Gearing Up for School

This week’s newsletter is all things Back to School.  It has a lot of information, so please scroll down all the way so you don’t miss out on anything.

A huge THANK YOU to Osborne State Farm, Hoover Learning Group, Mathnasium of Green Hills and Brentwood, and Berns Therapy Solutions for sponsoring all of our Back to School activities. Sponsorships help us underwrite the costs associated with things like kindergarten totes, new family yard signs, the popsicle party and the Family Picnic, and we are so grateful for the support of Osborne State Farm!

Kindergarten Families:  The orange tote bags will be passed out at the Sneak-a-Peek.  If you are interested in getting your bag monogrammed, please click here.  If you are unable to attend the Sneak-a-Peak, your child’s tote bag will be waiting in their classroom.

Important Dates

August 2 – Teachers will send email greetings to their classrooms

August 7 – Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party*-NEW DATE

New Families Sneak-a-Peek @ 8:15

All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party @ 9:00

*Families are invited to come meet their teacher and bring school supplies to the classrooms

August 8 – First Day of School (Half Day for Kindergarteners only)

August 9 – Half Day for Kindergarteners only

August 17 – Open House & Invest Kickoff

5th, 4th and 3rd Grade: 5:00 p.m.

2nd, 1st and Kindergarten: 6:00 p.m.

September 1– No School

September 4-Labor Day, No School

September 8 – Fall Picnic

September 11 – Tiger Cup Golf Tournament at Old Natchez

Back to School Information

August 2 – Class Lists

To see your class list on August 2, please update / register for our online school directory by July 31st! You can sign into the directory through the website or by downloading the Membership Toolkit app. Returning families will be prompted to confirm/update your contact information. New families will create a login and password, and then you can input family contact information as well as provide consent for your child’s name or photograph to be included on the PPE website or social media. Once your information is updated, you’ll be all set to see your class list on August 2. Your new teacher will email you and lists will be posted later that day. If you have any issues or questions at all, please reach out to erinkaiser2@gmail.com.

August 7 – All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party 

8:15 am – New Families (parents and children) are encouraged to come snap a picture with our school mascot, Percy, and then head on to your child’s classroom to meet your teacher. Then, meet on the playground and enjoy popsicles while socializing with other PPE families. The PTO will be there with kindergarten orange totes and the Roar Store will be open.

Kindergarten Families: Please read this document for instructions on getting your bag monogrammed.

9:00 am – ALL returning families are invited to stop by the school to meet teachers and visit classrooms. Then, meet on the playground and enjoy popsicles while picking up some new PPE gear from the Roar Store.

School Supplies Note: If you have purchased items through First Day School Supplies, they will be shipped to the school the week of August 1st.  Boxes will be delivered to each classroom, so you’re all set! If you did not purchase items through First Day School Supplies, school supplies lists by grade can be found here. Parents are encouraged to bring all school supplies to their child’s classroom during the All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party, or otherwise on the first day of school.

Car Rider Numbers Note: Car rider tags will be distributed to new families at the All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party, as well as on the first day of school. Returning families will continue to use the same number. Please work with your child to learn his or her Car Rider Number before school starts, or even consider writing it on their tote bag/tag.

August 8 – First Day of School

Note: 11:30 dismissal on August 8 and August 9 for Kindergarteners

On the first day, many PPE parents choose to walk their children to the school’s front entrance. Parking is encouraged on Priest Road and Willshire Drive, and it gets crowded! During the first week of in-person school, all methods of transportation tend to be slower than normal – please plan accordingly. Check out the Download the 2023-24 Handbook for complete Transportation information.

Bring a cup of coffee with you and stay a while after drop-off to mingle with other parents at our All School Boo Hoo Party in the front circle, from 8:00-8:30! The Roar Store will be open, too!

August 17 – Open House

Save the date for this year’s Open House, on Thursday, August 17! Hear important information from your child’s classroom teacher, school leadership, and the PTO regarding what’s ahead for the school year.

