NEWS FROM ELEMENTARY: We hope that you and your family had a wonderful week of school. We are now getting into a routine and great learning is happening. The following announcements will be helpful for you and your family for the week of August 29-Sept. 2
SEPTEMBER PTSO LUNCHEON: The Parent Teacher Student Organization sponsors a monthly luncheon for the teaching staff. This is a highlight of the month for the teachers. We are thrilled that the PTSO wants to continue the luncheon tradition. The first luncheon is scheduled for Sept. 9. If you are willing to contribute a food item or provide serving assistance, please click on the sign up link listed below. Thank you for making our teachers feel so special.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508054AACAB29A5FF2-vaes2
AUTHOR VISIT: Voyager Academy students had a wonderful time learning from Jonathan Miller. He shared his newest book with our students on August 25. He also reminded the students that they too can write books and share stories. Mr. Miller’s newest book is called The Adventures of Sammy the Wonder Dachshund .
STEP IT UP: We are excited to offer a way to give back to VOYAGER ACADEMY! On 8/30/2022 we will be kicking off an event to help raise funds that will benefit all of our students and staff. Our Step It UP! program, will help with funding Interactive Boards, Student iPads, and Grade Level Specific Classroom Supplies, in addition to: New technology, curriculum enhancements, and innovative learning materials. It is going to be AWESOME; we are excited to get started!
A few things to note:
This program will be very easy for you. It only requires about 10 minutes of your Time. Your students can earn great rewards, just for their effort. No money required! This is an online, donation-based fundraiser, and the email and text message donation requests can go to people you know anywhere in the world. That means no direct pressure on your shoulders. Students will be bringing home more information next week after our Launch Party presentation. Please help your student register and complete the Golden Ticket assignment THAT VERY NIGHT! All students who complete the Golden Ticket assignment will receive fun PRIZES and it does not require any money to register. We will also have some fun drawings for a $250 Amazon Gift Card and four Mini Party Fridges stuffed with CASH! I will be sending a few more emails throughout the two-week program. Please contact me directly if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your support!
CURRICULUM NIGHT: Mark your calendars for August 31 and Sept 1. We will be hosting VIRTUAL CURRICULUM NIGHTS for all families. We want you to understand all the various ways Voyager covers NC standards. We want you to better understand our Project Based Learning Strategies and how we use Bridges Math and CKLA resources to teach reading and writing.
Kindergarten Curriculum Night: September 01 at 5:30 pm
First Grade Curriculum Night: September 01 at 5:30 pm
Second Grade Curriculum Night: August 31 at 5:30 pm
Third Grade Curriculum Night: August 31 at 5:30 pm
The teachers will send you a LINK to attend this virtual event.
SPIRIT NIGHT: Come out and enjoy some delicious food and support Voyager Academy. The next Spirit Night is set for August 29 at El Rodeo Restaurant!
VIKING TROOPERS: Does your child like to sing, dance, and act?! Viking Troupers is a performing arts extra curricular enrichment serving Voyager Vikings in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade! Each registered participant will meet after school beginning mid-September. They will work on a production that will be showcased in December! There are a set number of available spots for this group that will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Registration is open FRIDAY, AUGUST 26th until FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd.
There is a $40 participation fee for this group. The participation fee will cover costs for your child to have a Viking Troupers t-shirt as well as go towards your child's costume for the show!
If you have any questions about how to register your child, information about Viking Troupers, or any other questions, please contact: Heather Thompson at hthompson@voyageracademy.net
REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/6AtwRY7QeQ2PQ49g9
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PLAYGROUND UPDATE: We are so excited that our two elementary playgrounds are being upgraded. Thanks to your Step It Up donations given last fall, we will have new playground equipment on both of the elementary playgrounds as well as behind the middle school. The structures are up and now we are waiting on our new mulch to arrive. I know the students are so excited and I do apologize for the delay.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO SHORTEN CAR LINE: As you may know, carline has always been a tremendous challenge at Voyager Academy. Here are 2 great recommendations on how we, as a community, can shorten the carline, and your weight time:
It is highly recommended that families from the same neighborhood consider carpooling to school.
Consider partnering with another family (or two), to meet up at the Lowe’s parking lot (or another nearby parking lot), to group students in one car. Not only can you take turns dropping off at the school building, but this will also shorten the carline.
