Family fun times from one end of Wellesley to the next

September 20, 2022 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley last weekend was taken over by families in search of bouncy houses and other rides, craft tables, face painting stations, and more. Their quest for fun took them from Fiske Elementary School‘s annual Western Round-Up, to the Wellesley Mothers Forum’s Fall Carnival in Wellesley Square. Here are a few pics:

Fiske School Western Round-Up is still wild

We don’t care how much rebranding the PTO engages in. The Fiske Western Round-Up (the fundraiser’s official name as of this year), also known under the alias “Wild West Round-Up,” is still a wild time. At the fair with a western flair, attendees swaggered about wearing cowboy hats while they enjoyed rides, games, and lunch at the Chuckwagon. The strains of country music could be heard as kids played the annual cowboy strut game for treasure jar prizes.

Fiske Western Round-Up, Wellesley — Fiske Western Round-Up

Fiske Western Round-Up — Fiske moms and honorary sheriffs Laura Smith (left) and Teresa Peters sold tickets and kept general law and order in Round-Up Town.

Wellesley Mothers Forum

The Wellesley Mothers Forum set up bouncy houses and games, and scooped ice cream for a couple hours of family fun at the Wellesley Town Green, all for free as their gift to the community.

Here’s what the Wellesley Town Green looked like before the Mother’s Forum took over for the day. Peaceful. Calm. Serene.

Who needs peaceful, calm, serene when it’s the weekend, baby? Here’s what happens when Mothers Forum members bring to life their vision of what could be on a nice stretch of lawn in the shadow of Town Hall.

The Wellesley Mothers Forum provides mothers of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with an opportunity to gather once a month to enjoy interesting speakers, share parenting information, and form new friendships. Membership information here.

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Wellesley school news: Schofield Shopper’s Corner reopens Wednesday; Fiske Western Round-Up Sept. 17; Kids Backing Kids delivers 200-plus backpacks

September 12, 2022 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The latest Wellesley school news:

Schofield Shopper’s Corner reopens Wednesday

Schofield Elementary School’s Shopper’s Corner, a parent volunteer-un consignment shop that’s been around since the 1950s, reopens its doors this Wednesday, Sept. 14 for the new school year. The shop is generally open Wednesdays throughout the school year and the first Saturday of the month, and all proceeds benefit the Schofield PTO, which supports school-related programs.

Carrie Sullivan, a mom to three Schofield kids and one of Shopper’s Corner’s co-chairs, says the shop stayed open throughout the pandemic on a 1-to-1 appointment basis and saw revenue jump from before the pandemic. Then last year’s sales doubled those of the previous year. “It was very helpful for the Schofield PTO budget given that so many traditional fundraising vehicles were unavailable,” said Sullivan, who added that many bonds were formed during these private shopping appointments.

Shopper’s Corner was the lucky recipient of a lot of pandemic inventory. “A lot of people had lots of time to participate in COVID closet cleaning,” says Sullivan, who is co-chairing the shop with Liz O’Connor and Courtney Nascimento.

Over the last two years, Shopper’s Corner volunteers have developed an informal notification system to match buyers with needs. This includes reaching out to refugee family coordinators who might express a need for items, such as boys’ baby clothes.

“We have matched buyers with a wide range of items; everything from a pair of size 7 boots for the Schofield social worker, a Magic Tree House book for a customer’s daughter, Austin Powers boots for a Halloween costume, or something with ‘historic’ significance such as a vintage Schofield t-shirt for an incoming Kindergarten family!” Sullivan says.

Sullivan says the human side of their shoppers has come shining through. “One customer comes in and buys t-shirts that she turns into purses for women at shelters. Another customer couldn’t believe her luck when she found a series of vintage shoes in her size (size 6!) that were preserved in their original boxes-with printed sales receipts- from 1973.”

Oftentimes Schofield parents drop by just to chat with volunteers. “Though as the saying goes, in Shopper’s Corner, you can never, ever ‘just browse,'” she says.

Fiske Western Round-Up Sept. 17

Fiske Elementary School’s Western Round-Up fun fair, open to the public, will take place on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 10am-2pm. We’re hoping that the event, formerly known as the Wild West Round-Up, won’t be too tame now that it has dropped “Wild” from its name.

The fair, at 45 Hastings St., features games, rides, crafts, food, and more.

It’s cash-only, and takes place rain or shine.

Kids Backing Kids delivers 200-plus backpacks

Non-profit Kids Backing Kids started the school year by delivering more than 200 backpacks to students whose families needed a helping hand. Students in pre-K through high school in Wellesley, Newton, Needham, and Dorchester received new backpacks filled with supplies needed to get off to a great start this school year.

Kids Backing Kids also delivered more than 500 boxes of school supplies to community partners so they can replenish supplies for students throughout the school year.

This third annual back-to-school drive was made possible by donations of backpacks, supplies, and money from many throughout the community.

Rounding up Fiske Wild West fun fair

September 26, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Not sure if this cowboy and cowgirl thing is going to turn into a fashion trend in Wellesley, but the western-style hats sure looked great at this Saturday’s Fiske Wild West Round-up at Wellesley’s Fiske Elementary School.

