Recently Added – Kaleidoscope

Red Mill Elementary selected for Let’s Move! Active Schools National Award

Let’s Move! Active Schools announced that Red Mill Elementary School is one of five schools in Virginia and 544 schools nationwide to receive the 2016 Let’s Move! Active Schools National Award. The organization, part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, recognizes outstanding efforts in creating active school environments, including providing students with at least…

LPES student featured in national Down syndrome awareness video

On Saturday, Sept. 17, Linkhorn Park Elementary School student James Grunwald will be a star on the Times Square jumbotron in New York City. A photo of him holding a book he wrote and illustrated as a first-grader last spring entitled, “I Can,” will appear in the National Down Syndrome Society’s (NDSS) annual Times Square video…

Submit VBEF fall grant applications and auction artwork by Oct. 7

In June, the Virginia Beach Education Foundation (VBEF) awarded $85,000 to teachers to support their 2016-17 Schoolwide Grants and Innovative Learning Grants. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the VBEF will award an additional $40,000 this fall for a total of $125,000 in grant funding this school year. The grant application deadline for the fall review process…

Green Schools National Network blog features VBCPS submission

Kudos to Marie Culver, gifted resource teacher at Seatack Elementary, An Achievable Dream Academy, for her feature published on the Green Schools National Network blog. Her submission, “Growing a Greener and Cleaner World with Ocean Friendly Gardens,” describes the efforts of school staff, students, parents and community members last year to create the first Ocean Friendly…

Kingston prepares to help students make their mark

“Make Your Mark” is what Kingston Elementary School staff will be encouraging students to do this year. Kingston’s administrators brought the theme to life for teachers by challenging them to make their own mark with activities in the school’s new makerspace lab and with a scavenger hunt based on focus initiatives for the school year. The…

Diamond Springs teachers go along for the ride

The first weeks of school are an important time for students, especially new kindergartners and first-graders, to get comfortable with new routines, bus transportation and more. When your school has 600 kindergartners and first-graders, as Diamond Springs Elementary School (DSES) does, dismissal time is a time for all hands on deck – and on the buses. DSES…

Staff members spin support for Bayside leadership workshop

Car washes. Concession stands. Cookie sales. All are methods schools used by schools to raise money to support student activities and athletics. Bayside High School (BHS) teacher and SCA adviser Ashley Williamson put out the call for a more active way to support the school’s annual leadership workshop – spin class. The BHS SCA hosted…

The Week in Photos: Sept. 5-9

What a great opening week of school! Welcoming signs. Welcoming staff. Caring community partners. Engaged parents and families. And, did we mention the Blue Angels? Take a look at some photos captured by school media liaisons and school division staff. We hope next week is just as amazing! Many schools took staff photos to mark the…

Shelton Park encourages students to make PAWSitive choices

Sitting outside the school principal’s office is often associated with student misbehavior. This year, at Shelton Park Elementary School (SPES), sitting outside the principal’s office means a student is sitting in the “I’m Proud of My Selfie” chair and is waiting to share good news. According to SPES Principal Tara Brewer, the positive reinforcement for good…

New academy celebrates opening with ribbon cutting ceremony

The Entrepreneurship and Business Academy (EBA) at Kempsville High School celebrated its opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony Sept. 6, the first day of the new school year. The academy’s first class of ninth-grade students were introduced to parents, community members and Kempsville staff members in the audience. “I know I speak for my fellow…

Hermitage Elementary shines a light on learning

Hermitage Elementary School is ‘Shining a Light on Learning’ this school year. The school theme is depicted with images of lighthouses on welcome banners and classroom signs. However the most meaningful messages are found on an actual lighthouse placed in the center of the school’s main hallway. Hermitage staff describe their hopes for students this year…

The Week in Photos: Aug. 29-Sept. 2

Back-to-school bulletin boards, breakfasts, neighborhoods visits and even yoga were just some of the images shared by school media liaisons and staff members this week to highlight VBCPS employees’ work and fun as they prepared for the first day of school. Woodstock Elementary School teachers are stepping into the new school year with “pencil shoes.” Teachers…

ICYMI: Summer 2016 highlights

The dismissal of students June 17 didn’t mean all school division activity stopped for the summer. Celebrations, workshops, recognitions and learning for students and staff continued throughout the weeks and months that followed. In case you missed it, here are some highlights from summer 2016 with links to more coverage. CELEBRATIONS Commencement week for the Class of 2016 concluded Saturday, June 18,…

VBCPS staff prepare to fly with Blue Angels

Brad Ward and Bevin Reinen are preparing for the flight of their lives. When the Blue Angels visit Virginia Beach for the NAS Oceana Air Show Sept. 9-11, the two VBCPS employees will take backseat rides in F/A 18 Hornets as part of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps flight demonstration squadron’s guest flight program.…

Employees required to sign up for 2017 benefits

In order to receive benefits in 2017, benefits-eligible employees must sign up during this year’s mandatory Open Enrollment, which is scheduled to occur from Oct. 3 – Nov. 4 for full-time and full-time equivalent school employees. According to the summer edition of the Open Enrollment Guide mailed home and emailed to employees, benefits will not automatically…

Distribution Services dazzles during summer months

Talk in the school division’s Office of Distribution Services is in terms of pallets, boxes and orders. Forty pallets of computer carts. Fifteen pallets of toilet paper. Fifty boxes of drum sets. Thirty orders from schools. Boxes of elementary school recorders – 8,100 recorders to be exact. Deliveries are accepted, sorted and distributed to schools…

Williams celebrates full accreditation with flag-raising ceremony

“We did some special things here last year; we really did,” Bettie F. Williams Elementary School Principal Tim Sullivan told his staff. “And I really, really appreciate everything you’ve done.” Staff members gathered in the cafeteria for the first day of teacher in-service week to enjoy breakfast and reminiscing about their summer. Photos of weddings,…

Students wish all staff a ‘Happy New (School) Year’

All VBCPS staff members return to work this week to prepare for the new school year and the arrival of students Tuesday, Sept. 6. Students welcome back all staff with this “Happy New (School) Year” video message. Tell your friends! Follow us!

Brandon Middle distributes school supplies in community

Brandon Middle School has collected school supplies over time from various organizations and churches to share with students who may need extra materials. Rather than wait for students to return to school to provide supplies, Brandon staff members went into the community Friday, Aug. 26, to deliver supplies. They visited Brookwood Apartments to provide bags, notebooks,…

Summer programs support student transitions to middle and high school

Eighth graders admitted to feeling nervous on their first day of middle school. High school seniors remember being uncertain about what to expect as freshmen. These experienced students are now sharing lessons learned with rising sixth-graders and ninth-graders in transition programs hosted by the division’s secondary schools before the new school year begins. The programs…