Whaley Weekly 9/18/24

What does the Fun Run fund? FIELD TRIPS! We are at 15% of goal!

The PTO fully funds field trips for all families to ensure that all students can participate without any out of pocket expenses – and funds raised during the Fun Run make that possible! Trips include Habitat (Kindergarten), Acton Discovery Museum (1st Grade), Museum of Science (2nd grade), and the Boston Tea Party Museum (3rd grade). The Fun Run on October 11th is our most anticipated event and biggest fundraiser for our school community, and we are off to a great start, already at $2k raised so far, with 10% of students registered! 

Next Steps:

1. Register your student: Wellington Fun Run Hub

2. Reach out to family and friends by sharing the donation link

3. Volunteer to help out or cheer on the kids on October 11! (CORI form required)

Welcome Back!

Thursday September 19 from 5pm-7pm. (Rain or Shine) Join us on the Wellington Field (the grass next to the blue playground) for our Welcome Back to School Picnic! Pack a picnic or order from the Melt Food Truck. If you'd like to volunteer to help clean up after the event please contact us: wellingtonptopresidents@gmail.com

Say Cheese!

Picture Day is Thursday, September 26 for preK-3rd grade students. Thank you to all who were able to volunteer! The Lifetouch order sheets went home last week! You can pre-order using the order sheet or this link: https://my.lifetouch.com/mylifetouch/#/pictureDayId/EVT2MK7K2?utm_source=Flyer 

• 20% of all pre-order proceeds will go to the PTO to support activities for your students. 

Still a few spots to be a Wellington library volunteer!

There are a few spots we are trying to fill for library volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering in the Wellington Library, see the list below for classes that are still in need of volunteers. If you have signed up as a main volunteer in one child's class and were waiting to see if there were spots in other classes, you are welcome to sign-up for a second class. 

• Each class will have four main library volunteers.

• If you sign up as a main library volunteer, you are letting us know that you are available to be in the library during your child's library class time about once a month.

• If you want to volunteer in the library, but you cannot commit to being a main library volunteer, you can become a support volunteer. We do not have specific support days set-up yet because we need to gauge interest. But please fill out this Support Volunteer Form, and we will be in touch with more details in the coming weeks.

Classes that need volunteers:

• Cox (1), Vahedi (2), Walsh (1): https://signup.com/go/ECznJOK

• Bell (1): https://signup.com/go/saGZeSk

• Cassidy (1): https://signup.com/go/ZoENchu

• Lesiczka (1): https://signup.com/go/LrqHazp

Reach out with any questions! Thanks,

Amy Heuer, Anastasiya Kenyon & Lara Lind (wellingtonlibraryvolunteer@gmail.com)

Room Parents!

Calling all parents/guardians, there are still a few openings left if you're interested in being a Room Parent for your students class. Please contact us at wellingtonptopresidents@gmail.com, or contact your students teacher to let them know. Please note: there are only 2 room parents per class. To be fair we will add volunteers on a first come, first served bases. Thank you in advance!

Here are a list of available classes:

Kindergarten: Vahedi, DeBello, Walsh

1st Grade: Hubbert

2nd Grade: Ebdon, Cassidy

3rd Grade: Lesiczka, St. Clair, Clow

Are you interested in serving on the Student Advisory Council?

• The School Advisory Council is seeking members for the 2024 - 2025 school year. The Advisory Council is a group made up of parents/guardians and school staff that discusses big picture issues related to the governance of the school (school improvement plan, budget, etc.).  Meetings are about 5 times a year. 

• The only requirement / qualification is being a parent or legal guardian.  There is a parity requirement per state guidelines.  This means that although as many people as are interested can attend meetings, only a limited number of parents/guardians will be able to be members of the council. 

• Interested? Email: wellingtonptopresidents@gmail.comgmail.com 

Wellington School Directory!

Please fill out the forms sent out via email by Belmont Public Schools!

Last week BPS sent out a link to PlusPortals for families to update the contact information for their student/s. These forms are linked to the contact info we use to create the Wellington Directory. Within the forms, there is a way to opt-in or opt-out of the directory. If you want your student's contact information to appear in the Wellington Directory, please take a few minutes to fill out the forms: www.plusportals.com/wellington.

Thank you!
Lara Lind, Directory Coordinator

All of our Wellington teachers and staff for giving our students an awesome start to the new school year!!

The PTO Board is planning for the 2024-25 school year! Thanks to those who have reached out! It’s time to start building our volunteer village for next year. We have many board members graduating from Wellington which opens up spaces for new volunteers to join us, either as a board member or as a program/event specific coordinator. Show your interest here!

Here is a list of some of our open positions for the 2024-25 school year: 

• Community Events Coordinator

• Directory Coordinator

• Room Parent for your child's class

• Enrichment Coordinator

If you are interested in one of these roles and would like to learn more, please email Aisha and Andreina at: wellingtonptopresidents@gmail.com

• Important note to all volunteers: Everyone will receive a CORI form (one per household - feel free to make a copy) in your Communications Folder. If you can support the PTO and would like to volunteer, CORI forms are required for every parent volunteer. You must bring the completed form and a form of ID to the Wellington office to complete the process. CORIs are valid for three years! We highly recommend you get these completed early in the school year.

For Belmont town news you can check out the following websites:

Belmont Public Schools: https://www.belmont.k12.ma.us/

Belmont Voice: https://belmontvoice.org/

Belmontonian: http://belmontonian.com/

We ask that you consider a donation to the Wellington Fundraising Appeal. So far this school year, these funds have been used to reimburse teachers for their classroom supplies, purchase school supplies and grocery gift cards for Wellington students and families in need and fund school wide initiatives like new sports equipment, music stands, and storage sheds for both blue and green playgrounds. 

If you have a corporate or workplace match, this is an amazing way to DOUBLE your impact. 

To donate via PayPal using a credit card please use this link:

• Donate Here

• OR Send a check payable to Wellington PTO
  (Memo: “Annual Fund” and your child’s name) and return to school in their Communications Folder, or mail to: Wellington School

  ATTN: Wellington PTO

  121 Orchard Street, Belmont, MA 02478

• Check to see if your employer matches charitable gifts!

  • Wellington School PTO’s EIN is 04-3093301

  • Need a receipt? Email wellingtonptotreasurer@gmail.com 

• Traffic Safety - Please remember to be considerate when parking around Wellington and do not block the crosswalks or the driveways of our neighbors. There is no active pick up. Please do not pull into the parking lot or driveway at dismissal to retrieve your child.

• A Note about PTO Communication Channels:

  • Whaley Weeklys (the PTO newsletter you are currently reading!) will be emailed to you every Wednesday with updates on events, volunteer opportunities, school happenings and more! 

  • Communications Folders - Be on the lookout for a blue folder coming home with your student(s). They will include some pertinent information from the PTO, particularly our community and fundraising events. Your child’s folder comes home everyday as a way to get their school work and Wellington happenings into your hands! 

  • Room Parents - each classroom will have PTO volunteer Room Parents who act as liaisons between the classroom teacher and class parents/guardians. 

  • Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/wellingtonpto 

Aisha Foxx Telfort & Andreina Parisi-Amon

Wellington PTO Co-Presidents

wellingtonptopresidents@gmail.com