September 2015
Volume 7 Issue 1
ST. RITA CATHOLIC SCHOOL
30 SUMMER VALLEY DRIVE, BRAMPTON, ONTARIO L6Z 4V6
PHONE 905 595-0911 FAX: 905 840-3467
WEBSITE HTTP://WWW.DPCDSB.ORG/RITAE
PUTTING OUR FAITH INTO ACTION
PRINCIPAL
U. Fromm
VICE PRINCIPAL
C. Zeni
SECRETARIES
V. Molinaro
C. Egan
D. Sandiland
SUPERINTENDENT
S. Steer
905-890-1221
ST. LEONARD CHURCH
905-846-5385
Father Nosan
TRUSTEES
D. D’Souza (Ward 2)
905-579-0126
F. Di Cosola
(Caledon/Dufferin)
905-951-8898
MPPs
Brampton-Springdale
M. Harinder
905-495-8030
Dufferin-Caledon
Sylvia Jones
School Hours:
9:00 Supervision begins
9:15 Entry Bell
10:55 Morning Recess
12:00 Lunch Recess
12:40 Lunch
1:00 Afternoon Bell
2:40 Afternoon Recess
3:45 Dismissal
God created us to live together as a family rooted in Christ. Faith believes the incredible,
sees the invisible, and receives the impossible. A faithful person believes that God’s plan
for us includes the right to be safe, cared for, and included, especially at school. Faith is
the great virtue of believing and trusting in God. Our faith helps us to remember the importance of God in our lives, and calls us to deepen our relationship with God, when things
are going well and when they are not.
A faithful person :
Prays from the heart whenever they can
Learns from Bible stories
Believes that there is good in everyone
Knows that we are all created and loved by God
We are still looking for parent volunteers to assist
with our hot lunch days. Please visit the front office
for details!
Welcome Back Everyone !
A warm and heartfelt welcome back to all of our returning students and families and a special welcome
to the new members of the St. Rita School community and all of our new JK students. We are very excited about the beginning of another wonderful new
school year.
The staff has been busy over the few weeks, making
preparations to ensure that the transition back to
school is as smooth as possible. The partnership between home-school-parish is extremely important in
fostering and supporting our student success and we
all look forward to strengthening this relationship so
that we can work towards making St. Rita a happy,
faith-filled place of learning. I am proud to be part
of the staff that continues to strive for excellence in
academics and works towards building solid foundations in social, emotional and spiritual relationships
in your children. You have our continued commitment towards student
growth and success.
We look forward to meeting all of
you over the next few weeks.
Please feel free to contact the
school with any concerns or questions.
Please reserve the evening of Thursday, September 24, 2015 from 6:30pm – 8:00pm to join us for
our Open House and BBQ at the school.
Please consider becoming involved in St. Rita’s
Catholic School Council. All parents are welcome to
attend meetings scheduled throughout the school
year. If you are interested in becoming a member of
our School Council , visit the office and pick up a
nomination form.
Completed forms must be submitted to the office by
Friday, September 25th. The St. Rita Catholic
School Council Elections will be held on Wednesday, September 30th followed with the first school
council meeting of the year. Results of the new
School Council Executive members will be published in the October newsletter.
Unless the municipality is notified, the school support designation, for assessment purposes, automatically defaults to public school support when an individual or family moves to a new address. In order to
bring a greater awareness around this matter, the
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board created
the ’Are You Ticked?’ campaign. As a result, many
families whose children attend Dufferin-Peel schools
have discovered, when they contacted the Board,
that their taxes were not designated to our system.
Many other families called
and
received confirmation that
their
taxes were supporting
Catholic education. If you
would like more information on school support designation or would like us to help you check or
change your school support designation to the Catholic system, please call 905-890-0708 ext. 24512.
The doors of St. Rita School are open to our parent
community. All visitors to the school must report to
the Office, however. If you ar e dr opping off or
picking up your child in the morning or at the end of
the day, we ask that you do so from the boundaries
of the school, marked by the yellow double lines.
No parents are permitted in the school yard/field between 9:00 and 3:45. Please remember—you are a
stranger to the rest of the students at St. Rita School.
PLASP Child Care Services operates ‘Before’ and
‘After’ School Programs at St. Rita School. The
‘Before School’ Program operates from 7:30 a.m.
and continues until school begins. A nutritious
breakfast is served daily.
The ‘After School’ Program begins once school is
dismissed and goes until 6:00 p.m. Children participate in recreational activities, are served a nutritious
snack daily and have time for homework. Fee assistance is available. Registration is currently taking place. To r egister your child, visit the PLASP
Program Director at the school. For further information, call 905-890-1711 or visit the website at
www.plasp
Visit our website: www.dpcdsb.org/ritae
A Catholic faith community is rooted in a set of
common beliefs which are inspired by the life, mission and teachings of Jesus. As a Catholic community, we are called to learn, to grow, and to become
more like Jesus in the way we see and treat others.
