ST. JOHN BOSCO
SCHOOL
1025 North Park Drive
Brampton, Ontario
Phone ((905) 792-0890
Newsletter #4
Advent - A Time of
Hope
Gracious and merciful God of all
creation,
During this season of hope, we
remember how you sent your
Son
to be a beacon of goodness and
light in the world,
Give us eyes of hope to see the
good in everything and everyone
ADVENT
The season of Advent begins with the
fourth Sunday before Christmas.
“Advent” is a Latin word meaning “the
coming”. During the season of Advent, Christians across the world prepare for the celebration of the coming
of the Lord into the world through the
birth of his Son, Jesus Christ. Advent
is a time to celebrate light in the midst
of darkness, as symbolized best by
the Advent wreath.
Let all who visit share our hope
that this school will remain safe,
caring, inclusive community.
Wishing you the blessing of
Christmas and the New Year,
from the staff of St. John Bosco Catholic
School and the Word became
flesh and lived among us and
we have seen the glory, the
glory as of a father’s only son.
Principal
C. Young
Secretary
M. Barbe
~
Superintendent
D. Oude-Reimerink
(905) 890-1221
Trustee
S. Xaviour
Visit our School Website:
www.dpcdsb.org/BOSCO
www.connect2ENDviolence.c
a
VIRTUE OF THE MONTH
We ask this in the name of Jesus,
your Son, who lived to show us
your way.
Amen
December 2015
Parish Priest
Fr. Robert Mignella
(905) 792-7497
around us.
May your virtue of hope guide
our decisions for the service of all
your people.
FAX (905) 792-1299
This month we are celebrating the virtue of Hope. God has given us this
Advent season to focus our minds and
hearts on the good all around us.
Let us pray for the grace and courage
to be people of hope - people who can
see, participate and contribute to God’s
goodness emerging around us.
Newsletter #4
Page 2
Principal’s Message
This season of Advent is very alive and active here at St.
John Bosco School. Our distinct Catholic education system allows us to celebrate our beliefs actively in partnership with our local parish and families. The following
summary of school Advent activities highlights how God
is alive and active in our daily routines here at school.
These activities include:
December 2015
Sun
Mon
School Advent Mass
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5
8
9
10
11
12
Advent
Mass at
10:00
Caroling
Evening
6:008:00PM
Pizza Day
Fun Fair
15
16
17
18
 Daily Advent prayers as part of opening exercises
 Advent mass on December 8th at 10:00 AM
 Classroom Advent celebrations and activities
 Helping Hands Activities
 Christmas Caroling Evening on December 9th—6:008:00 PM
Our school Advent Mass will be held at St.
John Bosco School on Tuesday, December
8th at 10:00 am. This is a wonderful way
to capture the true meaning of Advent. All
families are most welcome to celebrate
with us!
In the midst of all this seasonal activity, the regular routines of student learning, assessment and evaluation
continue at a brisk pace. In closing, I wish all of our students, parents and staff a wonderful, happy and Holy
Advent and Christmas season.
Sincerely,
C. Young
SNOW AND ICE
WELCOME
Please join us in welcoming Mrs. Barbe, our new
Secretary to St. John
Bosco. It is wonderful to
have her join our St. John
Bosco community.
When the cool months arrive and snow and
ice are plentiful on the ground , we all like to
play in it and with it. Throwing snowballs and
sliding on ice is fun. However, as much fun
as it is, snow and ice can be very dangerous
when there are many people in a small area.
Therefore, sliding on the ice is not permitted.
Most student injuries happen during the wintertime. In order for our school to be as safe
as possible, the school rule must be that
snow stays on the ground - no snowballs,
kicking snow or any other activity with snow
or ice that could be harmful.
6
13
7
14
Pre-rehearsal
for Primary
Christmas
Concert
20
21
19
Last Day of
School
Primary
Christmas
Concert
1:30PM
22
23
24
29
30
31
25
26
Christmas
Holidays
Begins
27
28
Upcoming Events
December 8
December 9
December 21
January 4
January 18
January 25
Advent Mass (10:00)
Caroling Evening (6:00—8:00PM)
Christmas Holidays begin
Return to School
PD Day (no school)
Hep B/HPV Vaccinations
The Virtue for December is
Hope
Newsletter #4
Page
12
Page 3
Newsletter #4
Winter Weather and Recess
SEPTEMBER 2015
Registration Dates and Times are stated below and will
be on our school website.
