October 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
ST. JOHN BOSCO
SCHOOL
1025 North Park Drive
Brampton, Ontario
Phone ((905) 792-0890
Newsletter #2
1
Pizza
Day
2
3
Rosary Apostolate
Mass at 1:15
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11
5
6
13
12
7
18
25
20
26
27
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Loving God, We Thank You
10
Saidat
Presentation
Loving God, we thank You:
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for plenty from Your bounteous
hand,
Thanksgiving
19
Polling
Station
8
PRAYER FOR THE
SEASON
OF THANKSGIVING!
21
for peace within our land,
15
Pizza
day
22
16
17
for means to give to those in
need,
23
24
for grace to help in thought and
deed,
Photo Day
for faith to walk, our hands in
Yours,
Smile!
for truth to know Your law divine,
28
Council
Meeting at
6:30PM
29
30
31
Pizza
Day
for strength to work with voice and
pen,
for love to serve our fellow humans,
for light the goal ahead to see,
for life to use alone for You,
loving God, we thank You.
Upcoming Events
October 2
Opening School Mass (1:15)
October 12
Thanksgiving—No School
October 21
Picture Day
October 26
School Council meeting—6:30PM
November 20
Photo re-takes
November 17
Progress Reports Sent Home
November 19
Interview Evening (if needed)
The Virtue for October is
EMPATHY
During this season of harvest, let
us pray for those in need of food,
for those who see that
others are fed, and for those who
are made holy in the sharing of
food.
VIRTUE OF THE MONTH
Virtue of Empathy
During the month of October we will
focus on the virtue of empathy. God
has given us the ability to form connections with each other—to live together. Empathy helps us to connect
and live together in a safe, caring and
inclusive community.
An empathetic person believes that
we all share one Spirit; that we are
many parts of one body because we
are all created in the image and likeness of God.
An empathetic person …
Listens attentively
Watches people’s body language
Notices and responds when someone is upset
Can name her / his feelings
Can see a situation from another
person’s point of view
Knows that different people may
feel differently about the same thing.
FAX (905) 792-1299
October 2015
Principal
C. Young
Secretary
M. Galloro
~
Superintendent
D. Oude-Reimerink
(905) 890-1221
Trustee
S. Xaviour
Parish Priest
Fr. Robert Mignella
(905) 792-7497
Visit our School Website:
www.dpcdsb.org/BOSCO
www.connect2ENDviolence.ca
Page 2
Newsletter #2
Newsletter #2
First Month Back at School
As we begin the second month of our
2015-2016 school year, we take this
opportunity to thank all of the staff, students and parents for their genuine efforts towards the positive start of this
school year. Thank you to the parents
and students who were able to join us
at our recent Open House. It was a
great opportunity to get together, meet
and chat with members of our school
community. We look forward to seeing
parents/guardians at various school
functions throughout the school year.
We look forward to a wonderful year together and we ask God for his help and
guidance throughout the coming year.
Terry Fox Event
Our Terry Fox Run was held with great
success on Friday, September 26th at
St. John Bosco in
support of cancer research. We raised
over $880.00 as a
school community.
We would like to thank all students,
parents and staff for their participation
and support of the Terry Fox Run and
we pray for those people within our own
school community who are currently
battling with cancer. We pray that God
will give them the strength to overcome
this disease and return them to good
health.
There will be NO SCHOOL on Monday,
October 12 as we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Wishing you and your families a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Thank you for supporting our
Thanksgiving Food Drive
Under Code 891 of the Code of Canon
Law, Confirmation is to be administrated at the age of discretion unless the
Bishops’ Conference has decided on a
different age. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops have decreed that, in our rite, the
Sacrament of Confirmation shall be
conferred at an age determined by the
diocese. The Archdiocese of Toronto
has notified us that the elementary
school grade for candidates for confirmation is to be moved from Grade 8 to
Grade 7, effective September 8 2015.
