Volume 5, Issue 6
February 2016
Inside this issue:
Bus Cancellations—Catholic Education Week
Lates—Volunteers—Pediculosis—Lost&Found
Outdoor Play-New PA Day—Kiss N Ride
Hold and Secure Drills
Spirit Day—Immunization
Nut Free Foods—Winter Safety
7 Ways to Foster Creativity in Your Kids
St. Valentine Catholic School
5610 Heatherleigh Avenue
Mississauga, Ontario
L5V 2V7
Brenda LeClair,
Principal
Louise Hughes,
Vice-Principal
Franca Dodgson,
Principal’s Message
Secretary
The month of February is upon us and St.Valentine, as always, continues to be a faith-filled community. In the
month of January, we celebrated the virtue of Self-Control, and in February, we focus on the virtue of Respect, as
we continue to foster a safe, caring, healthy and inclusive school community. We will mark the beginning of Lent with
Shrove Tuesday, celebrate our feast day with a mass on February 12 at the school at 9:00 am , make confessions
as a school community on February 23 and celebrate our Lenten mass on February 24th at the church at 9:30 am—
all are welcome!
We also continued to be a vibrant and active school community. The month of January saw our students continue to
participate in a various social justice activities, clubs, sports and exciting field trips providing students with a variety
of experiential learning opportunities. Please consider purchasing and filling a backpack for Syrian refugees
through Ms. Ruske.
Plans are underway for our grade 2 students and grade 7 and 8 students to continue their preparation for First
Communion and Confirmation. Congratulations to our grade 2 students who made their First Reconciliation!
We also thank as always all of our parent volunteers who continue to volunteer their time to support the students of
St. Valentine.
Living
Learning
Praying
David Amaral,
Superintendent of Schools
905 890 0708
Luz del Rosario,
Trustee - Ward 6
K. Canlas and N. Johnson,
School Council Co-Chairs
Msgr. Edgardo Pan
Pastor
St. Francis Xavier Church
905 890 5290
Volume 5, Issue 6
Page 2
School Bus Cancellations
A decision to cancel school transportation and/or to close the school is usually made by 6:30 am and will be
announced on the following radio stations: CKFM, CHUM, CFTR, CFNY, Q107, CJCL, CHFI,
CFRB, ENERGY, CJEZ, CJBC, CHIN, CJMR, CHWO, and CITY TV.
Should the announcement be: THE DUFFERIN PEEL CATHOLIC DISTRICT
SCHOOL AND PEEL DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD BUSES ARE CANCELLED.—This means that ALL transportation services provided by the school board have been cancelled for the ENTIRE day.
Should the announcement be: THE SCHOOL AND OFFICES OF BOTH THE DUFFERIN PEEL CATHOLIC
DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD AND THE PEEL DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD ARE CLOSED.—This
means that ALL Dufferin Peel school and offices are closed to students and staff.
Should the announcement refer to cancellation only in the COUNTY OF DUFFERIN, this does not affect St. Valentine School.
We are on the web: http://www.dpcdsb.org/VALEN
Catholic Education Week
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. 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.
Our school community will celebrate Catholic Education Week 2016 in ways that are appropriate to our students’ age. We invite you to participate in one or other of these activities as your personal time and work schedule
may permit.
There are five sub-themes for each day of Catholic Education Week:





