Hello Gate City Community!
As the autumn colors create a masterpiece of delight and wonder, there is so much happening at Gate City to celebrate!
With Guardian-Teacher Conferences this week, October 19th-23rd, we look forward to connecting with families, celebrating student growth, and strengthening the partnerships that make our school community so special.
👕LAST CHANCE GCCSA merch! Don't forget to get your GCCSA merchandise - the Pop Up Shop with Mint Printworks closes today, October 19th: Shop Here! There are so many great designs to choose from for your students, friends, and family! A portion of the sales comes right back to support our school. Don't miss out!
POP-UP EVENT ALERT! This Thursday we will be participating in the nationwide Lights On Afterschool Day. Come join us from 6-7pm and bring a friend or five. There will be fun, collaborative art, and a chance to explore and celebrate our amazing afterschool offerings! This event is free to all!
We are also gearing up for our much-anticipated Fall Festival next Wednesday the 28th from 8:30-1pm, and we need our Gate City village to help bring the magic to life! Donations, volunteers, and helping hands of all kinds are essential to making this wonderful tradition possible. Volunteer and Donation Sign ups below:
Volunteers: Fall Festival Volunteer Sign Up
Donations: Fall Festival Donation Needs Sign Up
So much of our success is community-driven. Another way to support our school is simply by sharing the Gate City story with friends, neighbors, and families who might be looking for a creative, welcoming place for their children to learn and grow. Word-of-mouth recommendations are something small that keeps us thriving! Please make time to share as we prepare for our first Info Night on October 26th at 6pm. Share this link with friends, family, and friendly humans looking for a great school community: GCCSA Information Nights Sign Up
And speaking of the story of Gate City Charter School, we were thrilled to celebrate our first Featured Student Artists at Community Meeting last Friday! Artemisia Gentileschi’s incredible artwork and imagination has inspired our students to create thoughtful, creative, and empowering self-portraits that envision their identities and dreams. How wonderful and awe-inspiring to see students use art to express themselves and shape their futures.
Hold onto your pumpkins and apple cider! We have so much going on this week and next!
🍂 October Dates of Distinction 🎃
📚 October 19–23 – Guardian-Teacher Conferences
💡 October 22 – Lights On Afterschool Celebration | 6:00–7:00 PM
🌶️ October 24 – Lyphos Family Health Festival of Gratitude & Chili Cook-Off | 12:00–4:00 PM
👻 October 24 – Merrimack Spooktacular Trunk or Treat | 4:00–6:00 PM
🍁 October 26–30 – Fall Spirit Week! 🎉
🎃 October 26 – Pumpkin Painting Fundraiser Entries Due
🏫 October 26 – Gate City Information Night | 6:00 PM
📜 October 26 – History Club with Ms. Wessells | 3:00–4:30 PM
📸 October 26 – Picture Retake Day
🍎 Mark your calendars and join us for all the fall fun! 🍂
🧛A Note on Costumes: Students are permitted to wear costumes on the 30th as a part of Spirit Week. However, these costumes should not have elaborate and expensive pieces that are challenging to keep track of, nor should they be something gory or scary. No masks or weapons please. Costumes should be something students can use the bathroom in and a change of clothing is advisable. Please avoid blow-up costumes.
From classroom creativity to community celebrations, this season reminds us that the heart of Gate City is the people who come together to make it extraordinary. Thank you for helping us build something strong, unique, and powerful!
Onward and upward!
Jenn Blanchette
Director, GCCSA
Dear Gate City,
As we consider our country’s rich history, we have an opportunity to reflect on the many events, cultures, and perspectives that shape our communities. It is a time to learn about who has cared for this land across generations, to appreciate the traditions and contributions that continue to enrich our world, and to encourage curiosity, understanding, and respect for the stories and experiences of others. At Gate City, we believe that learning grows when we make space for different perspectives, ask thoughtful questions, and recognize the value each person brings to our shared story. We are deeply grateful for each student, staff member, and family that makes GCCSA our own beautiful cornucopia of perspective, expression, and personality.
Get ready for a month of fun, festivities, and fall-tastic events!
👕Get your GCCSA merch! Don't forget to get your GCCSA merchandise - the Pop Up Shop with Mint Printworks is open now: Shop Here! There are so many great designs to choose from for your students, friends, and family! A portion of the sales comes right back to support our school. Don't miss out!
💬Guardian-Teacher Conferences October 19th-23rd
Teacher-Guardian Conferences will take place beginning on the 19th. Look for sign-up information from your classroom teachers.
