Good Evening Panther Families, We hope everyone is getting into the Fall season and had a great weekend with family & friends.
Upcoming events: Tomorrow, 10/23/23, is a B day for exploratory classes & MTSS period 5 classes. Reminder, Marking period 1 ends on 11/1/23.
Picture day is Tuesday October 24th. The order form is linked here: Picture Day form.pdf Students will have their pictures taken during their social studies class.
Fall Sports Games this week: . Field Hockey Schedule of Games Soccer Schedule of Games
District Calendar: The school district calendar for the 23-24 school year is linked here:
Upcoming Spirit Week: 10/30- PJ Day. (No slippers)
10/31- Character Day
11/1- Student Teacher Switch Day
11/2- Barbie & Oppenheimer
11/3- Color Wars – 6th- ORANGE 7th- BLACK 8th- WHITE
New Updates:
Library Information from Ms. Hewes: We are excited to announce that our library, The Panther Learning Den, is now open to students. Please visitHERE to get more details from our building literacy coach, Mrs. Hewes.
Family Connections Fundraising Meeting, Thursday 11/2: 5PM – 6PM in Library Learning Den, facilitated by Mrs. Nowell (8th grade assistant principal). Purpose is to help fundraise for school events, for example field trips & end of year activities.
Ongoing GB Food Drive: Details are here: Food Drive Fall 2023
GB Chorus: We had a great first meeting with about 30 students attending! Choir will continue to meet on Wednesday after school with Ms. Bailey. Please see the document here with more details. Choir Expectations & Permission Form
Save the Date: Math Family Game Night PreK-12 is Wednesday, Nov 29th from 6:00-7:30 for our students & families! The flier has an RSVP for families.
Updates from Grade Level: Please see updates from our grade level administrators and staff here:
6th Grade: 7th Grade: 8th Grade:
Parent-Teacher Conferences: November 20th & 21st are our parent-teacher conferences. Sign-ups times will be shared shortly. The timeframes for the conferences are: Monday 11/20: 8AM-7:15 PM and Tuesday 11/21: 8AM -11:45AM. Families will be able to sign up for in-person, phone, or Zoom conferences with each teacher individually for 10 minutes. This provides the families with flexibility with scheduling and to be able to meet with whom, when, and how best works for them.
Early Winter Sports & After School Activities: Wrestling & cheerleading have begun and are meeting after school. For questions about sports, please contact our athletic director, Mr. Brelick via email, here:
GB Gear: Please see link here to order GB clothing & apparel. I purchased 2 sweatshirts this week and am looking forward to wearing them soon!
Student Lockers, Coats, Cellphones, & Expectations for Dress: All students have access to a locker. Students are to use their lockers to store their coats and bags each day. Students have access to their lockers multiple times during the school day to pick-up/dropoff items. Students are to not wear backpacks or coats during the school day. Link for Code of Conduct & Colonial Expectations for Dress: Please see link for a reminder for our district expectations for dress and this year’s code of conduct. Students are to not wear hats, hoods, or sunglasses inside the building. Please remind students about our cellphone expectations of devices being away while at school. Students are able to use YONDR pouches and/or have phones remain in their bags. A brief presentation about our cellphone expectations is linked here: Also, student horseplay is not appropriate at school. Students are to keep hands/feet to themselves.
Community Events:
YLI Leadership Recruitment Flyer (12).pdf Youth Leadership Institute, a program for middle school students in New Castle County, Delaware. Please see attached flier and application link.
Verizon Innovative Learning STEM Achievers program. Join a full-day workshop for an introduction into the immersive program. Students will learn about design thinking, 3D printing, augmented reality and social entrepreneurship. The program takes place over a full-day science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workshop on December 2, 2023 from 10 am to 2 pm. See link with flier for more information and to sign up. OpenHouseFlyerFall23.pdf
Rolling Updates
Emergency cards: Emergency Card 2023-2024.pdf If you have not submitted an Emergency Card, please do so ASAP. If you need one, it is linked above. Any new information from medical, to emergency contacts, to new phone numbers can all be updated on the emergency card.
YMCA Partnership: The Bear-Glasgow Family YMCA is excited to offer a fall program for middle school students. The WOW program provides students with experiences focusing on health active living through fitness, sports, team building and volunteer opportunities. Please see the link here for more details and how to sign-up!
End of Marking Period Dates: Marking Period 1: 11/1/23: Marking Period 2: 1/24/23: Marking Period 3: 3/21/23: Marking Period 4: 6/6/23
Health Office Information: Our school nurse is Ms. Taylor & her email is: olivia.taylor@colonial.k12.de.
Theatre Arts: Ms. Burruss (7th grade teacher) will be leading our play this year! Updates and info will be shared shortly. We are excited to continue the tradition of performing arts at Gunning Bedford Middle School.
2023-2024 Yearbook Order Form: Linked here if interested in pre-ordering. Thank you Mr. Blocker for having Yearbook club at sporting events already snapping pictures. Looking forward to a great edition of the yearbook! 2024 Yearbook QR Code Order Link.pdf
Car Rider Drop-off and Pickup Details: If your student is being driven to school, please review the images linked before on where drop-off and pick-up is located. am and pm. AM is in the front of the building, PM is on the side of the building. Staff will be present to support in building the routine with students and families. Please be patient with students, staff and our fellow families as we learn together. Our doors open at 7:55AM each day. Please be mindful of dropping off students before than as staff are not outside. In the afternoon, car rider dismissal begins at 2:37PM on the side of the building. Families will pull into the parking lot on the side of the building and form a line that goes up and around the lot. Please follow the directions of staff supporting the dismissal to ensure a safe dismissal for all.
Breakfast & Lunch for students: All students at Gunning Bedford get free breakfast & lunch each day. Students can pack their breakfast or lunch as well. Students are not able to have any outside delivery food for lunch time; For example no Door-Dash or UberEats delivery. The lunch times for students is:
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11:05-11:35 |
8 lunch |
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11:47-12:17 |
6 lunch |
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12:27-12:57 |
7 lunch |
The district Nutrition website is linked here: https://www.
Support Links for Families: –Please use this link for more information & FAQ about Home Access Center –To update the contact information you have on file please fill out the form linked here:
Grade level Administrators & Counselors: The names and contact emails for our grade level assistant principals, student advisor and school counselors are listed below. They are your go-to contacts for supporting your student. Dr. Stoffa will be the 7th grade administrator and Ms. Payne-Miller will be the administrator for the ILC for the rest of the school year.
Administration School Counselors
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6th Grade AP: Dr. Thomas-Brown |
6th Grade: Ms. Sheppard |
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7th Grade Student Advisor: Dr. Stoffa |
7th Grade: Mr. Arent |
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8th Grade AP: Mrs. Nowell |
8th Grade: Ms. Pine |
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ILC Administrator: Mrs. Melissa Eger |
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Principal: Mr. Johnston |
Upcoming events around the district:
William Penn Showcase: Please view flier here for the upcoming event on 10/25 on the amazing offerings at William Penn High School.
Where’s the Bus Application: CSD is now offering the “Where’s the Bus” app to provide parents and students with timely information about the location of your child’s bus. Using GPS technology, this app will show you and your child how many more miles your bus is from the bus stop.
Change of Address/information Documents: Link in Spanish: Link in English:
If you have updated your address or contact information, please use the link below, to complete the form so that the office is aware of the change, and we can update your student’s file as soon as possible.
Have a great rest of the day and remember, you can’t hide that Panther Pride!
Sincerely,
Mr. Johnston
Principal
Gunning Bedford Middle School