34 Buick Boulevard, Brampton, ON L7A 3B9
PRINCIPAL ………………
SECRETARY …………….
SUPERINTENDENT …….
TRUSTEE ………………...
F. Bernard
C. Moore
S. Steer
D. B .D’Souza F. DiCosola
Tel: 905-840-3042
Fax: 905-840-0820
VICE PRINCIPAL ………..
PASTOR ………………….
PARISH …………………..
WEBSITE ………………...
M. Moncur
Fr. J. Gogolewski
Guardian Angels
www.dpcdsb.org/AIDAN
Enlightened by Knowledge. Enriched by Faith.
COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER
MARCH 2016
Yet even now, says the Lord, return
to me with all your heart, with fasting,
with weeping , and with mourning; rend
your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God, for He
is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love.
Joel2:12-13
Principal’s Message
Lent is a forty-day period before Easter beginning on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days because
Sundays commemorate the Resurrection. Lent is a season that reminds us to repent and get our lives centred and know our
priorities. This holy season offers us a new chance to say “Yes” to God. Lent is a season of hope and with ashes
on our forehead and hope in our hearts, we go forth to love and serve others. As we begin the Lenten journey,
let us join to celebrate that journey together as a community and prepare for Holy Week and the Resurrection
of Our Lord. In the spirit of this month’s virtue of kindness, let us try to perform random acts of kindness to
all those we meet.
As a Catholic school, Lent will be highlighted in our school. We will emphasize and remind the students often
that this is a "special" time of year. During the forty days of Lent, we will turn to Christ to learn how to live as
children of God. We will encourage all staff and students to do the following things as part of their Lenten preparation:

to listen carefully to the word of God in the gospel, focusing on the gifts of forgiveness and compassion;

to pray more frequently, bringing all of their needs, hopes, dreams, and gratitude to our Lord;

to participate in celebrations of reconciliation and charitable works of social justice; and

to try to be helpful to everyone in every way without seeking reward or recognition.
1
CATHOLIC EDUCATION
Sharing Our Thanks and Blessings . . .
We would like to acknowledge and express our gratitude for
all the events, and especially the following . . .

Our Catholic School Council Parent Volunteers,

Our Parents and Staff, who support the efforts
of our school council, and the school, such as
attending our Ash Wednesday Liturgy, Virtue of
Respect assembly, etc.;

Our Parents, Students, and Teachers who
arranged to attend conferences after report cards
were sent home;

Our Teachers who continue to work on their Theory
of Action on descriptive feedback, learning goals,
and success criteria with a focus on Numeracy, and
participate in a number of professional activities
that focus on student achievement.
Virtue for March
During the month of March, we will celebrate the
virtue of kindness. With the students we
will be reinforcing that a person with kindness:
 is gentle and sensitive to others;
 always looks for ways to be helpful;
 sticks up for people who are picked on;
 refuses to join in when others are being mean.
Our daily prayer for March will be . . . Let us pray for the
virtue of kindness so that everyone we meet will feel like we
are looking out for their good. Amen.
Putting Our Faith Into Action
ShareLife supports a number of Catholic organizations
within the community and Archdiocese of Toronto. Student
involvement in school-based activities will help to raise some
funds, and events will be planned to raise additional proceeds
to donate to this worthy cause. You will receive further
information on this campaign.
Celebrating the Sacraments
We remind parents/guardians of students in grades 2, 7,
and 8 who wish to have their child(ren) receive the
sacraments of the following dates:
 First Holy Communion – Sunday, April 17 ,
2016 at 3:00 p.m. at Guardian Angels Parish.

