Weekly Family Newsletter
August 20, 2021
Week 1
Hello PWA Families, and welcome to the 2021-2022 school year! We are so happy to have you and your children with us, and we look forward to a year full of learning, adventure, shared experiences, and lots of fun.
Each Friday evening, you’ll receive a weekly newsletter like this one from Prince William Academy. In it, we share details from the school week and need-to-know information for the week ahead. You’ll find important dates, the lunch menu, and forms in this email, along with pictures from our week. We know it is hard not to be able to come into the school, and these pictures are meant to give you a look at your students’ world inside PWA.
We welcomed back a lot of familiar faces this week, including students who’ve been with us for years, some who did our online program last year, and many who’d joined us last year and decided to return. We also met lots of fantastic new friends who will soon become dearly familiar as well. We have a delightful, diverse group of students this year, and we’ve already had so much fun getting to know one another.
This week was certainly eventful, with the pandemic continuing to make its presence felt in our lives. After having had no cases of Covid in our school since late 2020, we had several arise in our preschool and one in an elementary classroom during the first few days of school. We are navigating this unprecedented (for us, at least) situation as best we can, and we’ve been so grateful to those of you who’ve reached out with kind words of support and understanding. Unfortunately, the delta variant is highly contagious, and we will all have to be very careful not just at school, but in our day-to-day lives, if we hope to keep our doors open and our children safe. You’ll find more information below about how we’re handling cases here at school.
In spite of these challenges, we had a great week adapting and getting to know one another. We have an amazing team of teachers here at PWA, and they include many who’ve been with us for years, as well as some wonderful newcomers who’ve joined us as our enrollment has grown. It is always a joy watching our teachers during the first week of school as they get to know their students. With such small class sizes, your teacher will come to know your child well–and hopefully will get to know you, too! We hope you’ll always feel free to contact your child’s teacher with questions or concerns, or just to share something about your child.
You should also know that you can reach Dr. Nykwest, our Principal, or Raymel Menefee, our Director, anytime. They are always happy to hear from you, and you’ll find their email addresses below.
Our school community is truly special, and we’re so glad you’re a part of it. We look forward to getting to know you, or to getting reacquainted, and working together to provide a stellar education and a loving and supportive environment where your children can thrive.
* Any child who tests positive will have to quarantine for ten days from the date of the test.
* We will offer online activities for any quarantined preschool classes. Quarantined elementary or middle classes will learn online with their classroom teacher for the duration of the quarantine.
We ask that everyone in our PWA community do their part as well: please ensure your children wear masks when they are in public, and avoid large gatherings and parties. Keep your children home if one of them is sick until you can get them tested for Covid-19. If your child is sick at school, they will be sent home and will not be able to return until they receive a negative Covid test.
Please alert us immediately if you or anyone in your household tests positive for Covid-19.
Thankfully, the children who have tested positive this week are doing well overall and have mild symptoms. But this week has shown us that symptoms can range from the expected cough to less expected vomiting and sore throat. A fever is not always present. Knowing this, we have to treat any illness seriously and will require a test to rule out Covid-19.
Spotted at school this week…adorable preschoolers having fun!…kindergartners getting to know one another…1st graders hard at work and play with Mrs. Ajeroh…Mrs. Saissi’s class presenting their work…music and movement…Ms. Dalia’s 1st and 2nd graders…3rd graders made desk pet shelters for STEM and enjoyed a story with Ms. Timmons…Mrs. Lewis’s 4th graders…Mr. Bannerman’s and Mr. Merrill’s middle schoolers…
