WES Weekly Update

September 14 - 📸PICTURE DAY!📸

September 17 - WES Back to School Night, 6:30pm

September 18 - WES PTO Movie Night, 7:00pm

September 21 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

September 25 - Mum Sale pick up, 4:00pm

October 7 - WES WEDNESDAY (wear WES colors, WES cares shirt or other spirit wear)

October 9 - Apple Crunch Day

October 14 - PTO Meeting, 6:00pm

WES Families,

What a beautiful September Monday! Back to School Night is this Thursday, September 17th and the schedule is listed below. We look forward to sharing with your family the things in store for your children this school year. Teachers hold a classroom presentation in their rooms, and families also gather in the multipurpose room for a schoolwide presentation by the PTO and myself. It will be good to see many of you there on Thursday evening.

It is recommended that you car pool, walk if you are close by, or get dropped off, as parking on site is limited.

This week marks the week when we finish up the beginning of the year benchmarking and universal screening assessments. It helps inform our teachers and staff where additional support may be needed, and where additional challenges may also be appropriate. It takes time to truly get to know your individual children as students and learners, but this week does provide more insight into that. Everyday helps build more connection and confidence here at school.

On Friday, Mr. Greenhalgh and the music department staff presented instrument demonstrations in an assembly for students in grades 3 to 5. Information is below about student interest in lessons and ensembles.

Picture Day was also today, and was a great success! Beautiful smiles captured like a snapshot in time!

Have a great week!

Mr. Krall

Principal

Session 1 - AM Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd Grades

6:10 - 6:30 - Special Education Teachers, Special Area Teachers and Support Teachers available to meeting parents in the Library

6:30 - 6:55 - Principal Meeting in Multi Purpose Room (MPR)

6:55 - 7:00 - Move to Homeroom

7:00 - 7:30 - Classroom Visitations (AM-K, 1, 2)

Session 2 - PM Kindergarten, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grades

6:50 - 7:10 - Special Education Teachers, Special Area Teachers and Support Teachers available to meeting parents in the Library

7:10 - 7:35 - Principal Meeting in Multi Purpose Room (MPR)

7:35 - 7:40 - Move to Homeroom

7:40 - 8:10 - Classroom Visitations (PM-K, 3,4,5)

If your child has a documented food allergy or asthma, please send EpiPens and inhalers ASAP in order to keep your child safe at school. Each school year the doctor needs to sign a new plan, and it must be submitted with the medication. These medications are needed for your child to participate in field trips. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you!

Nurse Costa

ecosta@wssd.org

As part of our school's ongoing commitment to improving school wide behavior, the Tier 1 and administrative team have crafted some specific goals for school improvement for this year. One of those goals, presented to our students and staff during our 9/4 Light the Way Kickoff assembly, included focusing on school disruptions, and specifically seeking a decrease in documented disruptions. New PBIS Tier 1 coach, Ms. Caruso-Drennen, helped craft new schoolwide behavioral goals based on data collected last school year.

In the 2025-2026 school year, a total of 130 school disruptions were recorded. Our goal this year is to see that number decrease to below 100. Similar to our goal last year that focused on playground incidents where we saw a decline of 17% from 24-25 to 25-26, we created a themed acronym to reinforce expectations for students. This is in addition to the ongoing commitment, beginning of year teaching, and periodic reteaching that occurs for all school wide behavior expectations by classroom teachers, our school counseling department, and administrative team. These expectations are reinforced through signage in the building, the intentional recognition of positive behaviors, and restorative practices that offer time for reteaching and reflection when students do exhibit unexpected behaviors.

Our acronym this year, to remind of our expectations, is LIGHT!! Your support is appreciated in reinforcing these expectations also at home!

Beginning instrumental music enrollment starts now! Registration for WES beginning instrumental music lessons is now available for grades 3, 4, and 5. Access the QR code to learn more. Enroll here: https://sites.google.com/wssdgmail.org/wssd-beginner-music/home.

WES 4th and 5th grade parents/guardians:

4th and 5th grade WES Chorus starts September 25th. We meet every Friday morning from 8:00 to 8:40 AM in the music room. Membership is for the entire school year. If your child is interested in joining please fill out and submit the google form below.

Musically Yours,

Mrs. Haley

Fitness Club for grades 3-5 will begin in September. Fitness Club will be offered once a week afterschool from 3:30 to 4:30pm and will be a combination of indoor games and fitness-related activities. Pick-up is at the back of the school at 4:30. Students must have a ride home to participate. Signing up for fitness club will take place on a first come first serve basis. Please see below for dates by grade and sign up links:

3rd grade students will have Fitness Club on Wednesday afternoons (9/23, 9/30, 10/7, 10/14). Please sign up here for 3rd grade Fitness Club.

4th grade students will have Fitness Club on Tuesday afternoons (9/22, 9/29, 10/6, and 10/13). Please sign up here for 4th grade Fitness Club.

5th grade students will have Fitness Club on Monday afternoons (9/28, 10/5, 10/12, 10/19). Please sign up here for 5th grade Fitness Club.

No notes are needed for clubs. Please notify the school only if your child is not attending on a specific day. Kindly submit changes either the evening before or prior to the start of the school day.

We’re excited to launch WES ♥️ Pease, a partnership with the Kyle Pease Foundation to transform our playground into a more inclusive and accessible space where every child can play, connect, and belong.

Our aging equipment and wood chip surface can make it difficult for some students to fully participate. With community support, we can create updated play structures and an accessible surface that allows children of all abilities to play side-by-side.

How can you help? Donate, share our fundraising link, spread the word, purchase a t-shirt, or join us at an upcoming event!

