Weekly Newsletter Emailed Each Sunday During The School Year.
Feb. 2, 2020 Lunar New Year Celebration On Tuesday, Jan. 28, many SSFS students, faculty, staff, and host families gathered in Westview Dining Hall to celebrate the Lunar New Year, which in Asia is traditionally a time for families to get together to eat dumplings, paste paper cuttings on windows, and receive gifts of red packets from elders. After making dumplings together, guests enjoyed student performances and games, and shared a delicious meal. See more photos on Vidigami here (don't forget to login first!).
Dive Into This Week's News Read The Latest News Across Our Divisions On The SSFS Website.
News At Your Fingertips Your Mobile-Friendly Email Digest of our Weekly Must-Know Information And More. All-School "Must-Know" Info for Feb. 2, 2020
The calendar information below is for all-school, multi-divisional, and/or Parent Association events and activities in the coming weeks. Please see the Lower School, Middle School, or Upper School sections for division-specific "must-know" info, or visit the Calendar web page to see the full calendar.
And coming up soon/to keep on your radar...
AIMS is offering a free parent education program as a part of the annual Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity Conference--Making Schools Safe--on February 4, 2020 at Sandy Spring Friends School. On February 4th from 7:00-8:00 pm, also at Sandy Spring Friends School, AIMSwill offer Creating Connections and Building Community: An Evening for LGBTQ Families. Please register online for this event here. See more about the program for the evening here... On February 4, SSFS will be hosting the AIMS Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity Conference, the annual conference for faculty, staff, students and allies from the LBGTQ community and area schools. Making Schools Safe was founded by AIMS over 20 years ago, and this year's focus is Moving Forward. With 2019 being the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the Making School Safe committee put together a program designed to help community members move their own school communities forward in various ways. SSFS is happy to be sending 27 students, faculty, and staff from our middle school and upper schools. There will also be an evening parent session with Meg Bolger from 7-8 pm in Yarnall. Get involved with the SSFS Auction Committee! Our next meeting is Wednesday, February 5 at 8:15 am in the Scott House Conference Room. We need your help in pulling off one of the biggest events of the year! Find out more and see flyer here... Join us on Friday February 7, at 8:10 am in the Scott House Conference Room for our next Post-Prom meeting! Are you looking for a way to get involved in a school event? Do you enjoy throwing a good party? Just want to meet some other parents? Come join us as we plan a fun event late-night event for our Upper School students. There are plenty of opportunities to help out, no matter how much or how little time you have available. Not an Upper School parent? No worries! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to take part. Show up and see what Post-Prom is all about. Questions? Reach out to Dawn Lee or Lauren Deichman. The SSFS Parents Association is hosting a Parent's Night Out at Brookeville Beer Farm on February 7th from 6:00-8:00 pm. Food will be available for purchase from El Gauchito Grill, as well as pizza and snacks from Brookeville Beer Farm. Kids After Hours (KAH) is providing childcare until 9:00 pm through their Kids Night Out program. Registration for Kids Night Out can be found on their website. We hope you can join us! Please join us for the second gathering of INTERSECT - the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative for SSFS Parents/Guardians on Thursday, Feb, 20, from 6:00-8:00 pm in Westview Dining Hall. RSVP here! We look forward to sharing a delicious dinner and discussion of race and identity with a focus on affinity and alliance groups: What they are, why they are important to equity and inclusion efforts, and how parent/guardian affinity groups can be beneficial at SSFS. Stay tuned for more details! Questions? Please email Joanna Scott and Jen Ray at intersect@ssfs.org. Re-enrollment contracts will be emailed to families on Friday, Feb. 7 by 5:00 pm. We are excited to start planning for the 2020-2021 academic year, and we sincerely hope that your family will continue to be a part of the SSFS community! We ask families to submit re-enrollment contracts by Friday, Feb. 21. Contracts will be available via your My BackPack account. Please select the "Enrollment/Re-Enrollment" link. Instructions for how to sign your re-enrollment contract are also available online here. If you have questions, please contact your division head or Dawn Griffith at dawn.griffith@ssfs.org or ext. 231. Thank you! ICYMI: It's time to begin selecting next year's PA Executive Committee. The Executive Committee includes the Mentoring Clerk, two Co-Clerks, two Assistant Co-Clerks, three Division Representatives for each division (LS, MS, and US), the Treasurer, and the Recording Clerk (see job descriptions HERE, after logging in). This process requires thoughtful consideration and an entire team of people to facilitate it. Nominations are anonymous and will be shared only with the Nominating Committee. We will also be taking suggestions for Grade Representatives and event clerks. Feel free to nominate yourself or anyone else that you think would have a positive impact. We would especially welcome new faces! Please consider joining us, and make nominations using this nominating form. The committee will begin meeting in January. ICYMI: SSFS is hosting an art and craft show for the adults in our community: parents, grandparents, faculty, staff, and alumni. This is a non-juried show intended to reveal the many talents in our community. Find out more here, and complete the online submission form if you are interested in submitting a work.
