Fresh from the ‘gram
Week of May 22, 2023
Welcome to Episcopal Day School’s weekly Panther Post, where you will find campus updates and announcements. Please select and expand the appropriate section below for the latest news.
Congratulations to the Class of 2023
What a year! These 8th graders completed a combined 175 years at EDS! We are so incredibly proud of the Class of 2023, and can’t wait to celebrate their future accomplishments. We look forward to seeing them all back on campus in four short years for Alumni Chapel!
May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short; grace to risk something big for something good; grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love.
Click here for 8th Grade Graduation photos.
Kindergarten Moving Up
It was a joy to recognize our Kindergarten and Nature Kindergarten classes at this year’s Moving Up ceremony. These students have grown tremendously this year, and their future is bright!
Please join us in congratulating the EDS Class of 2031!
Click here for Kindergarten Moving Up photos.
Closing Convocation
The EDS community concluded a fantastic year with Closing Convocation last Thursday. We enjoyed commending faculty members for years of service and finished the year with our unifying theme, “New Spirit…One Heart.” Congratulations to Mrs. Summers for receiving the Yearbook Dedication from the 8th grade class and to Ms. Wright for being awarded the Christie Owen Excellence in Teaching Award!
Click here for Closing Convocation photos.
Complete Your 2023-24 Back to School Forms By June 15
It’s time to start filling out back to school forms for our next academic term: 2023-2024! Forms are due by June 15. Please don’t delay filling out our forms.
Use this link to log into BigSIS (EDS Parent Portal).
The following forms must be submitted electronically on the Online School Forms tab in BigSIS :
- Required – Student Health Form – gather height, weight, physician, and insurance card group number/expiration information to speed up the process.
- Required – Google Workspace Parental Consent Form for all rising 1st graders and new students 1st-8th grade
- Required – Media, Field Trip, and Medical Releases
- Required – Preschool Carpool Dismissal Form
- Walk/Bike Ride Permission – only required if your child(ren) plans to bike or walk home from school.
- Grandparent Information – new students
The following forms are available on the Forms & Documents tab in BigSIS, as well as on the Parent Resources page of our website. These forms need to be printed, completed, and returned to the Front Office by June 15.
- Required – Concussion Acknowledgement Form Grades 5th-8th for Athletics
- Required – Sports Physical Form Grades 5th-8th (due before the first day of school)
- Required – Health Immunization Form – Rising Young 3s, 3s, PK, K, and 7th graders
- Required – Responsible User Policy – Grades 5-8
- Required – Responsible User Policy – Grades PK-4
- After School Registration (online link and instructions) (Coming Soon)
- Summer Reading and Math Assignments
On the Forms & Documents tab, in addition to the forms listed above, you will find Summer Assignments, the 2023-24 At-a-Glance Calendar, Association, Athletic, and Parent/Student Handbooks, Health Student Asthma and Anaphylaxis Plans, School Supply Lists and the Uniform Code.
Students are not fully registered and may not start school until required forms are submitted.
Student health forms must be completed before or by the first day of school for student participation in classes, sports, and field trips. 5th-8th grade students must also turn in completed physicals signed by their physicians to be cleared for athletics participation and middle school trips.
For questions concerning BigSIS or forms, please contact Stephanie Woodward.
Leave Us a Google Review!
Positive Google reviews help prospective families find and learn more about our school. We would be so thankful if you could leave a positive Google review, that for the month of May, we will be giving a $20 credit to the EDS apparel store to every student’s family that leaves a review! Please click the following link to leave your review today: https://g.page/r/CVzoPYwbBUg0EAI/review
Order School Supplies for 2023-24 by June 11
School supplies sets through School Tool Box are available now through June 11.
Save time and support the EDS Parent Association by ordering in advance.
Click here to place your school supplies order.
Registration for Summer @ EDS
Click here for Summer @ EDS flyer.
Dates, weekly themes, pricing, and speciality camps have been posted for Summer @ EDS on www.EDSAugusta.com/Summer and early registration is open!
For questions, please contact Karli Babylon Murray.
EDS Apparel – Spring Athletics, Nature School, & Spiritwear
Including Dancing Pawl T-Shirts!
Click this link for our current offerings and continue to check as we add new items in the future. Deliveries are made to the front office every other Wednesday. Parents will be notified of their delivery date via email.
Appleby Library Summer Reading Program
Join our friends at Appleby Library for the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library System’s summer reading program, which kicks off with a fun event on June 3 at Brookfield Park.
Summer Reading Suggestions
As the school year ends, we look ahead to summer fun in the sun with friends and family. Summer break is filled with all sorts of opportunities to support the literacy development of your preschooler. Providing summer access to books at home is critical in helping your child’s language development. Various summer reading programs around the CSRA will engage all ages with developmentally appropriate literacy activities to support vocabulary development, social-emotional learning, and a love of reading.
