Mildmay-Carrick Public School

Dear MCPS staff, students, families & community friends:

I wanted to take a moment to touch base with all of you, to thank you for an amazing first year at MCPS! Mildmay has always been a very special community to me, as it is where I spent summer holidays, Christmas Eve's, and Hanging of the Greens with my grandparents and great-grandparents who were life-long members of this amazing Bruce County town and surrounding area. For me it was a true treasure to be back here, surrounded by my own memories and those of my mother and her siblings, who were born and raised here! The traits of community friendship, support, kindness and fun that I remember, has been everything that these memories reflected and much more! I was thrilled to be able to see some former classmates who are now MCPS parents and grandparents, and I was able to reconnect with some former colleagues!

As an educator, I have had the privilege of working with amazing students, staffs and families, and I have to say that MCPS has been a gift to me! I want to thank you all for welcoming me and making me feel so very, very at home here. There is an absolute sense of warmth of heart, in this school community; the staff here is amazing and truly love each and every one of your children. I watch them go above and beyond daily, in order to create strong academic programming, and to lead instruction that allows for explorations, engagement and true meaning, that connects to real-world applications, and to building the future skills that they will need. They are a staff who know that kids need to love school and they have made that their priority- for this, please join me in thanking them!!!

It is very clear that the students at MCPS have strong adult role models both here at school and at home with all of you! I have always believed that expression that "it takes a village to raise a child", and at MCPS this combination of strong parents/guardians, teachers and wider community volunteers, supporters and events, has raised a village of some of the most kind-hearted, selfless, respectful, funny, thoughtful, diligent, and hard-working students out there.

Commitment to children in our "village", be it here in Mildmay, Ontario, Canada or the world, has been tried and tested this school year, as we all find ourselves in unchartered waters with COVID-19. It has been hard for everyone- young and old(er), as we have faced steep learning curves with online learning, financial and work worries, health and safety measures, trying to manage working from home or away from home while also supporting our own children and families, and now, some uncertainty about what the world and our schools and school year will look like in the Fall. Please accept my sincerest thanks to all of you (parents, students and staff) for your partnerships during this time, for your strength of character, your patience and flexibility, for your perseverance to overcome hard times and obstacles, and for your sense of strength as we forged our way through everything- together and will all continue to do so, regardless of what comes our way. Together we stand strong, and as we have learned this year, we can still stand together even when we are physically apart. We can do hard things at MCPS!

I would truly like to thank each and every one of you, for allowing us to be a part of your children's lives- these amazing students are true testaments to all of you and you should all be so very, very proud!

As we look back on the past year, I encourage you to think of the wonderful memories and continue to exemplify positivity and optimism as we go forward. We have a powerful team of students, parents and staff in our Thunderbolt community, and I will keep saying it because it is simply true... "Together we are all Thunderbolt strong!"

On this note, my wish for all of you, is to have a relaxing, rejuvenating and fun summer, and to continue to be your Thunderiffic selves. Attached is a small slideshow of just a few of the wonderful and cherished MCPS 2019-20 memories I have of this school year, including our Grade 8 grads, who are exceptional in every single way! I hope it makes you smile...

Link to BWDSB updates
Link to World Health Organization
Link to Health Canada
Link to Province of Onatrio site
Link to Grey Bruce Health Unit