TEMS Family Newsletter- 8/28/26

We are excited to celebrate a wonderful start to the school year at TEMS! It has been great to welcome our students back and see the energy in our classrooms and hallways as they reconnect with friends, meet their teachers, and settle into new routines. Thank you to our families for your support and partnership as we begin another year of learning and growth together. We look forward to welcoming you to Open House on September 2 for Grade 6 families, and September 3 for Grade 7 and 8 families—an important opportunity to meet teachers, learn more about your child’s school day, and strengthen our home-school connection. As we look ahead to September, our calendar is filled with opportunities for students to get involved, build connections, and make TEMS their own. We are grateful to have you as part of our school community and look forward to a fantastic year ahead!

Please click here to reference the school event's calendar that can be found on ParentSquare. Follow TEMS on Facebook, Twitter, and Threads.

We are happy to be welcoming families to the grade 6 open house scheduled on September 2nd. The schedule below outlines the planned activities for this evening. Please report to the designated areas following the schedule below, following the rotation of your child's team. The primary audience for open house is adults so your middle schooler does not need to attend.

We invite families with students in grade 7 and 8 to open house on September 3rd. Parents and guardians should follow the schedules below. You will follow your child's core schedule and visit each classroom on their team. You will also have an opportunity to visit the Encore, Club, and Student Support Showcase set up in the TEMS cafeteria and library. The primary audience for open house is adults, so your middle schooler does not need to attend.

Timothy Edwards Middle School is excited to invite all of our 6th graders to attend our annual back-to-school Ice Cream Social!

The event will take place on Thursday, September 16th and will take place in the cafeteria from dismissal to 4:00PM. Late buses will be available. If you are picking up your student, we ask you to park in the B-Lot (front of the school in the lot farther away from the school) or the D-Lot (traditional parent pick-up lot).

Tickets will cost $5 each and will be sold during lunch periods throughout the week. If you would like your child to attend, we ask that you fill out this form. Thank you!

At the end of last year, we launched a special project with a professional muralist, Matthew Pelletier, to work with students to bring some color into one of our main hallways. I am so happy to share that after many hours of work at the end of the year and throughout the summer, that the mural is complete! I have included a photo of our artists and their work below, but pictures do not do it justice. Please stop by the main floor common area B hallway to see this during open house. Many many thanks to our student artists and their families for helping us bring this idea to life: Julia Marvin, Aradhya Deepa Senthil Kumar, Emma Wickramasinghe, and Kaylee Johanns.

South Windsor Public Schools offers optional Chromebook insurance for $28 per student, providing coverage through August 20, 2027.

With the rising cost of device repairs, we strongly encourage families to consider this insurance to avoid unexpected out-of-pocket expenses.

Chartwells looks forward to continuing serving up Happy and Healthy. We welcome students back with healthy school meals that fuel students for success in and out of the classroom. Click here for the Back to School Newsletter. The newsletter is filled with helpful information that provides answers to most questions regarding our programs.  

During the week of September 21-25, TEMS will once again be participating in “Starts with Hello”, a Sandy Hook Promise program. The goal of the week is to help everyone feel included and accepted, the easiest part of which is to greet each other with a hello! See the school calendar for daily schoolwide activities.

TEMS is excited to offer after school enrichment opportunities for students 3 times throughout the year. Each session extends 6 weeks scheduled on either Mondays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. The Matinee Courses start directly after school and end at 4:00. Late buses are available. The fall matinee offerings will be published on ParentSquare on Friday, September 25th, with registration beginning at 5:00 PM on Monday, September 28th. More information will be shared soon!

The TEMS PTO is excited to welcome everyone back to school. Click here to read the PTO Welcome Back Letter. Our monthly PTO meetings are open to all families and provide a wonderful opportunity to learn about upcoming events, hear school updates, ask questions, and share ideas. New faces are always welcome, and we encourage you to attend whenever you can. These meetinsg are VIRTUAL and can be accessed using the link listed under Important Links on ParentSquare. Our first meeting is on Thursday, September 17th and the agenda is linked here.

Please consider joining the TEMS PTO- click here to join!

We’re kicking off our biggest fundraiser of the year, and we raise money to support:

What’s a Move-A-Thon? Each student will get 30 minutes outside during the school day to enjoy music, games, and movement. No pressure, no competition—just pure fun in the sun (or whatever weather we get in CT). This is scheduled for October 29th, with a rain date of October 30th.

the CHET Dream Big! Competition launched on August 19! K-12 students in Connecticut have the opportunity to enter the Competition and be awarded a scholarship of up to $20,000 to help pay for their future education! This competition is brought to you by the Connecticut State Treasurer’s Office as Trustee of the Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET).

We need your help to make sure students and their families in your district know about this opportunity to win contributions to their CHET 529 college savings plans!

This year, we will be awarding $350,000 in CHET 529 College Savings Plan account contributions to students in grades K-12 and technology prizes to schools. For the winning students, we will be awarding:

With the help of a parent or guardian, students will submit an answer to a grade-appropriate question about their dreams or how they could help their community. They can answer by submitting a drawing or painting, essay, or video, and must be included with an entry form.

Submissions must be uploaded by 11:59 p.m. on November 6. There is no cost to enter. For program details, rules and the entry process, visit: