A N ADVENT PRAYER
Lord, people waited thousands of years for the
Savior.
Sometimes it feels that long when we wait for
something.
Help us wait patiently this Advent for the gift of
your Son.
Thank you for sending baby Jesus to light our
world.
May we be a light to others this Advent.
We ask this through Jesus,
the light of the world.
AMEN.
INSIDE DECEMBER’S ISSUE
Gift Cards for Christmas!
Page 2
Be a Part of Project Marcy
Page 2
Extended French 2016-2017
Page 3
Full Day Kindergarten Registration
Page 4
Advent Food Drive
Page 5
St. Timothy Parish News
Page 6
ADVENT MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
With the upcoming hustle and bustle of Christmas
shopping, the house to decorate and presents to
wrap, it is important, as Catholics, to remember that
Advent has already begun. It is sometimes a difficult
season to celebrate because of the commercialism
of the secular world in which we live. At this time,
we keep in mind people who are less fortunate. St.
Andrew School community will be participating in
an Advent Food Drive where students are given
opportunities to love in the light of Christ.
According to the General Norms for the Liturgical
Year, Advent has a twofold nature: It prepares us for
Christmas, when we recall Christ’s first coming
among us, and it is also a time when we look
forward to His second coming at the end of the
ages. Advent is the season of joyful expectation. Our
challenge, as Catholics, is to help our children to
look beyond the materialism of Christmas and focus
on the spiritual preparation during the Advent
season.
Enjoy the Advent Season and
Merry Christmas!
Please follow us on Twitter @StAndrewSchool
or Remind (see Sept. Newsletter for details)
Students and Staff from St. Andrew, St. Benedict and St.
Peter Schools taking part in the Santa Clause Parade!
Together in Faith and Excellence
1
Need Gift Cards for Christmas?
Our School Council wants to remind you that Fundscrip
is an innovative program that lets YOU earn cash
rebates for St. Andrew School based on things you buy
everyday like groceries, gas, other household items and
gift cards especially for Christmas! Every month you
typically spend hundreds of dollars for things like food,
gas, clothing, pharmacy, restaurants, electronics, home
renovations, department stores, and so on. All you have
to do is pay for some or all of your purchases using GIFT
CARDS bought at face value from FundScrip
participating retailers (over 140 retail stores!) and a
percentage of every gift card purchased is contributed
to St. Andrew’s fundraising efforts! So instead of paying
with cash or a debit card, you use a gift card that you
purchased through our group. It costs you nothing extra
but you just earned money for our school.
Fundscrip is now offering two awesome programs:
1) Direct Shopping with ‘Letter Mail’ program
2) NEW! – eGift Cards!
Our School Council is very excited to offer this eGift
Cards option. Please see link below. This is another
fantastic, easy option to help you quickly raise funds for
St. Andrew School. Please visit the website at:
www.fundscrip.com/egift-cards for more details and to
join today! (School Code-4CAR2P)
**Order by December 8th and gift cards will arrive in
time for Christmas!**
‘Take a Walk to Christmas’ Concert
The FDK to Grade 3 classes (including Mr. Malec’s class)
have been busily preparing for the Primary Concert
taking place on Monday, December 14th at 6 p.m. sharp.
There will be a reminder note going home but you are
asked to ensure that your child arrives at 5:40 p.m.
sharp. Students will be supervised by their teachers in
their classrooms before and after their performance.
Our School Council will have a table set up in the foyer
to sell calendar raffle tickets. See you on December 14!
School Council Calendar Raffle!
St. Andrew School Council invites you to participate in
our 2016 Calendar Raffle. Last year this successful
fundraiser supported our school in purchasing some
learning materials for our students such as the
Mathletics program, so we're doing it again! Purchase a
raffle ticket for $5 or 3 for $10, and you will be entered
into a draw to win a $50 gift card of your choice at the
end of each month. Or you could win our early bird
prize - a $100 grocery gift card to be raffled off at the
Primary Christmas concert on December14th. Calendar
tickets will be sent home with students or can be
purchased at the door on the night of the concert on
December 14th.
