October 2014
35 Black Oak Drive
Brampton, ON
L6R 1B9
Ph.: 905-458-7080
Fax: 905-458-1657
Principal
R. Pazzelli
Vice-Principal
A. Fiore
Head Secretary
P. Giuliano
Assistant Secretary
R. Reda
Superintendent
L. Storey
905–890–1221
Trustee
S. McLauchlan
905–890-1221
Parish
St. Marguerite
d’Youville
2490 Sandalwood Pkwy
E
Brampton
905-792-8049
Pastors
Fr. R. Mignella
Fr. R. Tolentino
School Council CoChairs
V. Pedley
C. Allegretti-Costa
School Website:
www.dpcdsb.org/PROVI
Thanksgiving Prayer
Thank you, Father, for having created us and given us to each other in the
human family. Thank you for being with us in all our joys and sorrows, for
your comfort in our sadness, your companionship in our loneliness. Thank
you for yesterday, today, tomorrow and for the whole of our lives. Thank you
for friends, for health and for grace. May we live this and every day conscious
of all that has been given to us. Amen
TERRY FOX RUN!
Students, Staff and
community members at Our
Lady of Providence participated in the 34th annual Terry
Fox Foundation National
School Run Day on
September 24, 2014. Students
focused on the theme ‘Be like
Terry’! The Terry Fox Run
commemorates Terry’s
remarkable efforts.
Through your generosity and
donations, we were able to raise $1,446.60 for Cancer Research.
FREEDOM DAY!
Over 90 Intermediate
students took part last
September in ‘Freedom
Day’ which commemorates the life of Simon
Wiesenthal and his legacy
of tolerance, justice and
human rights.
Students celebrated the
rights and freedoms we
possess as Canadians.
This event raises awareness about human rights
violations that exist today. It empowers youth to be proactive and effect change!
OPEN HOUSE & BAR-B-QUE:
Our Lady of Providence Open
House and Bar-b-que evening was
a great success! We were pleased
to meet the hundreds of people that
came out to this event. The students were excited and proud to
take their parents around to meet
their new teachers. It was also a great
opportunity to meet you all!
HEAD INJURY POLICY:
When a student has any blow
to the head, it is Board Policy
that we contact one of the
child’s parents to inform
them. W e are required to notify you
even for very minor injuries, and we ask
that
parents not become alarmed should
you receive a call.
BRINGING LUNCHES TO SCHOOL:
When dropping off lunches to
school, please be sure to report
to the Office to do so! Let your
child know to go to the Lunch
table at lunch time to pick up
the lunch! Please label the lunch with
your child’s name and classroom teacher’s
name! This will help to ensure that mixups don’t occur!
PICKING UP STUDENTS:
If you are picking up students at lunch
time or at the end of the day, please
have your child meet you at a prearranged place, or wait for your child
outside the school near their dismissal
doors. W e ask that you not come into the
school and wait at the classroom doors.
If you are picking up your child during
the school day, please pre-arrange this
with a note to the teacher and then pick
up and sign out your child at the Office.
If you are not able to send a note, please
telephone the school and we will have the
student wait in the Office for you.
OPENING/ THANKSGIVING
MASS:
Our Opening Mass took place on
Friday, September 26, 2014. At this
Mass we celebrated the Thanksgiving season
with a FOOD DRIVE! We thank you for your
food donations and hope that you had a blessed
Thanksgiving with your family and friends!
HALLOWE’EN / SPIRIT DAY!:
As in the past, students are to abide by their
teachers’ directions regarding if and when to
wear Hallowe’en costumes.
However, Hallowe’en costumes are NOT to
depict VIOLENCE, DEATH or GORE!
PROFANE LANGUAGE will also not be
accepted. Students depicting any of these
themes, will be asked to take off their
costumes or go home to change.
If the teacher approves the wearing of
costumes, and approval is granted by
you, please be aware that we cannot
take responsibility for torn, stolen or
soiled costumes!
For these reasons, you may wish to encourage
your child to wear ORANGE & BLACK
instead.
We will be calling Friday, October 31, 2014 an
“ORANGE & BLACK” Spirit day for the entire school! We will also have a Dance,.
On Spirit days, we ask students to bring a
tooney for Share Life!
SCHOOL VISITORS:
For safety reasons, which I am sure
you will understand, a reminder
goes out to all visitors, including
parents, to make sure you come to
the Office to sign in and obtain a
‘Visitor’s Badge’, before entering the school if
given approval.
We appreciate your understanding as we continue to provide a safe environment for our students!
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION &
PROTECTION OF PRIVACY
ACT:
The Municipal Freedom of Information & Protection of Privacy Act (M-FIPPA) sets out the general rules
which School Boards must follow regarding
the collection, use, disclosure and retention of
personal information.
Please be aware that recording of students
through printed form (photographs), on film,
by electronic means (video taping) or by any
other means is considered a ‘collection of personal information ‘ and therefore certain rules
apply for its collection, use, disclosure etc.
While the privacy rules in the Act are strong,
signed parental consent forms may or may not
be required in all situations. The photographing / recording of students would not be
permitted without the required informed parental consent.
STAY CONNECTED: SIGN UP TODAY!
Parents and Guardians of
Dufferin-Peel Catholic students, can stay up-to-date
with the Board news and information by joining Dufferin-Peel
eCommunity. Members will receive the latest
news and information by email, including
news releases, school activities and events,
Board meeting highlights, school and bus
cancellations, plus useful tips for parents and
students. Sign up online at: www.dpcdsb.org
QSP MAGAZINE FUNDRAISER:
The QSP Magazine programme offers great prices
on magazine subscriptions,
promotes reading and our
school earns a profit at the same time. The
School Council has launched its first fundraiser with the QSP drive.
If each family
purchased two magazine subscriptions we
would reach our School Goal!
Thank you for your continued support!
VOLUNTEERS WANTED:
If you have some time to offer, please
consider being a volunteer in the
school. You may wish to spend some
time to assist in skills development for
a student or to assist the teacher in
programme preparation. It’s not too late
to indicate your interest.
Please ask the Office, or Mrs. Farhat for a
form. Fill out the form and send it to Mrs.
Farhat at the school. A volunteer training
session was held on Wednesday, October
15th.
ATTENDANCE:
The Education Act states that it is
mandatory for all students, between the
ages of six years and eighteen years, to
attend school every day. School Social
Workers are mandated to intervene with
students and their families whenever
students are identified as truant.
Some reasons why students do not attend:
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Mental health problems:
Peer difficulties
Academic struggles
Boredom
Lacking motivation
Parent/child conflict
Family issues
Some reasons why students should attend
school:
 Academic success
 Increase ability to gain employment
 Develop social skills
 Keep out of trouble in the community
 Learn social norms
 Increase self-esteem
 Develop routines
How we can support students:
 Teachers identify students’ absences early
 School makes referral to the school social
worker
 School social worker assesses and
determines best course of action and
works as a team to resolve difficulties.
HOMEWORK:
SCHOOL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS:
All students will be encouraged to
complete assignments in class.
There will be times when students
will need to complete work at home
and bring it in the next day.
Students who do daily homework can gain
positive academic skills and develop lifelong
learning habits.
I wish to thank those of you who
submitted nominations to be part
of the School Council.
We continue to ask for your support as we
promote good work habits at home for our
students and ask that you help in the following ways:
The first meeting took place on
Tuesday, September 30, 2014!
Elections were held. Please see attachment for the
parent members as well as the Staff named for the
2014 –2015 Our Lady of Providence School Council.
SCHOOL COUNCIL FUTURE MEETING
DATES!:

