APRIL 2016
1325 Bodley Road
Mississauga ON,
L5J 3X1
SPRING PRAYER
Phone 905.822.4564
Fax 905.822.5622
Good and gracious God
Ward 2
Trustee
Sharon Hobin
Principal’s Message
This time of year we think of all
the things
we should be thankful for.
905-301-1210
We take a moment today to give
Sharon.Hobin
thanks for
@dpcdsb.org
the blessings you have given us.
Superintendent
Thank you for our friends, our
David Amaral
families, for
905-890-1221
laughter, for sunshine, for the
Principal
Connie Gale
Secretary
Debby Vieira
gentle rains,
and the beautiful skies.
May we always see the blessings in
our lives
and take time to appreciate them.
Amen
St. Christopher’s
Parish
Reverend Jerry
Dunn & Reverend
Scott Young
(905) 822-1171
School Council
Chair
Brian Skrepnek
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Dear Parents,
I hope everyone had a beautiful, restful and Holy
Easter Weekend. As a Catholic Community this is a
special time to pray and reflect upon our blessings. We
are fortunate to be able to come together to profess our
faith. At Easter, we share in the grace of Christ as
“children of the light” and “sharers in the eternal glory.” May all these blessings fill your hearts, today
and always.
Thank you to all parents who volunteer in the school to
make us a better school. A particular thank you to the
School Council and St. Christopher’s Parish who work
very hard in partnership with staff to educate our children.
We are in our last term of the 2015-2016 School Year,
and time is passing by quickly. It promises to be an
exciting and fulfilling Term Two at St. Helen. There
are many events taking place at St. Helen School including Catholic Education Week, , and our monthly
assemblies. Remember to “Make Your Own Sunshine”.
God Bless,
Connie Gale
PA DAY
School Council
2
Hurricane News
2
Living Our Faith
3
Transitions
3
Take Note
4
Upcoming Dates
4
Monday, April 11th, 2016 is a Professional
Activity Day for Teachers. There will be NO
school for students on this day.
PAGE
2
School Council
Take Note
The next St. Helen School Council meeting will be
held on Wednesday April 27th at 6:30 p.m. in the
conference room. Please come out and join us.
Catholic Education Week—May 9th to May 13th
Each year, the Catholic community of Ontario
engages in a week-long celebration of the unique identity and distinctive contributions of Catholic education
during Catholic Education Week. This year’s celebration entitled, “Catholic Education: Exploring Paths of
Joy” is scheduled for the week of May 9 – May 13,
2016. Catholic schools are Catholic faith
communities. We – parents, students, teachers,
administrative and support staff – walk and grow
together in the faith which we received at our
Baptism. 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. The scriptural passage that guides our
theme is: “Were not our hearts burning within us while
He was talking to us on the road?” – Luke 24:32
Further information regarding Catholic Education
Administration of the Grade 3 and 6 Assessment of
Reading, Writing and Mathematics, 2015-2016 will be
held between May 24th and June 3rd. We ask that parents/guardians do not book any doctor or dentist appointments during this time to ensure that your child is
present during test taking.
EQAO Parent Tips
Stay Positive
· Always celebrate your child’s successes and hard
work each day.
· Remind your child that the assessment will have
questions asking them things that they have already
learned in class.
· Please avoid scheduling appointments during EQAO.
· Be sure your child receives enough sleep every night
so that they are rested.
· Continue to ensure that your child eats a healthy full
break-fast and remembers to keep a positive and relaxed attitude in the home environment.
· Do not force your child to study for these tests. They
are already working hard at school.
· For additional information on grades 3 and 6 testing
visit the EQAO website at www.eqao.com and click on
“Parent Resources”.
Something to Remember:
Although EQAO offers important information about your
child’s learning, it is only one part of the puzzle. The levels achieved on EQAO will not be a part of your child’s
report card. The results of your child’s EQAO scores will
be provided to each family in the fall.
Graduation Pictures
Week will be forthcoming.
APRIL
2016
NEWSLETTE R
Grade eight graduation
pictures are
scheduled for
Friday, April 22nd.
PAGE
Living Our Faith
Virtue Corner
APRIL ~ LOVE
This month we will celebrate the virtue of LOVE.
A person with love…