This means that, in the spring of
2016, Grade 7 and 8 students will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Students at St. John Bosco will receive their Confirmation at St. Marguerite d’Youville on Tuesday, May
10th at 7:00PM.
St. John Bosco School will be
collecting Non-Perishable food products
to be donated to the Knights Table
Canned Meat, Fish, Poultry, Vegetables,
Fruit, Toiletries, Juices, Breakfast Items,
Cereal and Baby Formula
Collection will end October
12th.
Thank you for your support!
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Newsletter #2
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Page 3
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M. Miller – FDK
J. Fantetti—DECES.
C. Costabile—FDK
J. Busch—FDK
M. Rizzuto-Caterina—CYW
S. Gates– Education Psychologist
S.Viola – Gr. 1
R. Tumanguil – Gr. 1/2
A. Lumini– Speech and Language
M. Fullan– School Social Worker
O. Malatesta – Gr. 2
N. Fernandez - Gr. 3
M. Galloro- Head Secretary
R. Mohammed– Custodian
L. Abraham - Gr. 4
J.Vilela – Gr. 5
C.Young– Principal
C. Scorcia - Gr. 6
A. Hamill —Gr. 5/6 Gifted
R. Farnum—Gr. 7
I. Garde – Gr. 7/8
D. Straw— Gr. 8
D. Modugno—Gr.7/8 Gifted
G. Ashie— Library/ELL/Planning
C. Brewer – Resource
M. Daniele. – French
S. Quirk– French/Resource
C. Rodrigues—Planning Time
J. Anga-Angan—Planning Time
L. Tremblay– Education Resource Worker
I. Sassano– Education Resource Worker
Newsletter #2
Valuables at School
Visitors to School
Students are requested not to bring
valuables or items of importance to
school. This includes electronic devices, CDs, expensive sports equipment, trading cards, etc. The school
cannot assume responsibility for lost
or damaged valuables which has
been brought to school.
All visitors and volunteers to the school
are required to check in at the office. If
you are picking up your child during
regular school hours, please report to
the main office and we will arrange for
your child to meet you there. Please do
not wait in your car. We ask that you
come into the school so that we can
verify that your child has arrived safely
into your care.
School Yard Reminder
When dropping your child off at the
school yard, parents are asked to
stay behind the fenced/barrier area
and not enter the school yard. The
students are supervised by school
staff from 8:45 a.m. and through all
recesses and
lunch. Parents
are asked to
stay outside
the yard area
and allow staff
to supervise
the children and not spend time
seeking the identity of an adult on the
yard. If you must enter the
schoolyard, please obtain a visitor’s
badge and permission from the office. It is also very important for parents/guardians to not approach
any other students to try and solve
conflicts. Please consult with a
staff member for assistance, if required.
On Tuesday, October 6th, we launched
our annual fall fundraiser. A QSP package was sent home with all students.
Profits from this fundraiser support performances which support our virtues
program, Bullying prevention initiatives
at the school as well as authors and
the arts. Please support this fundraiser
and promote reading among your family and friends. The fundraiser will run
until October 20th. All information will
be sent home with the package.
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Newsletter #2
Newsletter #2
EQAO
School Calls
.
In order to keep class and office disruptions to a minimum we respectfully ask that any special arrangements
for the day be made with your child
before arriving at school and then
written in your child’s agenda. We
understand that emergencies happen
or unexpected things come up, but
we ask for all other plans to be made
prior to coming to school. This will
greatly decrease the disruptions to
the classroom and school.
St. John Bosco is on
The Catholic School Council Resource
Handbook has been updated to bring it
in line with Ont. Reg. 612/00, Ont. Reg.
298 and with Board Policy 4.01, Catholic School Councils (February 24th,
2015). The updated document, Catholic School Council Procedures and
By-Laws, is now housed on the Dufferin-Peel website. Below is the path to
access the updated Catholic School
Council Procedures and By-Laws:
www.dpcdsc.org
↓
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District
School Board
Adult & Continuing Education
(905) 891-9263
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District
School Board offers a wide range
of programs for people of all ages.
