ST. BENEDICT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
345 Blind Line, Orangeville, ON L9W 4X1
(P) 519-942-5980
(F) 519-942-3849
The Season of Easter Prayer
Lord of life,
We pray for all who bring your word of life
As a light to those in darkness
Principal
For those who bring your word of peace
L. Quick
To those enslaved by fear
For those who bring your word of love
To those in need of comfort
Lord of love and Lord of peace
Lord of resurrection life
Be known
Through our lives
And through your power
Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia!
PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
March certainly “left like a lion rather than a lamb”! The recent ice storm created a
great deal of damage in our community – I hope that you and your family were able
to stay safe during the storm. One of the trees in the picnic area suffered some
damage, however, members from the maintanance crew at the board were able to
respond quickly and clean up the debris. We were very grateful for the timely
response.
Many faith-based activities were happening throughout the school during Lent.
Classes held Lenten retreats and the school hosted a food drive. Our Intermediate
students presented a beautiful rendition of the “Stations of the Cross” to our school
community. As a Catholic school community, we are incredibly blessed that we are
able to celebrate our faith through education.
We will celebrate Catholic Education Week 2016 as a school community from May
1st – 6th. The theme this year is “Opening Doors of Mercy” as our Holy Father, Pope
Francis, has declared this a Jubilee Year of Mercy. During this week will have
school celebrations and hope to see many of you then.
On behalf of the staff, I wish you and your families a blessed and faith-filled Easter.
Sincerely,
L. Quick
Principal
SERVING OUR
COMMUNITY
Secretary
A. Wasyliw
Superintendent BECDM
L. Storey
905-890-1221
Trustee
F. Di Cosola
905-951-8898
Parish
St. Timothy Catholic Church
Pastor
Fr. S Lee Lung
519-941-2424
Catholic School Advisory
Council
Chair: L. Bolzon
lbolzon68@gmail.com
Easter Mass
On April 5th, 2016 at 9:45 a.m., St. Benedict will
celebrate our Easter Mass with Fr. Sean Leung. Thank
you to our wonderful choir and guitar club, as well as
our Youth Faith Ambassadors and
those staff members who helped to
prepare for the mass. Thank you
also to those parents who were
able to join our celebration.
Reminder of Student Dress Code
As the warm weather approaches (hopefully!) we
would like to take this opportunity to review the
expected dress code at St. Benedict. As a Catholic
school, there is an expection that there is a high
standard of modesty, neatness, cleanliness and good
taste. Therefore, while certain clothing items might be
acceptable for weekend and beach wear (i.e. halter
tops, short shorts, muscle shirts, etc.) they are not
acceptable in a learning environment. Shirts should be
of appropriate length to be tucked into pants or a skirt.
Shorts or skirts should be an appropriate length for
school. Suggestive or inappropriate language or
violent symbols are not permitted on any clothing or
personal belongings. Sunglasses and hats are not to be
worn inside. Non-marking running shoes are to be
worn during physical education classes. Tight and/or
revealing clothing is not acceptable.
Should
inappropriate clothing be worn to school, parents will
be notified. We thank you in advance for your
cooperation and support.
Lights Off for Earth Hour!
On March 30th, St. Benedict celebrated Earth Hour with
other schools in Dufferin-Peel. It was a great success
as classrooms turned off their lights and there was a
school-wide effort to reduce electricity use.
We continue to try to
reduce our overall carbon
footprint at St. Benedict
and encourage the families
in our school community to
do the same.
Energy
conservation helps our environment and can help
families save money as well! By reducing our use of
water and electricity we are helping to conserve
natural resources and reduce the amount of pollution
Calendar of Events
April
1
5
Girls Government with Sylvia Jones
FDK Fire Safety Presentation
6
Chess Team Tournament @ Good
Shepherd
7
Gr 1-2 Fire Safety Presentation
11
PA Day – No School for Students
12
Gr. 3 Trip to the Farm
13
International Day of Pink
14
Chess Tournament @ St. Benedict
20
Intermediate Basketball
Tournament @ St. Benedict
21
NED Show @ St. Benedict
22
Spirit Day
26
Dufferin Youth Festival of the Arts
created by energy plants. We have included a few tips
for how to conserve energy at home and at school:
Dance Team
For the first time, St. Benedict has a dance team
participating in the Mississauga Central, Brampton,
Malton, Caledon & Orangeville 2016 Dance Event.
Congratulations to Annamae T., Ella P., Marianna V.,
Olivia S., Chase R., J.P. M., Isaiah A.,
Daniella C., Hailey T., Julia R., Caprice
C., Ava C., Maleya C., and Isabella M.
