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Dear Spartan Families,
Merry 2023! We hope that the holidays have been a time of rest and renewal for you and your scholars. We are also looking forward to enjoying the fruits of your scholar’s labor on their Independent Study Project. Our freshman will be participating in their first High School Symposium (off campus) and students in grades 6-8 will be either seminaring or presenting finished projects to their peers on Monday, January 9. Please do us a favor: after reading through this newsletter, ask your student to show you their project to be sure they have finished all aspects of it. Below is a general list of what the projects were by grade:
6th gr: Read The Magician’s Nephew, complete adjoining project & be prepared to seminar
7th gr: Science project (experiment, data collected, written work & presentation)
8th gr: Read Animal Farm, complete adjoining project & be prepared to seminar
9th gr: Read Man’s Search For Meaning, complete questions & be prepared for Symposium
NOTE: Students will be presenting their projects in front of their peers for a grade on Monday, January 9. If your student has an unexcused absence that day, they will have late points deducted from their project and will lose the ability to present their project to the class. The only day students may present projects will be on Monday, January 9th.
There are so many exciting things happening on campus as we start 2023! To stay up to date, be sure to read the newsletter every week and refer back to it for links and signup info.
A special thank you to our PSO who has pitched in at every turn to make all our events and sports in 2022 & 2023 memorable. A huge shout out to Mrs. Raquel Bourne, Upper School VP, who has been working over the break coordinating Monday’s High School Symposium and next Saturday’s (Jan 14) Fezziwig Office Party, Dinner & Dance for 6th graders and their parents. For more information on those events, please continue reading the newsletter. If you are interested in volunteering for any school event use the PSO link in the PSO corner below. We run on parent power!
Thank you for partnering with us in the education of your children. We appreciate your generosity and grace towards us as we scale up and grow our high school. As you can imagine, it takes time to create events and programs with intentionality that become the hallmarks and traditions of an academy. With that in mind, please know that just because we have not yet done something, it by no way means we won’t … believe me, there is a whole lot of dreaming and planning going on! We hope to expand our guild offerings, sports, student volunteering, house system and student-led events (like the Winter House Festival). To that end, if you have any ideas or community partners you’d like to share with us, please reach out!
Trinette Keffer
Upper School Headmaster
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Dismissal Reminder
All students MUST be picked up by 4:20 PM (2:20 on early release days) unless they are enrolled in an after-school activity (please be aware that clubs and many athletics will not begin until September). After 4:20 PM (2:20 PM on early release days), students will be monitored by Athenaeum/Homework Club, and a charge of $1 per minute will be incurred. Parents arriving after 4:20 PM (2:20 PM early release) will need to park in the Lower School Lot and sign their child out at the front desk.
*PLEASE DO NOT USE CELL PHONES WHILE IN THE SCHOOL ZONE OR IN CARLINE ON CAMPUS.
Attendance
Attendance matters! Here’s why:
- Our campus funding is dependent on scholars attending school. This is the number one way WH receives funding from the state.
- The amount we receive from the state is based on our average daily attendance. Every day your scholar attends school, our campus receives over $45 in state funding.
How you can help us:
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If your scholar is out sick, please send an email or doctor's note to our attendance mailbox at attendance@greatheartswesternhills.org for each day(s) your scholar is out sick.
- Please be sure to have your scholar in their classes when attendance is taken each day at 9:50 AM.
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Symposium Last Minute Reminders | |
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Location: St. Anthony Mary Claret, 6150 Roft Road, San Antonio, TX 78253
Time: Arrive between 8:15-8:30 am and Dismissal 4:00-4:15 pm
Attire: Student Uniform
Bring: assigned reading (Man’s Search for Meaning) and written questions
What not to bring: phones, backpacks, food, gum (if you bring a phone, you will need to check it in on arrival)
Meals: breakfast and lunch will be provided
Carpooling: GHWH parents have volunteered to carpool Freshmen to the location. If your scholar is taking advantage of the carpooling opportunity, please sign up for one of their seats! In the comments section, please provide your scholar's first and last name. Carpool sign-up link
If you wish to be added to the volunteer carpool list as a driver, please contact missusaa@yahoo.com. Please provide your name and the number of extra seats you have available for scholars.
Parents are welcome to join us for the Finale: 3:15-4:00 PM Please join us for the final performance by workshop master class presenters David Loar, Shakespearean actor, and Zachary Fuhrmann, cellist.
