Welcome from the Saltus PTA
September 2009
Dear Saltus Parents, Teachers & Friends of Saltus,
Welcome Back to School - and for those of you who are new to Saltus - Welcome to the Saltus Family. We hope that 2009-10 will be a great and exciting year for each and every one of you!
The Calendar (and any updates) will be posted on PEN. Please check it often so that you can keep the meetings and events for this school year up to date in your diaries. While we will do everything we can to stick to these dates - they are always subject to last minute changes due to unforeseen circumstances. We will also make every effort to send out notices of any changes and reminders on a regular basis.
Our Meeting Schedule has been organized to help give all of you an opportunity to learn more about Saltus and keep abreast of developments throughout the year. We have tried to put a program together that will reach the interests of all of you.
We are always looking for fresh ideas and, of course, new volunteers to help us. We could not do it without your dedication and support - If there are other topics that you would like to see addressed in the future - or if you'd like to come out and help us - we'd love to hear from you. We can always be reached on pta@saltus.bm.
Thanking you in advance for all your help and support.
Kindest Regards,
Carolyn Armstrong
PTA Executive Committee
Carolyn Armstrong - President
Jennifer Titterton - Vice President
Ardleigh Young - Vice President
Jennie Kelly -Secretary
Bianca Doyon
Tina Burns - Treasurer
Emma Uprichard
Paula Pereira
Darlene Davis
Deborah Narraway
Shelley Ray
PTA President’s Reception September 2009
Two quotes I’d like to start with – one serious and one funny:
“All of life is a constant education” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson then you’ve given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson” – Tom Bodett
Well I’m constantly learning lessons and making mistakes – how many mistakes can one person make??????!!!!!
Welcome everyone –Headmaster, Deputy Head, Heads of Departments, Members of the Board of Trustees, All Teachers old and new.
For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Carolyn Armstrong and I’m the President of the PTA for this school year.
We’ve been asked a few times:
Why do we have a President’s Reception?
Why in September?
- For you all to get better acquainted with each other and meet the new members of staff.
- We have this in September to encourage and thank you all to you all for your past support – presentations, attendance…..
- And most importantly to encourage and ask you all for your support this coming school year. How? There are a variety of different ways – attend our PTA meetings, continue to be willing to give informative presentations at our PTA meetings,
This year the new staff members are Bruce Sinclair who will be teaching Maths and will be a learning support teacher in the CL; Angela McKittrick who will be teaching Spanish; Akinyi Apopa who is the new lab technician in the Science Dept; and Jacqui Riodan who will be with us for one term teaching Drama while Rebecca Dorrington is on her maternity leave.
We have 3 main Fund raisers: 1) the School Fair run by Darlene Davis in April-May. However, the biggest problem we have had the last 2 years is obtaining volunteers. This year we will be asking each year group to be responsible for a stand whether it be a Bake Stall, Plant Stall, Drinks, Games and we would ask you to get your parents involved. Darlene will be in touch with you well in advance.
The Fall Raffle in November – this year we are calling it a “Recession Raffle” - The PTA are not going to purchase any travel vouchers, cruises or bikes, but are going to rely on donations from board members, alumni, parents, and teachers. Please, we encourage you all to help your students sell their tickets – we will again be selling them at different locations on weekends.
Just to make things clear and understood should you be asked by any of your parents – we will not be having a tuition raffle this year. It is now not monetarily feasible but we will look into perhaps a Term Tuition Raffle next school year.
Previous years the PTA have done a lot of hard work and raised money for each department within the 3 school campuses – last school year your PTA raised $90,000.00 for the school. I’m delighted with this as last year was an economic disaster for the world over and Bermuda felt the downturn. We are hoping this year to create more school spirit and embrace the ‘Saltus Family’ atmosphere that clearly does exist. We are hoping with activities like the Saltus to Saltus Fun Walk/Run, the Fair, Family Bingo nights and movie nights, we can improve on this. The PTA have recently purchased a “Donations Board” which I’d invite you all to take a look at – this Board reflects the monies raised and the gifts given to each department throughout the years. It will be hung in the Goose Gosling Center, where I hope all parents and teachers will take a look……..
We won’t keep you any longer, but before I stop I must introduce you to the PTA Executive Members for the upcoming school year:
Jennifer Titterton – Vice President
Ardleigh Young - Vice President
Tina Burns - Treasurer
Jennie Kelley - Secretary
Emma Upichard – Asst Secretary
Paula Periera – Innisbrooke Rep
Darlene Davis
Bianca Doyon
Shelley Ray
Deborah Narraway
Teacher’s Reps: Lower Primary: Liz Dowdell, Upper Primary: Jan Shaw and Secondary: Christie Hiles and Claire Charlemaigne (until her maternity leave)
In closing, I just want to reiterate again – Help Us to Help You, make this wonderful school and even better place to teach and learn. Teachers are the heart and soul of a school. You are the ones that make a difference to each and every child who passes through this great school!!
Thank you.
Carolyn
September 11, 2009
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