Monday January 25, 2016 7-9pm, (Snow Date Jan 26),
Winter is with us again. It is imperative
that all students come to school ready to
participate in all activities, including outdoor recess. Please ensure that your children come to school with labeled hats,
scarves, gloves, winter outerwear and
boots. As well, all students should have
indoor footwear at school. This is imperative in case of an emergency evacuation. Students will not have time to put
on their boots if they need to evacuate
the building in a hurry.
School Council
Our next School Council Meeting will be held on:
January 20, 2016
Thank you to all parents who attended
our November School Council meeting
on November 16th. It was wonderful to
see all of you there.
Our next School Council meeting will
be held on January 20, 2016 at 6:30
p.m. at St. John Bosco School. All parents/guardians are welcome to attend.
See you there!
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
Jan. 276, 28 & 29 9:30-11:30am & 1:30-3:00pm
Junior Kindergarten - Children must be 4 years old
by December 31, 2016
Senior Kindergarten - Children must be 5 years old
by December 31, 2016
December 21, 2015—
January 1, 2016
Staying In During Recess
Under ordinary circumstances, if a
child is not well
enough to go outside for recess
he/she is not well
enough to be in
school and should
be kept at home.
Return to school on
January 4, 2016
Upcoming PA Day
January 18th and February 5th
January 18th, 2016 and February 5th are designated PA days. Please
mark these dates on your
calendars. There will be no
school for the students on
these days.
Page 4
Newsletter #4
Newsletter #4
Page
11
It’s Hearing and Vision Screening time!!!
School Screening Association will be visiting our school this year on January 4th, 2016
to conduct their clinic
Your child’s hearing and vision should be screened every year
Growing children are very susceptible to middle ear problems and one of the best
ways to prevent hearing loss is early detection of middle ear function issues.
A visit to an audiologist costs upwards of $50.00 and is not covered by O.H.I.P. However, if your child is referred to a hospital clinic by your doctor, the cost is covered by
O.H.I.P.

Your child’s hearing is not being monitored unless they are being seen by an Audiologist or and E.N.T.

A Free vision screeing is included with the Hearing Clinic. Eye Examinations are covered by OHIP.

A fee of $15.00 is collected to help offset the cost of bringing this clinic to our
school
A permission form will be sent home with your child approximately 2 weeks before the
clinic date. Please fill out the form, include the $15.00 fee and return to the school prior
to the clinic date.
Good Grades start with Good Hearing and Vision
Please join the St. John Bosco School Community for an evening of fun
with a sing along, games, making a Gingerbread House (pre-ordered) and
a family picture with Santa and Mrs. Claus. The event will take place in
our school gym. There will be one picture per family with Santa and the
picture is free of charge.
For the Santa picture, we are
asking for a donation of nonperishable food items for our
Helping Hands Food Drive.
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Time: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
IMPORTANT: All students must be
accompanied by a parent/guardian for the entire evening.
Newsletter #4
Page
10
Newsletter #4
Page 5
RECESS RULES FOR
STUDENTS
Each year our school supports the efforts of St. Marguerite
d’Youville Church in its efforts to support families in need.
We have a number of activities for student participation to
help support the Helping Hands
initiative. Our school will be
helping to support 5 families in
our Parish community. We are
also working on raising money
for the Helping Hands fund.
Thank you for your generous
support. We are very proud of
our students for all of their
hard work and leadership in
creating these activities.
We encourage all students to experience
their outdoor recess breaks in an enjoyable
and safe manner. To ensure that students
play safely and never endanger the safety
of other children during recess times, we
have some very important rules for all children to follow in our school yard.
School Yard Rules









No physical contact (keep your
hands & feet to yourself)
No verbal insults (use appropriate
language)
Respect all persons
Respect all property (writing on
walls, fences, school building is
vandalism)
Play non-contact games only
We stay on school property
No food goes outside
Rocks, stones, and snow stay on the
ground
No taking of photographs
Please review these rules and
expectations with your children.
