away on my 'homework' - studying all those smiling faces and learning their names!   The staff and students have been very welcoming towards me and I look forward to all the possibilities that t he upcoming  months will bring!  From the monthly Celebration Assemblies to the "Hermon Appreciates", our students and staff have been taking the time to recognize the character attributes that make a difference i n our lives and constribute to the positive learning environment that exists at Hermon Public School.  In addition to being Principal at Hermon, I am also an adminstrator at Bird's Creek P.S.  I believe in open communication, so if you are looking to contact me, please feel welcome to leave a message at Hermon or contact me directly at Bird's Creek P.S.

Mrs. Lisa McKenna-Sutherland

 Our Celebration Assembly was held on January 16th.  We honoured students who best exemplified the character trait of caring.  Congratulations to the entire Kindergarten class, Payton (1), Hope (2), Austin (3), Dakota (3), Ariana (3), Emiily (4), Amber (5), Lydia (5), Katie (5) and Kalea (6) for demonstrating consistent caring toward others.  Also, the character trait of co-operation was i ntroduced.  Students were given a cooperative Bingo card and challenged to find someone in the school to fill every spot on their card.  Students had to cooperate, share information about themselves and hep others in this challenge.  Great skills to learn!

First term report cards for students in Grade 1 through 6 go home on February 24, 2012.  Please take the time to read through the teacher's comments in the Learning Skills and Work Habits Section as well as in the subjects sections.  There will be next steps suggested for your child.  These are areas that the teacher will contiune to support.  By supporting your child at home as well, it will help to solidfy the skills that they are struggling with.  The last page of the report card includes a portion for you to check that you have received it, your comments and an opportunity to indicate whether you would like to discuss the report with teachers.  Please return these to the classroom teacher.

Thank you to all who supported our school through the purchasing of Tupperware.  We were able to raise $230.31 to go toward transportation for school trips.  Great job!

Please stay tuned for information about our quilt draw.

The next meeting is Thursday, February 2 @ 9:30am.  All are welcome!

A big Hermon thank you for the following people who make Hermon PS the great place it is!

• Donna Parkhurst, Donna Small, Amy Marsh, Roxane Rudolph and Jennifer White-Fransky for preparing the weekly FREE hot lunch
• Jennifer Whte-Fransky for picking up our milk each week
• Carlow-Mayo Public Library for donating to our Food for Learning Fund
• Lawanda Keller and Roxane Rudolph for doing our head checks
• Parents who provided extra skates and helmets so all Hermon students could particpate in free skaing
• Miss Robinson for coaching our volleyball team and Mr. Hicks for coaching our chess team. 

 Each year, all schools in Ontario develop a plan to improve student success and decrease the gap in education.  We are asked to focus on 2 literacy goals (reading and writing), one math goal, 1 pathway goal and one goal on improving culture in the  school.  The areas we work on are decided by looking at the assessment data collected and determining where the gaps are.  We then work out an action plan to support the goals.  The School Improvement Plan (SIPSA) for 2012 will be shared with the School Council at our meeting on Thursday, February 2nd. .  The goals we are working on this year are:

Literacy Goal #1 :  students will read a variety of texts (fiction and non-fiction), determine the main idea and summarize it succinctly and effectively.

Literacy Goal #2:  students will organize thoughts and ideas into complete sentences/paragraphs for an intended purpose and audience across all areas of the curriculum

Math Goal :  students will learn and use a variety of problem solvimg strategies to show their understanding of geometry

Pathways Goal: students will be intellectually and academically engaged in authenic learning experiences that reflect their voices and identities

Community Culture and Caring:  students will see themselves as contributing citizens to a caring, safe and respectful and inclusive classroom, school and global community 

 Each month, students at Hermon Public School will be showing their appreciation to community and school personnel  by making a thank you card.  In January, we thanked the support staff at Hermon.   Here are some reasons why students appreciate Mrs. Barkley, Mr. Grant and Ms. McGee

“We appreciate Mrs. Barkley because she makes sure that nobody skips school and that we are safe in a lockdown or fire drill.  " Candice (gr. 6)

“We appreciate Mr. Grant because he makes our school shine.” - Caitlyn  (grade 4)

“We appreciate Ms. McGee because she helps us find the books we want to read and books we need for projects.”