299 Landsbridge Street
Bolton, Ontario
L7E 2K4
Phone (905) 951-8788
Fax (905) 951-8798
February 2016
A VALENTINE PRAYER
Principal: K. Barton
Vice Principal: F. Troiani
Secretaries: K. Badger and
G. Odoardi
SERVING OUR
I said a Valentine prayer for you
and asked the Lord above
to fill your heart and bless your soul
With the precious gift of love.
COMMUNITY
SUPERINTENDENT OF
SCHOOLS
L. Storey
905-890-1221
I asked Him for sincere love
The kind that's meant to stay
Just like the generous love
You give to those you touch each day.
TRUSTEE
F. DiCosola
905-951-8898
HOLY FAMILY CHURCH
I prayed for love from family
And from every cherished friend
Then I asked the Lord to give you
His love that knows no end.
AMEN
Rev. L. Leger and Fr. D.
Gikonyo
905-857-1938
ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL
ADVISORY COUNCIL
Chair: M. Cardinale
905-951-8788
VIRTUE - RESPECT
Please visit our website at
www.dpcdsb.org/JBAPT
Follow us on TWITTER
@JBAPT_DPCDSB
During the month of February we celebrate the virtue of respect. A respectful person:

Treats himself/herself and everyone else with equal
consideration and courtesy

Uses a positive tone of voice and body language

Avoids swearing, name-calling, put-downs and
inappropriate gestures

Says “Excuse me”, “Please” and “Pardon me”
 Avoids gossip
Our next Virtues assembly is scheduled for February 23rd at 1:35 a.m.
Page 2
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FAREWELL MRS. ODOARDI!!!
The St. John the Baptist community would like to wish Mrs. Odoardi, our assistant secretary, the best of
luck and blessings as she will be moving on to a full time position at another school. Her final day at our
school will be Friday, February 5, 2016. The joy, laughter and enthusiasm she brought everyday and the
care she demonstrated towards our students and staff will be greatly missed. Thank you for all you have
done for the St. John the Baptist school community!
Greetings from the EcoTeam!
Hello St. John the Baptist Community! Here is some of our latest news, reminders and coming events: The Eco Team is very
proud to have received a Town of Caledon Green School Grant. The grant money comes to $2000 and St. John the Baptist
will soon be getting an Elkay EZH20 Water Filling Station and Fountain. This will make refilling water bottles a cinch and hopefully end our dependence on bottled water (Google: The Story of Bottled Water, if you need to know more!!).
Our school has conducted 3 waste audits in the past few months and based on the weights of our garbage, each of our students produce between 5 to 7 kg of garbage per school year. Our best diversion rate of recycling from overall waste has been
20%, and our worst as low at 11%. Our goal is to increase our diversion rate and mostly, try to produce LESS garbage!
Our school has also been given targets and numbers as far as our Energy output is concerned and we have learned two important things: A school of our size within our board has been given a target to reach NO MORE than an output of 12 EKWH
per school year. As of 2014 data we were at 15 EKWH, and so we have to push our energy needs downwards. While we
have improved in our used of electrical energy for lighting, computers, etc, we are challenged to reduce our heating and cooling
energy draw. The ecoTeam will discuss and suggest improvements for our school to see this goal into success.
We have three upcoming events which we are excited to announce: On Wednesday February 3rd, it is our Winter Walk to
School Day. So far, the weather forecast says a high of 6 degrees C, and windy.... so we should have a fairly successful day!
Come on out and meet our Eco Team as we greet you on your morning walk on Wednesday. On Thursday, February 4 th it is
National Sweater Day: we encourage families to set their thermostats 2 degrees cooler and reduce your daily draw on your
home heating bill. At school, wear your favorite and cosiest sweater and get caught in a class photo with your friends!
Also, on Thursday over the lunch hour a special guest is coming from Milk Bags Unlimited. Angela Kethsely will be teaching
our Eco Team how to make bedding from milk bags and teaching about the humanitarian benefits of creating and sending these
durable blankets to areas of crisis around the globe. Interested parents or grandparents may join, if you let us know in advance.
