It has been a true joy and a wonderful blessing to watch your child grow spiritually, emotionally and academically this year. We have so many different things to celebrate and praise God for…one of the biggest is that we have been able to partner with families in a closer way by having you all enter into our school space with us for many wonderful activities. What remains as one of my favorite things is when I get to see our students leading chapel with rows of parents and siblings watching. What a wonderful picture of our partnership! I pray that each of your families have a wonderful summer vacation doing all of the things that you love to do together. It has been a true joy serving as your principal. You and your children have been a very big blessing to me over these past 3 years I have been at South Side. I am very excited to be welcoming Christy Haig as your new principal and Laura Rotman as your new Director of Preschool. Together, they will provide a wonderful co-leadership model for South Side.
Erin Wyma
Announcements
End of the Year Chapel
Save the date! We will have a special end of the year chapel to send off our 2nd graders on the last day of school, Friday, June 2. Feel free to gather with us from 10:25-11:15am for a time of worship together. We’ll be out on the playground, so bring a lawn chair if you’d like (if there’s rain we’ll move it to the gym). After chapel, preschool students will be dismissed, and K-2 students will have a quick 15 minutes to close out the year in the classrooms with their teacher, and their dismissal will follow at 11:30am.
Medication Pickup
If your child has medication at school, an email will be coming to you regarding pick up, since medication is not stored at school through the summer. All forms for bringing/administering medication at school are available on the Forms and Medications page, and they need to be filled out by your doctor at the beginning of each school year.
23-24 Enrollment & Medical Paperwork
All students entering preschool, kindergarten, and new transfers need to fill out and turn in a variety of paperwork by August 4, 2023:
Please be sure your child entering these grades is up to date on all immunizations, and if you are pursuing an immunization waiver through your county health department, please call them for an appointment ASAP as appointments fill up quickly, and it needs to be done before attending the first day of school.
Waiver Information:
If your child with a waiver is returning to Holland Christian for the 23-24 school year and moving from:
- 3s preschool to 4s preschool: The current waiver on file is good unless you have chosen to complete a vaccine series during the year that was waived on the waiver.
- 3s/4s preschool to Young 5s: New waiver needed; please schedule an appointment
- 4s preschool to kindergarten: New waiver needed; schedule an appointment ASAP at your county health department.
- Young 5s to Kindergarten: Current waiver on file is good unless you have chosen to complete a vaccine series during the year that was waived on the waiver
If your child is a new student coming to HC from a different school district, your old waiver is invalid and you will need to schedule an appointment.
Contact Jenna in the school office if you have any questions 616.820.3535.
Hot Lunch Balances
There is a new website for making online lunch payments! To deposit lunch money into the Meal Magic Portal, please use hollandchristian.familyportal.cloud Everything will look the same, but you won’t have a drop down for the school site. Thank you for taking care of your balances! All positive balances carry over to the next school year. Have a great summer!
South Side Office Hours
- June 5: The office will be closed due to an off-site meeting
- June 6-9: The office will be open from 9am-3pm to assist parents.
- August 1: The office will reopen daily from 9am-3pm, and then resume regular office hours when school begins. There will be a few dates TBD for beginning of the school year all-staff off-site meetings, and those dates will be posted on the door once they become available.
Class Lists
The 23-24 class lists will be available via email on Friday, July 7, 2023.
School Supply Lists
If you would like to access preschool through second grade school supply lists for the 23-24 school year, you can find them on our South Side Christian website.
HC Summer Sports Camps
Holland Christian has a lot of fun K – 12 summer camp opportunities! Baseball camps have also been added for the week of June 25. Registration has an early bird rate for camps until 2 weeks before the camp starts, so get registered today!
Let’s all keep reading this summer!
Thank you for partnering with us this past school year and celebrating the end of this year with us! One of your celebrations might be how your child(ren) grew as a confident reader this past year. Each of our educational campuses, including South Side, have made a concentrated effort to grow the mechanics of reading as well as each child’s love for reading. Unfortunately, there is an alarming amount of research that shows how much students might slide backward during the summer vacation. Fortunately, there is a relatively easy remedy to keep your child flourishing in reading by having your child read at least six “just right” books over the summer. The Reading Now Network promoted this summer reading concept as described in this “6 to Make It Stick” flier. You do not need a Lexile range or a Running Record to know what is a “just right” book for your child(ren)–just use the “Five-finger Rule” described in the flier and encourage your child(ren) to read at least six books over the summer!
Lost & Found
The office is continuing to update our South Side Lost and Found Photo Album as items are turned in. We currently have all items out on a table in the main hallway. Please check it out to see if any of these items belong to your child. Feel free to email Jenna to claim your item(s), and she will be sure to get it in your child’s backpack. All items will be donated to Ditto after our final day of school on Friday, June 2.
Also, we have a pair of adult men’s sunglasses that have been turned into the office. Please stop in, email, or call the office 616.820.3535 to identify and pick them up.
Important Website Links
Calendar
June
- 2: Last day of school: 2nd grade sendoff chapel 10:25-11:15am, Preschool dismissal at 11:15am, K-2nd dismissal at 11:30am
- 5: Office closed for an off-site meeting
- 6-9: Office open 9am-3pm
August
- 1: Office opens daily from 9am-3pm
- 4: All Preschool, Young 5’s, and Kindergarten paperwork is due via email/mail/drop-off to the office
- 15: Preschool meet the teacher night for 3’s and 4’s (Parents only)
- 17: South Side Ice Cream Social for Preschool-2nd Grade 5:30-6:30pm
- 22: First day of school for Preschool-12th grade, full day
- 23: Parent information night (Young Fives-2nd Grade) at 6:30pm
- 30: All school Convocation
September
- 1-4: No school: Labor Day
