Office News

Absence Reporting
In case of absence or tardiness of student, please call Newcastle Elementary at 425-837-5800 option 1 and leave a brief message. Leave only the following information:

    Students' name, grade and name of their teacher.
    Your name and relationship to the student.
    Date of absence or tardy.
    Whether the absence/tardy is due to an illness or an appointment.
    Child's lunch order if he/she will be tardy.

If possible please call the night before or before 8 am. If your child is marked absent and no message is left, an office staff person will call your home. If no one can be reached at home, you will be called at work. All absences are unexcused until we have heard from a child's parent. (updated 08-23-2007)

Busses and Bus Pass Reminders
If your child is to go home with another student, the office MUST receive a note from the parent in the morning. Please include in the note the child's name your student is going home with and the bus number.

Confidentiality Statement
Students, teachers and students all of the right to privacy and respect. Any time that you are in a classroom or volunteering around the school, you may have access to private information about a child’s academic or behavior performance. Just as all Newcastle staff is required to maintain a high level of confidentiality, you as volunteers will be held to the same expectation. Please remember that to share private information with anyone other than the teacher or educational assistant is violating the child’s right to privacy. A Few Guidelines: I

• If you and the teacher need to discuss a difficulty you’ve had with a particular student, it should be done in private. 

• When discussing any student performance (positive and/or negative) the teacher is your only audience. The teacher will communicate any information to parents. 

• At times, teachers may need to share information and strategies with you to facilitate maximum effectiveness for your work. This information should remain confidential. It is the teacher’s role to communicate student needs to other volunteers. 

• A good question to ask yourself as a reminder: “Would I want someone sharing this about MY child to another parent?”

• We depend upon the enormous support our volunteers provide to our children. Our children, in turn, depend upon you to be sensitive, thoughtful, and confidential with your knowledge.

Dismissals and Arrivals of your child
Here at Newcastle Elementary the beginning and the end of each school day are critical learning times. Please make sure your child arrives on time and PLEASE do not pull them out of the classroom early. School is dismissed at 3:38 and 1:15 on Wednesday. Please try to schedule appointments AFTER school has been dismissed. We also ask that you inform your child BEFORE they leave for school about their afternoon routine. When the office is asked to let your child know of changes in their afternoon routine it causes a great disruption in the classroom and to student learning time.

School starts at 9:15 am and dismisses at 3:38 pm daily except for Wednesdays when the bell times are 9:00 am and 1:15 pm. The first bell rings at 9:07 (8:52 on Wednesday) and attendance is submitted at 9:15 (9 on Wednesday). Your child needs to be in their seat ready for instruction from the teacher directly after the first bell. Kindergartners: AM Kindergarten starts with the rest of the school, but dismisses at 11:48. Pm Kindergarten starts at 12:27 and dismisses with the rest of the school. Reminder: There is no Wednesday PM Kindergarten.

Click here for additional information about the traffic patterns for your students before and after school.

Emergency Closure Information
If school is closed all activity groups are cancelled and Lion Club is cancelled at Newcastle Elementary School. Click here for ISD Emergency Closure Information Or click here for PSESD school closure information.

Medication at School Guidelines
Click here for information from our school nurse, Sunny Sheffer.

Parent Drop-Off and Pick-Up
Please keep the flow of traffic moving. Drop-off: Have your child ready to get out of the vehicle. Pull up in the drop-off lane and have your child get out on the sidewalk side. Pick-up: Please stay in your car and have your child get into your vehicle. It is very important and necessary that we keep the traffic moving. Please do not leave your vehicle in the drop-off/pick-up lane if you need to come into the office. If it is necessary to come into the school, please park your vehicle.

Our wonderful Educational Assistant will ask you to please move forward if you forget, or will remind you to park your vehicle if you need to go into the office. Thank you for being considerate of the others around you. Also a friendly reminder: leave the handicap spaces for those that need them; please don't park or even wait for your child without the special permit or license plate on your vehicle.

Rainy Day Recess Procedures
On most rainy days, students will go outside as normal. In order to maintain the health of the students, as well as their transition back to their classes, we need to implement the following:

• Students need to bring and wear rainproof coats out to recess.

• If a student wants to play outside of the covered play areas, he or she needs to wear a hood or a hat (baseball caps included) in addition to a coat. 

• If a student does not have a hood or hat, he or she is expected to play under one of the covered play areas.

• If we have an extremely heavy downpour, the recess EAs will call for a rainy day recess, and the students will have an option of staying under one of the covered play areas or going to an inside recess area such as the stage, library , computer lab or lunchroom (depending on the time of day and schedule for those locations). 

• Students may use umbrellas to walk to the covered area and then put it away safely before school begins.

• Students do not need to use umbrellas during recess time
   

School Traffic Pattern
Safe traffic flow is a design feature of Newcastle Elementary, and it depends upon all of us driving carefully or taking advantage of the District's Transportation system for students. If you are a family authorized for the District's free school bus service, you enhance safety for all students by using that service. A school bus with 50 or 60 students is much more efficient and creates less traffic congestion than 50-60 cars carrying students to and from school.

School Office Summer Hours for 2007
June 26th - Office open from 9 am - 12 pm
Office closed June 27th through August 10th
Office reopens on August 13th
Hours will be from 9 am - 12 pm

Note: With the exception of the registration information all of this information has been provided within The Lions' Page newsletters that were delivered previously via "kid" mail.