🎃Pumpkin Decorating Contest 8th Grade Fundraiser
Get ready to paint your way to 1st place in our 1st annual pumpkin-painting contest! Entry is $5 per pumpkin. One, painted, stand-alone pumpkin per entry. One entry per student. Look for a flyer and entry instructions this week. Entries will be due October 26th. No late entries accepted. No carved pumpkins accepted.
🎉Spirit Week is October 26-30th
Get ready for flannels, rainbows, sportsball, and costumes! Watch for the flyer this week!
📸DATE CHANGE Photo Retakes!
Picture retakes will be held on October 26th. More info to come!
🍂 Falling into Fun! Fall Festival
Our annual Fall Festival will take place on October 28th. We need your help to make this FAVORITE event possible. Look for our donation needs sign up later this week. Find the volunteer sign up here: Fall Festival Volunteer Sign Up
📣Tell EVERYONE about Info Night!
Enrollment Information Session October 26th at 6pm
Here is your chance! Share Gate City with your community and families! Do you know a family that might be interested in learning more about Gate City Charter School? We are still accepting students for the current year, but we are also starting the enrollment process for the 2027-28 school year. Attendees will take a tour, learn more about the school, and have the opportunity to ask questions. Tell a friend! Social media is a great place to get the word out! Attendees can sign up for this month’s info night or another planned for this year HERE: Enrollment Information Nights Sign Up
Let the leaves blow, the apple cider flow, and the fall spirit show!
Onward and upward!
Jenn Blanchette
Director, GCCSA
Hello GCCSA Community!
Fall has a way of making us look twice. A tree we’ve passed a hundred times suddenly looks completely different, and an ordinary walk becomes something worth noticing. That’s one of the things I love most about art; it teaches us to slow down, look closer, and see possibility where we might otherwise overlook it. As we move deeper into the school year, I hope we continue to give our students,ourselves, and others the space to notice, wonder, create, and see things a little differently.
ANNOUNCEMENTS, REMINDERS & INVITATIONS
🍂Fall Festival Planning Meeting: Come help plan the annual Fall Festival! WE NEED YOUR HELP to make this event a success. This Thursday, October 8th at 8:20am. We will also have a remote Zoom link available:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79227030613?pwd=PLp5nrKiEkEf0h2d0UbbizpjOvI0bN.1
Meeting chat link: https://us04web.zoom.us/launch/jc/79227030613
Meeting ID: 792 2703 0613 Passcode: 6a1PmR
👀 Be on the lookout for volunteer and donation sign ups for the event!
📃Donations Needed:
Donations help us so much! Here is a list of current needs:
💰 ALMA Fees Payment Reminder:Thank you for patience in navigating this new system. Please pay all invoices within 30 days of receipt. Questions or issues? Please email Mr. Brendon at jalbertb@gccs-nh.org.
🗓️ Upcoming Events:
10-8 CSO Meeting 8:20am w/ in-person or virtual options
10-12 No School Indigenous People’s Day
10-23 Picture Retake Day
10-26-30 Spirit Week
10-26 Enrollment Information Night
10-28 Fall Festival
Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do that makes Gate City the supported and thriving community of creativity and education that it is!
Onward and upward,
Jenn Blanchette
Director, GCCSA
Dear Families,
We have officially survived our first nor’easter of the season, and it certainly feels like fall is here to stay. The leaves are changing, the temperatures are dropping, and our classroom is filled with lots of learning and excitement.
We also had an incredible time at our Glow Dance on Friday! The students danced the night away, enjoyed spending time with their friends, and created some wonderful memories together. Thank you to everyone who helped make the evening so special!
Looking ahead to next week, we have several exciting things happening:
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79227030613?pwd=PLp5nrKiEkEf0h2d0UbbizpjOvI0bN.1 Meeting chat link: https://us04web.zoom.us/launch/jc/79227030613 Meeting ID: 792 2703 0613 Passcode: 6a1PmR
Elective Volunteers:
Our Elective Program offers a unique opportunity for our school community to provide various special interest learning options to our students. Electives can be considered as once weekly clubs or short-classes that run during a specific time in the school week. We love that students have a choice in what Elective they join, and that they get to try so many fun, exciting new things. Our staff provide a wide variety of options and themes from art to nature to sports to book writing to music, and so many more! What makes this program even more fabulous is bringing in our Community Members (like you!) to expand the options and let our students experience new ideas! We are currently seeking Volunteers (parents, guardians, grandparents, friends, etc.) who would be interested in volunteering to help with our elective program. We have several options for volunteers as assistants for an elective or to teach their own elective. We invite you for a volunteer opportunity! We are seeking volunteers for our Elective Program! Please complete this form if you are interested: https://forms.gle/tHT6CnvSZdKguBtF8
Illness Reminders: The germs are upon us! You can help prevent the spread of illness and help your child get better when ill by following a few simple steps:
We will continue taking advantage of the changing season through our classroom activities, discussions, and learning experiences. This week kindergarten will be celebrating APPLES!