Lower School "Must-Know" Info for Feb. 2, 2020
Below is information about upcoming LS and all-school activities and events in the coming weeks. For questions or more information about an event, please contact Pam Gilmer, LS Administrative Assistant, at ext. 112 or pam.gilmer@ssfs.org, or visit the Calendar web page to see full calendar.
And coming up soon/to keep on your radar...
Fourth and fifth grade families are invited to dinner in Westview (5:00 pm), followed by the Middle School production of "The Phantom Tollbooth" (at 6:00 pm in the PAC Theater) on Saturday, Feb. 8. It’s hard to believe that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! The Wee Mail Post Office will open Fri, Feb. 7 and run through Thurs, Feb. 13. You and your child are encouraged to write letters and/or draw pictures to children in and out of his/her class. We request that NO CANDY, TREATS, or TRINKETS be sent through Wee Mail: only cards or letters. The letters can be placed in an envelope or folded over and stapled. We need a neatly written address consisting of first and last name as well as grade and section. Stamps can be purchased before school from 7:45- 8:10 am in the Lower School lobby from our Kindergarten postal workers. Read more here... Mark your calendars for our next LS Parent Education Forum on February 25, from 6:30-7:30 pm in the Athletic Center Multipurpose Room. Jen Cort, Educational Consultant, will be presenting “It’s Not Your Imagination! Kids are Different Today!" KAH will offer childcare for the presentation time of 6:30–7:30 pm. Email Adrienne at KAH directly to reserve your spot for childcare. For the second year, our 4th, 5th and 6th grade students headed off for an afternoon of getting better acquainted and bowling! Accompanied by LS and MS faculty members, the group enjoyed lunch and some games of bowling before returning to campus in time for dismissal. A good time was had by all! In our ongoing effort to keep all of our community members safe, please take a moment to review these important traffic safety reminders...
Middle School "Must-Know" Info for Feb. 2, 2020
Below is information about upcoming MS and all-school activities and events in the coming weeks. For questions or more information about an event, please contact Erin Ryan, MS Administrative Assistant, at ext. 160 or erin.ryan@ssfs.org, or visit the Calendar web page to see full calendar.
And coming up soon/to keep on your radar...
AIMS is offering a free parent education program as a part of the annual Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity Conference--Making Schools Safe--on February 4, 2020 at Sandy Spring Friends School. On February 4th from 7:00-8:00 pm, also at Sandy Spring Friends School, AIMSwill offer Creating Connections and Building Community: An Evening for LGBTQ Families. Please register online for this event here. See more about the program for the evening here... Sportsplex Day has become a MS tradition and is essentially an indoor field day in the middle of the winter. Students should wear athletic/comfortable clothing in their team color (teams will be posted Wednesday, 2/5/20), bring a water bottle labeled with their name and wear sneakers. A pizza lunch will be provided, and, thanks to our PA, a variety of desserts will be enjoyed as well. There will be gluten-free pizza, pizza without cheese, and some dessert options will cater to special dietary needs. Children with special dietary needs are also welcome to bring a bag lunch from home. All Middle School students and faculty will be off-campus during this event. We will depart SSFS at approximately 9:30 am, and will return in time for regular participation in sports and electives before dismissal. We are thrilled to announce this year's Middle School production of "The Phantom Tollbooth" on Saturday, February 8 at 6:00 pm in the Performing Arts Center. (Please note the 6:00 pm start time for the show!) "The Phantom Tollbooth" is a children's fantasy adventure novel written by Norton Juster. It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do, drives through it in his toy car, transporting him to the Kingdom of Wisdom, once prosperous but now troubled. Read more here... Our Middle School Winter Sports and Electives season ends on Thursday, February 13th! The Spring season will begin on Monday, March 2nd, and students are in the process of making their selections. Just a friendly reminder to parents that dismissal for students will be at 3:40 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday during the Weeks of February 17th and February 24th. Aftercare is always available during these gap times between sports/electives seasons. Please contact Lindsay Kellogg for more info about MS aftercare drop-in options. We will repeat the same format we piloted in November for our upcoming conferences on February 12th and 19th. In order to allow us to provide slightly longer blocks of time, we are asking parents who would like to participate in conferences to work with their children to identify only two teachers to sit down with. Once you have determined which two teachers you and your child would like to meet with, click here to see available conference times and book your two appointments. Click here to read full article...
