A
S
950 North Park
Drive
Brampton, Ontario
L6S 3L5
Phone: (905) 7922282
Fax: (905) 7929129
Ms. V. Elizondo
Principal
Ms. A. Cassar
Vice-Principal
Mrs. A. Battaglia
Head Secretary
Ms. D. FineganDowney
Superintendent
(905) 890-1221
Mr. S. Xaviour
Trustee
(905) 890-1221
St. Anthony of
Padua Parish
940 North Park
Drive
Brampton, Ontario
(905) 793-8030
Father Joseph
Pham
Pastor
Father
APRIL 2016
April Virtue: Love
This month we will celebrate the virtue of Love.
God has given us many guidelines
and examples of how
to live our lives. He sent his Son Jesus to make sure that we could see
what life
Jesus made one lesson clear above all
other lessons – the lesson of love.
Love is not about us – it is about forgetting ourselves and looking for the
good of the other. That’s what Jesus
did – he forgot about himself on purpose. He chose to give up his life for
the good of others – us!
Becoming a truly loving person is
challenging. It takes prayer and concentration to get used to making little
sacrifices for the good of others. Making little sacrifices on purpose so that
others will have a bit of food, a bit of
shelter, a bit of peace, a bit of quiet, a
bit of fun, a bit of friendship.
Opening Doors of Mercy
Catholic Education Week
May 1-6, 2016
Catholic schools are Catholic communities. Catholic
schools are faith communities. We – parents, students, teachers, administrative and support staff –
walk and grow together in the faith which we received
at our Baptism. And it is the ‘together’ that we grow.
And as we learn from nature, growth relies on sun and
water and nutrition. Otherwise, it may fade away and
even die. Our growth is primarily a relationship with
God, who at our Baptism, called us by name. But the
response of each of us to that growth is both personal
and communal. We grow in our faith in the nurturing
atmosphere of our Catholic community be that of our
local parish, our home, or our Catholic school community.
There are five sub-themes for each day of Catholic
Education Week:
Monday – Mercy that Welcomes
Tuesday – Mercy that Loves
Through prayer and concentration, we
can get better at showing love to everyone we meet.
Wednesday – Mercy that Forgives
Thursday – Mercy that Lives the Gospel
Friday – Mercy that Rejoices
A Loving Person . . .
Wants the best for others
Is willing to make sacrifices for
the good of others
Learns from the heroic lives of
saints & holy people
Knows that we are all lovable
During Catholic Education Week there will be a number of activities taking place at the school. A brochure
outlining these activities will be sent home later this
month. We invite you to join us for these activities as
your schedule permits.
Page 2
Creating Classes for Next Year
The process for the formation of classes for September
2016 will soon begin.
Creating the best and most functional class groupings is a
task that requires much thought, consideration and planning. Our goal is to establish balanced classrooms. These
classes consist of students who will work together and
therefore enrich each other’s learning experiences.
We will consider the following:
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Learning styles/work habits
Gender balance (female/male)
Balanced academic abilities
Social, emotional and physical needs
Student experience in combined class
Behavioural needs
Special Education or English Language Learner needs
ECO UPDATE
Great Gulp Assembly
St. Anthony School will be hosting a Great Gulp Assembly on Friday April 15th. This is a combined initiative with Peel Region to promote awareness of Peel
drinking water. This is a great learning experience
for students as they will learn about the advantages
of drinking tap water and the disadvantages of
drinking bottled water related to environmental
problems. Children are encouraged to bring a drinking bottle on the day of the assembly as the whole
school will take a simultaneous …. BIG GULP !!!
If you are interested in purchasing a St. Anthony
reusable stainless steel water bottle we still have
bottles available. Bottles are $8.00 each.
If you, as a parent, wish to provide input into the process,
please take into consideration the following guidelines:
SAVE THE DATE
1.
2.
3.
Input must be made in writing to the Principal no later
than May 13, 2016.
Frame requests in terms of educational contexts. E.g.
your child’s learning needs/strengths/style; information not already known to the school; best learning
environment etc.