Monday – Mercy that Welcomes
Tuesday – Mercy that Loves
Wednesday – Mercy that Forgives
Thursday – Mercy that Lives the Gospel
Friday – Mercy that Rejoices
Every year, the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association (OCSTA) provides our Catholic schools
with a resource kit to help schools prepare for Catholic Education Week. Using these resources as well as our
own developed activities we have prepared a series of activities which will highlight how our school is ‘Opening
Doors of Mercy’.
A number of our students continue to arrive late daily. In some
Lates
instances, it is the same students arriving after 8:30 am without
Late arrivals cause disruption to the other students and also
parental accompaniment. This is a safety concern for us. Any
to the teacher who may have already begun his/her lessons
student arriving after 8:30 am is considered late and should be
for the day.
accompanied by an adult.
Developing good work habits and time management skills
Please make every effort to have your child/ren at school on
can maximize a child’s learning potential.
time. When a child is late, they not only miss opening pray-
Living
er and the anthem, but they also miss valuable teaching time.
Let’s work together to develop these skills!
Learning
Praying
Page 3
Volume 5, Issue 6
Milk Orders
Please note that a new milk order has begun for
term 2. Mrs. Dodgson has noticed that the
number of orders has had a significant drop. If you are
interested in your child(ren) receiving milk, please contact
us at the school for a new order form or to add their name
(s) to the list.
Kiss and Ride
The Kiss and Ride system is intended to provide parents with a quick and most importantly, a safe method of dropping off and picking up children at school.
As a reminder Kiss and Ride lanes are provided and well marked in order
to provide a lane for parent(s)/guardian(s) to safely pick-up/drop off children. It is essential that parents do not drop students off in any other lane
that is not intended to be a Kiss and Ride drop off/pickup lane. Students
are too often being let out of cars in alternate lanes and young students
are crossing in front of moving cars creating unsafe situations for children.
Secondly, Drive Through lanes are provided to keep traffic moving and
provide a safe lane for parent(s)/guardian(s) to enter and exit Kiss and
Ride areas. Parents are reminded to not park and exit their cars in any of
the Kiss and Ride Lanes, or the lanes marked Drive Through Lanes. This too
creates congestion and results in unsafe practices during pickup and
drop off. Parents are encouraged to use a parking spot if they wish to exit
their vehicles.
All of these practices are intended to ensure the safety of all students attending St. Valentine School. Thank you very much for reviewing this procedure and working together to ensure that all students are picked up and dropped off from school safely.
Living
Learning
Praying
Page 4
February 2016
Sun
Mon
Tue
1
Wed
2
Thu
3
Report Cards go
home
Fri
Sat
4
5
AM—Grad Photos
PA Day—Parent
Evening—Parent
Teacher Interviews
6
Teacher Interviews
9
10
12:00 pm—First
7
8
Shrove Tuesday—
Ash Wednesday—
11
12
Communion
Pancakes in the am
Liturgy at 10:00 am
16
17
18
19
AM—Rosary
Winter Walk to
French Carnivale
Spirit Week:
School Day
Spirit Week:
Pyjama and Teddy
Spirit Week: Winter Hat and Scarf
Bear Day
13
9:00 am—Feast Day
Mass at school
Preparation Mass
14
15
Apostolates Visit
Spirit Week:
21
28
Sports Jersey Day
Superhero Day
Day
23
24
25
26
School Confessions
Purple Shirt Day
School Chess
7:00 pm—Movie
9:30 am—Lenten
Tournament
Night
Mass at church
3:30 pm—Girls’ Night
22
29
In
10:45—Virtue
Assembly
“Step with care and great tact; and
remember Life’s a Great Balancing Act.”
Dr. Seuss
Living
Learning
Praying
20
27
Page 5
East Credit Pupil Accommodation Review
At its November 24 meeting, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District
School Board of Trustees approved the commencement of a Pupil
Accommodation Review in the East Credit Service area of Mississauga. Your child’s school is one of the eight elementary schools in-
Lunch Lady
volved in this review. The inclusion of your child’s school in the accommodation review process does not necessarily mean that it will close.
“HOT” Home style lunches
Parents and Guardians are encouraged to read the November 24
Board report and proposed options that were presented to trustees
prepared fresh daily
by staff, as required under Ministry of Education guidelines. The
Visit their website at
Board report is posted in its entirety on the board website at
www.dpcdsb.org.
www.lunchlady.ca
Policy documents, Board reports, Q and A’s, future meeting dates
Our Lunch Ladies are Merri and
and other materials are posted on the board website at
www.dpcdsb.org. Families are invited to send comments or questions via
the Board website (www.dpcdsb.org) or email to
Iis and can be emailed at Merri@thelunchlady.ca or by phone 905 828 9919 or faxed
at 905 828 6972
PARinfo@dpcdsb.org.
ST. VALENTINE SCHOOL
CHOCOLATE CHALLENGE 2016
St. Valentine School Council asks for your support of our Lamontagne Chocolate fundraiser. This year we plan to continue supporting various school
initiatives, including faith development and sacramental support, the Arts, academic programs. As a result of your support from chocolate sales last year, the
school was able to have students in grades 1-8 participate in the Health and Wellness Week activities and all students received virtues t-shirts! Also, we have
been able to bring the community together in celebration of a successful school year at our Spring Community Barbeque. In past years we have purchased
sports, gym, and playground equipment, computers, and subsidized various
excursions.
We have exciting incentives for our sellers! The three top selling families
will receive exciting prizes which will be announced in our next newsletter!
Also new this year will be various prizes for participation in the fundraising
event!
The kickoff assembly will take place on Wednesday March 9 . Chocolate will be sent home after the assembly.
We hope that—as in past years—you will be able to support our school and programs offered to enrich the educational experience of your children!
Living
Learning
Praying
Volume 5, Issue 6
Page 6
Call to Action: Catholic Education Advocacy Network
Once again, your support is needed to speak up for Catholic education. As in the past, the government of Ontario has launched the “Talk Ontario” website
to solicit ideas from Ontarians on the priorities they think should be addressed in the upcoming provincial budget. The site was launched a few weeks ago and
currently, the “ideas” generating some of the most feedback and getting the attention of the media, are those pushing for the amalgamation of school boards
and/or the elimination of publicly funded Catholic schools. You can also do a search on the site for “Catholic education” to bring up various posts related to
this topic.
We encourage our community to speak up in opposition to such ideas. In this regard, you may wish to share this with other Catholic education supporters
Following is a link to one of the more “popular” idea threads calling for the amalgamation of Ontario’s education system. You are encouraged to communicate
your opposition to any move in this direction: https://talks.ontario.ca/idea/amalgamate-catholic-and-public-school-boards NOTE: you will need to register to comment.
Here are some of counterpoints to the myth about amalgamation and financial savings in education:


