Dear Northern Oaks Lower School Families,

We hope that you enjoyed the Art Show last Friday! Thank you to those who attended, for supporting the school and your children. A special thank you to Ms. Hibler (Art K-3) and Mrs. Welch (Art 3-6) for hosting the evening and supporting the students in art this year. It is incredible to walk down the halls and see the progression of skill that occurs each year. I would also like to thank Mrs. Balmer and all the students who shared their musical talents in the library throughout the evening. Our faculty also want to thank those parents who donated to or helped provide the all-faculty lunch on Friday. Your generosity continues to help us feel loved and supported. Thank you! We were glad to see so many guests attend, including extended family and friends! 

Speaking of extended family, we look forward to inviting grandparents to school this week for a glimpse into life at school and time with their grandchild! Grandparents Day will take place for grades 2 & 3 on Tuesday the 25^th ; for grades K & 1 on Wednesday the 27^th; and for grades 4-6^th on Thursday the 28^th. For more information, you can see last week’s release here. Other than Grandparents Day, we look forward to a relatively quiet four-day week on campus. Please note that we have a long weekend this weekend March 29^th to April 1^st, that Friday, April 5^th, will be a full day, and then we have Battle of Flowers off on April 26^th.

We continue to prepare for the April 8^th Solar Eclipse. If you have yet to do so, please sign the eclipse viewing permission slip here. The deadline for permission slips to be completed is April 3. Students who do not have a permission slip completed will receive an alternative assignment.

Our next big family event is on Saturday, April 13^th for Fiestaval. Thank you to PSO and the parent volunteers who have helped put this wonderful community event together! You can find more information on Fiestaval on the PSO Website. We are looking forward to an exciting event! We will then set our sights on preparing for the May 3^rd Spring Concert.

Earlier this month we sent information about the STAAR test dates to our 3-6 families, please click here if you missed the email. We will have restricted access to visitors on the testing days. We ask that you do your best to reschedule appointments on these dates so that we can limit the number of make-up tests that we have to provide.

Sincerely,  

Charles Brogan-Headmaster Lower School

Thank you to all the students & our special education assistant, who donated a book this week to their classroom libraries in honor of their birthdays! We are so excited to continue this tradition to celebrate our students and expand our classroom libraries at GHNO! If you’d like to donate a book for your child’s birthday, click here for more info.

March 25 is the last day to order yearbooks!

Order yours today!

Re-enrollment runs through March and as you prepare for next school year, we ask that you consider scheduling a monthly or lump-sum donation to the 2024-2025 Community Investment Campaign.

Please also be mindful, if you have a new student joining us in the 2024-25 school year and can increase your contributions to CI, it is a huge help to our school.

As a charter school, we depend on our families’ financial support each year. Scheduling monthly donations is the best way to break up your charitable giving into affordable installments. Click here to schedule monthly contributions! Please contact DeAnna Macias with any questions.

Registration for Great Hearts Summer Programs 2024 is NOW OPEN!

We offer Summer Camp for rising 1^st-5^th Grades and Kinder Readiness for incoming kindergarten students.

Register for Summer Camp by May 1^st and SAVE $25 on each week of Camp.

Visit our website for more information and to register today:

https://northernoaks.greatheartsamerica.org/academy-life/summer-programs/

May Elections: Primaries might be over, but May elections are right around the corner. City and school board elections will hold elections on Saturday, May 4. Be informed about your local races by consulting your local jurisdictions. In addition, some statewide primary races are advancing to run-off elections on May 28 where candidates failed to secure more than 50% of the vote.  

The good news for charter schools is that many pro-charter candidates were successful in their primaries!  For a full list of statewide March 5 election results, check out this article from the Texas Tribune - Texas election results for president, senate, Congress and more | The Texas Tribune

 Stay in the Know:  The Texas Public Charter School Association (TPCSA) is our statewide organization representing all Texas charter schools. They are working to ensure that those who have benefited most from charter schools have the opportunity to share their experiences with legislators and make their voices heard. Great Hearts works closely with them to protect educational choice as an option for our families. Please consider signing up to receive TPCSA’s emails, updates, and action alerts to participate in their important grassroots efforts by clicking this link.  

·      To learn more about charter advocacy, contact GH’s Family Advocacy Manager Bridie Chaudoir

Fiestaval is coming! Saturday April 13! Tickets are on sale now! For information click here.

You can purchase tickets at aFiestaval tickets are on sale now on the PSO website! Check out our Fiestaval page on the PSO website for information on ticket prices and how many tickets are needed for the attractions and concessions. Buy your tickets before April 1st and get 10% off!

For information click here.

Volunteering: Interested in supporting the school through volunteering, go to www.ghnopso.org and see how. To reach out to PSO leadership email at northernoakspso@gmail.com.

Stay in the Know: The Texas Public Charter School Association (TPCSA) is our statewide organization representing all Texas charter schools. They are working to ensure that those who have benefited most from charter schools have the opportunity to share their experiences with legislators and make their voices heard. Great Hearts works closely with them to protect educational choice as an option for our families. Please consider signing up to receive TPCSA’s emails, updates, and action alerts to participate in their important grassroots efforts by clicking this link.

To learn more about charter advocacy, contact GH’s Family Advocacy Manager Bridie Chaudoir at bridie.chaudoir@greatheartstxschools.org

Attendance Matters-

We receive state funding for all students who are in their classes at 10:45 a.m. each day!

If a scholar will be out for a doctor's appointment during attendance time, please be sure to submit a doctor's note upon return so we may count him or her present for the day.



For full-day absences, please notify the Lower School Registrar, Mrs. Lauren Clark

Grandparents Days – March 26^th – March 28^th.

Good Friday-March 29

Bad Weather Make-Up Day (Possible No School)-April 1

AAC Meeting #4 & Full Day Friday– April 5^th

Solar Eclipse Viewing Day (eclipse glasses provided) – April 8^th

Fiestaval – April 13^th

Batlle of Flowers – No School – April 26^th

Spring Music Concert – May 3^rd

For more events including early release Fridays and special dates see our Family Campus Calendar.