Still Time to Join Project MERCY!
A special thank you to the 93 families that have already
brought in a container for Project Mercy. As you already
know, Pope Francis has declared that the Year of Mercy
will begin on December 8th. The
year ahead of us encourages
reflection and prayer of ways
that we can show empathy and
help others through God’s
guidance. We are all called to
show mercy.
With this in mind, the Gr. 6 Extended French class and
the Youth Faith Ambassadors have decided to team up
to create Project MERCY (Making Each Recognize the
Christ in Yourself) Gift Boxes. Project MERCY is a chance
for our school community to help those in developing
countries through the efforts of Dr. Simone’s Canadian
Food for Children Foundation. Dr. Simone has created
this non-profit organization to help those in need. They
fill shipping containers with donations of various items
for countries in need. This year, we will be helping to fill
the shipping containers with small plastic boxes (size of
a shoe box), which may contain a variety of items such
as: toothpaste and tooth brush
 soap and wash clothes
 small toys
 hard candy
 pencils and other school supplies
 colouring books and stickers
 hair brushes and hair ties
 ribbon and craft supplies, etc.
We would love to send one to two boxes per family
down to Dr. Simone later this month and we ask that
they be sent to school no later than Thurs. Dec. 17th. All
the students and staff are excited about Project MERCY
Gift Boxes, and thank you very much in advance for
your support!
Together in faith and excellence
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Celebrating The Year of Mercy
A Great Team Effort Girls!
The Holy Year of Mercy (beginning December 8th) will be
an opportunity to encourage Catholics to meet people’s
“real needs” with concrete assistance, to experience a
“true pilgrimage” on foot and to send “missionaries of
mercy” throughout the world to forgive even the most
serious of sins, according to Archbishop Fisichella.
Between December 8th and November 20th, 2016, our
school board and our school will be engaged in a
number of activities to celebrate the Year of Mercy
declared by Pope Francis himself. The Jubilee of Mercy
has an official website in seven different languages and
you are encouraged to visit the site at: www.im.va
On Wednesday, November 25th, the Intermediate Girls
Volleyball team played in a local tournament. They
played with skill, optimism, and great sportsmanship. All
of the girls played really well in all three games and
demonstrated improvement as the tournament went on.
Each of them should be very proud of placing second in
our annual tournament. Thank you for the dedication
girls: Hillary, Sophie, Sophia, Julie, Lauren, Jurnee,
Shannon, Lexi, Vanessa, Sara, Sarah-Rose, and Victoria. A
special thank you to the coaches: Mme. Sellers and Ms.
Mederios.
Join The Battery Challenge!
Grade 5s Visit Town Hall
The grade 5 class had an opportunity to visit the Town
Hall which included a guided tour by our mayor, Jeremy
Williams. The students are studying Local Government,
so the trip certainly enhanced their learning. They also
had a chance to sit in the chambers and were able to
participate in a mock municipal council meeting!
Our Eco Club is going for the platinum Eco Schools
certification this year after getting gold three years in a
row! You can help by joining in on The Battery
Challenge. The information is on our school website.
(‘About’ tab> Eco News> BATTERY COLLECTION CHALLENGE)
Through the leadership of our Eco Club, our school is
trying to reach platinum this year. A great showing in
the battery challenge will certainly give us some much
needed points. On behalf of the Eco Club, thank you so
much for participating!
Extended French Open House for
Parents & Students in Grade 4
BIG Thank You to School Council!
Our School Council members (and family members too!)
were busy little elves making the 59 Christmas planters
that were ordered by parents. The mini-fundraiser was a
great success! For those of you who ordered one, be sure
to tell a friend how beautiful they look! Next year, our
School Council hopes to sell 100! A special thank you to
all our Council members for their hard work and a special
thank you to Mrs. Mazenauer who foraged for all the
greenery on her own property prior to the planters being
put together. Also, for those interested, the fleece
headbands are still on sale for $5.00 every day between
12:00-12:20 p.m. in the Office until Dec. 16th.