The students have been working very
hard and practicing a great deal in
order to get ready for this event. A
special thank you to the parent
volunteers, Mrs. MacMullen and Mrs. Ferreira, as well
as the coaches, Ms. Lobo and Ms. LaVieille.
Are You Moving?
Please inform the office if you know that you will be
moving and your children will not be returning to St.
Benedict for September 2016.
Fire Drill and Lockdown Procedures
Throughout the year, students and staff review safety
procedures with students on a number of topics.
Emergency evacuation drills are conducted to ensure
that everyone is aware of the procedures to follow in
order to exit the building safely. In the event of an
unforeseen emergency situation, students and staff
will evacuate to Credit Meadows Public School. Our
second evacuation site is St. Andrew Catholic
Elementary School. Students will continue to discuss
and practice procedures that are implemented in the
event of an emergency lockdown.
Welcome to Kindergarten
On Tuesday May 3rd at 6 p.m. St. Benedict School will
be welcoming new Kindergarten students and their
families to our community by hosting an evening of Full
Day Kindergarten learning experiences. Families will
be able to participate with their children in engaging
activities that promote literacy and numeracy. All of
the activities are developmentally appropriate for preschool youngsters and will help families prepare their
children for school.
This event is sponsored by provincial and municipal
government agencies in cooperation with school staff
and neighbourhood services. Each family will receive a
free bag of educational activities to continue practicing
the skills learned at this event. Please call the school
office with your RSVP for this great event! This is for
NEW Kindergarten registrants only.
News from our School Council
Our Catholic School Council held its annual St. Benedict
Skate Night on Friday April 1st, 2016 at Teen Ranch. The
event was a huge success and we had many families
come out to enjoy skating, hot chocolate and cookies.
We were fortunate to have Elaine Yao, the registered
dietician from Zehrs, at our event to promote healthy
eating and how food can be good for you, and taste
great! It was so lovely to spend time with all the
families who were able to join us. A special thank you
on behalf of St. Benedict to our Catholic School Council
and the many volunteers who helped to make the
night a success. We are looking forward to next years
event!
ShareLife Activities
Each year our school community initiates activities to
support our Catholic charities through ShareLife. At
this point in the year, we have had a Hopeful
Snowflakes and Poinsettia draw and our “Beautiful
Hands” project to name a few ways we have tried to
raise funds as a school community to donate to the
ShareLife collection at St. Timothy. Thank you very
much to all who have been able to support this very
worthy cause.
New PA Day!
A reminder that Monday April 11th is a newly
designated PD Day. There is no school
for students on this day.
Fostering Your Child’s Self Esteem
On Wednesday March 30th, our Catholic
School Council hosted a workshop on children’s selfesteem. This workshop was made possible through a
PRO Grant. Parents learned valuable information from
Cheryl Schneider and Susan Ward who work at
Dufferin Child and Family Services. One particularly
interesting fact is that children are not born with selfesteem – we, as parents, have to help them develop a
health self-esteem.
Some suggestions for parents included:
 Share feelings with your children
 Make sure to praise effort
 Be realistic in your expectations
 Emphasize learning
 Mistakes are important for learning
 Include children in the problem solving and
solution creating process
Virtue of the Month: Love
During the month of April, we will celebrate the virtue of Love. It is challenging to become a truly loving person
like Jesus. We need to be sure we take the time to pray to get used to making sacrifices for the good of others.
Jesus made one lesson clear above all others: Love thy neighbor as thy self. Love is not about us, or being selfish
– love is about putting others first and looking for the good in each other.
A Loving Person:
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Wants the best for others
Is willing to make sacrifices for the good of others
Learns from the heroic lives of saints and holy people
Knows that we are all lovable
Prays for others
Raven of the Month – March 2016
The Virtue of Kindness
Bella C.
Mrs. Gareau/Mrs. Atzori
Ovalet Y.
Mr. Merry
Emily N.
Mrs. Marini/Mrs. McNairn
Julian C.
Mr. Serafini
Blake M.
Mrs. Stevens
Channell W.C.
Ms. LaVieille
Matthew N.
Mrs. Gallant
Roy V.
Mrs. Longstreet
Ainsleigh L.
Mrs. Evans
Aaron B.
Ms. Carson
Serenity M.
Mrs. Strain
Lauren C.
Mr. King
Ian L.
Mrs. Martin
Savannah M.
Mrs. Harasiewicz
Shayan E.
Mrs. Merrick
Brady D.
Ms. Weir
Jasmine C.
Mrs. Sousa
Maja M.
Mrs. Desbottes