Monitoring daily homework and ensuring
that your child(ren) complete all tasks to
the best of their ability
The School Council has set the following dates for
their meetings so far. They begin at 7:00 pm and
end by 8:30-9:00 pm. We will meet alternately on
Mondays and Tuesdays:

Providing a consistent time and location
for daily home work
Monday, Oct. 20
Tuesday, Nov. 18

Communicating and dialoguing with your
child’s teacher regularly
Monday, Jan. 12
Tuesday, Feb. 10
Monday, Mar. 2
Tuesday, April 14
Monday, May 11
Tuesday, June 16
Students from Grades 1 to 8 have received a
Student Agenda. These should be used on a
daily basis as an organizer and as a tool to
develop study skills. The agenda is also an
excellent means of communication between
home & school.
HOMEWORK HELP, 2014-2015:
Gr. 7 & 8 students can once
again take advantage of a free
‘Homework Help’ website:
homeworkhelp.ilc.org.
There are online tutors who are
ready and willing to help with any Math.
homework question. Gr. 7 & 8 students
have already been registered by their
teachers.
Now, students can access this support Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 to 9:30
pm. Students will remain anonymous
online!
Encourage your child to take advantage of
this valuable Ministry of Ed. support!
Register at: ontario.ca/HomeworkHelp.
Please let us also know if you can also assist in the
year’s initiatives that will be planned by the School
Council!
PRIORITIES FOR SCHOOL COUNCIL
GENERATED FUNDS EXPENDITURES:
At the start of the school year, it is appropriate that priorities are established
and made known to the community, of
how School Council funds will be spent.
The following list indicates various items, projects
and initiatives that may be considered for this year,
to name a few. School Council members will assist
to determine direction of the disbursement of
funds:
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Family Engagement Events – such as Healthy
Nutritious Eating
Scientist in the School
Artist in the School
Bus cost for one trip per teacher
Aussie X Programme for Students
Graduation Assistance
If you have any questions, please call.
LOCKDOWN & FIRE DRILLS:
There may be situations here the
school, under the direction of the
Police, may need to ‘lockdown’.
The School Board has mandated
that lockdown procedures be added to the school’s safety routines.
Essentially, the lockdown procedures attempt
to secure students in their own classrooms in
the event that there is a high risk incident in
proximity to the school or when there is a
threat from an individual on school property.
Lockdown procedures follow in accordance
with Board Policy. The school will conduct
one ‘Lockdown Procedure’ drill in the Fall
and one in the Spring.
Fire drills are also practiced by students in
order to ensure speedy evacuation of the
school in case of fire or smoke.
The Spirit days include:
 ‘Orange and Black’ day:
 ‘Pyjama’ day:
October 31
December 19