Making its triumphant return after taking last year off, the fun fair is a big fundraiser for the school.

A big, happy crowd enjoyed games, bouncy structures, food, music, crafts, and more.

Cowboy strut at Fiske Wild West Round-up in #Wellesley pic.twitter.com/Tx3FsPSvJD

— swellesley (@swellesley) September 25, 2021

fiske wild west roundup — 3-year-old William works on his first-ever sand art project, which is now proudly positioned on the kitchen windowsill. “A warm shout-out to the all generous volunteers who made the 2021 Fiske Wild West Round-Up such a great success on Saturday,” says mom Elizabeth, who shared this photo.

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Fiske Elementary School Wild West Round-up on Sept. 25

September 22, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Fiske’s annual Wild West Round-up fun fair is one of the PTO’s primary fund raising events. The funds provide additional programs, services and learning opportunities above and beyond what the school system can provide.

This year’s event, featuring food, games, and more, takes place on Saturday, Sept. 25 from 10am-2pm. All are welcome.

fiske wild west roundup sign

Got school news to share with us and the wider Wellesley community? theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Wellesley schools news: Save the date for Fiske Wild West Round Up; Come to Upham, please; Middle School off limits; $373K in scholarships

June 26, 2021 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

A smattering of Wellesley Public Schools happenings:

Save the date for Fiske Wild West Round Up

It’s been a while since any of the schools have been able to hold one of their annual fairs. Fiske Elementary School returns with its Wild West Round Up on Sept. 25, with games, a petting zoo, and more.

Come to Upham, please

Wellesley Public Schools Supt. Dr. David Lussier said during this week’s School Committee meeting that enrollment to Upham Elementary School has re-opened until Aug. 1 for families who might want to transfer students there. “Clearly one of the challenges that we continue to wrestle with as we wait for these new schools to be built and with redistricting and rightsizing, we’ve been dealing with significantly lower enrollment at Upham now for some years. In order to have a critical mass of students and to maintain a vibrant school community we are trying to use the tools available to us, and one of them of course is choice, allowing families to enroll.”

Middle School off limits this summer

Wellesley Middle School is a large construction site this sumner, and it is closed to the public. If you have business that must be addressed at either the Middle School or Central Office, email for staff directory or call 781-446-6200 and you will be guided on how to proceed.

Your tax dollars are at work here. On Dec. 1, Wellesley voted in favor of a debt exclusion to fund multimillion dollar renovations designed to extend the life of Wellesley Middle School by 25 years.

The building systems project, based on a design scheme developed over the past year, involves replacement of heating and ventilation units in the gyms, kitchen, and auditorium, plus an overall kitchen renovation (note that the kitchen serves both WMS and the elementary schools). Air conditioning is also planned for the auditorium, which as anyone who has attend a WMS graduation can attest, is needed. Classroom improvements, security updates, exterior fixes and sustainability improvements are big parts of the project, too.

Wellesley Scholarship Foundation awards $373K to students

The Wellesley Scholarship Foundation has awarded $373,000 in need-based college scholarships to 76 students from Wellesley or Wellesley High School for the upcoming academic year.

The scholarships range in value from $500 to $13,400, with a median value of $4,000. The foundation administered the granting of an additional
$118,500 in need-based college scholarships funded by several Wellesley community groups.

This year, about 13% of the WHS graduating class applied for need-based college scholarships. Nearly 7% of the students in the class were awarded scholarships funded by the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation, and another roughly 2% were awarded scholarships funded by the foundation’s partners.

WSF relies upon contributions of community members.

Please help us keep the public informed about school happenings: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Fiske School in Wellesley to round up everyone for Wild West fun on Sept. 21, 2019

September 14, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

The Fiske Wild West Round-Up is coming back on Saturday, September 21, 10am – 2pm, at Fiske School, 45 Hastings St. Come join the rootin’ tootin’ family fun. This town-wide event is a heap of fun with games, arts and crafts, dunk tank, music, petting zoo, food, face-painting, rides and much more.

This is a rain or shine event. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the PTO will move all the fun indoors.

Fiske Wild West Round-Up is one of Fiske’s primary fundraising events. Each year Wild West raises more than $15,000 for Fiske School. The funds provide additional programs, services and learning opportunities above and beyond what the school system can provide.

MOPO yard sale and Fiske Wild West Round-up round out Wellesley weekend

September 20, 2018 by Duncan Brown Leave a Comment

There’s no such thing as a slow weekend in Wellesley, especially not with events like the Fiske Wild West Round-up and the Morses Pond (MOPO) yard sale.

At Fiske, students and parents alike enjoyed the rides, games, and food, and many could even be seen dancing to country music. With activities varying from face painting to fastballs, there was something for everyone.

For those looking for something a little more calm than the high speed of the West, there was the MOPO yard sale on the other end of town. Many Wellesley residents were setting up shop, and even more were looking for treasures to acquire.

Here are some photos from both events.