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Grade Sections and their New Classes | |
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The following sections in each grade will be switching one of their classes at the semester:
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6A & 6B – Drama
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6C, 6D, 6E – PE*
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7A, 7B – PE*
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7C, 7D, 7E – Art**
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8A, 8B – PE*
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8C – Art**
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9A – Music
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9B – PE*
*PE students need the PE uniform sold at Dennis Uniform & Flynn O’Hara and tennis shoes
**Art students need a 9x12 art sketchbook
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Spelling Bee: All students in grades 6-8 will attend the GHWH US Spelling Bee on Thursday, January 12, from 1:30-3:30. Parents of student contestants listed below may attend (please check in at the US front desk by 1:15 pm if you plan to attend). The event will also be live streamed. The link will be sent out just before the event on Thursday. The winner and runner-up will move on to the GH District Spelling Bee.
6A - Sienna Garcia
Alexander Garcia
6B - Kaison Segars
Grace Richter
6C - Gabriela Salazar
Marcus Eller
6D - Olivia Pickett
Giovanni Ontieveros
6E - Jaiden Christie
Samantha Burns
7A - Callum Gamez
Jeremiah Ruggles
7B - Isabel Thomas
AJ Orozco
7C - Ariel Saldana
Matthew Peterson
7D - Ava Merced Lea
Josue Aguilar
7E - Caylah Via
Liam Reyes
8A - Brooke Bermudez
Connor Pruski
8B - Eli Olivas
Gabriel Bumgarner
8C - Jordan Richter
Maria Uribe
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Basketball & Intramural Pep Rally | |
We will honor our basketball players and Intramural Soccer players at our Friday Pep Rally. Due to the fact that we have no room in our gym to invite parents, we are live-streaming the pep rally. A link will be sent out just before the event on Friday. | |
Fezziwig Office Party & Dance | |
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Please join us in celebrating your 6th grader's completion of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol with a festive night of dinner, dancing, and merriment with your scholar!
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WHEN: January 14th from 6-8 pm
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WHERE: The GHWH Gym
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WHO: 6th graders and their parents/guardians only (no siblings, please)
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DRESS: 19th-century Victorian Dickens attire (otherwise, see the semi-formal Events Dress Code in the Family Handbook)
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WHAT TO EXPECT: Authentic Victorian food, parlor games, and dances.
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$5/person for a festive night of dinner, dancing, and merriment with your scholar!
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Event Volunteers are Still Needed!
Get those top hats and hoop skirts ready and roll up your sleeves--it takes a Spartan village to bring the magic!
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Lunchroom Volunteers Opportunities are back!
Lunchroom Volunteer Opportunities are back! If you are interested and have completed the volunteer background and training (in-person and online), please review and sign up! We look forward to seeing you!
Click here to Volunteer at Lunch
Fezziwig Office Party Volunteers are Needed
Saturday, January 14th, our 6th Graders will be celebrating their completion of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," and it will take a Spartan village of volunteers to make this event magical for our scholars. We will need supplies and volunteers present for the festivities of dancing, toasting, and feasting to be successful, so please view the signups below:
Fezziwig Supplies Needed
Fezziwig volunteer Help
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These blogs will be a way for parents to know of upcoming tests, projects, events, or grade printouts. This will also be a way for us to inform parents of grade-specific events including field trips, house events, or other similar events. We will not be posting specific homework assignments or actual pdfs of assignments. | |
Starting January 17, students will be issued and required to wear a student ID. This ID will include their student number and picture and will streamline the process of ordering lunch and is part of our initiative to heighten student security on campus. Students will be issued a generic black lanyard but may purchase a House lanyard from the House Swag Shoppe. Once the IDs are issued next Monday, they will become a required piece of the school uniform (uniform infractions will be issued for missing IDs), so we suggest that students plan to either leave it in their locker every afternoon or place it in their backpack in the same place every day so that they avoid losing it. Lost IDs will be charged $2 for a new one. More information will be shared with the students in the coming week. | |
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Reminder: Semester 1 guilds have ended. There will be no guilds the first week back from school.
Please be on the lookout for Semester 2 guild offerings and signups in later newsletters!
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Pick-Up and Purchases Tuesday & Thursday | |
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How to Purchase?
Click here for Configio OR Send exact cash or check in with your scholar or visit the parent payment portal.
Where to pick it up?
Students will have an opportunity to pick up items at the “Swag Locker Station” located in the lobby of the Upper school campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
*If your online purchase is intended as a gifted surprise for our scholar, please email nicole.glowe@greatheartswesternhills.org with your request.