Special interest groups opposed to Ontario’s Catholic schools argue that the elimination of Catholic schools through amalgamation would save about
$1 billion. This figure has no basis in fact.
The Reality: Education funding in Ontario is per-pupil based. This is the driver of costs and would not change under an amalgamated model. The only
way to save money through amalgamation would be to close SEVERAL HUNDRED schools in Ontario.

The Reality: If schools were amalgamated and hundreds of schools closed, all Ontario students (across all systems) would be displaced. There is no
indication that public school supporters would be prepared to move their children from the local public school in order to accommodate children living closer
to a Catholic school or vice versa. There would be disruption and chaos in every community across this province.

The Reality: The cost of amalgamation would far out-strip any savings. The last amalgamation in the education sector happened in 1998 and resulted in
the province spending $1.2 billion in additional “transition” costs for that amalgamation (SOURCE: Ministry of Education).


The Reality: Recent research from the University of Western Ontario (Timothy Cobban, 2014) shows that amalgamation does not save money.
The Reality: Catholic and public boards save taxpayers millions of dollars annually through a variety of successful business partnerships in such areas as:
co-operative school financing; purchasing; transportation; energy management and other shared services.
Thank you for supporting this effort to promote and protect Catholic education.
Hold and Secure Drills
Our School Board has established hold and secure procedures should a high risk incident occur
in the school, or on school property, that could endanger the lives and/or safety of students and/
or staff. We will continue to practice the Hold and Secure Procedures with students this term.
Student Immunization
20 day suspension for the student until their immunization records have been
updated. Please ensure that you have met all the requirements for your child’s
immunization records and ensure that the school receives the appropriate
documentation for these records. Below is the list of dates in which Peel
Public Health will be contacting parents/guardians of students with outThis month Peel Public Health will be collecting all student immunization records from every school in the Peel Region. To ensure our
school immunization records are up to date, we are asking all parents to
ensure that they have informed the school of any changes or updates to
their child’s immunization records or changes to your current address
standing immunization records:



If not updated by a third letter, schools will follow up with a mandatory
Living
February 1, 2016—Second letter package mailed to parents
March 24, 2016—Third letter package (Suspension order) mailed to
parents
and contact information. A series of letters will be mailed to parents
starting on January 20th for those outstanding immunization records.
December 7, 2015—First letter package mailed to parents

April 19—Suspension starts (in effect until requirements are met or 20
days)
Learning
Praying
Volume 5, Issue 6
Page 7
Nut Free Foods
Although we appreciate the thoughtfulness of parents sending in food items, due
to food allergies, it is against school policy
to share any items.
Inedible items such as pencils or stickers can
be sent to school to acknowledge special
events such as birthdays. Please know that
teachers do their best to acknowledge birthdays in the classrooms.
A gentle reminder that St. Valentine
School supports a nut free policy. On
All food items for personal consumption—
special occasions (St. Valentine’s Day)
including lunch and special occasions—
teachers will advise students what foods
should be nut free.
Thank you for your consideration and cooperation in making our classrooms safer for
all students.
they can bring for their own consumption.
Virtue for February —Respect
This month we will celebrate the virtue of respect. God has given us the virtues of friends and companions to keep us company and to help us out along the way. Every person in our lives carries the Spirit of God – and so every person is our brother
or sister through Jesus Christ. As brothers and sister who share one Holy Spirit, we are all valuable to God. We all de-
serve to be shown courtesy, consideration, sensitivity and thoughtfulness, which are different ways of saying respect. That
respect should come first and foremost from ourselves. We have to respect our selves and then we will be able to respect
others. We should also be able to expect to be treated with respect by everyone we meet – our brothers and sister in Jesus.
Through prayer and concentration, we can get better at respecting ourselves as well as respecting those around us.
REFLECTION…How will the people around me know that I consider them my spiritual brothers and sisters?
OUR DAILY PRAYER FOR FEBRUARY
Let us now pray… for the virtue of respect so that everyone we meet will feel like we are their brother or sister in Christ.
AMEN
Winter Safety
Snow and Ice
Winter Dress
Staying in for Recess
When the cool months arrive and snow and ice
Now that February is upon us, it seems appro-
Throughout the school year, with cold tempera-
on the ground plentiful, we all like to play in it
priate to remind everyone to please ensure that
tures, and so many students recovering from, or
and with it. Throwing snowballs and sliding on
your child comes to school prepared for winter
away from school because of colds, flu, etc., we
ice is fun. However, as much fun as it is, snow
weather. Fresh air and exercise are important
receive numerous requests to all children to re-
and ice, can be very dangerous when lots of
and the students go outside regularly for recess
main indoors during recesses. Please note that we
people are in a small area. Our school yard is a
unless the weather is extremely cold. Boots,
CANNOT comply, as we have neither the
small area where approximately four hundred
hats, scarves, gloves, winter coats and snow
facilities or the staff to supervise these students.
children have recess. Most student injuries
pants are necessary to keep warm and dry.
If your child is too ill to go outside for recess, then
happen during the winter time. In order for our
Wherever possible, please put identification on
he/she is too ill to be at school. On extremely
school to be as safe as possible, the school must
your child’s belongings. It is also important that
cold days, we limit the amount of time the students
be that snow stays on the ground – no snow-
indoor shoes are availa-
spend out of doors. We obtain our weather in-
balls, kicking snow or any other activity with
ble at school at all
formation from the Environment Canada Weath-
snow or ice that could be harmful.
times.
er info line and follow School Board guidelines.
Living
Learning
Praying
Page 8
Volume 5, Issue 6
The Last Word
Friday March 4, 2016
7:00 pm—8:30 pm
St. Valentine Gym
We are on the web: http://www.dpcdsb.org/VALEN
Living
Learning
Praying