Upper School "Must-Know" Info for Feb. 2, 2020
Below is information about upcoming US and all-school activities and events in the coming weeks. For questions or more information about an event, please contact Kerry Foley, US Administrative Assistant, at ext. 109 or kerry.foley@ssfs.org, or visit the Calendar web page to see full calendar.
And coming up soon/to keep on your radar...
AIMS is offering a free parent education program as a part of the annual Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity Conference--Making Schools Safe--on February 4, 2020 at Sandy Spring Friends School. On February 4th from 7:00-8:00 pm, also at Sandy Spring Friends School, AIMSwill offer Creating Connections and Building Community: An Evening for LGBTQ Families. Please register online for this event here. See more about the program for the evening here... On February 4, SSFS will be hosting the AIMS Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity Conference, the annual conference for faculty, staff, students and allies from the LBGTQ community and area schools. Making Schools Safe was founded by AIMS over 20 years ago, and this year's focus is Moving Forward. With 2019 being the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the Making School Safe committee put together a program designed to help community members move their own school communities forward in various ways. SSFS is happy to be sending 27 students, faculty, and staff from our middle school and upper schools. There will also be an evening parent session with Meg Bolger from 7-8 pm in Yarnall. Upper School Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held on Wednesday, February 5, and Wednesday, February 12, from 2:45-5:00 pm in Westview Dining Hall. Please click here to access PTCFAST, our online scheduling system, and select your time slot preferences. Please note that we will not be able to accommodate any walk-ins. These conferences are designed as an opportunity to have a quick check-in with your child’s teachers and are limited to a seven-minute time slot, with a three-minute transition. Click here for more information. Similar to the Coffee and Conversation events that take place on-campus, Zoom Conferences are opportunities for parents and guardians of international or non-local students to speak with Head of Upper School Jonathan Oglesbee about different topics and share updates about how the school year is going. There will be three separate Zoom Conference events: one for parents from China (which will include an interpreter), and two other for non-local or international parents (conducted in English). If you have not used the Zoom software before, you’ll be directed to download an app in order to join the conversation. Click the link below for the proper meeting, and it will connect you to Zoom and the meeting.
For Non-Local and International Parents – Friday, Feb. 7
SSFS is starting its 6th year of the Quaker exchange program with Friends Hobart in Australia. For more detailed information and application procedures, click here. Applications are due to Sunshine Klein by Tuesday, February 11th. The selection committee will move quickly so that dates can be set and families matched. Read full article to find out more... As part of our Global Citizen Boarding Curriculum developed earlier this year, our boarding students are learning the fundamentals of financial responsibility. Jason Chepenik, of Chepenik Financial, broke down some financial basics for our boarders. He spoke of money for today, money for tomorrow, savings for a rainy day, and the importance of giving back. The students built a monthly budget typical of a single 25-year-old, and left with Jason’s #1 takeaway: always spend less than you earn.
Be sure to check the Athletics Today page for up-to-date info about games! Monday - February 3, 2020 4:30 PM Sandy Spring Friends School Tuesday - February 4, 2020 Sandy Spring Friends School 6:00 PM Sandy Spring Friends School Thursday - February 6, 2020 Sandy Spring Friends School Friday - February 7, 2020 3:30 PM St. Anselm's Abbey School Monday - February 10, 2020 Sandy Spring Friends School Tuesday - February 11, 2020 4:00 PM Washington Christian Academy 4:30 PM Sandy Spring Friends School
Bella Vita Farm in Brookeville is launching a CSA program… and SSFS is the pick-up point! Click HERE to learn more and order fresh pastured eggs, fresh lettuce and greens, and more. Deliveries will be Fridays at the gazebo by the three-way stop between 3:00 and 4:00 pm. STEM workshops are available at the Sandy Spring Museum on the fourth Sunday of each month. Local 4-H members will lead fun, age-appropriate hands-on activities for children in grades 3-6 to expand their knowledge and inspire curiosity in science. STEM Sundays are free but spaces are limited. Registration is required. Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting invites all SSFS families for Meetings for Worship at SSMM, and other community events and activities throughout the year. Please see the Feb. 2 Silent Announcements for information and details about SSMM goings-on in the coming weeks. Questions? Please contact the SSMM office at ssmm.rsf@gmail.com. Thank you! This is an optional, opt-in virtual bulletin board for all members of the SSFS community to share resources and announcements about topics not part of the traditional school day or school related events (think: finding babysitters, repair service recommendations, hiking groups, etc.) Please fill in this quick online form to opt in.
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