Good Evening Panther Families, We hope everyone had enjoyed a beautiful weekend with some special Springtime activities.

Upcoming events: 

Tomorrow, 4/15/24 is an A day for exploratory & MTSS classes. 

DeSSA This Week: Testing this week on Monday, 4/15 &  Wednesday 4/17, is in ELA. We are having an additional assessment day on Monday, 4/15, because of an outage on the assessment platform last Wednesday.  We start testing at 8:30. Please encourage your student to be at school on time and to show their learning growth this year on the assessment. Thank you for your support. We will be testing on Wednesday mornings for the next 4 weeks.  

DeSSA Spirit Days this week:  Monday 4/15 Sports Team Day: Wear a jersey or fan gear for your favorite sports team. College, HS, and GB sports gear works too! Tuesday 4/9: Character Day: Dress up as a character from your favorite movie or tv show. Do not bring in any props to go with your outfit & continue to follow-our expectations for student dress.

Spring sports: Spring Sports continue this week. Away games/meets on Monday  @ PS duPont MS & home vs Tally MS on Tuesday. Schedules: Baseball      Softball   Track & Field

District Calendar: The school district calendar for the 23-24 school year is linked here:

2024-2025 School Calendars:  July 2024-December 2024      January 2025-June 2025

New Updates:

Upcoming Meeting for Future 8th grade students attending William Penn High School Next School Year: Please see the flier with RSVP here: https://www.smore.com/n/hpt4f-wphs-freshmen-foundations Our combination 8th/9th grade parent teacher group will meet on April 17th at Penn in Café I from 6-7:00 PM. 

Marking Period 3 Honor Roll Assembly: The assembly will be held a little different this marking period. It is being held on Thursday, April 18th during their grade level exploratory classes. We are having only students attend as we will be sharing exciting details of what they will receive for earning Honor Roll this marking period! We will not have parents in attendance as we will just be sharing the details of their incentive.  More information will follow next Thursday, 4/18 after their assembly.

District Art Show: Friday, April 26, 2024; 5 – 7PM & Saturday, April 27, 2024; 10AM – Noon

Delaware School Climate Survey: Please take a few minutes to complete this survey for parents from the University of Delaware about our school climate: DSCS-Directions-Home-Sp2024.doc

Colonial Summer Programming 2024: Please please see link for programs offered this summer and the locations. https://www.colonialschooldistrict.org/academics/summer-learning/ If you have any questions or concerns regarding this information please contact Jessica Hitchens (jessica.hitchens@colonial.k12.de.us)

Updates from Grade Level: Please see updates from our grade level administrators and staff here from before break: 6th Grade:      7th Grade:        8th Grade:    ILC: 

Rolling Updates

Early Dismissal Procedure: Students will no longer be able to wait in the Main Office for a family member to pick up early. As increased security measures we must check the ID of the persons picking up before releasing the child. Thank you for your understanding and your partnership in keeping our students safe.

After-School Activities Pick-Up Details:  As we move into our next season of after school sports and activities, we want to clarify procedures for parents who pick up their students from after school activities.  Student safety is our biggest concern.  Please do not park in the first 5 bus slots or along the sidewalk outside of the auditorium.  Both areas are noted in the map below by a blue ‘X.’  This ensures that our students can safely cross the bus court to get on their assigned buses.

School Pictures Order Form: Linked here is the form to order pictures of your student from picture day. 

2023-2024 Yearbook Order Form: Linked here if interested in pre-ordering. 2024 Yearbook QR Code Order Link.pdf

Back to Basics Tutoring: Please see flier here: 23-24 SY Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Colonial Revise Flyer.png

Morning Car Rider drop-off & Afternoon pick-up:  Parents dropping off students in the morning need to create a single line on the right side of the cones.  Students should exit their cars to the sidewalk.  Cars are not to travel on the left side of the cones.  Student safety is our top priority. As a reminder, please review the images linked before on where drop-off and pick-up is located. amand 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. Our doors open at 7:55AM each day. Please be mindful of dropping off students before then 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. 

Library Information from Ms. Hewes: Please visit HERE to get more details.

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. 

GB Gear: Please see link here to order GB clothing & apparel. 

Health Office Information: Our school nurse is Ms. Taylor & her email is: olivia.taylor@colonial.k12.de.us Please view the Welcome Letter from Nurse Taylor here with important health office information.

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: 

11:05-11:35

8 lunch

11:47-12:17

6 lunch

12:27-12:57

7 lunch

Support Links for Families: –Please use this link for more information & FAQ about Home Access CenterTo update the contact information you have on file please fill out the form linked here:  

Grade level Administrators & Counselors: 

Administration School Counselors

6th Grade AP:  Dr. Thomas-Brown                   

6th Grade:  Ms. Sheppard             

7th Grade Administrator: Mr. Sopkanich              

7th Grade: Mr. Arent     

8th Grade AP:  Mrs. Nowell

8th Grade: Ms. Pine        

ILC Administrator: Mrs. Eger               

Principal: Mr. Johnston