Wants the best for others.
Is willing to make a sacrifice for the good of others.
Knows that we are all lovable.
Prays for others.
God wants us to serve and see the goodness in everyone
we meet. God has given us many people in our lives to
show us examples of LOVE. Our families, teachers and
friends show us their love every day. LOVE can be seen
in the simplest acts of kindness, such as sharing a pencil,
playing a game, or even by saying “thank you”. We
should always show our LOVE for others because LOVE
is about seeing the good in people even when they make
us angry. Sometimes the greatest acts of LOVE happen
when we are angry, such as not hitting our sibling back
or not screaming at our friends. Jesus is always with us
and we should always try to remember His most important lesson, because LOVE is not about us – it is about
looking out for the good of others.
God’s two greatest commandments are:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with
all your strength.”
“You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
APRIL
2016
NEWSLETTE R
3
Take Note
Kiss ‘n’ Ride @ St. Helen
The driveway at the front of the school is set up as
our Kiss ’n’ Ride, allowing parents the opportunity
to drop off and pick up their children in a safe and
effective manner. To this end, the success of this
requires the mutual understanding and support of
all our parents to assure as smooth a transition as
possible to the start and end of each day.
Guidelines:

Follow the arrows on the driveway to the dropoff/pick-up area (in front on the Kindergarten
yard). Please do not use the Bus Loading zone
as this area is meant for buses or emergency
vehicles.

Pull up as far as you can, it allows more cars to
use the Kiss’n’Ride.

Do Not Park or Get out of Your Vehicle in
this area, even if only for a few seconds. Parents who wish to get out of the car are asked to
park in the designated visitor parking in the
front and at the side of the school.

Students are to exit the vehicle on the passenger side (right side)

Once your child has left the car, please exit
right away.
Please drive slowly and carefully in these lanes at
all times.
PAGE
4
Take Note
Take Note
Are You Moving
Visitors
If you are planning a move, or have already moved,
please let us know. You are required to complete new
assessment forms even if you move within our school
boundaries. If you are moving to a new school we will
give you a Transfer Form to take with you to the new
school. If you are moving but would like your child to
remain at St. Helen, please submit your request in writing. We will be preparing classes for September 2016
and this information will be helpful in determining
class sizes. In the past we have had to reorganize our
classes in September due to unexpected transfers.
Anyone entering the school must come to the office
right away. The school is a very busy place and we
have many visitors/parents dropping in for a variety
of reasons. To ensure we maintain the integrity of
the classroom program by avoiding interruptions, and
for the safety of our students, all visitors must come
to the office. We ask that you also convey this information to older brothers and sisters of our students.
This way we know that anyone in the halls or in the
school yard is an authorized visitor. All students
leaving the school early will be released through the
front office as they must sign out. If your child arrives late we ask you to NOT accompany them to
class.
Snack and Treats for Students
A reminder from your Eco Team:
In an effort to be eco-friendly and be recertified as an
Eco-school, we are asking parents, guardians and students to please pack Eco-conscious lunches. Avoid
necessary wrapping and prepackaged items. Use reusable water bottles and containers for lunches. Every
Wednesday, students’ lunches will be checked to make
sure they are eco-friendly. The less waste, the better!
UPCOMING DATES
April 5th - Kinder to Grade 3 Trip to Sharon,Bram & Friends
April 11th - PA Day
April 18th - Rosary Apostolate
April 22nd - Grade 8 graduation pictures
April 29th - Mthly Assembly
APRIL
2016
NEWSLETTE R
We are asking that all parents please refrain from
bringing in eatable snacks and treats to the classrooms. Several students in our school suffer from a
severe food allergy to all nuts, peanuts and all nut
products. There is also a Ministry PPM where the
purpose of this memorandum is to set out nutrition
standards for food and beverages in publicly funded
elementary schools in Ontario. For more information
about the new PPM please visit, http://
www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/150.html. If
you would still like to do something special for the
classroom, a small non-eatable gift for each student
or perhaps a classroom gift, i.e. board game for inclement recess, may be a great alternative. Again, we
thank you for your co-operation.