Panthers Have the Most Caring Community! 

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Photo: The cast and crew of Heist Quest.

Bruce Peninsula District School News

Submitted by Emily Cameron

We have the best community here in Northern Bruce Peninsula! We know this by the continued generosity of businesses, individual residents, non-profit organizations, and parents and guardians. 

We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the following people and/ or groups for donations of food or money or goods, or for donating their time to various events and programs at BPDS: Riverside Farms, Peacock’s Foodland, MacMillan’s, Bridge Excavating, The Peninsula Players, Wiarton Foodland, Boyle Concrete, Bev Miller,Rotary Club of Northern Bruce Peninsula, Matt Pickett, Summer House Park, The Sweet Shop, Owen Glendon from Sources of Knowledge, Bill and Sheri from the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club, Jim, Jan and Wendy from Bruce Peninsula Environment Group, Terri Munn (Learning for a Sustainable Future and also a member of BPEG and the MNBP Climate Action Committee), Bunkey and Angie from Keep the Bruce Clean & Green, the Bruce County Public Library, Bruce Anchor, Dr Heather Reid, Dustin and Jessica Hall (Peninsula Out of Doors), Scott’s Home Hardware, South Bruce ATV Club, Bethel Missionary Church, Bruce Men’s Shed, The Lion’s Tail (motorcycle group), Bruce Peninsula Society of Artists, Bob and Cathy Tyndall, Kathy Hellyer, David Bernard, EPH Tools, Lillian Laidlaw, Bernice and Lionel Lozon, Earl and Audrey Spencer, Christ Church Anglican, (Daniel) Joritsma Family, Legresley Family Foundation on behalf of Jerry Caudle, Seasonal Givings, Bear Tracks Inn & Restaurant, and the members of the Ladies Auxiliary and Legion Branch 202. 

Furthermore, we want to thank any parent or guardian who has been a volunteer driver and our School Community Council! Wow! We are so fortunate to live here in this beautiful place, with so many caring community members! 

Speaking of beautiful places, BPDS celebrated the Arts and our love of the Environment by hosting our very first BPDS Arts Night and Spring Concert. The theme was Bringing the Outdoors In – we had our halls lined with trees, greenery, butterflies and tree stumps! Primary and Junior classes performed for the Spring Concert, and every elementary class had art installations in the hallway. 

Secondary Art also had a display to showcase some of their art from this semester as well! There was pizza, provided by School Council, a bake sale in support of Grade 8 Grad, and a raffle, with proceeds going towards the arts and music programs at BPDS! 

Photo: Members of BPDS School Council; School Council provided all of the pizza and drinks at the Celebration of the Arts Night.

There was such a buzz in the air, and it truly was a whole school event with parents, students and community members that showed up to celebrate the arts at BPDS! Thank you to Mrs. Collins for spearheading the event and having the vision! Thank you to every teacher who created the art pieces with their students and practiced the songs and performances. 

Thank you to the students – you were the featured performers and artists and without you, there wouldn’t even be this event. You all worked hard and showcased your amazing work. Thanks to Scarlett and Jerzy for doing such an incredible job as MCs! You may have stand up comedy in your futures. 

And last, but not least, thank you to YOU – our school community for coming out to support our school! We love to bring the outdoors in, but we also love to bring our community in, and we can’t wait to do it again next year! 

Speaking of caring community members, on May 4, several students, parents, and teachers were joined by four members of the Legion branch 202 to participate in a Walkathon to raise awareness and funds for the 2025 Europe trip to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands. The Legion members were: Richard Smith, President, Wayne Morningstar, 1st Vice-President, Don Colter, 2nd Vice-President and Kim White, Sergeant-at-Arms and Youth Education Officer. Students and staff would like to thank everyone who participated or made a pledge. 

Photo: Legion Members and Europe Trippers at the Walkathon.

On May 1, Panthers showed how much they care about sportsmanship and athletics. The Elementary badminton teams won first place overall at the Elementary Badminton Tournament at PSDS (Peninsula Shores District School). Congratulations to all teams for their efforts. Ms. Rosenburg and Mrs. Cutfield were impressed with the level of sportsmanship they saw out on the courts. They are excited to head to Thornbury for the board-wide tournament! 

 Top Teams were: 

• Sebastian Lough – Boy’s Singles 1st place 

• Jaycee Cawthorne – Girls Singles 1st place 

• Emerie Cameron & Dexter Golden – Mixed Doubles 1st place 

• Cougen Cameron & Jee-Gu Chan – Boys Doubles 1st place 

• Caysie Stewart & Ellie Munn – Girls Doubles 2nd place 

Also on May 1, James Wheeler showed how much he cares about Track and Field by placing ninth overall at the Track Wars meet in Waterloo! Way to go James! 

On April 24, our Elementary choir members demonstrated their care for singing and music by travelling to Owen Sound to participate in the Grey County Kiwanis Festival of Music! Both choirs earned Gold, with the Junior Choir receiving 86 and the Primary Choir 85. Congratulations to all of our amazing singers and Thank you to Mrs. Collins for starting Elementary Choir at BPDS! 

Photo: Members of the Junior and Primary Choir who represented the BPDS Choirs at the Kiwanis Festival.