Grade 4 parent/guardians and their son/daughter, who
wish to learn more about the Grade 5 Extended French
class at St. Andrew School
for September, 2016 are
invited to attend an Open
House Night on Thurs., January 14th from 6-7 p.m.
Classrooms will be open for you and your son/daughter
to visit and speak with the teachers as well as current
students speaking about the benefits of the program.
At the present time, St. Andrew School is the school
board’s designated Extended French center for our
area. We’ll be sharing registration information as well
as deadline dates from 7:00 - 7:15 p.m. Refreshments
will be available and some door prizes to be won! We
look forward to seeing you at our Extended French
Open House!
Together in faith and excellence
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Bus Cancellations and Possible
School Closing During Winter
During the winter months inclement weather may
cause disruption of bus transportation and regular
school operations. A decision to
cancel school transportation
and/or to close schools is usually
made by 6:00 a.m. and will be
announced on the following radio
and television stations:
VIRGIN RADIOFM 99.9
CFTR AM680 CFNY FM 102.1
CFRB AM1010 EZ ROCK FM 97.3
FM93.1 FM Q107 CHIN
FM 100.7
CITYPULSE
CHUM AM1050
CJCL AM590 CHFI FM 98.1
CJBC AM860 FM Z103.5
AM1540 CBC 99.1
GLOBAL NEWS CTV
www.stwdsts.ca is the transportation services website
designed to help parents find bus information and to
answer common transportation questions.
Is your
child’s bus late? A subscription service is now available
that will notify via e-mail when your child(ren)’s bus has
been cancelled or is delayed. The “Bus Delays” link
allows you to view a list of reported bus delays with an
estimate of how long each one is delayed. The
“Cancellations-Closures” link provides today’s report on
bus and taxi cancellations and school closures due to
inclement weather. This service is active from November
1 to March 31. At all other times this report is only
updated if inclement weather forces the cancellation of
school buses or the closure of schools. A further option is
to contact the school as bus cancellation information will be
recorded by 7:00 a.m. on our school’s answering machine.
Inclement Weather Reminders
Our winter season is here! At this time we would like to
remind all students to dress appropriately for the
season by wearing the proper winter attire which
should include hats, gloves/mitts, winter
coats and boots. When students are
dressed properly for the winter
conditions, they can go outside and enjoy
some fresh air and activity in comfort. There will be a
few times during the course of the year where a recess
may be shortened or held indoors due to extreme cold
temperatures. Our school board policy states that
although consideration should be given for keeping
students indoors during recesses when the wind chill
reaches –20 C, students are to be kept indoors during
recesses when the wind chill reaches –25 C. In the
colder weather, we receive numerous requests to allow
children to remain indoors when students have a cold,
the flu, etc. Please note that we cannot comply, as we
neither have the facilities nor the staff to supervise
these students. Moreover, the health officials indicate
that the fresh air is good for children….not harmful as
long as they are dressed appropriately.
Snowballs and Snow Forts
Now that the snow has arrived, it is of importance to
remind students that St. Andrew School has a strict rule
of forbidding the throwing of snowballs. Every student
has been made aware of the importance of this rule in
the preventing of injury to others. A snowball that hits
another student and causes injury can be seen as a
weapon. Students have been informed about the
consequences for throwing snowballs and that ignoring
this rule can result in suspension. We also want to avoid
any issues with students building snow forts. Mr. LaCute
has reminded students not to tunnel through snow and
to not build forts higher than waist high. We certainly
want students to enjoy the snow during recess time and
hope these very simple rules will help everyone.
Having ‘snow’ much fun at recess!
Full Day Kindergarten Planning
for September 2016
Registration for Full-Day Kindergarten for the
September 2016 will take place at St. Andrew School:
Monday, January 25, 2016
*7 p.m. - 9 p.m.*
Wednesday, January 27 , 2016
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Friday, January 29, 2016
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Snow Date:
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
For more information about registration and the Full-Day
Kindergarten program, call 519-942-0262 or visit
www.dpcdsb.org. To register your child, you will need:
1. Proof of Birth Certificate or Passport
2. Original Catholic baptismal certificate of the Roman,
Greek, or Ukrainian Rite, for one parent and child (if child has
Together in faith and excellence
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not been baptized, a letter of counseling with the parish
priest).