First Reconciliation – Monday, April 4, 2016 at 9:30
a.m. at St. Aidan School

Confirmation – April 20, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.
at Guardian Angels Parish
World Day of Prayer – March 6th
The World Day of Prayer is an invitation to pray together so
that we might bring a more authentically Christian dimension
to the concerns of our world, country, and our community.
CATHOLIC SCHOOL COUNCIL NEWS
Catholic School Council Update
Our next
Catholic School Council Meeting
is scheduled to take place on
Tuesday, March 7, 2016 at 6:30 p.m.
All parents and staff are invited
to attend these meetings.
With the season of Lent, we will continue our annual
ShareLife campaign. ShareLife has a long tradition of
assisting the vulnerable and marginalized in our community
dating back to the 1840’s when our first Archbishop of
Toronto, Michael Power, personally worked with immigrants
who were dying of typhus. Today we continue this tradition
by extending an invitation to all Catholics to take part in
continuing to care for the vulnerable among us.
2
Please note _ we have added some additional meetings for
this current year. Catholic School Council meetings will be
held at 6:30 p.m. on:
March 7
April 13
May 18
June 8
School Lunches
Currently we have the following lunch opportunities:
Tuesdays – Lunch Lady
Wednesdays – Pita Pit
Thursdays – Pizza
Fridays – Lunch Lady
There will be one more lunch opportunity added
Mondays – Great Canadian Bagel
company of our families and our friends. We wish everyone
a very happy and restful holiday.
Definitely much to choose from.
CCCSC Conference and Marketplace - April 9
The Central Committee of Catholic School Councils in
Dufferin-Peel CDSB, invites everyone to attend their annual
conference.
Please see the attached flyer or visit
http://www.dpcdsb.org/CCCSC/.
Dr. Susan Williams, a
Psychologist is the keynote speaker on Parent’s Guide to
Reducing Stress and Increasing Resilience in Children, and
various workshop sessions will be available. It will be a half
day in your life well-spent.
SAFETY/SECURITY COMES FIRST
PROGRAM & CURRICULUM
EQAO-Grades 3&6 Assessments-Coming Soon
Once again this year, Grades 3 and 6 students will
participate
in
Provincial
Education
Quality
and
Accountability Office testing (EQAO). The testing will take
place between May 25th and June 8th. Looking ahead to these
assessments, we ask that you try to schedule medical or
other appointments at another time if it means that a
student in these grades is required to be absent or late. One
of the factors which will contribute to student success is
consistent and uninterrupted attendance during the
province’s designated time for administering the tests.
Kindergarten Registration for September 2016
Although we have already registered Kindergarten children
for next year, it is not too late to register for Junior
Kindergarten. If you wish to register
your child for September 2016, please
contact us at 905-840-3042.
Current Junior Kindergarten students
who are already registered at St. Aidan School will
automatically enter Senior Kindergarten and do not need to
register.
Don’t Forget . . .
Together with our students, we are looking forward to the
March break, when we will have the time to enjoy the
3
SAFETY PROCEDURES IN PLACE
Creating a caring school environment in which
staff and students respect and trust each
other and where all students feel connected,
understand
expectations,
and
receive
behavioural and mental health support is essential. The work
we do through our virtues program to build empathy and
respect within our students is a proactive step we engage in
daily to help them develop strong Catholic values. We
appreciate your on-going assistance with following our rules
in the interest and safety of our students.
• All visitors to the school should ONLY enter the school
through the front door. All other doors to the school are
locked during the school day.
• Kindergarten and grade 1 students are “hand to hand”
delivered to parents/guardians by school staff at the end of
the day while grade 2-8 are dismissed at the door on their
own. Parents need to be on time for pick-up at the end of the
day. All students are required to exit through their
designated doors (not the front door) – this includes
students going home for lunch.
• Parents are not allowed to go to their child’s classroom or
be in the school during the school day.
• If you are waiting to pick up your child, you are encouraged
to wait by their exit door. Please do not go down the hallway.
If you wish to speak to your child’s teacher, please call the
school office to make an appointment.

We encourage you to walk as much as possible – this
will help with your child’s activity level.
• Students are only to be picked up from the school during
the day by an authorized adult who has been added as a
contact to our files.

Use Kiss N’ Ride to drop off and pick up your
children.

Vehicles in the Kiss N’ Ride lane are not to be
left unattended.

Do not park in the outside part of the driveway
and block the Kiss N’ Ride.

Children must exit your vehicle by the right hand
side door(s) only.

Only vehicles that have a handicap sign displayed in
their vehicle are allowed to park in the handicap
parking spots in the school parking lot. Under no
conditions should vehicles without a handicap sign
park in these designated areas.

Traffic must travel only one way in the driveway.

You must not stop or park in the Fire Route.

