Ms. Banford's Welcome Back to School Letter

August 2024

Dear London Towne Families, 

It is with great excitement to officially welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year!!  Preparations have been underway ALL summer to ensure the success of our Lion Pride. 

Our goals will continue to be nurturing your child’s inner roar and providing them with a learning environment that is safe, joyful, and intellectually engaging.  London Towne’s core values are care, curiosity, and courage. Our staff will foster these values by:

  • Focusing on both academic content and social emotional skills so that our lions can collaborate, communicate, and develop as ethical and global citizens.
  • Encouraging students to be strong, brave, and compassionate individuals who collaborate, empathize, and learn from one another.
  • Providing students with the opportunity to think deeper about grade level content and to learn the necessary number sense, phonics/word study, and phonemic awareness skills necessary to develop as readers and mathematicians.
  • Partnering with families and the LTES community to ensure the academic and social emotional growth of ALL Lions.

Families are encouraged to stay connected and engaged with us as a school and division. One way to stay informed is to sign up for LTES newsletters through News You Choose and then check your email on Sundays for an email titled LTES News. TalkingPoints is an easy and safe way families can communicate in their home languages with their child’s teachers for free. Teachers will be using this platform to communicate with you about your child’s education and progress. School and teacher messages will come directly to the phone number that is registered in our system as a SMS text or through the TalkingPoints Parent App.  Families can respond through the app or simply via text message.

Enjoy these last few days of summer and we look forward to seeing you on the 16th for Open House as we launch which is sure to be the best school year yet!

Ms. Banford, Principal, Ms. Moore and Mrs. Zamora, Assistant Principals

Open House 

Join us for In-Person Open House on Friday, August 16, 2024!  Class assignments will be emailed to families by August 14th. To accommodate all families and ensure we aren’t too crowded during the Open House, we will have two sessions for Lions in Grades 1-6 and a separate session for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten. During Open House students and families will meet the teacher, drop off supplies, and reconnect with friends.   

For our newest lions, our Pre-K and Kindergarteners, we will welcome you from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. 

For our Lions in Grades 1 through 6, we will welcome  

  • families with the last name A-M from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and  
  • families with last names N-Z from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.   

 

School Hours & Transportation Info 

 LTES Hours are 8:20 a.m. – 3:05 p.m.  

Doors open at 8:05 a.m. | WLTS Morning News at 8:20 a.m. | Students are tardy at 8:20 a.m.  

Bus Routes will be available by Open House. The first week of school may see adjustments to the schedule. Some bus delays may occur as drivers are adjusting to routes.  See current bus delays at https://busdelay.fcps.edu/. Thank you for your patience as routes are adjusted. Please call us at 703-227-5400 if you have additional questions. 

Kiss and Ride is available in our side parking lot for families that need to drive their child to school. It is separate from the front loop so that we can ensure safety for our Lions. We will be sending out the Kiss and Ride Letter and Contract in August and families can bring the completed contract to the Main Office starting August 9th or at Open House.  We ask families to familiarize themselves with the procedures to keep the line moving and students safe:  

  • Children load and unload from the passenger side of the car only, so they will not have to cross the driveway in front of traffic.
  • Drivers remain in the car. Safety patrols and staff will assist with the car door.
  • Cars stay in a single file line as they move to and from the Kiss & Ride.
  • Cars are to make a right turn only into the parking lot
  • Cars are to make a right turn only out of the parking lot
  • Families keep their good-byes brief so that we can keep the line moving 

 

Free and Reduced Meals Information

LTES will serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all students. For students to have free breakfast and lunch, families will need to apply for Free and Reduced-price meals. Click here for more information and the online application. Approved Free and Reduced Meal eligibility letters may be used for additional benefits. All data is confidential, see the FCPS Trust Policy. 

 

Back to School Night Information

Back to School Night provides the opportunity for families to meet the teacher and learn about the curriculum and expectations for this school year. Back to School Night is August 28 for Grades K-6, 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.