Look forward to more news in March and April (the Great Gulp, Earth Hour, Earth Day...)
And a final reminder: for all those who come by car, especially at the end of the day, when you are waiting for your children to
come out of the school so you can drive them home...PLEASE Do NOT leave your cars IDLING!!! Engine pollution near a
school yard is the WORST place for our children’s health. If you need a refresher on how detrimental car pollution is on children, your car and the environment, please visit our winning YouTube video on Idle Free Caledon (https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=JErGQrQMsr0&feature=youtu.be)
The Eco Team
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FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Every year Canadians are invited to participate in Black History Month festivities and events that honour the legacy of Black
Canadians, past and present. Canadians take this time to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians who, throughout history, have done so much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate and prosperous
nation it is today. During Black History Month, Canadians can gain insight into the experiences of Black Canadians and their
vital role in the community. (www.cic.gc.ca)
St. John the Baptist will be celebrating black history month and diversity in February. A number of events will take place to
promote, celebrate and honour Black History and Diversity.
 The library will have on display books about Black History and Diversity
 Black History lessons will be incorporated throughout the month within individual classes
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST WINTER CARNAVAL SPIRIT WEEK!!!
Join the St. John the Baptist community by celebrating WINTER CARNAVAL SPIRIT WEEK with us! The
French team has organized a week of activities! Each day there is something new to do in support of
school spirit and community building. Each student is asked to bring in a donation of $2 for the
week. The days include;
Winter Carnaval at SJB (Feb. 8-12)
Day of the Week
Activity
Monday, February 8
Toque Day
Tuesday, February 9
Wacky Hair Day
Wednesday, February 10
Sports Jersey Day
Thursday, February 11
Pajama Day
Friday, February 12
Red and White Day
Gr. 7 &8 Dance
Knights of Columbus Free Throw
Challenge
Congratulations, to the following students who represented our school at the local Knights of Columbus Free Throw Council
Championship on Saturday January 23, 2016 at St. Michael’s Catholic Secondary School;
Luca Q (8), Nicole B (8), Alessandro L (7), Nicole R (7), Michael (6), Emily U (6), Arianna F (5), Korbyn P (5), Joseph
(4), Emma G (4).
Way to go Jaguars!
Page 4
PEDICULOSIS CAPITIS “HEAD LICE”
We would like to be proactive in advising you that lice can
often occur at this time of year. It is important at this time
of year, to check your children regularly for lice, in order
to help stop the spread within the classroom and school.
Individual classroom letters are sent out with the students
when an occurrence of lice is found. Names of students
are never given. Siblings are also given a letter to help prevent the spread. If your child has “head lice” please report
this to the school secretary immediately and please keep
your child at home until all of the live lice have disappeared. If there is another situation we should be aware of,
such as students who are in the same daycare, then please
let us know, so letters can be sent to all classrooms affected. In some cases a classroom check may be required if
there is more than one case of lice reported. Lotions and
shampoos containing 1% permethrin often work well. They
can be bought at the store without a prescription, see a
pharmacist. If these do not work, a doctor can give you a
prescription for stronger medicine. Thank you for your
cooperation.
REMEMBER…
February 2, 2016 - Report Cards Come Home
February 4, 2016 - Parent/Teacher Interview
Night
February 5, 2016 - Parent/Teacher Interview
Day NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
February 15, 2016 - Family Day
NO SCHOOL
2015-16 School Year Calendar
Additional Professional Activity Day: Monday, April 11, 2016
Terms of the recent contract settlement between the teacher federations and the Ministry of Education included
the provision of an additional Professional Activity Day for the 2015-2016 school year for both elementary and
secondary schools. Recently, boards were directed to schedule this additional Professional Development Day on
or before April 15, 2016.
In the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, the designated additional Professional Activity
Day has been scheduled for Monday, April 11, 2016.
Therefore, there will be no classes for either elementary or secondary students on;
Monday, April 11, 2016.
Thank you for your attention to this addition to the 2015-16 School Year Calendar.