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| Uniform Tie | $25 | | Scarf | $25 | | Beanie | $20 | | Cinch Bag | $15 | | Lanyard | $8 | | Decal | $3 | | Patch | $2 | | |
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Weight Room Update
Spartans, we asked, and you answered! Thank you so much to the families who have helped supply our needs for the weight room! Because of you, are 8th & 9th grade scholars are starting to learn to lift on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during our Morning Break. We have updated our needs list. If you would like to still donate see below for items we could still use:
-Trap Bars (AKA Hex Bars)
-Dumbbells or Kettlebells in the following weights: 8 lbs, 10 lbs, 15 lbs, 20 lbs, 25 lbs.
Upcoming Athletics Games
Lady Spartan Basketball
1/9 – 6 pm vs Compass Rose Ingenuity has been CANCELLED
1/11 – 6 pm @ GHFH
1/12 – 5:30 pm vs Lighthouse Charter
Lady Agoge Basketball
1/7 – 10 am vs. BASIS San Antonio
1/9 – 5 pm vs Brooks Collegiate Academy
1/12 – 5:30 pm @ IDEA Converse
MS Boys Basketball
1/9 – 7 pm vs. Compass Rose Ingenuity
1/10 – 5:30 pm @ Invictus
1/12 – 6:30 pm vs. Lighthouse Public
HS Boys Basketball
1/9 – 5:30 pm @ GHFH
1/11 – 5:30 pm vs. IDEA Ingram Hills
1/14 – 10 am vs. Anne Frank Inspire
You may find the full schedule on our athletics website at: www.greatheartswesternhillsathletics.org.
There will be $2 admission charge to middle and high school athletics games. Great Hearts Western Hills students will not be charged admission.
Game Day Reminders:
- Great Heart Students are reminded they are school thus the cellphone policy remains in place. Should a student need to use their cellphone to contact a parent after a contest, they may do so in the cellphone zones placed outside the gym
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The courtyard, gaga ball pit, playground and any recess equipment are off limits during game time.
- Children should remain with their parents and accompanied to the restroom if needed.
- We thank you for your attention to this to help keep our campus safe and enjoyable!
Interested in playing soccer, softball, baseball or running track & field!?
Make sure your scholar is registered in Big Teams! Tryouts are fast approaching.
If you weren’t able to make it to the information meeting, please see the individual flyers below per sport to find out what you missed!
If you have any questions be sure to email Coach Disney at Elizabeth.disney@greatheartswesternhills.org.
If your scholar is looking to participate in a spring sport, make sure you have registered in Big Teams! Go to www.planeths.com to register your athlete. Under “sports interested in” click on the sport they are interested in! They must have a physical on file to try out for a sport (this is not applicable to camps).
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Intramurals Update
Introducing our new Intramural Athletic Director: Ms. Boring!
Ms. Boring is in her 2nd year at Great Hearts and teaches math to 6th & 7th graders. She is a graduate from UTSA where she played collegiate softball all four years. She is looking forward to growing intramurals and bringing fun, competitive house spirit to each sport.
Intramural Soccer
Intramural Soccer registration is officially closed.
Co-Ed Soccer Schedule:
We’ve extended our season!
The practice schedule over Christmas Break will be the following:
Narnia: Jan 10th, Jan 12th : 4:30 – 5:30 pm
Middle Earth: Jan 9th: 4:30 – 5:30
Upcoming Game Schedule:
Narnia vs . IDEA Mays: Jan 14th @ 10 am
Middle Earth vs. IDEA Mays: Jan 11th @ 4:30 pm
Basketball season is right around the corner!
Registration for 5th & 6th grade basketball will be happening in January. More information will be sent out when students return to school regarding when registration will occur, practice and game schedules.
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Thank you, Great Hearts parents, for you for signing up for Capitol Connections Week and sharing your story with Texas lawmakers. So far, Great Hearts parents are in the top bracket for parent participation out of all charter schools across the state!
Take a moment to share the experience of virtually meeting your lawmaker by emailing Family Advocacy Manager Bridie Chaudoir. She would like to highlight some of our parents’ experiences in future newsletters.
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Campus Photos on SmugMug
As the academic year progresses, photographers from Upper and Lower will continue to share photo memories from our campus on our new SmugMug site. Just use the password "plato" to enter and view.
Click here to view photos
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Great Hearts Western Hills | Website | |
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