Please browse our website to find
a program of interest to you!
www.dpcdsb.org/cec/cne
Page 9
Catholic Communities
↓
Central Committee for Catholic
School Councils
↓
CSC Procedures & Bylaws (top
toolbar)
The electronic binder has been set-up
using the same section numbers and
titles as the handbook. An interactive
index in each section will take a
searcher straight to the information being sought. Fillable forms have been
created to use for Catholic school
council elections and to complete the
Catholic School Council Annual Report
and the Catholic School Council Annual
Survey.
EQAO results will be coming
out in November. Student reports will be sent home with
grade 4 & 7 students who
wrote the tests last year. The
results will also be posted on
our website.
Please follow St. John Bosco
on Twitter
@SJBoscoBulldogs
Please also access our website for further School and
Board information.
www.dpcdsb.org
www. dpcdsb.org/BOSCO
REMINDER: CRIMINAL REFERENCE CHECKS FOR ALL
VOLUNTEERS ARE REQUIRED!
All volunteers MUST have a Criminal Reference Check (CRC ) and a
Vulnerable Sector Screening
Check on file in order to assist in
the supervision of trips and extracurricular activities in all DufferinPeel Catholic Schools. If you are
planning on volunteering in any
way at the school, it is recommended that you begin the process of obtaining a criminal reference check to submit to the
school. Please complete a Criminal Declaration Form if you already have a CRC on file at the
school. Please call the school
office for further information.
Thank you.
Newsletter #2
Progress Reports/Interview
Evening
The progress reports will be sent
home on Tuesday, November 17, 2015.
Interviews, only as requested by the
teacher or parent, will take place on
Thursday, November 19, 2015.
Picture Re-Takes – November
20th
November 20th is picture re-take day.
Please let the teacher know if your child
requires re-takes.
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Newsletter #2
Page 5
Attendance and Punctuality
School Focus and
Collaborative Inquires
It is important for your
child to be in regular attendance at school and
to arrive on time regularly. Late arrivals disrupt important teaching and have a direct impact on your
child’s learning and on the learning of all
class members. Please encourage and
assist your child in being punctual and
only absent from school when they are
ill or extenuating circumstances that are
unavoidable.
A reminder to please call
the school if your child is
going to be late or absent.
Our school continues to have two collaborative inquiries this year. We will
continue to be developing learning
skills and focus on numeracy.
OCTOBER 21, 2015
Picture Day will be held on
October 21st.
Bring your smiles!
Bullying Prevention
PED Policy
Board Policy around
Personal Electronic
Devices (PEDs) is going through a change
and information about the new policy will
be sent out in the near future. At this
time, we continue to be following the policy that all PEDs must be kept out of
sight, turned off and not used on school
premises or during school-sanctioned
activities.
At St. John Bosco School, we continue
to focus on creating and sustaining a
safe, caring and inclusive school through
planning and implementing various initiatives such as our virtues initiative and
WITS program. Also, reminders of appropriate behaviours and how to make good
choices are communicated regularly to
students. Parents can help by having
discussions with your children about
making good behaviour choices at
school and encouraging them to seek
help from school staff when necessary.
School staff will be wearing orange vests
while on duty allowing the students to
see them quickly and easily.
ALK AWAY
GNORE
ALK IT OUT
EEK HELP
Students will
be learning the
WITS strategies to deal
with situations
/ conflicts that
may arise. The
students will
learn these
strategies at
an assembly
on October 9th
and will be reviewed and reenforced
throughout the
year.
As part of our Learning Skill Inquiry,
we will be focusing on one Learning
Skill each month.