Page 5
STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY
Thanks to our many parents who regularly call the school to report their child(ren) are going to be absent from school. Your
phone call to the school saves our secretary a tremendous amount of valuable time in trying to track down unexplained absences. Remember that you can call the school twenty four hours a day to report your child’s absence. On days that buses are
cancelled and schools are open and students remain at home, it is expected that parents will report the absence of
their children.
Students and parents are reminded that being punctual for school is a very important habit to follow! Our school entry times
are 8:45 am for morning classes and 12:45 pm for the afternoon classes. Students who arrive even a few minutes late for
school not only disrupt classes already underway, but put themselves at a disadvantage, because they need to “catch up” with
classmates once they arrive into class. All students from Junior Kindergarten to grade 8 who arrive late to school must report to
the main office to check in before going to class.
PICKING UP YOUR CHILD ON TIME
Parents please be on time to pick your child at the end of the day at 3:15 pm. Please remember we don’t have
supervision for your child after these times. We want to ensure that your child is safe at all times.
OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOL HERITAGE
What sacrifices did Catholics have to make to send their children to separate schools?
Because the United Legislature of Canada East and Canada West roughly consisted of members advocating non-denominational common schools
and half were in favor of them, separate school legislation, for about fifteen years, contained three obstacles to their existence:
Catholics could establish and support a separate school, but had to continue paying common school taxes. Thus, they
paid tuition for their children in the separate school;
The separate school had no permanence of existence. If the local common school board hired a Catholic as one of their
teachers, then the separate school ceased to exist. Separate schools kept opening and closing in the early years;
In the cities the separate school board required the permission of the common school board to open a new or an additional separate school. Sometimes the permission was not forthcoming.
The legislation required twelve Catholic heads of family resident within a city, town or township common school section. The townships’ common school sections were so small that often there were not twelve resident Catholic
families.
Were these four obstacles removed?
Yes. The United Legislature of Canada East and Canada West in 1853, 1855 and 1863 removed all four hindrances. There
was no more double taxation. It did not matter if there was a Catholic teaching in the common school. The separate school
board did not need the permission of the common school board to open a new or additional separate school. The number
of Catholic heads of family to establish school was lowered from twelve to five. As a result, the number of separate schools
grew considerably.
What effect did the Canadian Constitution, create in the British North America Act (1867) (now entitled
either the Constitution Act or the Canada Act), have on separate schools?
When the Fathers of Confederation came from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada East and Canada West to meet in
Charlottetown and Quebec, they quickly concluded, in the words of one of the Fathers, Sir Charles Tupper, that “Without
this guarantee for the rights of minorities being embodied in that new constitution, we should have been unable to obtain
any Confederation whatever.”
FEBRUARY 2016
Sun
7 Winter Carnaval Spirit
Week
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2 Report Cards
sent home
3 Pizza Day
4 Parent/Teacher Interviews
5 Parent/Teacher
Interview Day
6
8 Toque Day
9 Wacky Hair Day
10 Pizza Day
11 Pajama Day
13
Rosary Apostolate
Ash Wed Liturgy
at 1:00
12 Red & White
Day
Int. Dance
Jersey Day
14
15 Family Day
NO SCHOOL
21
22
28
29
16 Junior Basketball Tournament
17 Pizza Day
18 Parent Council
Meeting at 7:00pm
19
20
23 Virtues Assembly
24 Pizza Day
25
26
27
MARCH 2016
Sun
6
Mon
7
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2 Pizza Day
3
4
5
8 Rosary Apostolate
9 Pizza Day
10 Virtues Assem- 11
bly
Immunization Clinic
Gr7 students & Gr8
Girls
12
13
14 MARCH
BREAK
15 MARCH
BREAK
16 MARCH
BREAK
17 MARCH
BREAK
18 MARCH
BREAK
19
20
21
22
23 Pizza Day
24 Stations of the
Cross
25 Good Friday
26
Grad Pics
27 EASTER
28 Easter Monday
NO SCHOOL
29
30 Pizza Day
31
NO SCHOOL