Catholic Ratepayers –
Check your Tax Bill to Ensure Proper
Tax Support
If you are a Catholic ratepayer, we urge you to
check your property tax bill to ensure that your
support is directed to your local Catholic school
board, in our case, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic
District School Board.
If you are a tenant, you can verify your support by
contacting our Admissions Department at (905)
890-0708, ext. 24511, 24512, or 24519, or your
local municipal office. By ensuring that you are
accurately recorded as a Catholic school supporter, you can help deliver a powerful message to
the government about the level of support for
publically-funded Catholic education in Ontario.
In order to be eligible to vote for your local
Catholic school board trustee, you must be registered as a separate school supporter.
EXTENDED FRENCH
INFORMATION
MEETING
Grade 4 parents who wish to enroll their
child in a grade 5 Extended French class
for September 2015 are invited to attend
an information meeting on:
Wednesday, January 14th, 2015 at 7:00pm
St. Jean Brebeuf School
63 Glenforest Dr.
Brampton, L9W 1L8
905-791-8529
Deadline: 3:00pm Tuesday,
February 17th, 2015
Newsletter #4
Newsletter #4
Page 6
Page 9
Grade 3 & 6 EQAO Assessments—May 2015 Results
The grades 3 and 6 EQAO assessments that take place in May/June measure
how well students have met expectations in the Ontario Curriculum, Grades 18. The assessments test what students know and how well they apply their
knowledge and skills in reading, writing, and mathematics in everyday situations
by requiring students to read and respond to passages, to write, and to solve
mathematical problems.
EQAO assessments combine performance-based activities requiring written responses with multiple-choice questions. The results are reported in terms of
achievement from Levels 1-4, with Level 3, which represents a level of achievement that is used as the Provincial Standard.
The May 2015 results for St. John Bosco students, stated as the percentage of
all students in Grades 3 and 6 meeting the provincial Standard (achieving Levels
3 or 4) were as follows:
% Students Achieving the Provincial Standard (Levels 3 & 4)
Grade 3
Reading
May 2015
School Results
58
Writing
54
Grade 6
Math
46
Reading
Writing
Math
82
77
48
It is important to emphasize that these results are intended for the purpose of
improving teaching and learning for all students and should not be used to
compare or rank schools.
Let’s Work Together to Ensure Student Safety!!!
Please be advised that cars are not to park and drivers must not leave their cars unattended in the
Kiss n’ Ride lane. We are also asking drivers to please be aware of your speed while entering the
school grounds. The safety of our children always comes first. The Kiss n’ Ride area becomes quite
busy in the morning and afterschool. Please be patient and courteous as you drop
off or pick up your children following the proper procedures.
Kindergarten Student Pick Up
Adults picking up Kindergarten students require an adult to pick them up at the door. As well kindergarten students are not able to independently get in and out of the car & put on their own seatbelts. Please park in the parking lot or the adjacent streets and walk to the appropriate dismissal
door.
The Kiss and Ride lane is located at the front of the building. This lane allows an adult to dropoff or pick up their child without getting out of the vehicle. Vehicles should never be left unattended in the Kiss and Ride lane. The area at the side of the school is for buses only and is never
to be used to drop off or pick-up students. If buses are loading or unloading, please do not pass by
the buses. Please wait until all buses are out of the loading zone before driving through. Also, if
parked in the parking lot, please do not leave until after the buses have left. This is a
one-way area and it is important that we keep the flow of traffic safe for all, including those students crossing the crosswalk.
Kiss and Ride Procedures
To ensure the safety of our students we require all parents using the program to follow the procedures outlined below:
-Use the Kiss and Ride lane to drop off or pick up your child
-Do not use the drive-thru lane for dropping off or picking up children
-Move up the Kiss and Ride lane as far as possible to maximize the number of cars using the program
-Do not get out of your vehicle
-Do not block the driveway where buses need to enter and exit
-Students must be able to exit and enter the car independently
-Students must exit the car using the passenger side doors only
-Please escort students as they are walking across the parking lot area
Please follow staff directions when you are asked to move up, drive away, etc.