Teamwork makes the dream work!
FALL PICTURE DAY: Strawbridge Studios will be at Voyage Academy on Sept. 15 to tall FALL PICTURES. Every student will have their photo taken so that we have a picture for our yearbook. Families may order photos to remember this amazing school year. Ordering details are listed below:
110322 Voyager Elementary School FALL1 398075 Run 1.pdf
REMIND APP: You can now sign up to receive text messages from VAES through the REMIND app. Even if you have signed up before you will need to subscribe again with your updated grade level and phone number. How do you sign up?
Texting from your cell phone:
Kindergarten Parents: In the “To” section of the text, please type 81010 and in the message section please type @vakinder23
First Grade Parents: In the “To” section of the text, please type 81010 and in the message section please type @vafirst23
Second Grade Parents: In the “To” section of the text, please type 81010 and in the message section please type @vasecond23
Third Grade Parents: In the “To” section of the text, please type 81010 and in the message section please type @vathird23
COVID UPDATE FROM THE SCHOOL NURSE: Each week, our school nurse will provide us with a brief Covid related update. The message for this week is listed here: Our CDC COVID-19 Community Level is: HIGH
**Masks are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED indoors, even if you are vaccinated**
The health and safety of our students, teachers, staff, and volunteers are our top priorities. Voyager Academy is following the CDC COVID-19 Community Level guidance. We sincerely appreciate your consideration.
MONDAY’S SCHEDULE: Each and every Monday, Voyager will dismiss students at 12:45 pm. Since our staff attend meetings every Monday, it is imperative that students are picked up on time.
BIRTHDAY ROCK: The Voyager Birthday Rock is such a popular thing! We hope you and the students enjoy seeing the various birthday designs. The Birthday Rock is available on a sign up basis. The sign up was sent out late summer. If you would like to see if there is any availability left, please click on the link below.
CHICK-FIL-A READING CHALLENGE: We are so excited to partner with Chick-Fil-A on Roxboro Street. This store has supported Voyager for many years and we hope you will support them. They are going to be encouraging Voyager students to become life-long readers. Beginning in September, students will have an opportunity to earn a FREE Chick-Fil-A Voucher for a Kids Meal. The Chick-Fil-A Team, including the COW will be on campus on August 29 at 11:00 to kick off this fun reading program!
BEFORE AND AFTERCARE: Available spaces in the program will be limited. THERE IS CURRENTLY A WAITLIST FOR AFTERSCHOOL CARE. Students will experience a balance of homework time, enrichment, and recreational activities. The programs are staffed by teachers, college students and/or young adults who are selected for their work ethic, experience and ability to be a positive role model. After-school programs will also operate on early release days at no extra program cost to parents. There may be field trips and activities on early release days for an additional fee. The fee will cover transportation, admission and/or guest fees for the activity scheduled on that day. If your child is not registered for a field trip/activity, they will be able to continue to have fun with their friends during Stay and Play activities back at school.
REGISTRATION PROCESS
Care programs will have limited spaces available due to continued staffing shortages. Pre-registrations will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Families on the list after the capacity cut off will be placed on a wait list. You will be notified by email, if this affects your family’s registration.
Voyager Academy uses the Titan Family Portal for program registration and payment. There is a non-refundable $30.00 registration fee per family due at the time of registration. For questions about setting up your family portal account, you may email the Support Team at support@titank12.com or call
EARLY CARE (BEFORE SCHOOL) HOURS (K-12)
The Voyager Early Care program is a fun, well supervised start to your student’s day. They will have the option to participate in active play, passive games, quiet time reading or screen time.
Elementary 6:45 a.m. – 7:15 a.m.
Middle 6:45 a.m. – 7:45 a.m.
High School 6:45a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
AFTER SCHOOL CARE HOURS (K-8 ONLY)
The Voyager After Care program includes homework time, active play/games, creative arts, passive games, character development and STEM projects.
Elementary 2:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Middle 3:15 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
All students must be picked up before 6:00 p.m
All after care and before care questions may be addressed to Patrice Johnson, Operations Manager at pjohnson@voyageracademy.net. Ms.Johnson may be reached by phone at 919-433-3301 Ext. 243.