The learning skill for the month of October is:
RESPONSIBILITY
A responsible person:
 fulfills responsibilities and commitments within the learning environment
 Completes and submits class work,
homework, and assignments according to agreed-upon timelines
 Takes responsibility for and manages own behavior
Our two school’s collaborative inquiries for
2015-2016 are:
Numeracy: If we implement mathematical
instruction through the processes and make it
more relevant to students then students will
be more engaged which will lead to increased student achievement.
Learning Skills: If we explicitly teach the
learning skill as a learning goal, co-construct
success criteria with students and communicate with parents, then we will see and increase in student achievement and parent
engagement.
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Newsletter #2
The On-Line Reporting Tool
.
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District
School board has developed a new
way to help nurture a safe, caring
and inclusive school environment.
The Online Reporting Tool is intended for students in grades 3 – 8 who
become aware of bullying incidents
and negative behaviours. The student can simply ‘click’ on the link
found on our school’s website to fill
out the report. The report will then be
directly emailed to the principal to be
dealt with accordingly. It is important
to recognize that the Online Reporting Tool is an alternate reporting option. It is best practice to speak directly with a responsible adult at
home and/or in the school.
Medication
We have a number of students in the
school with health conditions requiring specialized medication or supervision. In order
for students to have access to medicine on
a daily basis or for us to store medication in
the school, your doctor MUST complete
the required form. All medication of this sort
is to be stored in the school office. We take
this precaution so that medication
does not fall into the wrong hands. If your
child has a medical condition, please notify
the school office. Please note: New forms
must be completed annually even if the
same medication is continuing from year to
year.
Page 6
Head Injuries
Hallowe’en in Catholic Schools
Even when it may appear to be insignificant, we try to inform parents of all reported head injuries at school, either by
a phone call or by telling you of the incident in your child’s journal. We do
this in recognition of the potential danger of any injury involving the head area. Our interest is not to alarm you, but
to keep you informed. Please remind
your child to let a staff member know if
they bump their head or if they get hurt
at school. You will also receive a pamphlet which outlines symptoms of concussion for your information.
Many of today’s Hallowe’en traditions
go back to the time of the Celtic people
who lived in northern
Europe more than 2000 years ago, the
Celtic people believed that the spirit
world became more active in the fall of
each year. Tradition has it that the
Celtic people used to put a candle in
their window and little gifts of food or
drink on their doorsteps to keep the
wandering spirits happy. The children
of today that go out in costumes would
be acting as these wandering asking
for a trick or treat.
Student Accident Insurance
As required by the Education Act and
the Ministry of Education, the DufferinPeel Catholic District School Board annually provides parents with information about cost effective student accident insurance coverage. Although
enrolment is voluntary, the Board encourages parents to take advantage of
the inexpensive insurance coverage,
especially if their child(ren) participate(s) in sports, excursions/field trips,
or, if parents do not have dental insurance coverage. Brochures for Reliable
Life Insurance have been sent home
on the first day of school. You may purchase coverage for your child at
www.insuremykids.com or by calling
toll free at 1-800-463-KIDS (5437).
During the early years of Christianity,
the church leaders found it best to add
their religious ideas onto earlier beliefs, rather than trying to stop old
practices. Instead of trying to stop the
Celtic Hallowe’en, they first proclaimed
in the year 837 that November 1st be
All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day be
observed on November 2nd. They borrowed the idea of respecting spirits at
this time of year.
Instead of outlawing the Hallowe’en
festivals, the Church selected All
Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day to
celebrate and respect people who
had passed away and for those who
were living Christian lives.
Newsletter #2
They chose to follow this path rather than remove the cultural expression of Hallowe’en, which had
become a cultural celebration. This
cultural celebration continues today in the form of Hallowe’en.
During the month of October, events
surrounding Hallowe’en will be all
around us and it is certainly a day children enjoy. There will be various Hallowe’en activities planned for the students and they are welcome to wear
their Hallowe’en costumes to school
on October 30th.