We all help to make our parking lot safe for our students!
Page 8
Newsletter #4
CYBER SAFETY
The Internet has brought many benefits, but it has
also raised some safety concerns such as the potential
for crime and predators. To make sure children have
a safe and rewarding experience on the Web, parents
must understand the sites children are exploring and
using and the safety issues they may face.
The use of computers by children needs to be monitored closely by parents. Children should never
have computers in bedrooms, especially if there is
a webcam attached to the computer.
The Canada Safety Council recommends that children
who use the Internet follow these rules:
ONLINE SAFETY RULES
I will not give out any personal information online
without my parents’ permission. This includes my
name, phone number, address, e-mail, location of my
school, my parents’ work address/telephone number
and credit card numbers, and my picture. This goes
for anywhere on the Internet, including email, chat
rooms, newsgroups—even Web sites that promise me
free stuff or prizes, or on Web pages that I make myself.
When using the Internet, I will always use a pretend
name or nickname that doesn’t reveal whether I’m a
boy or a girl.
When creating a password, I will make one up that
is hard to guess but easy for me to remember. To
avoid having it stolen, I will never reveal it to anyone
(except my parents) - not even my best friend.
I will not respond to any message that makes me
uncomfortable. I will show an adult right away.
I will arrange to meet a friend I have made on the
Internet ONLY if one of my parents has been informed
and will be present.
I will not send an insulting or rude message to anyone online. This is called “flaming” and it is not good
Netiquette.
I will not disable any filtering software my parents
have put on the computer.
I will not open e-mail, files, links, pictures or games
from people that I don’t know or trust. I will always
ask an adult first.
I will not take words, pictures or sound from someone else’s Web site without their permission.
I will not believe everything I read on the Internet. I
will always check the source of the information and
confirm it with my teacher, parent or librarian.
Source: Media Awareness Network
Rosary Apostolate
Members of the Rosary Apostolate are
visiting all our classes once a month to
recite and explain the rosary. They also teach special themes
that are sanctioned by
both The
Bishop and
The Archdiocese. We appreciate the
dedication of these volunteers in
teaching and modeling for our students, the importance of the rosary
and religion in our catholic lives.
Students are asked to bring their
own Rosaries.
Delivering Lunches to the
School
When delivering your child’s lunch to
school, please advise your child in advance and write his/her name and
teacher name on the bag. Your child
can pick up their lunch from the lunch
table at 12:40pm. The lunch table is
located in the front hallway just outside the main office. For safety reasons, students are not allowed to go
outside and meet their parents at their
vehicle to pick up their lunch. We
greatly appreciate your cooperation.
Newsletter #4
Page 7
Anaphylactic Allergies/Reactions
Just a reminder, with the Christmas season quickly approaching that food treats are not to be sent to school.
We are asking for your cooperation in keeping our
school as safe as possible for everyone. Several students
and staff suffer from severe, life threatening allergies to
nuts, peanuts and nut products. For people living with these allergies a serious
threat also exists in coming into contact with surfaces that have been contaminated with nuts and pea-nuts (hands, desks, etc.) Please also remember do not
send your child with any food for lunch or snack that contains nuts or nut products. Additionally, in the interest of keeping everyone safe, students are not permitted to bring food items for sharing with others. If you are thinking of your
child sharing a Christmas treat at school, please consider a pencil, eraser or other small non-edible token instead. Thank you in advance for your continued support and understanding.
Safety and Security in the School
The safety and security of all children in our care is one of our prime concerns. In order to
ensure safety and security, we are asking all visitors to the school, including parents, to
come to the office through the front door when you arrive. No parents
should be accessing the school through any other doors. This will allow us
to welcome you and to ask you to sign in at the office and to wear a tag
as a visitor, or volunteer while in the building. If you are late arriving, we
will escort your child to class. We ask for your cooperation in making this
system work.
Student Contact Information
It is very important that we always have up to date information on parent contacts and
changes in telephone numbers at work and at home. Please make sure you notify the
school of any changes in your work, address, babysitting or custodial arrangements and
update the information at the office. If you have moved, it is very important that the
school is made aware of your move and new address.