Drive SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY. BE PATIENT!
• Put in place emergency backup procedures in the event that
you are unable to pick up your child. Please do not rely on the
school to look after your children because you are running
late.
• If your regular routine of picking up your
child from school has changed, you MUST
indicate this in a note to your child’s
classroom teacher. If you need to pick up
your child early, you MUST send a note
with your child to give to your child’s teacher. Please make
every effort to reduce having to take your child early from
school, as he or she is losing valuable instructional time, as
well as disrupting the classroom with interruptions.
• Our staff has been reminded to be observant and aware of
their surroundings at all times. If parents are aware of any
safety concerns, please bring them to the attention of the
school Principal or Vice Principal.
• Please be assured that we continue to review proper
Lockdown and Safety Procedures with our students. Please
note that all safety policy and procedures are reviewed
regularly. The safety of students and staff continues to be
a priority. We are required to have a second Lockdown Drill,
as well as, three additional fire/emergency drills.
School Driveway/Parking Lot Safety
SAFETY ON SCHOOL PROPERTY IS MOST IMPORTANT!
We realize that your child’s safety is of primary importance
to you as it is to us. Thank you to all those who have been
co-operating with our efforts to keep children safe when
they are arriving or leaving the school.
We urge you to exercise caution when picking up or dropping
off
your
children,
and
also
to
be
following all road
signs.
Please
caution
your
child not to walk
between
slow
moving vehicles or parked cars. Students are reminded that
they should be walking properly along the sidewalk and not
crossing the parking lot to get to cars parked on the road.
Please continue to use the Kiss N’ Ride procedures diligently
and properly . . .
4
We will be using Parking Enforcement Officers to help us
with enforcing city parking by-laws in the area around the
school.
School Property
Be careful on school property . . . when there is snow or rain,
please exercise extra caution. Our custodial staff continue
to work with contractors to remove snow and ice, and other
debris. For everyone’s safety, please note the following:
 Walk carefully and be mindful.
 Ensure students dress appropriately for the
weather conditions.
 Although constant efforts are undertaken to clear
sidewalks, paths, parking lots and paved play areas,
ongoing freezing temperatures my continue to make
areas slippery.
 Exercise caution when leaving your vehicles.
 Drive slowly and safely.
Leaving the Property –all students and adults must leave
school property after school. Students are not to remain on
school property and play on the pavement or on the field.
Although we know that sliding on ice can be fun, children are
told to stay away from any ice patches-this includes before
and after school. On our schoolyard surrounded by many
other students, ice can be unsafe. Students are reminded
on a frequent basis to stay away from any ice. Please
reinforce this procedure with your child - including before
and after school.
Bullying Prevention Initiatives
We continue to have a variety of Bullying Prevention
Initiatives.
These include our Virtues
Program, Positive Climate, Youth Education
Officer presentations, and many other
meaningful school wide and classroom
programs and activities. We also ask
parents/guardians to continue to help us
nurture virtue and character development in the lives our
students.
Cyber Safety
The Internet can be a great resource for children and
adults. They can use it to research, communicate with
others,
and
play
interactive
games.
Sometimes that access can pose hazards.
One area that we are seeing an increase in
abuse is in the use of social media. That's
why it's important to be aware of what your
children see and hear on the Internet, who they meet, and
what they share about themselves online. Just like any
safety issue, it's wise to talk with your children about your
concerns, take advantage of resources to protect them, and
keep a close eye on their activities
SCHOOL OPERATIONS
Are You Planning to Move?
If you will be moving out of the St. Aidan School area
between now and September 2016, please inform the school
as soon as possible. This information assists with our
planning, organization of classes, ordering materials, etc. for
2016-2017. Updated records are
also important in the event of an
emergency and if we are required to
contact you immediately.
Grade 8 Grad Photos - SMILE
Grade 8 students will be able to have their memorable Grad
Photos taken on March 8th. Photo proofs will be sent home.
More information will be brought to you by your child (ren).
Edge Imaging Presents: SMILE TOGETHER
On Tuesday, March 8, a premium sibling photography
