Happy New Year!
Welcome back! Our staff is excited to partner together with all our parents again to make this year our BEST year ever! Open communication is essential for us to make this happen. We know that there will be issues and concerns that come up throughout the year – with nearly 750 students, 1500+ parents and nearly 85 staff members there will always be things that don't go as planned. However, we know that by working together we can solve any problem or at least make any situation better.
Please make every effort to attend our Parent-Teacher Nights (8/27 for PK-2nd, 8/28 for 3rd–5th) from 6:30 PM-7:30 PM to partner with our teachers and ensure effective communication throughout the year.
I also urge all parents to support our PTA (click here). As of now, only 45% of our 550 families have joined PTA. We need your help! Our PTA not only provides many of the resources our students use each day (agendas, student software, magazines, etc.) but they also make many of the activities and events our students love to happen (STEM lab, Movie Night, STEAM Week, BINGO, Dance, Barnival, etc.). Our PTA also takes great care of our staff, providing start-up classroom supplies, mini-grant opportunities and several staff lunches throughout the year.
Our Vision at Barnwell is:
To be a joyful community of collaborative, engaged and empowered learners.
Our Mission:
Building positive relationships
Encouraging each other
Always doing our best
Raising the bar
Striving for success
Do you know that we have students attending Barnwell that have families from all over the world? Our PTA has created the following "welcome" guides in multiple languages to make it a little easier to learn about our school and to get involved.
Click on the following links for each language of our PTA Important Information guide:
Throughout the year we emphasize with all our students what it means to be a Barnwell Bear. Our students (and staff!) have learned the Barnwell Promise (click here) – we encourage all parents to have conversations about these expectations and support our efforts to foster kindness, respect and joy in our students' lives.
Each day we share our expectation that all Barnwell Bears are Kind, Respectful and Happy and have been discussing these in depth on the news and in our morning meetings. We expect our students to do their best each day, working hard to learn and grow. We've shared that learning is not supposed to be easy – it can and should be hard! Students are learning that their effort is one of the most important things that contributes to their learning – being persistent with a positive attitude will lead to success.
We have discussed with all our students that being Kind means treating yourself and each other fairly, being helpful and acting in ways that encourage the heart. Being Respectful means caring about yourself and other people, and acting in a way that shows you care. When we're respectful we think and act in a positive way about ourselves and others. Lastly, we have discussed that being Happy is all about our attitude. It's choosing to be positive and encouraging, being persistent and having a growth mindset. We know that by being persistent and having a positive attitude each of us can get better every day.
Be Better. Be the BEAR!
PTA National School of Excellenc
e!
Our PTA has been recognized as a 2017-19 National PTA School of Excellence! This is one of the highest awards any PTA can earn - only 143 schools in the country (only 16 in Georgia) were recognized as National Schools of Excellence!
We are very proud and appreciative of our amazing PTA!
2019-2020 Volunteer Requirements
Do you want to be a mystery reader? Would you like to help out in your child's classroom? We welcome all parents to come volunteer and be a part of your child's school experience at Barnwell. Per Fulton County policy, ALL parents that want to volunteer MUST complete the mandatory training or they will not be allowed to volunteer in classrooms!
Visit the FCS site directly to complete the required informational training at least 48 hours prior to volunteering: 2019-2020 Volunteer Protocol.
Digital Citizenship Certification
Barnwell is a Common Sense Certified School! This certification recognizes our efforts in teaching digital literacy and citizenship to our students from Common Sense Education, part of a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.
Lunch Visits/Birthday Celebrations
Any parent wanting to celebrate their child's birthday with the class is welcome to come to the cafeteria to purchase a frozen treat or cookies from our cafeteria and hand out to the class during lunch.
Per Fulton County policy, no outside food of any kind is permitted for distribution to students in classrooms or the cafeteria (while you are welcome to provide your own child with any treat to celebrate a special occasion, no store-bought or homemade cupcakes, cookie cakes, etc. are allowed for class distribution). Parents wanting to celebrate with their child must order in advance and hand out during lunch (Birthday Celebration Flyer and Order Form).
Please note that teachers/school staff will not be handing out birthday treats in the cafeteria or classroom.