​

Last Friday, we celebrated Walton’s 30^th birthday!  Our guests included former principals Mr. Argue and Mr. Grender.  Mrs. Dupuis also returned to wish our school a Happy Birthday.  It was very touching to hear speeches from Mrs. Rajwani (who taught at Walton since it opened in 1989); Ms. Pass (who attended Walton as a student) and Mr. Marsh (who has taught at Walton for 27 years).  Mr. Grender also spoke.  All the speeches summarized Walton as a special place to learn and to teach.  Thanks to Mr. Dyer-Dietz, Ms. Callihoo and Ms. Kemp for organizing the assembly. 

Each grade group presented their plans to make Walton a better place in the next 30 years.   

• Kindergarten: Garden Stones
• Grade ½: Salmon stream clean up
• Grade 3/4: Walton’s 30^th Birthday Rocks (They will set up a Facebook page!)
• Grade 4/5: “Kindness Rocks”

The Federal Election will be held on Monday, October 21^st.  Walton’s gymnasium will be used as a polling station.  Parking and traffic around the school will be…intense.  I advise parents to take some extra time in the morning to ensure their child gets to school safely.  We may also raise the parking lot chain to prevent our parking lot from being “flooded” with voter’s cars.   We will ask the election staff and voters to use the washrooms in the gym changerooms.

Let’s talk about nut allergies.  We are moving towards becoming a nut free school at Walton.  The reason?  We have many students who have a life threatening allergy to nuts.  Even touching items that have traces of nuts can cause an anaphylactic reaction.   This is important since the children use common areas such as the library and gym; common devices such as laptops and ipads.   This also includes contact with door knobs, sinks and faucets.    We’ll have more information in coming weeks.

Please keep this in mind as we get closer to Halloween.

On the topic of Halloween….  Halloween is Thursday, October 31^st.  We are planning a parade, but we are still working out the details.  Students can come to school in their costume but we ask that they leave their props at home, especially replica weapons.  These items can be a big distraction at school and they are often lost or broken.  Students can bring a mask to school but they can only wear it during the parade.  

Next Friday is a Professional Day.  School will be closed on Friday, October 25^th.

You should have received your Lifetouch order form this week.  Photo re-takes will be done on Tuesday, November 5^th.

Just a reminder that we go outside most of the time!  There is the rare occasion that we will keep the students inside at recess and lunch, but please plan on dressing your children to be outside.  It’s a great way to get fresh air and to take a body break!  Oddly, today, we kept the students inside at lunch time due to the heavy rain.