Both choirs have been nominated to send an entry to the Provincial competition. Two members from both the Primary Choir and the Junior Choir (pictured above) attended the 92nd Kiwanis Year End Festival on May 7 in order to accept the awards on behalf of BPDS. Way to go Panthers! 

On April 22, Elementary students demonstrated their care for the environment by participating in an Earth Day event where they rotated between Learning Stations, including: Wayfinding, Animal Masks, Gardening, Water experiments, Birding, the Smartwool Second Cut Project, Energy Hunt, Making UN Global Goal connections, Crayon melting, Pond studies, learning about Seabins and Garbage sorting! Students had cards they punched for each station they visited and there were prizes to be won too! Students also got to check out an electric car. 

On April 21, the cast and crew of Heist Quest showed how much they care about theatre by rounding out three sold-out shows! The cast would like to thank all the volunteers who helped with costumes, makeup, props, lighting, sound, the poster, and intermission treats. Special thanks to the Peninsula Players and Kathy Hellyer for their monetary donations to the Drama program at BPDS! And a HUGE thank you to Ms. Tara Stanton for all her time and care during rehearsals. 

On April 11, the Elementary girls basketball team showed their appreciation for sports by hosting the North Regional Tournament. The girls showed great sportsmanship and took third place overall. Thank you to coaches Ms. McIvor and Erica T! 

Also on April 11th, the Elementary Boys Basketball team travelled to PSDS to compete in the tournament. With an overtime loss in the first game against Sauble, the boys rallied for a win against Wiarton. The boys lost their final game against Hepworth, achieving 3rd place overall. Ms. Mielhausen and Mrs. Peacock are proud of the dedication the boys showed to practicing throughout the season and the sportsmanship they showed at the tournament. Thanks to the Grade 7 co-op student, Josh Hall, for his assistant coaching.

Finally, thank you to some of our service clubs at BPDS: both Secondary and Elementary Student’s Council, OSAID, and UNESCO. We truly appreciate your continued efforts to make BPDS a welcoming, friendly, and fun place for everyone through theme days, hallway displays, dances, awareness campaigns and more! You must be taking notes from the community and paying it forward! 

Report from the Principal’s Office

Submitted by Brenda Brewer, Principal, and Breanna Heels, Vice-Principal

And just like that, it’s May! We are finally seeing some warmer days and some sun, and there is a springtime buzz in the hallways! So many wonderful events have taken place over the last few weeks.

Looking ahead, the Outers are getting ready for Algonquin, all secondary students will be heading to the Bruce Peninsula National Park for their annual Footprints Conference, and we are now into Track and Field season!

UN Global Goal: Climate Action

As a Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) School and UNESCO school, we focus on the UN Global Goals and embed them in our classrooms. Each month, we focus on a different Global Goal. Our focus for April was Climate Action, and although as an EcoSchool and UNESCO school, we do much around environmental education, we did even more in April! 

Mrs. Heels, Mrs. Burgess, Mrs. Myles and Ms. Rosenburg traveled to Belfountain Public School, another LSF School, last month to engage and learn from other schools who also embed UN Global Goals into their classrooms. We learned lots of new ideas to bring back to BPDS, and are excited to continue to grow our Sustainable Future School community!

Photo: Mrs. Heels, Mrs. Burgess, Ms. Rosenburg and Mrs. Myles at Belfountain Public School.

School Climate Survey

Boards across Ontario are required to conduct anonymous school climate surveys of their students in Grades 4 to 12, parents, and school staff at least once every two years. A safe, inclusive, and accepting school environment is essential for student success and well-being. The data collected from these surveys helps to identify gaps and areas of improvement for school and board planning. Students and staff will be completing the survey electronically, and we are asking parents/guardians to complete a survey as well. 

The parent/guardian survey is available online until June 15, 2024 and can be accessed through the QR code here. Alternatively, you can request a paper copy of the survey. It is important that we hear from as many parents as possible. Thank you for taking the time to provide this important feedback.

Kindergarten Orientation

Calling all NEW Kindergarten students that will be joining us in the 2024-25 school year! On May 30th come meet your teachers, visit your classroom and have some fun with your future classmates! 

Important Dates:

 -May 16-23 – Outers Algonquin Trip

-May 21- Elementary Track and Field (Grades 3-8)

-May 23-24 – Grade 6 EQAO

-May 28-30 – Grade 3 EQAO

-May 30 – Kindergarten Orientation for NEW JK students 4-6pm at BPDS

-June 3-6 – Grade 7-8 Ottawa Trip

-June 4-6 – Secondary Footprints Conference at the Bruce Peninsula National Park

-June 7- PD Day

-June 14- Secondary Prom

-June 21-27 – Secondary Exams

-June 25 – Grade 8 Grad

-June 27 – Grade 12 Grad

If you don’t already follow our Facebook page, you can follow us at Bruce Peninsula DS or St. Edmunds Public School Community to see all of the amazing things happening at the school. If you ever have questions or concerns, give us a call at (519) 793-3211 or by email: Brenda_Brewer@bwdsb.on.ca and Breanna_Heels@bwdsb.on.ca.