LUNCH UPDATE: Voyager Academy will offer a hot lunch meal option from K & W Cafeteria! Hot meals will be delivered daily to each school prior to meal time. The meals are made fresh offsite at K&W’s kitchen. They are delivered in individual hermetically sealed meal plates kept warm in commercial grade insulated food delivery bags. These meal containers closely resemble microwave meal trays. We assure you that the meals are made fresh daily following the USDA National School Lunch Program (NSLP) meal requirements.
Lunch orders are placed on the LINQ Online Ordering system (https://family.onlineordering.linq.com/) The cost for lunch is $4.50 per student per meal for all students not participating in the Free and Reduced lunch meal program. There is a Vegetable Plate option listed under A la Carte items. It generally has the vegetables of the day and a starch item. The cost is $4.50 for a vegetable plate entrée. It does not qualify for the NSLP pricing & program.
All meal purchases are prepaid. You will add money to your student’s account via the Titan Payment portal (https://family.titank12.com/). It is recommended that families set up reoccurring payments by week or month. This ensures you have enough funds on account when preordering. You can also make one time payments/deposits. You can order meals by the week or month. We recommend purchasing by the month to ensure your family doesn’t miss the ordering (7 days in advance) deadlines. A week’s worth of lunch is $4.50 (price per meal) x 5 days (school week) = $22.50+ processing fees* a week or $90 + processing fees* per month (4 weeks). The processing fee for lunch is $2.60 per deposit.
We will only serve meals to students who have pre-ordered and paid for lunch. All families participating in the school’s lunch program regardless of their status (Free, Reduced or Paid) have to use this system to pre-order the meals. All meal orders must be in by 11 pm. There is a 7 day advance order cutoff policy to allow the vendor time for meal planning and preparation.
LUNCH FUND DONATIONS
Some families require more help than others with daily purchases and outstanding meal balances. A few extra dollars from families with the ability to donate can help us make sure all of our children have consistent access to nutritious school meals, while keeping Voyager Academy’s finances strong! If you would like to contribute to the Voyager Academy Lunch fund, you can do so on the School Store at https://Family.TitanK12.com
What you need to know:
There are two systems that work together for ordering and payment
LINQ ONLINE ORDERING - View and order student/staff meals.
TITAN FAMILY PORTAL -Pay your school fees, manage your students accounts and apply for free and reduced meals.
Pre-Payment Options - Please take advantage of the options to prepay your student's meal accounts.
The online payments are a simple, safe and a secure way to make payments to your students account 24 hours a day at your convenience.
Online at https://family.titank12.com There is a $2.60 flat fee charged by the bank per deposit online. (Example: $100 deposit + $2.60 fee = $102.60)
A check/ money order made payable to Voyager Academy. Please include your child's name and id# on the memo line. You can also use this pre-printed form.
Send/mail Check or money order to school with your student. Please place the payments in an envelope marked clearly with your student's name, their ID #, their teacher's name, the $ amount and the check #. Turn in prepaid deposits to the teacher or school office.
Download and Print Out a pre-formatted #10 Envelope for making Deposits
Ordering Rules
You can pre-order meals for the week or the full month.
There is a week advance Order Cutoff date. All orders must be made the Monday of the week before.
We can not accept same day orders. Changes/cancellations can be made up to 2 days before the meal date.
All orders must be pre-ordered and pre-payment made to the Family Portal account on Titan or sent to school.
Lunch Menus are available on the School Nutrition website
Images/photos on the menu are for promotional purposes and are not actual meal photos.
Free and Reduced Lunch meal pricing is available at Voyager Academy.
Applications must be renewed each school year. If a new application has not been completed, the student will automatically revert to “paid” status.
Verification of income will be requested. You will be required to submit supporting documentation during the verification process.
View the USDA Child Nutrition Programs Income Eligibility Guidelines (2021-2022)
ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM PTSO: Fall Festival is Friday Sept. 16, 5:30-8:00 pm and the rain date is the following day, same time. A Sign-Up Genius will be available soon to obtain parent volunteers. We need help to pull off this event–we had over 2,000 attendees at each festival last school year.
Have you joined the PTSO? We are hoping to have 100 families per grade join PTSO. We are a non-profit and all membership goes to providing support for our staff and students. Please click on the link below to join Voyager’s PTSO.