5:00 – 3rd through 5th grade parents will meet in their classrooms

6:00 – Kindergarten through 2nd grade parents will meet in their classrooms

Percy Priest Handbook

Download the 2022-24 Handbook to get all kinds of Back-to-School information. Check it out!

It’s time to update our online school directory! Please take a few minutes to sign into the directory through the website or by downloading the Membership Toolkit app. Returning families will be prompted to confirm/update your contact information. New families will create a login and password, and then you can input family contact information as well as provide consent for your child’s name or photograph to be included on the PPE website or social media. If you have any issues or questions at all, please reach out to erinkaiser2@gmail.com.

PPE Buddy Program

Please let us know if you are new to Percy Priest and are interested in having a returning family serve as a “buddy” to help you get acclimated at the school by filling out our Buddy Request Form. Buddies serve as friendly faces, resources for questions you may have, and connectors as you begin at our school. Tell us about yourself and we’ll match you with someone who would love to know you!

The Roar Store is a wonderful way to show Percy Priest Spirit. Students can wear Percy Priest Spirit wear shirts any day to school in place of collared shirts. They can wear the spirit shorts/skorts on Fridays. This gear, along with PPE accessories, can be purchased through the Roar Store. The Roar Store shop will be open on the following back to school days:

• August 7 – All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party
• August 8 – First Day of School
• August 17 – Open House
• September 8 – Fall Picnic

Updated Standard School Attire 

PPE has revised our SSA standards.  Our website has all of the details about Standard School Attire Check it out before back to school shopping!

Lands’ End will donate 3% of all qualifying Standard School Attire (SSA) purchases to Percy Priest. Its catalog has a large selection of SSA and PPE logo clothing. Visit Lands’ End to place your order! Be sure to link to Percy Priest by linking your account to our Preferred School Number: 900121294

Publix Partners will donate $250 to the Percy Priest Elementary PTO for every $37,500 spent cumulatively by our school’s participants. To support Percy Priest, join Club Publix. If you’re already a member, log in to your account and select My Publix Partner to search for the school of your choice. Remember to pay with the Publix app or enter your phone number at checkout each time you make an eligible purchase. Parents do have to re-register annually.

The funds raised from this event will be used to support the PTO budget which provides our school with additional staff, software and supplies to our school.

Pre-loved PPE Attire Needed!

It is that time of year- time to clean out your Tiger’s closet before school starts! We will be accepting gently used clothing items or accessories that have PPE’s logo for our inaugural “Percy’s Vintage Closet” sale this fall! More details to come, but anything you’d like to pass on to another Tiger, please drop off on the school’s front porch. Any tops, bottoms, accessories with PPE logos on them that are gently worn, are all accepted!  Look for the marked plastic bins that say “Pre-loved PPE attire” and we’ll take it from there. Thank you!

How to Volunteer

We need your help to make next year the best year yet at Percy Priest! Dedicated and engaged parents are a key ingredient to making our school the great school that it is. There are big and small volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Please check out our volunteer form and let us know what things interest you. We’ll be in touch with more information.

We particularly need returning parents who are willing to be “buddies” for new Percy Priest families, simply serving as a friendly face and a point of contact. 

If you have questions of any kind, please contact us at presidentsppe@gmail.com. Thank you! 

How to Stay Connected

Email Lists

New families – Be sure to sign up for our school newsletter, which includes grade-level information each week. Register today.

Add PPE happenings to your calendar automatically!

You can subscribe to our PTO calendar and have all of our events show up on your calendar, so you never lose track of important dates! Following the links below will prompt you to subscribe to the calendar via your preferred calendar app. Any time the PTO updates an event through the website, it will update on the calendar of all subscribers (how often your calendar pulls updated info will be based on your individual personal settings – every 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 week, etc).

For Calendar Apps (apple calendar etc), go to: webcal://www.percypriest.org/?post_type=tribe_events&ical=1&eventDisplay=list

For Google Calendar, go to: https://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=webcal%3A%2F%2Fwww.percypriest.org%2F%3Fpost_type%3Dtribe_events%26tribe-bar-date%3D2022-08-31%26ical%3D1%26eventDisplay%3Dlist