Bateman Bobcat Banner
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Upcoming Events:
- October: Islamic Heritage Month at RBPS
- Tuesday,October 10: RBPS School Council Meeting: 6:30 PM
- Friday, October 13: Photo Day
- Monday, October 16: Pizza orders due
- Thursday, October 19: Pizza Days Begin
- Friday, November 3: PA Day (No school for students)
- Friday, November 10: Remembrance Day Assembly at RBPS
- Week of Nov 21-24: Scholastic Book Fair
Professional Development at RBPSl
On Friday, October 6, all staff at Robert Bateman PS took part in all-day professional development. There were three main topics for this professional learning:
- Student Mental Health and Well-Being- Promoting a Safe and Positive Climate: As a staff we looked at how we can proactively build classroom communities that support the mental health and well-being of all students, and the supports that can be accessed for students who need a higher level of intervention. This is also an important goal of our School Climate and Inclusion Committee (see below).
- Literacy: All staff took a deeper exploration at the new Ontario Language Arts Curriculum (released in June, 2023), including structures we are putting in place here at RBPS to ensure every student achieves foundational literacy skills.
- Mathematics: In the afternoon, all staff looked at High Impact Instructional Practices in Mathematics, and how these practices can be used in all subject areas.
Extracurriculars at Robert Bateman School
On Thursday, October 5, the Junior Cross Country team took part in the SouthEast Regional Meet. Over 40 runners participated, and Robert Bateman brought back a number of ribbons for top ten finishes. Thank you to the Cross-Country coaching team of Mme Irus, Ms Horning, and Mme Boudreau for all your work over the past few weeks in preparing the team for their meet.
Currently, the Junior Girls Soccer Team and the Junior Boys Soccer Team tryouts are finished, and the teams have been selected. The girls tournament will be later this week, and the boys tournament will be next week. Thank you Mme Irus and Mme Boudreau for your work organizing these teams.
The Lego Club is returning: starting this week, students from Grades 1 - 6 are invited to join Ms Liz, and Mr Hirst in the library to imagine, design, and build using our school Lego collection. Each week, a different grade will be invited to Lego club.
All students grades 4 to 6 are welcome to join the Junior Choir. Practices happen every second recess on Thursdays. Here's a video that students were shown this past week. Our choir director this year is Mme Selena. She comes to us with a love for singing and training in music and has led many choirs and youth music programs in her career. She is excited to be directing the choir this year at RBPS!
Robert Bateman School Climate and Inclusion Committee
One of our most important goals is to build a school community that is caring, supportive, and inclusive for all students. In order to support our ongoing work towards meeting this goal, we will be continuing the work of our School Climate and Inclusion Committee. This committee will include the Principal (Mr. G.) and a mixture of teachers, EAs. ECEs, and parents. In this committee, we listen to all the voices that make up our RBPS community, talk about how we are doing in building a more inclusive and equitable community, and set goals moving forward.
Our first meeting will be the week of October 23 (date TBA), with subsequent meetings about every two months after that, for a total of between 4 - 5 meetings for the year. If you are interested in being part of this committee, please respond to this email, or reach out to Mr. G. by telephone at 613-737-3169.
School Photo Day: Friday, October 13
The RBPS School Photo Day will be on Friday, October 13. Students are asked to avoid wearing green on this day, because this can interfere with the green screen used to provide parents with a choice of background. Parents will receive a personalized link to view their child(ren)’s photos, with the option to purchase prints. All students who purchase photos will receive a free class photo: we hope that all students will be able to attend on this date.
RBPS School Council: Tuesday, October 10
All parents are invited to attend the RBPS School Council meeting on Tuesday October 10 at 6:30 pm in the school library. This meeting will use a hybrid (in-person and virtual) format; any parent who would like to attend virtually is invited to join using this meeting link. We hope to see many parents at this meeting.
Pizza Days at RBPS
Our RBPS School Council will once again be running Pizza Days for students. Every Thursday for 16 weeks - from October 19 to February 15 - School Council volunteers will serve cheese or pepperoni pizza to participating students in Kindergarten - Grade 6. The cost for one slice of pizza for 16 weeks is $40. Payment is online through SchoolCashOnline only. The deadline to order is Monday, October 16; no late orders will be accepted. There will be no refunds unless the school is closed for that day. If your child is absent, their order will only be available for pick up at the school, if you call the school in the morning before 10am to request that it be put aside.
In addition, the RBPS School Council is looking for volunteers to help on a one-time or regular basis. If you have 45 minutes to help distribute the pizza on Thursdays between 10:15-11:00am, please email [email protected] with your contact information.
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Staff Profiles (In every Banner, we profile a different staff member…) 
Staff Name: Mme Selena Coupland
Role: Grade 3/4 EFI Teacher
Time at Robert Bateman: 2 Months
Background: Madame Selena was born in the small rural mining town of Kirkland Lake and then she grew up in Timmins. Both of these Northern Ontario towns are about 8 hours North of Ottawa by car. She has been teaching for 13 years and has taught students from Grades 1 all the way to 11! She has taught a mix of subjects (French, the arts, physical education, math, health, science and social studies). Madame Selena has always loved the outdoors; she spends a lot of time enjoying the beautiful nature that Ottawa and surrounding area has to offer! She has spent a lot of her career working in French and Music and was doing some singing and music directing when she lived in Toronto, before moving to Ottawa.
Interesting Fact: She loves to travel when she can and has been lucky enough to travel to 10 different countries in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and in Europe. On one of her travel adventures to Costa Rica, she was stung by a scorpion! She’ll gladly share the tale to any who are interested!