This link will connect you to the summer reading programs in the CSRA.
In addition, regular trips to the library allow children to choose books that pique their interest, and research shows that kids love reading books they have chosen.
The benefits of summer reading include building reading comprehension skills, increasing vocabulary, developing reading fluency, and a greater understanding of the world around them. Reading fiction and non-fiction allows children to experience make-believe stories. It provides opportunities to learn more about something they are fascinated with, such as dinosaurs, buildings, nature, or animals.
In addition, there are social-emotional benefits to reading with your child. Shared reading helps children understand people who are different from them, helps them develop empathy, and allows them to see themselves and others through the characters. Most families believe book characters and discussions during reading can help their children develop the qualities they value and want to promote in their family.
All this to say that reading matters! Wherever your summer plans take you, whether away on vacation or enjoying time at home, we hope you will carve out time to read with your child daily.
A Note to Rising Kindergarten Families Regarding Uniforms for Next Year
We are excited to welcome you to Lower School for the 2023-2024 school year! Kindergarten is an exciting time for students, filled with continued academic, social, and emotional growth. We sincerely appreciate your partnership and the trust in us to provide your child with a kindergarten experience dedicated to fostering the essential social, emotional, problem-solving, and study skills they will use in school and beyond the classroom.
As we welcome our newest kindergarten class to Lower School for the 2023-2024 school year, we want to inform you of the uniform policy change effective August 2023. Beginning next school year, all Lower School students must follow the school uniform dress code. For your convenience, here is our current handbook’s 2022-2023 Uniform Dress Code Chart for established guidelines for purchasing a uniform
During the summer, we will work to make the uniform requirements less complicated for families. At the same time, we intend for all Lower School students (K-4) to honor our dress code. We will send more information about uniforms this summer, but please make sure that any clothing purchased for next year is aligned with our current dress code. Nature Kindergarten students will have an entirely different dress code at Nature School, which will be communicated later. Still, Nature Kindergarteners will be expected to be in chapel dress while on the Walton Way campus for chapel and co-curricular classes.
If you have any questions, please contact Amy Tomblinson, Head of Preschool & Lower School. We appreciate your support and are excited to welcome your family to kindergarten!
Lower School Summer Reading & Math Assignments
As we peek around the corner to a summer filled with fun, family, friends, and activities, we also want our students to stay connected to what they have learned this year to hit the ground running when school resumes in August.
Summer Reading
We are excited about our summer reading program for rising kindergarten through fourth grade students! All families were given a color-coded Reading Tracker for this assignment at our lower school conference at the beginning of May. Students will track their reading throughout the summer and return the colored Reading Tracker on the first day of school in August. All grade levels have at least one assigned book to read. In addition, third and fourth graders have an assignment packet to complete that supports their required reading. The required reading for each grade level will be the first text for the initial assignments during the first week of school. Copies of the Reading Trackers for each grade (Rising K-4) are available below.
Summer Math
Your child’s teacher (Rising 1-4) will provide review packets for students to complete over the summer as a review of the concepts they have covered during the year. Breaking this packet down to a page or two each day will be the best way for students to quickly review what they have learned and be fully prepared for next year. These packets are also due on the first day of school. In addition, Kindergarten students can find a list of suggested games below. These games reinforce the math skills they mastered during the year in preparation for first grade.
Click here for 8th Grade Eucharist photos.
Click here for 8th Grade Eucharist recording.
Panama Enrollment Ends Tuesday, May 25!
Hi everyone,
First, thank you to everyone who has already enrolled on the 2024 trip to Panama. I am so excited about the amount of interest in this trip, and I hope you’re ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
For those who haven’t signed up for the adventure yet, I wanted to send a reminder that the enrollment deadline, including the $100 early enrollment discount and qualification for risk-free enrollment, expires on Tuesday, May 25 at midnight.
Here’s the link to review trip details, learn more about EF and sign up: www.eftours.com/2666170EH
If you have questions, or if there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate to contact the EF Traveler Support Team at 800-665-5364 or email me.
I hope that your child will be able to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Thanks for your time and interest,
Sonia Puerta-Quinn
Middle School Pre-Orientation
As the school year was winding down, it became obvious to the fourth grade teachers that their students were beginning to recognize the fact that they would soon be in MIDDLE SCHOOL. To help ease the students’ concerns, a few 5th grade students, Dr. Andrews, and Ms. McKibben presented a pre-middle school orientation for all of the 4th grade students. Cliff, Evan, Milly, and Sophia informed the students about many of the middle school routines and expectations and they assured the soon to be 5th graders that they could make a smooth transition into middle school.
Spring Athletics Recap
As the AAMSL spring season came to a close, the EDS Panthers had sharpened their claws and were ready for a championship battle.