Our Catholic faith plays an important role in helping
us shape schools that are safe, caring, healthy and
inclusive. The Virtues program is designed to help
us nurture virtue and character development in the
lives of our students. Through classroom and school
wide activities, each month the entire school will
focus on a different virtue. We appreciate your support in discussing these virtues with your child and
encouraging behaviours that demonstrate them.
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
Faith
Empathy
Conscience
Hope
Self-control
Respect
Kindness
Love
Acceptance
Fairness
Students in Grades 1-8 will be using a school agenda
to help develop their organizational skills. The
agenda is an effective vehicle to help keep parents/
guardians regularly informed about what is happening in their child’s class and in the school. If you
have not yet done so, please take some time to look
over your child’s agenda, which also contains the
following:
Board Information
 2015-2016 School Year Calendar
 DPCDSB Homework Policy
 ‘We Share the Air’ Scent Sensitivity Awareness
 Catholic Code of Conduct
St. Rita School Information
 School Hours
 Reporting Absences
 Use of the Kiss & Ride
 Student Supervision
 Student Illness and Accidents
 Visitors to the School
 Lunchtime Procedures
 Nut Free Environment
 Storage and Administration of Medication
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Bicycles, Scooters and Rollerblades at School
Lost and Found
Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs)
Dress Code
Bus Safety
Parent Involvement and Volunteers
Report of Student Progress
Phys. Ed.
Homework
Communication With Parents
School Materials and Textbooks
Extra Curricular Activities
Safe, Caring, Healthy & Inclusive School Communities
With the warmer weather still upon us, students are
able to ride their bicycles and scooters to school. We
expect that every student who rides a bicycle/scooter
follows these rules:
 Walk bicycles/scooters on school property
(including sidewalks)
 Lock bicycles/scooters in the bicycle stand for
the day
 Obey all bicycle safety rules (which includes
wearing a helmet)
Please ensure your child understands and complies
with these rules to ensure their safety and the safety
of others. Students who wish to rollerblade or skateboard to school must remove their rollerblades or
pick up their skateboard as soon as they enter onto
school property. All rollerblades and skateboards are
to be stored in the classroom for the day.
For the safety of our students, there is a teacher on
duty in the Kiss & Ride area at 3:45. Students are
being reminded and redirected to either: exit the
school grounds using the paved pathway around the
perimeter of the parking lot; use the designated
crossing area located at the Stop sign; wait on the
sidewalk in the Kiss & Ride area for their parent’s/
caregiver’s car to pull up. If you prefer to park your
car rather than use the Kiss & Ride, we ask that you
please meet your child in the Kiss & Ride area and
accompany them through the parking lot. Students
are not permitted to walk through the parking lot
without an adult accompanying them.
Visit our website: www.dpcdsb.org/ritae
Sabrina’s Law is an Act to protect anaphylactic pupils in publicly funded schools in Ontario. It is
named “Sabrina’s Law” in honour of an Ontario student who died following an anaphylactic reaction in
2003. This law requires that every school board establish and maintain an anaphylaxis policy.
must NOT be kept in the child’s possession (i.e.
pocket, desk, backpack, etc.) or in the classroom.
Medication will be sent home with the student on the
last day of school. Authorization and storage forms
must be updated every year. Please remember to
check the EPI-PEN and medication expiry date and
remember to send it all to school.
If your child has a severe allergic reaction to peanuts, peanut by-products, bee/wasp stings etc., please
let the school know as soon as possible. It is essential that the information you provide us with is accurate and up-to-date. There are various forms which
need to be completed by you and your family doctor
if it is necessary to store and dispense an EPI-pen or
any other medication at school.
We have received many inquiries regarding WOW
Butter. Please note that due to an inability to differentiate between WOW Butter and real Peanut Butter,
parents/guardian’s are requested NOT to send
this product to school as a part of your child’s
lunch and/or daily snacks. We thank you for your
cooperation!
We continue to have students with severe, life threatening allergy to certain foods, such as peanuts and
nuts. This is a medical condition that may cause severe and life threatening reactions to certain allergens within minutes. Although this may or may not
affect your child’s class directly, we require your
continued cooperation in sending foods to school
with your child that are free from peanuts, nuts or
their by-products.
Please do not send food products to be shared in
your child’s classroom (including doughnuts and/or
timbits, which are NOT nut-free). If you would truly
like your child to share their special day with their
classmates we suggest that you consider non-food
items such as pencils or stickers.
Letters will be sent home with the students of whose
classroom members that have specific allergies.
Please check with your child, and in their backpack,
for letters regarding the type of allergy and products
to be avoided. Please pay careful consideration to
school lunches and snacks and refrain from sending
in items that are made of, or contain, nuts or peanuts.
We offer our heartfelt thanks for your support in
making our school a safer environment for all.
