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E-News: Sept. 25

Upcoming Events

Sept. 30: Humanities Department Parent/Guardian Q&A

Oct. 1: Mid-autumn Moon Festival

Oct. 3-4: The Great NWS Campout

Oct. 7: Meet the Interim Head of School Zoom Forum

Oct. 7: College Counseling Financial Aid Hours

Oct. 7: Parent/Guardian Coffee with School Counselors

Oct. 9: No School - Professional Development Day

Oct. 12: No School - Indigenous People's Day

My BackPack Downtime, Sept. 25-26

With the transition of Senior Systems, our student information system to a hosted service model, our provider will now perform all system maintenance and updates monthly. During these planned outages, My BackPack and the mobile app will be unavailable.

The next scheduled maintenance window will begin Friday, Sept. 25, at 8:00 pm PT, and last until Saturday, Sept. 26, at 5:00 am PT.

Curriculum Night Change

We have altered our plans for Curriculum Nights on Oct. 14 and 21. Rather than split the two evenings by division, we will be splitting the evenings by schedule. The plan for the evenings is for parents/guardians to follow their student's daily schedules from two different days so that they will have the chance to meet all of their student’s teachers. We will let you know the timing of the evenings as our plans get finalized. The Curriculum Nights will be held from 7:00-9:00 pm.

  • Oct. 14: Blocks A-D
  • Oct. 21: Blocks E-H

Announcing Zoom Forum with Interim Head of School, Oct. 7

Save the date for Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 7:00 pm. The Northwest School Board of Trustees invites all parents/guardians to hear from Dennis Bisgaard, our new interim head of school. Dennis will share his goals for the year and more. Meeting details will be provided in next week's E-News.

Communicating With Faculty and Reporting Technology Issues

We ask that parents and guardians use email to communicate with faculty, not the inbox in Canvas. Since we are supporting students as independent learners, not every parent will be using Canvas as an Observer, and therefore, will not have access to the inbox in Canvas. Canvas is reserved for student-teacher communications about course assignments and feedback.

A reminder to students and families to please continue to use HelpDesk (helpdesk@northwestschool.org) to report technology challenges such as issues with school-provided laptops or troubles using Canvas. Someone from the HelpDesk team will be in contact as soon as possible. Issues arising outside of 7:00 am-5:00 pm may not be addressed until the following school day.

Northwest School Remote Dining Program Week 3

As we roll into Week 3 of The Northwest School House Specialty Program we wanted to share our color-coding method so that you can easily identify if you have received the right bag.

  • Gluten-free (blue, orange) and vegan (purple) bags will always be labeled.
  • Meat (pink) and veggie (green) bags will be labeled when there is a meat or veggie option.
  • Yellow tags will be used when an allergen has been specifically removed from that week’s meal and include: 1) The student’s name: and 2) What allergen was removed.

If you have any questions about what is in a dish, please email Bethany. Next week’s menu can be reviewed here.

Humanities Department Q&A, Sept. 30

The Humanities Department will be hosting a parent/guardian event on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 7:00-8:00 pm to showcase our approach to teaching Humanities, introduce new faculty, and offer a chance for parents and guardians to ask questions without the time constraints of Curriculum Night.

Department Co-coordinators Tamara Bunnell (Middle School) and Priscilla Lindberg (Upper School) will design the evening based in part on the needs and questions of attendees, and are asking that questions be submitted in advance to help with planning. Stay tuned for a Zoom invitation (RSVP's will be very helpful). For now, please send any questions or hopes for the evening to Priscilla Lindberg and/or Tamara Bunnell.

Faculty Virtual Performance

The Cumbieros, featuring Spanish teacher Clarke Reid, will be playing a live show for the Nectar Lounge's Virtual Concert Series on Friday, Sept. 25, at 8:00 pm. The show is free, but you can purchase a "donation ticket" here.

Grandparents & Special Friends Forms Due Sept. 28

We would like to remind all parents and guardians (especially new parents and guardians) to please take a few minutes and fill out the Grandparents & Special Friends Form.

College Application Work Party

All 12th grade students have been invited to a work party to support completion of the Universtity of Washington and University of California applications on Sept. 30, 6:00-8:30 pm.

  • 6:00-7:00: Open work time/Q&A
  • 7:00-8:00: Review of FAQs on UW and UC applications
  • 8:00-8:30: Cal State application support, if needed

Upper School Athletics: Fall “Open Coaching” Period Forms Due

The WIAA’s fall “open coaching” period runs Sept. 28-Nov. 30. Athletics forms must be completed (in a parents’ MyBackpack account) by Friday, Sept. 25 to participate. Coaches offering workouts have or will be communicating to registered students and families with information about signing up for small-group practice slots for next week.

Current practice schedules are posted under our Summer Practice Calendar (since the open coaching period mimics the summer season in being open to all teams, optional, etc.), but final scheduling plans should be verified through your coach(es). If you have questions please contact Britt Atack.

Financial Aid Office Hours for 12th Grade Families (Program Change)

Because Associate Director of College Counseling Rachel Fumia will co-present on financial aid during the Seattle Area Independent Schools Summit on Oct. 18, we are repurposing our financial aid program on Oct. 7 to offer office hours/drop-in support for 12th graders and their families. Students and parents/guardians will receive additional information and a link to join via email.

Announcing the Great NWS Campout 2020

Students, faculty, parents and guardians, and alumni are ALL welcome! Join us for the Great NWS Campout 2020 on Oct. 3-4. You don’t need to go camping; any meaningful time spent outdoors counts. We hope you can share in this outdoor experience.

For more information and how to sign up to participate, click here.

NWS Community Fitness Online Workouts are Underway!

All students (as well as parents, guardians, and faculty) are invited to join Tyree Harris, our fit club/strength and conditioning coach, for NWS Community Fitness Online, weeknights at 5:00 pm PT. Workouts will be 20-30 minutes, as we very much appreciate the desire/need to limit screen time.

If you missed the latest workouts, here are the ones from Sept. 18, 21, 22, and 23.

Northwest Athletics Gear for a Limited Time!

Want to start the new school year with some Northwest School athletics swag? Check out our new options here. Orders must be placed by end of day, Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Early Sibling and Faculty Child Applications

Applications for admission to the 2021-22 school year are now live! For current families and faculty members with a child applying to 6th grade, please note Early Sibling & Faculty Child (ESFC) applications are due Oct. 22. Please fill out the ESFC interest form to be included in mailings about this process.

For more information about the ESFC application timeline and the admission process for siblings and faculty children applying to grades 7 and above, please click here, or contact our Admissions Office. We are excited to meet and work with you this fall!

College Counseling Programs and Updates

Please click here to view additional college counseling announcements, upcoming visits and events, admissions updates, and scholarship information.

About E-News: The weekly E-News covers a two-week period of upcoming events, parent reminders, and campus news.