program that captures your timeless memories for you, so
5
you can spend your time enjoying them will
be presented. You will be able to have
siblings photographed together. It is a
fabulous opportunity for that family photo.
This will not be a time for individual photos
of students – this was done earlier in the
year. Photo proofs will be sent home with
your child, approximately two weeks after photo day. No
payment is due on photo day. A flyer will come home with
your child (ren).
Did You Know? . . .
You can access the Nelson Math Website and have your child
take part in practice quizzes by following these directions:
 Go to www.math3.nelson.com. This is for grade 3
Math.
 To access another grade level, simply replace the 3
in the grade level you wish.
 Click on Student Centre
 Click on TRY IT OUT.
Happy Learning!
Come Celebrate Spring with FDK
The Kindergarten students will be singing, dancing and
reciting spring themes for you. Parents/Guardians will be
invited to this special concert featuring our youngest
students. Mark your calendars for April 25th @ 9:00 a.m. &
6:00 p.m.
Junior Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball Season
We have just completed the junior basketball season. Both
the boys and girls basketball teams demonstrated excellent
teamwork, fair play, and strong determination and
endurance.
Both teams placed second in the mini
tournaments and returned back to school positive and full of
happiness. BRAVO FLAMES!!
KEEPING HEALTHY
Eco-Schools
St. Aidan School has a variety of initiatives in place to
heighten the community’s awareness of environmental
stewardship. Mrs. Cataldo, Mrs. Agusta, and Mrs. Novak
and an Eco-School Committee of students run activities in
support. Your continued support is always appreciated.
National Sweater Day
On February 4, St. Aidan participated in National Sweater
Day. It was a fun day to learning about the importance of
saving energy and to inspire us to use less heat all winter.
Heating accounts for 80% of residential energy use in
Canada and is a significant source of emissions. If all
Canadians lowered their thermostats by just 2 degrees
Celsius, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 4
megatons – that’s equivalent to taking nearly 700,000 cars
off the road.
. . . AND FINALLY
I Leave You With This Thought . .
Pope Francis says:
“Do not forget that the mercy of God is
our shield and strength against
injustice, destruction
and oppression.”
Happy St. Patrick’s Day . . .
An Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
Mark Your Calendars
March 6
March 7
March 6-12
March 8
March 8
March 13
March 17
March 14-18
March 19
March 20
March 23
March 24
March 25
March 26
March 26
March 27
6
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Catholic School Council Meeting @ 6:30 pm
Social Work Week
Grade 8 Grad Photos
Sibling Photos
First Sunday of Lent
Feast of St. Patrick
March Break – no school
Feast of St. Joseph
First Day of Spring
Day for the Great Gulp
Stations of the Cross
Good Friday – no school
Earth Hour
Holy Saturday
Easter Sunday – Christ is Risen!
March 28
March 30
April 1
Easter Monday – no school
Virtue of Kindness Assembly
Brampton West Family Chess Tournament
at Guardian Angels School
April 4
First Reconciliation 9:30 a.m. at St. Aidan
School
April 11
NEW P.A. Day – no school for students
April 13
Catholic School Council Meeting @6:30 p.m.
April 13
International Day of Pink
April 14
Hep. B/Meningitis Clinic
April 17
First Holy Communion for grade 2 at
Guardian Angel Church @ 3:00 p.m
April 20
Confirmation for grades 7 & 8 at Guardian
Angels Church @ 7:00 p.m.
April 25
FDK Spring Concert @ 9:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m.
April 22
Earth Day
April 29
Virtue Assembly
May 1-7
Catholic Education Week
May 4
Crowning of Mary Celebration
May 4
Welcome to Kindergarten Event @6:00 p.m.
May 8
Mother’s Day
May 13
PA Day – no school for students
May 18
Catholic School Council Meeting @6:30 p.m.
May 23
Victoria Day Holiday
May 25-June 8 EQAO Assessment Days
May 30
Virtue Assembly
June 1-2
Dental Screening for grades FDK, 2, 8
June 8
Catholic School Council Meeting @ 6:30 pm
June 13
PA Day – no school for students
June 16
Brampton West Family Track Meet
June 20
First Day of Summer
June 22
FDK Celebration @ 9:00 a.m. in school gym
June 27
End of the Year Mass @ 9:00 a.m. in the
school gym
June 27
Grade 8 Grad Trip to Niagara Falls
June 28
Reports sent home
June 29
Virtue assembly in school gym
June 29
Grad Luncheon/Dance
June 29
Grad Ceremony @ 6:30 p.m. in school gym
June 30
Last day of school
Please check your child’s agenda nightly
for important dates & information
Attachments Included with this Newsletter
 March Volume 6 Math @ Home Parent Communication
Flyer
 Brampton Library flyer on various March Break
Activities
 CCCSC Conference and Marketplace Brochure for the
upcoming event to be held on April 9, 2016
7