3. Updated immunization records.
4. Proof of Canadian citizenship or landed immigrant status.
5. Real estate document, e.g., Purchase Agreement/*Rental
Agreement (*If the rental agreement is not a formal,
corporate-issued document, it must be notarized).
**A driver’s license is not an accepted document
6. For schools in Caledon and Dufferin County,
emergency rural address numbers for identifying your
property.
For more information, call 942-0262.
Advent Food Drive
Christmas is a wonderful time for
us to bless our community by
helping those in need. Starting
Dec 7, St. Andrew School will be
carrying out an Advent Food
Drive and will be collecting nonperishable food for the
Orangeville Food bank. We are
hoping that every student will bring in one item over
the next couple of weeks. Some items that are in high
demand at the Food Bank are: canned goods, peanut
butter, Kraft Dinner and various packaged snacks for
children. Food items will be collected up until
Wednesday, December 16th. All contributions are
appreciated and will help make a difference this Advent
season.
and/or equal to last year. (Please note that you are
asked not to make up your own hamper). Many of those
in need often can’t afford ‘holiday fare’ items so please
consider sending in: Christmas cookies, snacks, bottled
apple juice, tinned vegetables and canned fruit. As well,
many seniors access support from St. Vincent de Paul
Society and the following items are always in need:
body wash, cream, toothbrushes or deodorant.
For those who are also interested in helping to pack the
hampers the evening of December 18th, please call the
Main office by December 16th.
‘Out of the Cold’ in January
Our amazing Student Faith Ambassadors are always
thinking of those who may be in need. They came up
with an idea to collect ‘gently used’ winter clothing (i.e.
hats, scarves, gloves, boots, snow pants). If your child
receives new winter clothing items and you are looking
to donate them or you have clothing too small for your
children, please hang on to it to bring in January. Please
note that we are also collecting adult sizes as well.
Tuesday Pizza Lunch Update
Pizza Days will start up again on Tuesdays starting
January 5th. A reminder that if bus or schools are
cancelled on a Tuesday, then Pizza Day would be on
Wednesday. Thank
Our Float in Santa Claus Parade!
A very special thank you to Mr. Murray for all his efforts
in building the nativity scene that he proudly drove on
behind his pick-up truck at the Orangeville Santa Claus
Parade. Also, thank you to Mrs. Albanese and many
Student Faith Ambassadors who joined in the fun the
night of the parade. Our three elementary Catholic
schools were proud to demonstrate the importance of
Catholic education being alive and well in Orangeville!
St. Vincent de Paul’s Annual
Christmas Hamper Drive
Please help support the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s
Christmas Hamper Drive. This is a visible and concrete
way of extending our hands
to help the less fortunate in
our immediate community.
Last year, over 60 hampers
were delivered to families in
need. Demand this year is expected to be greater
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Extra Pair of Gloves-Good Idea
For those who can, we suggest students have a spare
dry set of gloves in their backpacks. When students play
in the snow, gloves tend to get wet and stay wet.
Having a second set certainly helps for recesses later in
the day.
Bus Delays Due to the Weather
With winter weather fast
approaching, it is possible that
buses may be delayed at times.
We ask that you please be
flexible in understanding that bus
runs may be delayed due to poor
weather conditions. We suggest
that you please check www.stwdsts.ca for up-to-theminute bus delay information.
Attention – Nut Allergy Alert!
As mentioned in previous newsletters, we have several
students and staff who have life
threatening allergies to nuts, sesame
seeds and/or peanuts. We are asking that
you help us make St. Andrew an allergy
aware school by refraining from sending
your children with peanut butter or other products
containing nuts or nut oils (i.e., Nutella). If these students
come into contact with anything containing nuts, nut oils
or derivatives, it could be life threatening. Some
students have such a severe allergy that only the smell of
the allergen may cause a reaction.