Onward and upward and into FALL!
Jenn Blanchette
Director, GCCSA
Dear GCCSA Community!
It’s hard to believe that we are already beginning to feel the chill of fall! Time to bring along those sweatshirts and jackets for when it is cooler than expected. The mornings are getting colder, the leaves are beginning to change, and somehow we are already a few weeks into another school year.
Last week, we held our first Community Meeting of the year, and it was wonderful to have our whole school together. These moments are such an important part of who we are at Gate City. We are more than individual classrooms; we are a community. There is something special about bringing everyone together to learn, laugh, celebrate, and simply be together.
This Friday, we will take another big step in building that community with our first whole-school GLOW dance! I am so excited to see our students and families come together outside of the regular school day and just have fun. I hope it will be an evening filled with music, laughter, dancing, and lots of memories.
🎵Music and Instrument Lessons begin TOMORROW, September 21st Students in grades 4–8 can participate in instrumental lessons during the school day, with a concert band available for experienced musicians. After-school piano and guitar lessons are also available this year. Lessons begin the week of September 21. Questions about musical offerings? Email masonj@gccs-nh.org.
📸Picture Day Thursday, September 24th with a rain date of Oct 1st.
All students will have their picture taken for school records and the yearbook (unless prohibited). We’re excited to be working with Heather Bates Photography this year! You can check out her beautiful work here.
Photo prints and packages will be available for purchase after Picture Day, with a link sent to families once photos are ready. A retake date will be set after picture day is complete, we will send that info as it is set.
🪩 Glow Dance: Friday, September 25th, 5:30-7:30pm
🆓 FREE ENTRY FAMILY DANCE! Get ready to GLOW! Bring the ENTIRE family! Concessions for sale: Pizza -Snacks- Drinks!
🙏 We need your help! Please sign up to volunteer or donate to make this event a success! Offer help here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C054AA5A62BAAF8C25-65843919-glow#/
💻 I-Ready will begin September 28th and will extend throughout October. i-Ready is an online diagnostic program in math and English that will help your student’s teacher(s) determine your student’s needs, personalize their learning, and monitor progress throughout the school year. At Gate City our students participate in i-Ready three times during the year. Next week will mark the start of the first round of the diagnostic. Class diagnostic schedules will vary depending on grade level, academic schedules, and technology distribution. You can learn more about i-Ready by visiting here: https://i-readycentral.com/familycenter/what-is-i-ready/
Families, please help your students show us what they know by ensuring that they
🎭Drama Audition Workshops September 24th and 29th, 3-4:30pm:
Audition workshops for the spring production of The Little Mermaid Jr. 🧜♀️begin this week. Attendance at both workshops is required to prepare for auditions! Students in grades 5-8 are able to participate. Interested students should sign up on the sheet posted around the school. Auditions will be held after school on October 1st. Any questions? Email masonj@gccs-nh.org
✋Elective Volunteers Needed: Interested in helping with our student electives? Electives are starting soon and we are once again asking for volunteers to teach or assist electives. Electives give K-8 students choice in their education and are an integral part of GCCSA culture. Perhaps you have a skill, hobby, foreign language, or other kind of expertise that you can share with students. The more volunteers we have, the more robust our offerings. Bring your passion and knowledge, and we will organize the rest. We need helpers and teachers on Thursday afternoons. Please email the Dean of Students, Jen Linatsas, at linatsasj@gccs-nh.org.
💰 ALMA Fees:Thank you for patience in navigating this new system. Lunch and Extended Care invoices coming your way this week! Questions or issues? Please email Mr. Brendon at jalbertb@gccs-nh.org.
📋 Forms: Please return ALL beginning-of-the-year form to the school no later than Wednesday, September 23rd.
And I have to say, our students are being AMAZING. I continue to be impressed by the kindness, creativity, enthusiasm, and willingness to help that I see happening throughout the school. There is always room to grow, of course, but I am seeing so many little moments that remind me why this community is so special.
