Dear Families of TCS Students,
It has been a great three weeks in 2016 at The Concept School. I have had the pleasure to
meet with our students in small group lunches and talk with them about our school. I have
been impressed at how articulate and sincere the students have been in their discussions. I
especially liked it when a student asked for a hot tub to be added to our school! I have also
met with several of our families, both individually and at the small coffee gatherings I held
January 12 and 14. Thank you to everyone for sharing with me their thoughts about what
makes our school so special and what more we can do to make it even better.
Sincerely,
Bill
Report Cards
Report Cards will be mailed home on Friday, January 29, 2016. Please make sure to contact our
teachers if you have any questions about your student’s grades.
Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO)
Our PTO will be meeting on January 27, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. We realize how difficult it is to
attend evening meetings, but your participation would be greatly appreciated. Hope to see you
then!
2016 Chester County / Main Line CHADD Conference – February 27, 2016
Looking to learn more about ADHD? Consider attending the CHADD (Children and Adults with
Attention Deficit Disorder) Conference on Saturday, February 27, 2016, at Neumann University.
Open the attached PDF to peruse the various workshops that are available. The Concept School
is considering having a booth at the conference to spread the word about our school. If you are
interested helping us staff the booth, please email Mr. Bennett at
wbennett@theconceptschool.org. Perhaps you might attend specific workshops and then
cover a shift at the table? Thanks for considering helping us out.
..\Conferences\Feb 27 2016 ADHD Conference at Neumann University.pdf
The Annual Fund
Recently, you received a letter which began our Annual Fund campaign. Community support of
The Annual Fund is what allows The Concept School to be an exceptional school with unique
programs, exemplary teachers, and an innovative curriculum. Like other private schools, The
Concept School relies upon the generosity of parents, grandparents, alumni, parents of alumni,
faculty, staff and friends like you to keep our school flourishing and to expand and grow the
program to meet our students’ needs. Without the Annual Fund, our students’ experiences
would be dramatically different. While the true value of a Concept School education is hard to
quantify, the cost of educating each student at Concept exceeds tuition every year. We
supplement funding for our educational programs with money generated from annual
fundraising activities, special gifts to the school and, from time to time, capital campaigns. The
generosity of The Concept School’s supporters enables us not only to maintain but also to
enhance the quality of our students’ educational experience each and every day. Full (100%)
participation in the Annual Fund on the part of Parents, Alumni, faculty, staff and Board of
Directors also allows Concept to apply for and be looked upon in a favorable manner for various
educational grants.
Thanks to the commitment of The Concept School community of parents, trustees, alumni,
grandparents, and friends, The Concept School is financially stable and its program is strong,
however, there are always opportunities for growth. Our goal is to ensure that current and
future Concept School students receive the best education available. Charitable giving to The
Concept School helps create excellence! Please consider giving to our annual fund—no gift is
too small!
Absences
If your student is ill and is unable to attend school (or will be late), please
call the office before 9 am to report a student absence each day your
student is absent. Often times, folks are forgetting to report absences and we
must call (for safety reasons) to verify the absence. Technically, any unreported
absence by a parent is considered an unexcused absence. Please do call to report your child’s
absence each day.
Math News
Practical Geometry is a course of study guided by Mr. Hopkins at The Concept School. One
important application of geometry is the building of structures. As seen in the above pictures,
Jane is very excited in designing and planning and constructing a scale model of a house. She
will use Geometry concepts such measurement, angles, lines, quadrilaterals, proportion and
scale. Another project by Practical Geometry student Andrew is to build a scale model of a
Drum Set. For many students a hands on approach provides a smoother access and
development of understanding and applying the ideas of Geometry.
Social Studies - National History Day Announcement!
NHD is rapidly approaching. Students have roughly 6 weeks to complete their projects. Projects
are due by February 26th for our in-school presentation. The regional competition is on
Friday, March 4th at the Chester County Historical Society. Information is available at
www.chestercohistorical.org/event/regional-competition-national-history-day-senior-categorygrades-9-12 and NHD.org If you need further information, please contact Mr. Loux
(kloux@theconceptschool.org). Thanks, Mr. Loux, for taking on this project!
Spring Performance Information
We have entered into an agreement with Theater Horizon to prepare for our Spring
Performance. This group worked with us last year and the students gained much from the
experience. Two educators from the company will be here for half days on eight Mondays and
work with our students on four different Greek myths. The students will focus on writing skills,
as well as acting out various scenes. Look for more information home from Mrs. Mulvanerty
and Ms. Saunders very soon.
The performance will be on Thursday, March 18, and we plan on having the students remain at
school that afternoon until the performance begins at 7:00. There will be school on Friday,
March 19, with Spring Break the following week.
Winter is Here!!
We’re heading into the snow season. If Concept is closed due to inclement weather, please
tune to Channel 3 (KYW), Channel 6 (ABC) or Channel 10 to receive school closure/delayed
opening news. We will also be running a scroll on the website if we close and are working on
technology to advise you by email/telephone.
Help Support The Concept School!!
(At no cost to YOU!!!)
Our PTO has undertaken to continue to support our school by managing many areas that, with
your support, provide monetary benefits to The Concept School. Please sign up for these
opportunities!!!
Winter break clipping!
Please continue to clip Box Tops! So far this year we have earned $38.00
and every dollar helps. Thank you to Mrs. Spencer (Jonah) for heading up
this project! You can find Box Tops on many of the products you will be using for dinners and
parties. For a list of participating products, go to BTFE.com. Thanks for your support.
Target Stores: The Target program is called "Take Charge of Education" and the home webpage
is: www.target.com/tcoe. The program lets guests designate 1 percent of their REDcard
purchases to a K-12 school of their choice to fund whatever the school needs most. This
program will be ending 5/2016 so timing is of the essence. ENTER SCHOOL NUMBER 123098
Amazon's Smile.amazon program: This program allows you to shop on Amazon and when you
do, a portion of your purchase comes back to The Concept School. All you do is log on to
smile.amazon.com and fill in “The Concept School” as your organization of choice. A link to
explain this program is attached. https://smile.amazon.com/about
Labels for Education: By collecting UPCs and beverage/sauce caps from participating products
The Concept School community can work together to earn a plethora of products for our
school. We are in the process of updating our account and Wish List at the present time, but in
the meantime, you can help by collecting UPC’s and labels.
Important dates to mark on your family calendar:
January 27th – PTO Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
29th – Report Cards mailed home
February 2nd – Board Meeting
2nd – 4th – Trip to CCIU for specific students
11th – Musicopia Assembly, 1:00 p.m.
15th – President’s Day- SCHOOL CLOSED
26 – A.M. ½ Day for Students - (History Day presentations for parents)
Dismissal at 12:00 Noon
P.M. Professional Development for Teachers
March
2nd – PTO Meeting, 6:30 p.m.
PSAT for 10th graders
th
4 - Chester County National History Day Competion
17th – Spring Performance, 7:00 p.m.
21st -25th (inclusive) – Spring Break- NO SCHOOL
31st – end of 3rd Quarter