The ever popular ESM Family Skating Program is back for another year. All students and families at ESM, including Pre-Primary, are invited to skate at the St. Margaret’s Centre in Upper Tantallon for one hour on the following dates:
Friday, January 24, 2025
Friday, February 7, 2025
Friday, February 21, 2025
ESM will provide free bussing to the rink in addition to free ice time for all attendees. No transportation will be provided back to the school. Families will be responsible for picking up their students at the St. Margaret’s Centre at 4:00 PM.
We would like to make a special request of Pre-Primary parents that they be present for these skating events to help with their own children.
Time
Skating will occur from 3:00-4:00 PM for all students.
To make it to the ice on time, students will be leaving ESM at dismissal time - 2:25 PM. They will travel to the rink on our school bus.
Hockey Sticks
Students are welcome to bring a hockey stick and/or puck if they would like to play. During our ice time, we will provide a time period for some hockey antics on half the ice. Please note, however, that sticks are not allowed to travel on the school bus. If families can arrange to bring them to the school, Mr O’Brien will transport them to the arena in his car.
Transportation
Families are required to pick up their students at the St Margaret’s Centre at 4:00 PM. If you are unable to pick up your child yourself, you are required to make arrangements to have them picked up. Please let the school staff know of your plans on the slip attached below.
Regular buses will be running so that students may travel home if their families choose not to participate in our skating event. Our two bus runs - 1117 & 1121 - will be merged, which may throw off our drop off times, especially for students riding Bus 1117, which will be later. If you have concerns about this, please reach out to the ESM Office.
What we need from our wonderful community:
We need you to provide your students with helmets and skates.
****Helmets are required to be worn on the ice by both adults and children.****
If you do not have skates or a helmet for your student or yourself we might suggest some options.
Perhaps our community might be able to help. I have created a Google sheet below as a forum for helping families to loan or give each other skating equipment. Click here to see our ESM Skate Exchange Page. There, you can post items you might be willing to loan out, or post items you might need to borrow. I have included a space for phone numbers and emails so families can easily make arrangements with each other. This page is also linked to the Latest News section on the Main Page of our school website.
There are some helmets available at the St Margaret’s Centre to borrow, but their number is very limited.
The Bay Skate Shop located at St Margaret’s Centre, owned and operated by Bruce Munroe, sells used skates and equipment at prices that range from $20-50. Their hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 5-6 PM, and weekends, 8 AM-2 PM. They can be reached by phone at 902-471-0305.