It is Board Policy that any
weapons or replicas of weapons are not allowed on school
property. Therefore, students
may not bring replicas such as;
toy knives, toy guns or toy
swords as part of their Hallowe’en costumes.
Students are encouraged to select
costumes that are in good taste, bearing in mind our Catholic setting. During this time, we also focus on two
major celebrations related to our faith;
All Souls Day and All Saints Day.
Both of these days have great significance in our faith life and in the liturgical cycle.
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Newsletter #2
Special Assignment Teacher
School Council
Again this year Dufferin-Peel will have a
Special Assignment Teacher visiting each
school in the system to assist with curriculum. Our SAT, Mrs. Tucci will be working in
partnership with classroom teachers to support our Numeracy plan. This teacher may
be working in your child’s classroom from
time to time throughout the year. Mrs. Tucci
has experience in the area of curriculum
and we are indeed looking forward to having her helping us with our student learning.
Our next School Council
Meeting will be held on:
October 26, 2015 at 6:30PM
Pediculosis
Although not a communicable disease, pediculosis (head lice) is a
concern to parents and teachers.
Each year it is common for breakouts
of pediculosis to occur. Unfortunately,
in recent years, head lice have become increasingly common throughout North America. They are parasites, which have been common
among human beings for centuries.
They are not connected in any way to
dirt or neglect. Anyone can become
infected with them. If a case of lice is
found at school, we inform all parents
within the class. However, we request that you also check your own
children regularly and, if you find
them to be infected, we ask that you
inform the school. Please review with
your child to not put on other people’s scarves or hats, even when
playing.
Thank you to all parents who attended
our first School Council meeting on
September 30, 2015. It was wonderful
to see all of you there.
Our next School Council meeting will
be held on October 26 at 6:30 p.m. at
St. John Bosco School. All parents/guardians are welcome to attend.
See you there!
Our Council Executive are as follows:
Chair: Patricia Djevdet
Treasurer: Graciela Ransom
Secretary: Tanya Francisco
Parish Rep: Ivy Garde/Liane Fernandes
OAPCE Rep: John Gueldis
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Newsletter #2
PUPIL ACCOMMODATION REVIEW
POLICY PUBLIC CONSULTATION
.
On October 5th, we celebrated United Nations World Teachers’ Day to acknowledge
the key role teachers play in guiding
children through the life-long learning process. This day provides us with an opportunity to recognize and thank teachers
for their dedication and commitment to
Catholic education at St. John Bosco, as
they go above and beyond to enhance
the learning experiences for your children!
To our outstanding team of teachers, we
would like to thank them for the work
they do on a daily basis and for their love of
teaching which inspires a love of learning in
their students.
Student Verification Forms
Thank you to all who have
completed and returned the
Student Verification Sheet
which you received from
the classroom teacher in
September. The information requested is essential for communication
with home in the event of an emergency. If you have not returned this
information, please do so as soon as
possible. Parents are responsible for
ensuring the school has accurate
and up-to-date records of
your address, phone numbers, and
emergency contacts. Please promptly notify the office and your
child(ren)’s teacher of any changes
throughout the school year.
The Ministry of Education released the
new Pupil Accommodation Review
Guideline (PARG) in March 2015. This
guideline sets expectations for all
school boards on managing and reviewing underutilized school space, including potential school closures, and
for the greater coordination and sharing
of planning related information between
school boards and other community
partners.
The guideline requires all school
boards in the province to develop or revise Pupil Accommodation Review Policies and to invite public input into the
policy before it is finalized.
A survey to collect feedback on the
Dufferin‐Peel Catholic District School
Board’s draft amended Policy 6.51 Pupil Accommodation Review will be
available for review and comment on
the Board’s website at www.dpcdsb.org
until 4:30 pm on Friday, October 16,
2015.
Supporting documents will also be
available for reference and review.
Please consider reviewing and providing input on this policy. Copies of the
survey and supporting documents are
also available at the office.