The Lynx Lowdown
The inside scoop on Forest Grove School
Bonjour, familles de Forest Grove!
It's timely to discuss Individual Support Plans for students.
As a school, we generally start working on these plans by the end of September and October, so we can discuss them during family and teacher interviews, which will be during the week of October 18. Stay tuned for the exact days.
An ISP is mandatory for all children/students identified as requiring specialized supports and services, including mild, moderate, and severe disabilities/delays, and those who are gifted and require enrichment.
Generally, a specific diagnosis is required based on a medical or psychoeducational assessment.
We will be sending out some questions to families next week whose children require an ISP for learning so we can include strategies that work for learning at home, understand students' strengths and areas of need, and supports required for optimal learning.
Teachers use what we call Universal Supports in the classroom already; these help all students. These supports may include the use of audiobooks, using technology for writing, text-to-speech and speech-to-text features, flexible workspaces, using multi-modal approaches to teaching concepts or using graphic organizers to prepare writing tasks, to name a few.
Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.
Your counselling team,
Mme Natalie Pathirana et Mme Katharina Staub
Our junior high volleyball teams are starting the regular league play now that parity games are done. Congratulations to our senior boys team for getting the silver medal at the Bev Facey tournament last weekend!
We are currently working on starting a lunch hour elementary volleyball team to compete in an elementary tournament at the end of October. Stay tuned for the details!
Our golf team will compete in the tournament on Monday afternoon! Go, Lynx!
How do students learn about the events taking place at school?
In elementary grades, students watch a daily video announcement that include pictures of things happening around the school, reminders about safety, and many other topics such as how to follow our school expectations and introductions of staff members.
Currently, our junior high students have announcements read to them in their first block class each day. But that is about to change!
Mr. Basaraba is starting a new way of preparing the announcements: Lynx TV !
Students are invited to join the LYNX TV Crew!
Is your junior high student interested in being on camera or working behind the scenes? LYNX TV—Forest Grove’s YouTube-based, student-led video announcements—is looking for new team members!
We are recruiting for:
Anchors & Presenters (Read the daily announcements on camera!)
Production Crew (Camera operators, video editors, audio technicians, and creative directors)
No experience is necessary—just enthusiasm, creativity, and a willingness to learn!
Informational Meeting:
Date: Monday, September 28
Time: 2nd half of lunch - 1PM
Location: Library – Learning Commons
Orange Shirt Day
On September 29, Forest Grove will come together to commemorate Orange Shirt Day — a day to honour Survivors of residential schools, remember the children who never returned home, and recognize that Every Child Matters.
Students and staff are encouraged to wear orange to show their support, we will also share a moment of silence as a whole school during block 2.
Student Activities:
Students will engage in age-appropriate activities.
- K-3 students will design their own orange shirts and add them to a larger orange shirt to be displayed in the school.
- Grade 4-6 students are making hand prints with personal reconciliation statements on them that will be displayed on the drama room folding door on the second floor.
- Grades 7-9 students will have the name of a student who attended residential school placed on their locker.
Button Making Tuesday at lunch:
Students are invited to stop by the second staircase to make a button during lunch-featuring Forest Grove’s Indigenous-designed Orange Shirt Day logo, created by John Cardinal. The design brings together traditional and contemporary Indigenous imagery and centres the word “Resilience” as a reminder that Indigenous cultures and communities continue to survive, thrive, and shape our world today.
At the centre is the word resilience, written in a contemporary graffiti style. I love that this modern style showcases that Indigenous peoples and cultures are not just part of history, we are living, vibrant, and very much present today. Even after generations of policies and systems tried to suppress our cultures, languages, and identities, Indigenous peoples have continued to survive, adapt, grow, and thrive. That strength is something I feel deeply proud of.
Surrounding the word are florals that may look familiar as they are present in indigenous beadwork, honouring the beauty, creativity, and importance of Indigenous artistry. Beadwork is also a meaningful way of expressing connection to culture, community, and the land. The design includes leaves from trees Indigenous to the area around Forest Grove, helping ground the logo in the land where our school community gathers and learns together.
The hand print with the heart on the palm represents care, connection, and the responsibility we all hold in our own hands, to listen, learn, remember, and move forward with compassion. To me, it also represents the love and care that Indigenous communities continue to carry, even through so much history and hardship.
Created for Orange Shirt Day, this logo brings all of these elements together as a reminder that Every Child Matters. It is also a reminder that reconciliation is not something we recognize only on one day. It is an ongoing commitment to learning, building relationships, honouring Indigenous voices, and taking meaningful action. As someone who is proud of my own Indigenous ancestry, I feel honoured to see these cultural connections represented in a way that is both joyful and powerful.
Wear orange. Learn. Remember. Honour.