Reminders and Resources: Cold
and Flu Season
As cold and flu season approaches, the Dufferin-Peel
Catholic District School Board continues to be vigilant in
ensuring that our schools are clean and that our school
communities are educated regarding good hand
hygiene and cough etiquette. These practices are
promoted on an ongoing basis, but as the prevalence of
colds and flu increases, our board increases the cleaning
of contact surfaces, as well as reminds schools to review
cold and flu prevention with students and staff. Many
resources are utilized from our regional health units.
A reminder, as well, that communicable diseases can be
contracted in public places throughout the year. For
example, cold-related viruses, such as Enterovirus, are
transferred from person to person through hand
contact. Cold and flu viruses typically peak from
December through February, but can start as early as
October.
HOPE is December’s Virtue
Throughout the month of December, our teachers will
be doing a number of activities to help them reflect and
understand how important the virtue of HOPE is.
People of Hope:
 Keep a positive
attitude
 Can bounce back
from a tough
situation
 Set and stick to
their goals
 See the good in
others even when
they make mistakes
 Work to include
others
 Let others know
that they are good
people
St. Timothy Parish News:
Attention all St Timothy Church families- As a parish
community of faith, please pray in a specific way for the
youth of the Church during Advent and Christmas.
(1)EDGE for grades 6, 7 and 8!
Our EDGE season continues! At EDGE we have fun with
games and challenges, get to make new friends and
experience our faith through talks and prayer. It will
be a blast! It all happens in the upstairs hall at St
Timothy Church from 6:45pm until 9pm ready for pick
up by parents!
Registration forms are available in the EDGE folder in
the church vestibule and can be returned to the church
office or at the EDGE night.
UPCOMING EDGE dates: FRIDAY December 11TH
FRIDAY December 18th
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All students in grades 6, 7 & 8 are invited, and bring
your friends too!
(2)R.O.C. (Rite of Confirmation) Candidates
The NEXT ROC session is Saturday December 12. Please
refer to your ROC group schedule for time.
Please remember to complete your Homily Reflection
forms and place them in the ROC folder in the church
vestibule ROC folder when you're done!
(3) Confirmation Candidates SPECIAL EVENT:
Attention Confirmation Candidates: On FRIDAY January
1st 2016 we are inviting all Confirmation Candidates to
join our Saint Timothy Youth Ministry (STYM) at the
11am Holy Mass at St Timothy Church in honour of
Mother Mary. Right after the Mass we will go to up to
the Parish Hall and have an awesome CLASSIC BOARD
GAMES DAY!! Bring a friend, bring a game if you want,
many games will be supplied. Bring $5 for a pizza lunch
and snacks. It all happens from 12noon-4pm!
For more information, questions or if you’d be
interested in helping out in any of our NEW and
GROWING youth ministries please contact Adam (Youth
Minister) at St Timothy Parish.
Email: sttimym@hotmail.com Phone: (519) 941-2424 ext 224
Thank you very much for your support!
DATES TO
REMEMBER
PLEASE PLACE DATES ON FAMILY CALENDAR
• Dec. 8th – Advent School Mass 9:45 a.m.
• Dec. 9th – Confessions (Gr. 3 – 7) all day
• Dec. 14 – ‘Take a Walk to Christmas’ Concert – 6 p.m.
• Dec. 17 – Gr/ 4-8 classes going to Theatre Orangeville
December 19 -January 3- Christmas Holidays
•Jan. 4- School re-opens
• Jan. 5 – Pizza Day
• Jan. 12 – FDK Info for Special with Special Needs – 7p.m.
(Catholic Education Center – Rm. 301)
•Jan. 14- Extended French Open House
• Jan. 25- Kindergarten registration 7 to 9pm
Together in faith and excellence
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On behalf the staff of St. Andrew
School, we wish you and your family a
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
Together in faith and excellence
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Together in Faith and Excellence
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