As we settle into our routines, my hope is that we continue to create a school where students feel known, valued, challenged, and loved, and where they know they have a place here.
We have a lot of exciting things ahead this year. We are just getting started, and I can’t wait to see what we create together.
Here’s to a wonderful fall at Gate City!
Onward and upward,
Jenn Blanchette
Director, GCCSA
Happy Sunday, Gate City Families!
As we head into another week together, our classrooms are settling into their rhythms, our community is growing stronger, and the creativity that makes Gate City Gate City is beginning to show up everywhere. One especially exciting example is the launch of our very first Artist of the Month for the 2026–27 school year!
We are beginning with Artemisia Gentileschi, an extraordinary Baroque painter who broke barriers to become one of the most successful artists of the 17th century. Artemisia was known for powerful storytelling, dramatic light and shadow, and for painting herself in different roles, from a musician and queen to the personification of Art itself.
Over the next six weeks, every student from kindergarten through eighth grade will draw inspiration from Artemisia as they explore identity through self-portraiture. Using oil pastels on black paper, students will portray themselves as a symbol of who they are or who they hope to become, perhaps an athlete, performer, artist, leader, loyal friend, or something completely their own.
This is one of my favorite examples of the magic of arts integration. Our students aren’t simply learning about an artist or practicing an artistic technique. They are connecting history, art, storytelling, symbolism, and self-reflection—and using all of it to say, “This is who I am. This is who I might become.”
What a wonderful message to carry with us as we continue building the foundation for the year ahead one creative, courageous, colorful piece at a time.
📣 Announcements/Events
📚Curriculum Night :
Parents and guardians, join us THIS Wednesday, September 16th from 6-7pm to explore classrooms, learn more about curriculum, and discover ways to help your student succeed. Sessions in classrooms will run for 30 minutes. 6-6:30pm and 6:30pm-7pm. This is a night for parents and guardians only. Information about instrumental rentals, music lessons, band, drama, and other activities will also be available.
🎵 Instrumental Music is Back!
Students in grades 4–8 can participate in instrumental lessons during the school day, with a concert band available for experienced musicians. An Instrument Information Session will be held Tuesday, September 15 during lunch for students to explore instrument choices, rentals, and lesson expectations.
📷 School Photo Day
September 24th will be PHOTO DAY! More information on the way this week!
🚨Safety Drills
In the upcoming weeks we will be taking part in fire and other safety drills. While we review procedural steps for these drills, we treat them as commonplace and do all that we can to prevent heightening students or discussing unlikely eventualities or events of a fearful or violent nature with students. Of course, we are available to students at any time if they are bothered or worried about their safety. However, we do not discuss it in a whole-class forum, as many students find it confusing and/or alarming.
🤔 Reminders
📵 Cell Phones/Devices:
In accordance with State law, we have a no phone/personal device policy at Gate City. Personal devices include but are not limited to phones, gaming devices, laptops, iPads/tablets, Airpods/wireless headphones, and Smart Watches.
🚫 Energy Drinks:
To support student health, wellness, and learning, Gate City Charter School for the Arts prohibits student possession, consumption, or distribution of highly-caffeinated energy drinks on school grounds, on field trips, or at any school-sponsored event. This includes, but is not limited to, brands such as Alani Nu, Bang, Prime Energy, Celsius, Redline, Reign, Rockstar, 5-Hour Energy, Monster, and Red Bull.
🍎🥤Snacks/Waters: All students should bring at least one hearty snack or more and a water bottle to school. Learning, growing, and creating is hard work!
👕 Extra Clothing: We have found that it is always a good idea to send in an entire extra change of clothes no matter the age of your student. They can be kept in lockers, cubbies, or classrooms and should be labeled for younger students. We make a big, glorious mess often at GCCSA!
💲ALMA Fees: Gate City Charter School for the Arts will now be using Alma Fees, a feature within our Alma Student Information System (SIS), to help families easily view and manage school-related fees and payments in one convenient place. Please see yesterday’s email for further details. Questions? Email info@gccs-nh.org
🆕 New Families: Make sure the Front Office has a copy of your student’s:
💯 All Families:
♥️ GCCSA Extended Day Before & After Care Program
We are also excited to share that registration is still open for our new GCCSA Extended Day Before & After Care Program for the 2026–2027 school year.
NOTE: There is still a Wednesday ONLY “drop-in” option.