Please do not make requests for specific teachers as
staffing is always tentative and changes can take place
between now and September.
Few, if any schools in Ontario today are without combined grades. Combined grade classes can be beneficial to
the students by allowing for appropriate class organization
and a balanced number of students in each class. Our
teachers and other professional staff carefully construct
these combined classes. Many factors are considered,
including peer group relationships, previous placements,
social, academic and behavioural factors.
Programs in schools today are highly specialized,
which substantially reduces the impact of combined grade
classes. Combined grades can do much to enhance independent work skills among our students. Parents/
guardians can assist their child in adjusting to a new
placement by giving support and reassurance.
Class placements are tentative until the September 2016
enrolment is finalized in the second week of school in September.
June 1, 2016 is our Toronto FC family game night.
We will be hosting a BBQ at the school prior to
the game. Please come out and join us! Details
about game tickets will be coming home soon.
PA Day
On Monday, April 11, 2016 there will be no school
for students. Staff will be participating in professional learning directed by the Ministry of Education.
Special Occasions
Parent(s)/Guardian(s) are asked not to send
in food items for children to share for special
occasions. If families would like to mark a
special occasion perhaps consider donating a
book to your child(ren)’s class that all students can enjoy. Any food items sent to
school will be returned home. Thank you for
your cooperation.
Page 3
Fundraising Movie Day
In partnership with the Parent Council at St.
Anthony School, a Movie Day, will take place
for all students on Thursday April 14th. Classes
will have the opportunity to watch licensed approved movies with same grade classes at a
designated time during the day.
We are kindly requesting students make a
small $2.00 donation to watch a movie while
eating a small bag of popcorn. The funds collected will be used to support our Breakfast
Club which is accessible to all children. All St.
Anthony students are able to obtain healthy
snacks before school prior to going to class. In
the event that a child is missing a snack we do
offer a healthy snack such as an apple.
On behalf of the school and Parent Council
thank you in advance for your continued support of the Breakfast Club.
Sports Corner/Team Updates
Our Intermediate boys and girls basketball teams are
hard at work preparing for their upcoming tournaments.
St. Anthony Dance Team will be competing at the Dance
Showcase on April 19th at the Rose Theatre.
Congratulations to our Chess Team on their participation
in the BNE Chess Tournament.
Pediculosis (Head Lice)
Please check your children frequently and if you find them
infested, we would ask that you let us know so we can
advise you on the proper treatment. If a child does become infested, we will ask you to keep your child out of
school until he/she has been treated with the correct medicated shampoo and his/her hair is entirely clear of both
lice and nits (eggs). When the child returns to school, the
child needs to come to the office to be checked before
going to class.
If we all cooperate in these procedures we can address
these occurrences in a sensitive manner. We may not
entirely escape outbreaks, but we will be able to bring
them under control.
Active Families, Active Kids
Benefits of staying active:
- Active parents have more energy for parenting
and cope better with daily stress.
-Active kids learn and behave better in school.
-Activity helps everyone in the family get a better
night's sleep.
-Being active helps develop strong bones and muscles and lessens your chances of developing many
chronic illnesses.
Ways to keep your kids active:
-Connect being active with feeling good and getting
fit.
- Don't connect activity to weight change or weight
management. Activity is important for kids of all
shapes and sizes for fun and overall health, not
because they need "improvement."
-Plan active family outings such as go skating, hike
or cycle together, walk the dog, throw a frisbee,
build a snowman, walk around the zoo or museum.
-Get everyone involved in active chores. Play some
music and do the housework together, rake the
lawn, wash the car, do some gardening, shovel the
snow, carry the groceries.
-Provide opportunities for kids to learn skills. Let
your kids participate in activities that involve running, skipping, jumping, kicking, throwing and
catching. Practice with them.
-Balance unstructured playtime with organized
sports. Organized sports are a great way to keep
kids active, but informal and unstructured playtime is important too! Teach your kids games you
enjoyed as a child like tag, skipping, or hop scotch.
How much physical activity do kids need?
