Dear BCA Families,

Welcome back BCA families! It has been a great first week of school and students are feeling more at home in their new surroundings. On the right, Julia from JK is showing off her lovely art creation.
It was wonderful to see so many families out at our Meet the Teacher Night and BBQ on Wednesday. Thanks to Christy H (Andrew and Sam’s mom) and Leslie and Alec M, (Kyle’s parents), for greatly assisting with this event.

Pizza Days

We will be starting our Friday pizza days Friday October 5th. Information will be sent out shortly. Lindsay M (Josie, Georgia and Trevor’s mom), is coordinating the volunteers and parents who signed up to help out with Friday lunches can expect an email from Lindsay. She is hoping to meet with all the lunch volunteers on Friday September 21 at 3 p.m. to determine availability of everyone and to provide instructions about the pizza distribution routines. There is still time to sign up. Please speak with Teri Hayward at the front office and she will direct you to the sign-up sheet.

Popcorn Sales

Starting on Monday September 10th students can purchase Kernel’s popcorn during recess times at the front office for $2.00/bag. The following flavours will usually be sold: butter salt, creamy caramel, ketchup, dill pickle, salt and vinegar, say cheese, white cheddar, jalepeno jack.

Milk Sales

Starting on Tuesday September 11th students can purchase small cartons of chocolate or white milk. Students can purchase 10 for $10, 20 for $20 etc.). Milk will be delivered to students at lunch time each day. We sell both chocolate and white milk. We keep track of when students receive milk each day, and will let them know when they need to order more.

Serving Initiatives at BCA this year

We are excited to be part of a Christian community with opportunities to respond to the needs of others through giving. This year, we will be partnering with two organizations: Mission Services of Hamilton and Next Door Social Space to educate students about the various needs of individuals. Here is a brief description of each organization

Next-door Social Space – is located just down the road from BCA ‘next door’ to the Warwick Surrey community in Aldershot. They operate out of a storefront, and occupy community spaces offering, among other things, a ball hockey league at the local pad and gardening at the local community garden. BCA students have had a chance to help out in the past with the community garden and with various giving projects including a coat drive, and protein drive. Please support the upcoming coat drive (see attached flyer). You can drop off winter coats, boots, hats and mitts to the school from Sept 28-Oct 13.

Mission Services of Hamilton – are a social services agency who believes every person deserves safe housing, healthy food, and opportunities for tomorrow. We have partnered with Mission Services for many years through food drives and student baking projects for the men’s crisis shelter. We will have a Thanksgiving Food Drive and will provide more information shortly.

Toonie Casual Days

Each month on the last Friday BCA students may choose to wear casual clothes to school instead of their uniform and if they choose to wear casual clothes they are asked to bring a Toonie (or more) to school that day. The Toonie will go to Next-Door Social Space from September to January and to Mission Services of Hamilton from February to June.

We encourage your child to be part of the Toonie giving, knowing what a difference that will make in helping those less fortunate. Our first casual day of the year will be Friday September 28th.

Uniform Reminder

Overall, students have been wearing their proper uniform. We will start to reinforce the shoe and sock policy next week. A reminder that students should be in BCA crested tops, not white or navy tee shirts. 

Uniform Policy – Footwear and Socks

• Navy, white or black ankle socks when wearing running shoes
• Navy or black socks or leotards (single colour) can be worn with skorts or tunics
• Girls may wear footed navy or black tights with a skort or tunic. If the tights are not footed then they must wear matching socks to cover the bottom of the tights, to look like footed tights.
  Shoes should be solid black, navy or dark coloured, with no colourful symbols/stripes or other markings. No boots or high top shoes should be worn indoors.
• Shoelaces should be dark coloured as well
• For gym classes, any proper non-marking soled running shoe can be worn, in any colour. It is important that students have proper running shoes that can be tied (laced/velcroed) securely to avoid injury 

Staff Update

We are happy to welcome Michelle Wegman to our BCA staff. Michelle will run our Curtain Call program for senior students.

Here is an introduction to Miss Michelle:

Miss Michelle has been training in music and acting for as long as she can remember. She is a graduate of the prestigious Music Theatre Performance Program at Sheridan Institute – Canada’s leading music theatre program. She has had the privilege of training with some of the best instructors in the country, and continues to take workshops and classes to increase her knowledge. Miss Michelle has performed all over Canada, and has had the pleasure of being cast in some of her favourite shows. (She Loves Me, West Side Story, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, Music Man – to name a few.) She has also spent the last decade portraying some of her favourite Disney Princesses! Being able to create a magical experience for all of the children she has met, has truly been a privilege. But her favourite role she has ever been given, is the role of being a Mommy to her little princess! The Wagman house is always filled with music and laughter, and since her husband is also a professional singer, lots of harmony too! Miss Michelle looks forward to being able to share her love of music theatre with everyone, and hopes to inspire all of the students she meets. Her positive energy and attitude allows the ability to build confidence and have fun!

SOTA Lessons

Registration is still open for our SOTA (School of the Arts) private music lessons. Lessons begin the week of September 24th. Please see the registration package attached with this email.

GIFTS Volunteer Opportunities

We have had a number of parents volunteering already and want you to know how to record your volunteer hours. The new link is:

https://www.cognitoforms.com/BurlingtonChristianAcademy2/BCAGIFTSENTRYFORM20182019

*Please note the following about the form:

The form will only allow you to enter hours for the previous and current months – if parents fail to enter time beyond that they will need to speak with the office directly and request the change. This is in place as many people were rushing to enter time in the last 4 weeks of the year and it put a heavy burden on the office staff and parent coordinator Robert Grigsby.

Hot Lunch

To order a hot lunch for your child through Access Catering, Monday to Thursdays only, follow these registration steps:

• Visit: https://bca.hotlunches.net
• Select “click here” to register
• Use the access code BCHL to begin creating your account
• Complete the registration form and select “register now”
• You will be able to add your child’s name and homeroom under the “students” button, as well as order meals for your choice of days

Chapel Next Week

Chapel Speaker on Monday at 9:10 a.m. is Mrs. Crossing. She will be speaking to students about our theme this year, the “I Am” statements of Jesus. She will talk about “I am the light of the world” based on John 8:12.