We are thrilled to expand opportunities for our students and families through a safe, affordable, creative, and mission-driven program led by the Gate City team. We cannot wait to see this new extension of our community begin to grow! Questions? Email Danielle Johnson, Program Director, at johnsond@gccs-nh.org
Register HERE: GCCSA Extended Day 2026–2027 Registration Form
Thank you for all of the questions, donations, and kind hellos. Hope to see you Wednesday! Gathering together always makes us stronger!
Onward and upward,
Jenn Blanchette
Director, GCCSA
Happy Tuesday Gate City Families!
I hope everyone has enjoyed this little long-weekend pause after the whirlwind and excitement of our first few days of school! Those opening days gave us a chance to reconnect, welcome new faces, begin learning new routines, and start laying the foundation for the year ahead.
Today we are back at it, and, in many ways, this is where we really begin to find our groove! The backpacks are a little less new, the hallways are a little more familiar, and we’ve gotten those all-important first-day jitters out of the way. Now we get to keep building.
Our theme this year is Brick by Brick: Laying the Foundation for Success, Creating the Future We Envision, and these early weeks are where so many of those first bricks are placed: relationships, routines, expectations, belonging, curiosity, and joy. We are off to a wonderful start, and we can’t wait to see what we build together.
Announcements & Reminders & FYI
Start-of-Year Paperwork Packet: Please return your back-to-school paperwork ASAP (includes medication, walking, contact, F&R lunch and more)! Lost it in the back-to-school craziness? Stop by the Front Office or send word to your student’s teacher. We will make sure that you get one.
Alert: We ask that each family return a F & R lunch form regardless of need. The number of forms returned influences our funding directly.
Lunches: Catered lunch starts today. If you ordered lunches but haven’t been able to pay, no worries! You will be invoiced later this week when we have ALMA Fees moving and grooving. Students that did not order lunches will need lunches from home. Students in homes that qualify for free and reduced lunch and have contacted us and completed the F&R lunch form or provided means of other approved documentation, will be offered lunch. All other families desiring access to the program, please complete the F&R Lunch form and return it. Questions? Please reach out directly.
ALMA: Loading….Please be patient…We are reconfiguring ALMA to improve the accuracy, capability, and convenience of the student information system. This task is monumental but worthwhile. Look for more information this week including information about using ALMA Fees.
ALMA Fees: a new way to pay for STEAM Fees, lunches, extended care and so much more using our online platform. No more desperately looking for that checkbook you only use once a month for Gate City. Pay using your fee account!
GCCSA Extended Day & Wednesday Care: What was once “aftercare” on Wednesdays is now part of the GCCSA Extended Day Program. Not interested in signing up for more than Wednesdays or just want drop-in care? No worries. Complete the registration form at the link provided and pay the one-time registration fee and you are “all good”. Once registered, depending on their program selections, students are able to attend every Wednesday or on a drop-in basis. BONUS: registered students will have first access to no-school-care and school vacation programs.
NOTE: For drop-in attendance at extended day, students must be registered and notify the Extended Care Director, Danielle Johnson, at Johnsond@gccs-nh.org by Wednesdays at 8:30am.
More great news! We are still registering students for extended care! Reach out to our Program Director for more info.
Register HERE:Extended Day Registration
On-Time Arrivals/ Early Dismissal: A brief reminder that children are everywhere in our parking lot during drop-off and pick-up.
Medications: Don’t forget doctor prescription notes and medication forms are required to take medications at school. Doctors will often provide notes through the office portal for prescriptions. NOTE: A medication form/guardian consent is needed for over-the-counter medications like Tylenol as well as prescriptions.
Picture Day: You haven’t missed it! Photo Day will take place September 24th. Details are on the way shortly.
Upcoming Dates
So find the backpacks, locate the water bottles, and get ready: we’ll see you in a few hours!!
Thank you for the patience, flexibility, enthusiasm, and trust you have already shown as we begin this new year together. Starting a school year takes all of us, and we are so grateful to have families who are willing to build alongside us.
Today we add another brick, and then another, and another. Before we know it, those little moments will have become something pretty extraordinary.
Brick by brick. Day by day. Together.
Onward & Upward, 
Jenn Blanchette
Director, GCCSA
Main Office Hours
Mon - Fri 8:15 am - 3:30 pm
7 Henry Clay Drive, Merrimack, NH 03054

Spirit Week Oct 26-30!!
Check your Class Dojo for details
Before & Aftercare Registration Now Open!
GCCSA Extended Day 2026–2027 Registration Form
Fall Festival Volunteer Signups!
Fall Festival Donations Needed!