WHS Parent Newsletter

Good afternoon,

I would like to thank all of our students and families for a fantastic school year! I wish everyone a safe and relaxing summer.

Final Report Cards should be ready to view on your Parent Portal Account in PowerSchool by the end of the week. We will send out communication when they are posted. Report Cards are not viewable using the Mobile App. If you have trouble accessing your Parent Portal PowerSchool Account please email: powerschool@windhamsd.org

See you all in September!

In this edition (*new information is bolded)

• Shout Outs
• Summer Reading is Live
• 2026-2027 Semester Grading
• Tech Tips: School Reports
• Athletics: Fall Sports
• Free Tutoring Resources- Digital SAT® test prep; Tutor.com; SAT and CTE offerings
• Volunteer Information
• We're Hiring!
• WHS Events:JCA Fundraiser; Lunch Group
• Outside Events: Nesmith Summer Reading; PTA America 250 Shirts; Project Blackout TShirts; Windham Wolverines; Girls' JAG Camp; Project Joy; F2FC 5K; Join the PTA

Important Dates

• 8/27: New Student Orientation
• 9/2: First Day of School
• 9/7: Labor Day- No School
• 9/8: Election Day- No School WHS Only

Link to 2026-2027 District Calendar

• Shout out to Mari Ciresi for making a Class of 2026 banner that is hanging in the School Counseling Suite.

For the 2026-2027 school year, Windham High School will be shifting from a quarterly to a semester grading model. This will allow the high school to better align its grading practices to how students learn and demonstrate growth over time. A semester system provides a longer instructional window, giving students multiple opportunities to revisit skills, receive feedback, and demonstrate improved levels of competency. Rather than grades reflecting a single moment in time, they are more likely to capture a student’s progress and eventual mastery through repeated assessment and revision.

This approach also aligns to the school’s commitment to a growth mindset. When students have extended time to practice and improve, they are encouraged to view learning as an ongoing process. A semester model reduces the pressure of short grading cycles and reinforces the idea of growth, allowing students to recover from early challenges and demonstrate learning over time.

Final course grades for semester classes are calculated from these quarterly grades: 90% semester course work and 10% for the Final Exam. Final grades for full-year courses are calculated based on semester grades: 50% for Semester 1 and 50% for Semester 2, including the mid-term and final assessment grades. Student transcripts will continue to show final course grades only.

Parents and students will receive two progress reports at the six and 12 week marks of each semester to ensure that students and families have an ability to monitor progress. Athletic eligibility will be checked prior to the beginning of each season. Dates will be determined to constitute athletic eligibility. Grades will be pulled in August, November, and March.

All other grading procedures including late-work, re-takes, etc. will remain unchanged.

To help our parents and guardians feel more comfortable navigating the various PowerSchool products the district uses, the tech department will regularly share support and learning tools in the newsletters. We hope these tech tips, which will include a variety of videos, PDF instructions, deep dives, and quick tips, will help our community become more comfortable using our primary resources: MyPowerHub (The Hub), the PowerSchool Parent Portal, and the PowerSchool Mobile App. Additionally, these resources will be added to our website's Parent Technology Resource Center so you can revisit them at any time.

We are starting with a video overview of MyPowerHub. Click here to launch the video.

This overview highlights the version you access via a web browser. Just as a reminder, our Hub login URL is: https://windhamsd.guardian.powerschool.com/

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, we felt that a reminder on how to view student report cards would be an appropriate Tech Tip for this week! Just a reminder, at this time, the report cards are NOT viewable in the mobile app. The link to Student Reports is in the Resource Links section of MyPowerHub. New additions to the resource links include a link to the Parent Technology Resource page on our website, where you can find all of our Tech Tips and more! Please view the linked document for detailed instructions on how to view your student's end-of-year report card.

How to view Student Reports

MyPowerHub How to View Student Reports .pdf

See something in our newsletters that you want to go back and review? Newsletters are the most frequently accessed communication, so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to find them. There are multiple ways to view and access the newsletters based on parent preferences. View the attachment to learn more.

Finding School and District Newsletters.pdf

Please see below for the dates and locations of the first tryouts. All students must be fully registered in FinalForms to participate on the first day of tryouts. Full instructions and a link to register can be found on the WHS website at:

https://cdnsm5ss18.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_27317624/Image/Extra%20Curriculum/Athletic%20Achievements/Windham%20ParentPlaybook.pdf

August 10

Bass Fishing TBA

August 14

Football WHS

August 17

Golf 7 am Windham Country Club

Cross Country 4 pm WHS

Volleyball 2-6 pm WHS Gym

Spirit 6-8 pm WHS Gym

Boys Soccer 8-9a m on Turf and then 3-5 pm WHS Soccer Field

Girls Soccer 8 am WHS Soccer Field

Field Hockey 7-10 am WHS FH Field

All athletic schedules can be found on the Windham BigTeams website. Coaches communicate using Sportsyou.com

Any questions can be directed to:

• Jon Hall – Athletic Director, email: jhall@windhamsd.org, phone: 603-845-1558 x 5804
• Donna DiZazzo – Athletics Admin Asst., email: jhilton@windhamsd.org, phone: 603-845-1558 x 5803

Through NHED's partnership with Tutor.com, all New Hampshire high schoolers can access no-cost Digital SAT® test prep—anytime, anywhere!

Support options include:

?? Digital SAT Essentials - Full self-paced SAT prep course from The Princeton Review
?? Live, 24/7 tutoring for SAT-prep sessions tailored to students' individual needs
?? Drop-off writing review for expert feedback on SAT practice essays

Plus, students can familiarize themselves with the Desmos® graphing calculator in our online classroom—the same calculator used in the real Digital SAT exam.

To get started, please encourage students to log in to Tutor.com through their LMS or create an individual account.

Visit tutor.com/nhed for helpful instructions and additional resources.

Our volunteers are a critical component of our school district's success, and we appreciate and thank them for their time and commitment! Beginning in late August, returning designated volunteers will receive notifications from the online training system. If you are interested in volunteering or are new to our district, please follow the process outlined on our website. If you have any questions about this process, please email hr@windhamsd.org.

JCA Popcorn and Gourmet Cookies Fundraiser is happening now! Please consider supporting our club by purchasing a box of delicious cookies or popcorn. All of the items ship directly to you!

https://supporter.goldathletics.net/campaigns/6305/users/183751?utm_source=share-link&utm_medium=copy&utm_campaign=6305

The following events are sponsored by organizations outside our school community

Location: 64 London Bridge Road, Windham, NH 03087, USA
Phone: 603-845-1558

Email: smckenna@windhamsd.org
Website: https://whs.windhamsd.org/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/WindhamHighSchool
Twitter: @WHSJaguars