Welcome back to the 2024-2025 school year where we believe learning is possible for all students and that Parents are our Partners. Ms. Tuscano and I were thrilled to see the tremendous turnout at our recent Sneak-a-Peek event and New Student Orientation. Everyone seemed so excited for the beginning of the school year and our staff is eager to engage families throughout the year.
As the year begins, we are busy establishing routines and building relationships. One routine we are working hard to establish is for students to be in classrooms and ready for the day by 8:00am. For us here at Southgate, our doors open in the morning at 7:40am. We truly appreciate that families have been working to have students arrive before 7:55am to allow students enough time to be in class at 8:00am. In the afternoon, our dismissal begins at 2:25pm. To provide a safe and orderly arrival and dismissal, we ask you to review your families plan with your child.
We are pleased to become a Maryland Community School. Receiving this distinction will allow our school to further the work we have done and allow us to further serve as a hub that brings families, communities, and partners together to remove barriers to learning. In our first year as a Community School, we will be forming a steering committee of parents and school staff to conduct a needs and asset assessment. Our goal will be to develop community partnerships and support programs that support families and address learning barriers.
Regular school attendance is essential to a student’s academic progress. Our team at Southgate closely monitors the attendance of all students. In order to have satisfactory attendance, students need to attend more than 90% of the days they are enrolled. Getting your child to school on time every day can ensure your child has a chance to succeed in school. Please contact Southgate if your child starts to demonstrate school avoidance behavior.
Anne Arundel County has adopted a new communication system. The portion of this system that allows parents to receive whole class communications and to text message directly with teachers, is called ROOMS. Parents can access ROOMS by downloading the new AACPS app. AACPS is also sending out email invitations for parents to join ROOMS.
This year, we will continue to develop students’ understanding of the Southgate Elementary P.A.W.S. for Learning. We will continue to develop language that promotes action and a positive school environment. We will be setting classroom expectations and having conversations to develop Essential Agreements. We have included our PAWS for Learning Matrix on our Family Resource Page so that you can discuss it with your child.
Our annual Back to School Night will be on September 12th from 6:00-7:00pm. Teachers and families will have an opportunity to discuss school year academics and review expectations. This will include information about our REVEAL Math Curriculum as well as Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA).
Special Thank You to our amazing PTA for hosting summer events such as our Kindergarten Meet and Greet and for sponsoring our student agendas! Please stop by our PTA table at Back to School Night to find out about how this group will support our students.
