One week to go!

We’re still one week away from the first day of school but teachers and staff at John Wayland have already been working hard to be prepared for your children. Classrooms are coming to life with colorful decorations and inviting learning spaces designed to make students feel welcome from day one. Teachers have also been attending training sessions to sharpen their skills and explore new strategies that will help every child succeed. In addition, teams have been meeting to collaborate, share ideas, and coordinate plans, all with the goal of ensuring the smoothest and most exciting start to the school year possible. We know all of this preparation is going to pay off big time once students arrive next Thursday!

Below are some photos from the week of teachers in different meetings and trainings they've been a part of.

Teachers in Pink — On Tuesday every teacher in the division wore pink to our Rockingham Learns for Life (RL4L) program. Over 1200 teachers engaged in hundredes of different break-out sessions throughout the day.

literacymtg — On Wednesday every content area had sessions throughout the county. In these sessions teachers worked together to plan and study for the new year.

🐾PTO News!

Welcome to the new school year! We are looking forward to another exciting year supporting the JWES community. Our first meeting of the year is on Wednesday, September 3rd at 6 pm in the library- and includes a hybrid option if joining online works better for you. Joining our meeting doesn’t commit you to anything, so please consider attending and learning more about the PTO; all are welcome! We will send the link out through the Jaguar Journal each month.

We are excited to share that we made awesome progress towards our goals this past year! This included improving the structures and organization of the PTO, increasing membership and engagement, and raising money to support the students and school. We had so much fun at all of our events with both students and JWES staff, and we are grateful to be able to support this community.

Updates & Meetings

This year, we are entering the 2025-2026 school year with $17,018.00, which is an amazing place to start the year! We were able to carry this balance forward while also giving back to the school in a number of meaningful ways. We are continuing to establish our regular contributions throughout the year. This includes things like supporting school assemblies, contributing to teacher holiday gifts, hosting a full staff appreciation luncheon, and supporting the purchase of supplies for field day (just to name a few). Our funds will also allow us as an organization to have the resources needed to make this PTO sustainable by investing in the necessary tools to do our work. This year, we plan to continue fundraising and to maintain the level of support we have established so far, as well as exploring (in collaboration with our JWES admin) how we can support larger projects like replacing the upper playground. Throughout the year, we will continue to communicate all the ways (not just fundraising!) that you can contribute to the PTO as we support our community. Thank you to all of the families who attend meetings, donate items and food, volunteer at the school and participate in our various fundraisers - it takes all of us in many ways to make this work!

Meeting dates — We are excited to share more about our goals and plans for the year at our first meeting - and we hope you will join us to share your ideas! We will continue to meet on **the first Wednesday of every month from 6-7pm**, rotating between hybrid and fully online meetings. **You can always find info about our meetings in the Jaguar Jiggy Journal or follow us on** **Facebook**. As a reminder, our PTO does not require membership dues to join and has flexible levels of participation! If you would like to join our meetings or just stay on an email list to help when you can, we would love your support! **Let us know if you would like direct emails from the PTO by emailing** **jwesptova@gmail.com**.
We look forward to connecting with all of you and supporting our awesome JWES community!

PreK & Kindergarten Popcorn on the Playground

Our PTO is hosting PreK & Kindergarten Popcorn on the Playground on Tuesday, August 19, from 2:00–4:00 PM.

This is a relaxed, fun event for incoming pre-k and kindergarten students and their families meet other JWES families, let your children make some new friends, enjoy some laid back conversations, and have a little snack before school starts. Swing by our upper playground anytime between 2:00-4:00. We hope you’ll join us to begin building strong connections with our school community!

You can enter the playground through the gate on our bus lane out in front of the school.

Race to the Bottom

Join Mrs. Sanders on Labor Day morning, September 1st, to run in the Race to the Bottom 5k, hosted by the Town of Bridgewater at Sandy Bottom Park. Register by August 17th to guarantee a t-shirt! Only $15 for students 18 and under, $25 for adults. There are tons of door prizes and participants can play mini-golf and par-3 golf for FREE all day!

https://runsignup.com/Race/VA/Bridgewater/TownofBridgewaterLaborDay5K

Mrs. Sanders during herWorld Championship Triathalon competition

🐾 First Day of School

The first day for students is Thursday, August 21. School starts at 8:20 AM and ends at 3:00 PM. Drop-off begins at 7:50 AM.

Bus transportation is available for students in every neighborhood within our school zone. Pick-up and drop-off times will be provided by the RCPS Transportation Department as we get closer to the first day of school. Keep an eye out for communication from them in early August.

📚 Supply Lists

Grade-level supply lists are posted at the link below. Printed copies are also available in the front office.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15ZbCHDnhTU-4FqzsBJeupraqa4juUCxb/edit?tab=t.0

If purchasing supplies is a challenge, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We have resources available to support any family in need.

🐆 Class Rosters

In the first two weeks of August, families can expect a phone call from their child’s teacher with a warm welcome to the new school year. These calls are a personal way for teachers to introduce themselves, begin building relationships, and share important information about the upcoming year. Class rosters are thoughtfully created with input from staff to support each student’s growth, learning, and sense of belonging. We’re excited to partner with families from the very start and look forward to a great year ahead! (Please keep in mind that not all teachers will be making these calls on the same day. If you don’t hear from them by August 11th please call the school).

💬 Open House

Please join us for Open House on Monday, August 18, from 4:00–7:00 PM.

Open House is a great opportunity for families to:

Meet your child’s teacher
Look around the school
Drop off school supplies
Reconnect with friends

Representatives from the PTO will be present to welcome you and let you know how to get involved. Jen Freeman, John Wayland’s transportation clerk, will be on hand to answer questions about transportation. Krista Kane, our school’s registrar, can take any last minute documents that you need to drop off. And our school nurse, Renee Branner, will be on hand to collect any medication you’d like to leave at school. Cafeteria staff will also be available to help add funds to lunch accounts and provide information about meals.

Stay Connected

We are working hard to make sure this year is a great one for your child. I’m energized by the opportunity to partner with you to support your child’s growth—academically, socially, and emotionally.

For updates, reminders, and celebrations throughout the year, be sure to follow John Wayland Elementary School on Facebook. Also, Rockingham County Public Schools has an incredible new app called the RCPSApp that allows you to stay connected to the latest news and information about our school and the division.

Jaguar-Jiggy's Journal