Order a T-shirt:

Please consider supporting our cause by purchasing a WES❤️ PEASE T-shirt. Here is the order form. Orders will close at Noon on Friday, 9/18/26.

Youth shirts - $15, Adult shirts - $20: Please send cash or check (payable to WES Sunshine) for your t-shirt order(s) to Brigid Scolis at WES or drop off to the WES Front Office.

T-shirts will be distributed on/around Wednesday 9/30/26 in time for the WES Walk-A-Thon (more details coming soon!) on Friday 10/2/26 and the WES ♥️Pease Fair on Sunday 10/4/26 at WES.

Upcoming events:

📅 October 4: WES ♥️Pease Fair
📅 January 4, 2027: Play for Pease Night at Oasis Family Fun Center

Together, we can build more than a playground—we can build a place where every child belongs! For additional information, please contact Lauren Bannon.

As the elementary schools across the district are navigating to the use of the Schoology platform, there are some family resources that can help with accessing information in Schoology. Please see the parent navigation document and app access resource to support community engagement and provide greater transparency into learning outcomes.

CLICK THE BUTTONS BELOW for more information and guidance.

WSSD's visitor management system, Navigate 360, requires all visitors to scan their driver's license for their first visit to the building. All visitors should report directly to the main office and produce a valid, government-issued ID to receive a visitor badge. Upon exiting the building, please check out with the main office and dispose of your visitor badge in the trash.

Our school district is committed to providing a safe learning environment for all and we thank you for your cooperation!

The parent and community volunteers that we host at WES are a huge part of our school's success, and we value everyone that is willing to offer their time and talents. However, the school and district adhere to a strict and comprehensive volunteer clearance policy that is mandatory for all volunteers. They are required for anyone volunteering to work with our students or be present in our school; whether that is in school, on a field trip, or at an athletic event/practice, etc. Everyone who is volunteering with our students or in a school is required to obtain volunteer clearances.

We urge parents and guardians to complete the process for clearances at the beginning of the year, as the collection and submission of clearances is a process that can take some time. Clearances are submitted directly to WSSD's Central Offices (online via the PowerSchool parent portal) and not to our school building. Once completed and cleared, they are valid for 5 years.

You will not be permitted to volunteer without valid clearances on file with the school district.

Click the button below to learn how to obtain and submit volunteer clearances.

For information regarding 2026-2027 Food Service updates, pricing for lunch, or accessing the free and reduced lunch form applications, please visit the Food Services page of our site by clicking on the button below.

Please feel free to reach out to Kate Rittler, Director of Food and Nutrition, with any questions! krittler@wssd.org, 610-892-3470 ext. 2151 or visit the WSSD Food Services website.

SNAP changes related to the H.R. 1 law may reduce the number of students directly certified for free meals. Families who lose SNAP benefits may not realize that they need to complete a school meal application because their children were automatically approved in previous years through direct certification. School food Authorities are urged to promote the completion of school meal applications for the 2026-2027 School Year, to connect eligible students to school meal benefits and subsequently, Summer EBT.

Please click HERE for the WSSD WES Free and Reduced Lunch Application.

PeachJar is our community digital flyer system that brings important information about events and programs directly to our families! Click on the image to see the latest community flyers.

Including: The need to hire BUS DRIVERS and BUS AIDES!

The WSSD will only provide the WES PTO with information submitted on the “[BTS] 08 – Student Directory Information” form via the Parent Portal on PowerSchool. In order to be included in this year’s WES Student Directory, please submit the form to "opt-in" by this Friday, September 18th. Thank you! Please reach out to Derrick Clements with any questions. Opt-In Via PowerSchool.

The 2026-27 WES Student Directory is available to order here. This helpful resource has all of the important information in one place - including the calendar of events, class lists and contact information for teachers and families. Once published this fall, print copies will be delivered to your WES student's backpack. Digital access to the Directory Spot app will be sent to the email(s) provided. Thank you for staying connected with the WES community and supporting this fundraiser for the WES PTO!

Join us for Family Movie Night under the stars outside at Wallingford Elementary. On Friday, September 18 we’ll show Disney·Pixar’s Wall-E, the story of a small trash-compacting robot who ends up on an adventure across the galaxy! Families can arrive starting at 7 p.m. and the movie begins at 7:30 p.m. Bring blankets, lawn chairs, snacks and settle in for a fun evening with our school community. We hope to see you there! Contact Nichole Dobo or Michael Sheehan with any questions.

The WES 5th Grade Mum Sale is officially open!

COST: $12.00 per plant

**ORDER ONLINE BY: Friday, September 18th**

PICK-UP DATE: Thursday, September 25th from 4:00 – 6:00 PM at WES.

If you are interested in purchasing mums, order here: https://www.weskidspto.com/mumsale

Thank you for supporting our 5th graders! For further questions about the mum sale, please contact Sarah Ponzio.

From September 14-30th, the WES Sustainability Committee will be collecting like-new and gently used small toys and trinkets. Backpack charms, keychains, bouncy balls, arcade and dentist office prizes, novelty pencils/erasers and the like. Your items will be given new life at our Halloween Carnival, greatly reducing the amount of new consumption needed to host the event. We would love to be able to eliminate new prize purchasing almost entirely for this fun fall event! Please see the attached information sheet here for full donation guidelines before contributing. Questions? Please reach out to Karla Testa, Erin Stancill, AmandaHemmer, Christina Forwood, or Danielle Grugan.

Monthly WES PTO meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 PM in the library. All are welcomed to attend!

Visit their website weskidspto.com for more information.