During the boys soccer season, a team of 12 players fought hard every single game– finishing with an impressive two wins, three losses, and five ties! They earned the 3 seed going into the tournament where they faced the St. Mary’s on the Hill Saints in the semifinals. In a typical slugfest of a game vs. the Saints, with a chance to play for the title on the line, the fighting spirit in our 12 players was contagious. 8th grader Benji C. made many “Sportscenter” saves throughout the game. However, in the waning minutes of overtime, with our Panthers (running on fumes), broke through and scored the winning goal. We are so proud of these boys and the 8th grade leadership of Benji C. and Wyatt H.
All season, the girls soccer team dominated all league schools, preying upon the weak! The leadership of 8th graders, Carson M., Virginia J., Darby M., Cullen R., Kelly Jane A., Hastings B., and Anne Ross R., was pivotal to the season’s success. They put together an undefeated season, heading into the league tournament and in the semifinals vs. Augusta Prep (our Flowing Wells rival), mauled the Cavaliers. In the championship game they battled, scrapped, and clawed against the only team to put up a fight, the Wildcats of Westminster. In overtime, the two cats punched and jabbed until the final few minutes. We are so proud of the girls and their second place finish and all they accomplished throughout the season.
Boys and girls track ran with great speed and threw and jumped with the strength and agility of a panther. All season, these two teams worked hard, honing their skills for the one day that meant it all– the AAMSL championship. Led by 8th graders, Mekhi Q., Jaden W., and Felton H., the teams did an amazing job. For the first time in school history, the boys took 2nd place overall out of nine schools, with Mekhi Q. finishing in second place individually overall. This was the first time the EDS Panther boys’ team finished back-to-back years in the top two at the track & field championships! The girls track team (for the first time in many years) finished in 6th place out of nine schools, earning some very valuable AAMSL Athletic Director Cup points to round out a great season.
The Panthers baseball team, led by new head coaches David Rivers and Dave Dunaway, had a plan for getting back to the title game, which included heads up playing from 8th graders Sam D., Connor S., Parker H., Andrew B., and Charles H. In a season where they went toe-to-toe with tough competitors, the Panthers displayed the grit and determination needed to bring another title. Entering the tournament, the Panthers were the top seed, but had to face a team that beat us twice this season in the semifinals– the Augusta Christian Lions. This cat fight was all Panthers as we devoured the Lions. In the championship versus the Stallions from Horse Creek Academy, we faced a battle-tested team. With a stellar pitching performance by 8th grader Connor S. on the mound, along with solid hitting, cat-like speed, and quickness on the bases, the Panthers brought home our first AAMSL Baseball CHAMPIONSHIP!
With our three seasons of the 2022-2023 athletic campaign completed, how did our Panthers do in the AAMSL Athletic Directors Cup? At the end of the fall season the Panthers were 3rd behind Augusta Prep and St. Mary’s Augusta, and after the winter season, the Panthers moved to second place behind St. Mary’s.
The points earned by the boys and girls track teams made the difference… Panther Nation is the 2022-23 AAMSL Athletic Directors Cup Champion! This is our third cup in the four year history of the award and we couldn’t be more proud of these students and their coaches! Congratulations Panthers!
Click below for photos:
Click here for Athletics Awards Ceremony photos (courtesy of MaLea Breland).
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2022-23 Carol Trammell Coaches Award,
Carson M. and Parker H.!
Spring Football Practices for Current and Rising Middle School
Dear EDS current and rising middle school parents and students,
The tradition continues for the EDS Athletic Department and our football program as we prepare for the 2023-24 athletic year. EDS will host spring football practice for anyone interested in playing football for the Panthers this coming fall season. We will hold practice over two weeks.
- Week 1: May 22 – 25
- Week 2: May 30 – June 1
- Practice is from 4:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.
- May 22: Practice will be on the Walton Way Campus
- All other practices will be on the Flowing Wells Campus – unless notified by Coach Josey
Spring practice will involve NO CONTACT. Players will only wear helmets and begin to learn the drills and skills needed for the fall season.
Below is a link to a form that will help us know who is going to attend the spring practice(s). Please complete the form even if you cannot attend the practices, but plan on playing football. This will help us understand our numbers for the fall season.
We acknowledge that injuries are a big concern with football and we take every precaution to keep our players safe. Coaches Josey and Ammons are both USA Football Heads-Up Tackling Certified and Certified by Atavus Tackling. We cannot promise that any student-athlete will not experience an injury, but we do everything we can to teach them the correct way to play and tackle. Our team is composed of 5th through 8th graders. Playing time is determined by many factors, including player size, skill, and opposing team.
If interested, even to try it out for spring, please sign up using the link below. Information for summer workouts will be delivered during the spring practices.
Go Panthers!
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