A LENTEN PRAYER
O Jesus, you place on my forehead
the sign of your saving Cross:
“Turn from sin and be faithful
to the gospel.”
How can I turn from sin
unless I turn to you?
You speak, you raise your hand,
you touch my mind and call my name,
“Turn to the Lord your God again.”
These days of your favor
leave a blessing as you pass
on me and all your people.
Turn to us, Lord God,
and we shall turn to you.
AMEN.
INSIDE MARCH’S ISSUE
Speech Competition Winners
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ShareLife Staff/Parent vs. Student Game
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2 IMPORTANT Parent Surveys Due Mar. 31st
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SAVE THE DATE!
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
We are well into the season of Lent which began
with Ash Wednesday on Wednesday, February 10th.
Lent is not an unhappy time but it is a serious time.
With our families, we take time to think how we are
living up to God’s law of love. We watch and pray
with Christ. We all do our part. Together as parents
and educators, let us make good plans for Lent. We
can choose actions that everyone can participate in.
These actions can help us to atone for our sins, to
become more prayerful, to make our lives more
simple and to share what we have with those in our
community and throughout the world who are in
need. That is the purpose of our Lenten sacrifices.
Some suggested Lenten disciplines for you and your
family to consider: (1) Daily prayer as a whole
family; (2) Almsgiving - setting aside some change
each day as an offering to those in need; (3) Being
committed to doing something positive and to also
give something up. Together as a school community
and within your own families, let us ask God for His
graces throughout this Lenten season.
For the Lenten season, we prepare for Easter, the
central feast of the liturgical year, by reflecting on
relationships with God, our families, friends and the
rest of the community. We are encouraged to focus
on prayer, fasting and almsgiving and strive toward
reconciling our lives with all members of the
community especially with those who are alienated,
left out and those whom we need to make peace.
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Class Lists for September 2016
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News from St. Timothy Church Parish
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Congratulations February Calendar Draw Winner – Veronica Gareau!
Please follow us on Twitter @StAndrewSchool
or Remind (see Sept. Newsletter for details)
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Speech/Storytelling
Competition Winners!
Carnaval a Great Success!
St. Andrew hosted its annual speech competition and
primary storytelling. Many students participated and
the audience heard many great speeches and
storytelling. It is great to see students engaged on
topics that interests them the most. Following the
school level competition, St. Andrew School went on to
send our winning students on to both the Orangeville
Royal Canadian Legion and the Orangeville Lions Club
Public Speaking competitions. We are proud to say that
we had St. Andrew School winners at both events!
Congratulations to the Legion Public Speaking Finalists:
Adelaide Sebben (1st Place- Primary Storytelling) and
Ava Jankowski (2nd Place) and Taylor Furtado (1st Place –
Intermediate Speeches) and Maya Solimeno (3rd Place).
On Monday, February 8th, the students of St. Andrew
School participated
in a celebration in
honor of the very
popular French
Canadian tradition
“Carnaval”. They
enjoyed a fun-filled
day of special
activities that
reflected French
culture in various
French
communities around the world. These activities helped
students understand how French culture is celebrated
through different types of celebrations. The Extended
French students from grades 5-8 carried out this
celebration at the school, and they taught the students
about each of the festivals that were focused on. It was
a wonderful opportunity for students to learn about
festivities in Quebec, France, New Orleans and Guyana.
It was a great day enjoyed by all!
Staff-Student-Parent Hockey
Game In Support of ShareLife
Adelaide standing proud with her trophy!
At the Orangeville Lions Club, Sarah-Rose Sullivan
(below right) placed 1st overall for the Intermediate
Level Speeches and A. J. Spatola placing 2nd overall.
Both of our students will be competing at the District
Finals in March. Best of luck and we are proud of you!
In support of ShareLife, our main Catholic charity, we
thank you for your donation of a toonie. The game will
take place on Friday, March 12 at 10:30 a.m. at the Tony
Rose Arena. Students in FDK – Grade 3 will be bussed
while the Grade 4-8 students walk to the arena to cheer
on their favorite team. We will have children returned
in time for lunch. If you are interested in playing on the
Staff/Parent team, please call the Main Office and leave
a message with Mrs. Wiegert. We are still in need of
parent volunteers. You must have a Criminal Reference
Check on file in the office. Please join us for this funfilled event!
Free Throw Competition Winner!
Congratulations to MacKenzie Winney who won the
Orangeville Knights of Columbus Free Throw
Competition at St. Andrew School. All elementary
schools in Orangeville were invited to the competition.
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Visit The ShareLife YouTube Channel to find some great
videos showing the great work
that is done in the Diocese of
Toronto, which St. Timothy
Church is part of!
