Academy Avenue Elementary School

Dear Academy families and friends,

Can you believe it, it's the last full week of September? Time sure flies when you love what you do! This past week, our staff participated in a school-wide PD session looking at the demographics and needs of our students. We talked about our focus this year is all about building relationships and making sure every student here at Academy knows they are loved and valued. We want our students to know that for every student who attends Academy, there is a member of the staff advocating for and supporting them. We also discussed the many ways to ensure that every student reaches their full potential and that all are welcomed here. We ROAR with Weymouth pride!

This week, we received our official MCAS scores from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Academy scored about the district and state level in all areas (English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science). We placed in the 74 percentile among all elementary schools in Massachusetts. For more information, please visit the DESE website by clicking here.

This week at Academy, we also had a visit from Jack Banagis from the New England Wildlife Center. We are excited to keep the partnership going and growing and look forward to getting two field trips for the 5th grade team to work with NEWC. We also held a special graduation ceremony for several of our student who officially graduated out of the ELL program, demonstrating their hard work in becoming proficient in English as their second language. We are so proud of our graduates!!! Our School Council met for the first time this past Thursday (we still need one parent and a community business partner) and discussed our school improvement planning and efforts to raise our school to the next level. We also met with the Parent Council and began discussions some of the great events coming our way. Last but not least, this week I got to ride one of our school bus and see the many different neighborhoods our students come from and what it's like to take the bus to school in the morning.

Over the next few weeks, we will be planning on participating in the Safe Routes to School state-wide Walk to School day on October 4th. I am excited to announce we will be bringing back the "Walking School Buses" and will be looking for staff and parent volunteers to help lead our buses and aid them in traversing the neighborhoods before school on October 4th. Please email me if you can help be a walking school bus leader! It's some good, healthy fun and we are hoping to do these several times throughout the 2023-2024 school year.

Thank you for all of your support...the school year is off to a great start!!!

Mr. Higgins

Updates

Attendance Matters

Daily attendance is critical to the learning process. Students should be in school each & every day to grow to their full potential. We understand that students get sick and ask parents to Please remember to call the attendance hotline (781.335.4717 before 8:30) to report an absence. Please be sure to submit any doctor's notes following an absence as well.

Staffing Needs

Academy Avenue is looking for two building substitutes to join the team. A building substitute would be part of the team and help cover classes when teachers are absent or when we have team meetings during the day. These individuals get to work with different grades throughout the building and are very helpful in supporting our classrooms and programs. If you know of someone who would be a good fit for this position, please have them apply on schoolspring.com or contact the school office at 781.335.4717.

October

October 2 Grade 5 Band Rental Night 6:30-8:30 @ Chapman

October 3-Grade 5 Field Trip to Great Esker

October 4 Walk to School Day-Walking School Bus Routes will be coming out!

October 5 Kindergarten is going to Nihtla Farm

October 9 Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day

October 10 Full Day PD No School

October 11 Grade 4 Planetarium

October 17 5th Grade Field Trip to the NEWC

October 19 Picture Day at Academy

Click here for the latest news from our AAPC:

Here is the link to the newest AAPC Smore.

https://www.smore.com/zdy7b

Great showing at our first meeting!!!

• Tech Support for Families
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