Canada’s physical activity guide for children and
youth recommend that kids aged 6 to 14 accumulate at least 90 minutes of physical activity per day
AND cut sedentary activities (such as video games
and watching television) by 90 minutes per day.
The 90 minutes of physical activity should include:
-60 minutes of moderate activity (e.g., brisk
walking or biking)
-30 minutes of vigorous activity (e.g. running, skipping rope, playing basketball)
This 90 minute total can be accumulated throughout the day, in minimum five minute intervals,
rather than all at once. (From peelregion.ca/
health)
Our Catholic School Heritage continued . . .
15. Catholic separate schools had a second obstacle to
their survival. How serious a problem for separate
school boards was the corporation tax issue?
This was very serious. As corporations like the Ford
Motor Co., Inco, the Royal Bank of Canada and thousands of others came on the scene, and as public utilities like the Ontario Hydro and the Canadian National
Railway were created, they could not pay separate
school property taxes. Thus the assessment of urban
public school boards became wealthier and wealthier,
while separate school boards received taxes from only
Catholic home and property owners and from fully or
partially owned small businesses. By the 1920s urban
separate school boards were operating with about
one-quarter to one-fifth of the revenues of their urban
public schools boards. There were no compensatory
government grants.
16. How did separate school boards survive without
corporation tax revenues?
The separate school trustees controlled the boards’
budgets with more pupils per classroom than in the
public schools, with much lower wages, with barebones programs, with small playgrounds, and with minimum expenditures for the erection of new schools.
These methods still could not balance their budgets.
The main contribution for the survival of separate
schools came from the religious teaching Orders. They
supplied principals and teachers and worked for salaries of $300 to $600 a year when public school teachers
were earning $3,000 and up. There is no question that
Ontario’s Catholics owe today’s separate schools to the
religious Orders.
17. How was the corporation tax issue finally solved?
In 1962, the Ontario Separate School Trustees’ Association presented Premier John Robarts a brief which outlined the probable bankruptcy of some urban separate
school boards and the inferior salaries, teacher qualifications, school accommodation, and programs compared with those of the public schools. The government began providing to the separate school boards
grants which compensated for their lack of corporate
assessment. Separate school boards were able to erect
new schools and additions with gymnasiums, libraries,
kindergarten rooms, and special education facilities.
World Down Syndrome Day
On Monday, March 21st St. Anthony School celebrated
World Down Syndrome Day with a number of activities.
Students had an opportunity to take the Motionball yellowcard pledge to stop using the “R” word, learn about
being kind and respectful to everyone and play some fun
games. We would like to thank Mrs. Iusso and Ms. Valentic for organizing this event for our school. It was a fantastic day for our school community!
April is Autism Awareness Month
On April 4th, 2016 our St. Anthony School community
worked to “Light it up Blue” and bring awareness to what
it means to have Autism. Staff from Kerry’s Place led a
presentation for students providing them with information on autism and what it is like for those who have
it. Thanks to Mrs. Persad, Mrs. Duggan, and Mrs. Porter
for organizing this event for our school community.
Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations
(OCSGE elementary version)
I HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES!
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I am a peacemaker
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I am fair
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I am forgiving
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I follow rules and do my share
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I help the poor and care for people in need
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I stand up for what is right
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I know that all life is precious
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I respect and protect the world and all that is in it
Our annual Jump Rope
for Heart event will be
taking place in May.
Students will be bringing home information in
the next week.
8 Sub Day
1 Pizza Day
Fri
16
9 First Communion
3:00 pm
2
Sat
April 2016
7
15 Pizza Day
Thu
6
14 Movie Day
Wed
5
13
Tue
4
12 Family Raptor
Night
Mon
3
11 PA Day
19 Dance Competition 20 Aquarium Trip GR.
1 and 2
Sun
10
18
21
29 Pizza Day
22 Sub Day
30
23
Dairy Presentation Gr.
6-8
28
Big Gulp
17
25 Teen Ranch Gr. 6
27
24
26 Basketball Tournament Int. Boys and
Girls