If a student is required to take medication at school,
signed request and authorization forms from the parents/guardians and the supervising physician are required. These forms are available through the school
office. All medication will be housed in a safe location. Medication, with the exception of EPI-Pens,
The No Child Without program offers a free MedicAlert membership to students who attend our
school and are between the ages of 4 up to their 14th
birthday. If your child has a medical condition, allergy or is required to take medication on a regular basis then you should consider a
MedicAlert membership through this program. MedicAlert is your child’s voice in an emergency.
MedicAlert membership:
 Gives emergency first responders immediate access to a your child’s medical information on their
MedicAlert bracelet or necklet
 Enables first responders to quickly obtain up to
date medical information by means of the child’s
Electronic Health Record through the 24 Hour Emergency Hotline
 Communicates with the parent or emergency
contact upon activation of the Hotline
 Allows free updates of the child’s medical record
as needed
MedicAlert identification can alert school staff,
friends, coaches and others about your child’s medical condition should an emergency occur. For further
information come to the office for a brochure or go
to www.nochildwithout.ca.
To register your child you will need a No Child
Without brochure from the school Office. If your
child is already part of the No Child Without program and there have been changes to their medical
condition, medications or emergency contact information, call MedicAlert at 1-866-679-3220 Ext 1 to
update your child’s file.
The STOPR website
http://businfo.stopr.ca allows
parents to check their child’s transportation information:
 click “student login”
 enter your child’s OEN number as their ‘student
ID’ (the OEN is noted on your child’s report
card)
 enter your address, school name and child’s
grade
 Click “login”
Daily information regarding bus cancellations and
specific bus delays is also available on the STOPR
website.
If the STOPR transportation information for your
child is not correct or you would like to request a
change of bus number or even a change of bus stop,
please contact Mrs. Barless. For STOPR insurance
purposes, and in the event of any type of busing
emergency, it is critical that the STOPR’s, bus driver’s and school’s bus lists are accurate at all times.
Students should never take a bus for which they are
not officially registered. Students who attend St. Rita
School on flex boundaries are not eligible for busing. Par ents/guar dians of students on flex boundaries who would like to be considered for access to a
‘courtesy seat’ should submit their request in writing
to Mrs. Zeni. No school can assign courtesy seat
students for the first 4 weeks of school. Commencing the 5th week of school, STOPR will begin assigning courtesy seats to students and all courtesy assignments will be completed within 3 weeks. We ask
that all Transportation related questions be directed to our Transportation Dept. at 905-8906000.
The annual program for children in Grades 2-8 who
are not Baptized or have been Baptized in a nonCatholic Church, who would like to become Catholic, will begin at St. Leonard’s Church in September.
This program will lead to the Baptism of the children
or their Reception into the Catholic Church. For
those parents/guardians who would like to have their
child baptized/received, now is the opportune time to
register and begin attending at St. Leonard’s and if
you have not already done so, make a commitment
to practicing your faith. One of the parents/guardians
will be required to provide a copy of their Roman
Catholic baptism certificate. Please note that only
Catholic children are able to receive the Sacraments
of Reconciliation, First Communion and Confirmation.
All educators are required by law to report any suspicion of abuse or neglect that may compromise a
child’s welfare or safety to the appropriate child protection service. It is the role of the Children’s Aid
Society to determine if the suspicion is warranted
and to investigate if appropriate.
(See Attachment)
On Friday October 16th the Lifetouch
photographers will be here to take individual photos of every student as
well as a group photo of each class. A reminder will
be sent home to all parents .Should your child be absent, photo retakes will be on Thursday November
12th, 2015.
Volunteers are always welcome at St. Rita School.
We encourage parents/grandparents to become involved in various aspects of school life. If you are
interested in sharing your time and talents, please
request a ‘Volunteer’ form from the office. All volunteers are required to have a recent Criminal Reference Check or must have on file an Annual Criminal
Reference Declaration. This measure is to ensure the
safety of our students. The paperwork may be requested at the school office and must be taken to the
Peel Regional Police headquarters (if you live in
Brampton) or faxed to the OPP, for Caledon residents, for processing.
Please note!
With the exception of JK and SK, parent volunteers
will not be assigned to work in their child’s/
children’s classroom. Teachers will solicit field trip
supervisors as/when needed. Volunteers participating as field trip supervisors must have a recent
Criminal Reference Check or must file an Annual
Criminal Reference Declaration.
faith
September 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
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No School
19
20
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See/Hear Clinic
22
23
24
Open House BBQ
25
26
27
28
29
QSP Fundraiser
Kick Off 1 pm
30
Catholic School
Council Elections
October 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
empathy
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
Virtue Assembly Terry Fox Run
3
10
4
5
Terry Fox Run
Rain Date
6
7
Paul Davis
Presentation
8
9
School Mass
10:00 am
11
12
13
14
15
16
Family of
Picture Day
Schools Council
Mtg
QSP End Date
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18
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