TWO IMPORTANT
PARENT SURVEYS
– DUE MARCH 31st
(1)A parent of the St. Andrew School community
recently presented the idea of considering a student
dress code starting in September, 2016. As per Board
policy, if a parent brings forth the idea of surveying the
school community, it is the responsible of the School
Council and the school principal to do so.
(2) Our School Council supported St. Andrew School by
purchasing the rights to ‘Mathletics’ to be used by
students at home and at school during this school year.
Council would like to receive YOUR input as to how well
the program was used by our child at home.
BOTH surveys will be sent home on Wednesday,
March 9 (back-to-back on one page). Is it extremely
important that we have 100% participation from all
parents. YOUR voice and your opinion is valued. The
due date for both surveys is Friday, March 31st.
Reminder of Additional P.A. Day
Monday, April 11th
As mentioned in the last newsletter, 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 20152016 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 11th. 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.
Earth Hour This Friday at School
Because ‘Earth Hour’ actually happens during March
Break, Our Eco-Team has decided to get all the students
and staff to participating this Friday between 2-3 p.m.
We will be turning off all classroom lights and doing our
part to conserve energy. The Eco-Team challenges every
family to participate at home on March 19 from 8:309:30 p.m. Play a board game by candlelight! Fun too!
SAVE THE DATE! – APRIL 20th
Our School Council is hosting a “FAMILY LEGO MATH
NIGHT” for parents and students! Information and
invitation is forthcoming soon after March Break but a
flyer describing the event is attached. Be sure to join us!
Celebrating 100th Day of School!
On February 17th, the primary students at St. Andrew
School celebrated the 100th day of school. Participating
in a variety of centers including literacy, numeracy and
the arts, students shared in activities that celebrated
being 100 days smarter at school!
Mrs. Bell’s Gr. 2 class wishing everyone a ‘Happy Day 100”!
Class Lists for September 2016
Teachers will meet in May to organize class lists for the
2016-2017 school year. If there are any special learning
needs your child has that you feel we should know
when making up classes,
please do so in writing to
Mr. LaCute by May 2nd.
Letters that list a request
for a specific teacher will
not be considered. Please
limit comments to specific
learning styles. Requests
for your child to be placed
with a ‘friend’ will not be considered. If you feel your
child has an ongoing conflict with another child, and you
have already had discussions with this year’s teacher,
please write us a letter and we will do our best to
separate them. All staff members work hard to balance
class lists by abilities, gender, and learning styles. Please
bear in mind that we are considered a medium-sized
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school (400-450 students) which will result in some
combined classes. This is a fact of life that children will
have to experience from time to time throughout their
time at St. Andrew.
News from St. Timothy Church
Attention all St Timothy Church families - EDGE for
grades 6, 7 and 8! Our EDGE season continues! 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 8:50pm 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, March 11th and Friday, March 25th.
All students in grades 6, 7 & 8 are invited, and bring
your friends too!
Bring Batteries & Electronics
During this school year, we continue to collect batteries
and old electronic devices, to help with recycling and
our Eco-initiative. Please continue to
drop off any electronics and batteries
to the school. In a previous newletter,
an attachment was included that talked
about the battery recycling challenge.
Please help us to achieve our
application for Eco-School ‘Platinum’
status for this 2015-2016 school year by participating in
this challenge. The deadline is April 24th.
Kindness - Virtue of the Month
This month we will celebrate the virtue of kindness.
God has given us the gifts 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 sisters who share one Holy
Spirit, we are all valuable to God. We all deserve to be
shown concern for our welfare and our feelings. We
have all been given the fruit of the Spirit called
kindness. Kindness can only be seen through actions..
NEW! - Eco Team on Twitter!
The Eco-Team is excited to let the whole St. Andrew
School community know that you can6 now follow
them on Twitter! Their Twitter handle is
@standrew_eco
DATES TO REMEMBER
PLEASE PLACE DATES ON YOUR
FAMILY CALENDAR
• Mar. 10 –Dance-A-Thon Pep Rally
• Mar. 12 – 20 – March Break
• Mar. 22- Hearing and Vision Screening
•Mar. 23 – Grad Photos
• Mar. 13 – Family Transition dance
• Mar. 24 – Mrs. Lyon & Mme. DiMarco’s Grade
7 & 8 classes going to Dr. Simone’s Warehouse
• Mar. 31 – Science Workshops for Gr. 7 & 8 students
University of Waterloo Graduate Students
• Mar. 25 – Confessions
• Mar. 31 – See hear clinic
• April 6 – Easter Mass at St. Timothy Church (9:45)
• April 8 – Dance-A-Thon
• April 11 – P.A. Day
Enclosures:
• CCCSC Parent Marketplace Invitation
• LEGO Family Math Night (description only)
• TVO Kids “Push 2 Buttons” Safety Campaign
Enjoy spending quality family time!
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