‘Crazy Hair’ day:
January 23

‘’Fun in the Sun’ day:
March 13

‘Favourite Sports Jersey day:
April 17
Thank you in advance for supporting this valuable
cause!
Please note these dates in your Calendar!
EQAO RESULTS – 2013 / 2014:
EQAO has published the results for the annual
assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics,
Gr. 3 & 6, for the school year 2013 – 2014.
% of students achieving at Levels 3 & 4:
There are six fire drills scheduled throughout
the course of a school year.
GRADE 6
School
89
83
49
SMOKING ON SCHOOL PROPERTY:
Board
82
82
57
Consistent with the Tobacco
Control Act, the Board’s Policy
prohibits smoking and holding
lighted tobacco anywhere in the
school or on school property by anyone, at
any time.
Province
79
78
54
We ask parents to be respectful of this Policy
when dropping off or picking up children
from school or attending school functions.
SPIRIT DAYS AT OUR LADY OF
PROVIDENCE:
As a Catholic school community, we reach out and respond to the needs of others
through charitable works.
In order to do this, we will organize activities
that will contribute funds for Share Life.
To this end, we have planned five Spirit Days.
Students are asked to bring a ‘tooney’ while
having fun focusing on a particular theme!
Students who bring in a tooney will also have
an opportunity to earn a prize!
Reading
Writing
Math.
% of students achieving at Levels 3 & 4:
GRADE 3
Reading
Writing
Math.
School
Board
72
73
85
83
53
67
Province
70
78
67
Gr. 3 results indicate levels that almost match the
Board results and that have surpassed the
Provincial results, except for the Math.
Gr. 6 results also indicate levels that match the
Board Results except for the Math and where the
results have surpassed the Provincial scores in
Reading, Writing and Math.
More work and focus is required to improve our
Math results.
We continue to work on strategies
that will improve student
achievement!
ALLERGEN AWARE ENVIRONMENT:
At OLOP, there are a number of
children who have life-threatening
food allergies, such as peanuts,
nuts, products containing the
peanuts or nuts and/or other
foods. Classrooms with students who have
peanuts, nut allergies or other allergies will be
designated as allergen aware environments!
In classrooms that have been determined as
allergen aware environments, students have
been asked not to bring any foods that have
the designated allergens (you received a letter
that outlined the specific allergens for your
child’s class).
In the event that a student brings food with
products designated as an allergen for that
particular class, he/she will be asked to eat
elsewhere in the school. In this way, we are
attempting to minimize the risks to those
students who may be in danger!
MEDICATION:
Where a student is required to take
medication at school, Medication
Forms must be completed by you
and your physician prior to the storage and
administration of prescribed medication.
The forms are available at the Office.
WOWBUTTER:
WOWBUTTER is a soy product that
simulates peanut butter and has recently been brought to schools by students as
a peanut butter alternative.
The Board has consulted with the Anaphylactic Society and the Peel Health Department.
They have indicated that Dufferin-Peel has
created safe measures to ensure that students
with food allergies are safe in schools. To that
end, it is the Board’s recommendation with the
support of both the Anaphylactic Society and
the Peel Health Department that schools do not
encourage the use of WOWBUTTER.
Therefore, students should not be bringing
WOWBUTTER to school! Call the school if you
have any questions!
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, coldrelated 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.
Regional Health Unit Resources:
Please assist us by review good hand washing
procedures, as well as other preventative
measures, as outlined in the various Peel
Health and Wellington Dufferin Guelph
(WDG) recourses available to you through
their websites. As always, children who are
unwell, should be kept at home.
Flu Clinics:
Also available on the Peel health & WDG
websites, are the schedules of local Flu Clinics.
For more information, visit the health unit
websites:

Peel Health website:
http://www.peelregion.ca/health

Wellington Dufferin Guelph Health
website:
www.wdgpublichealth.ca
Direct links to the above information can be
found in the Parent section of the Dufferin-Peel
Catholic District School Board website at
www.dpcdsb.org
LIBRARY NEWS:
By now your children
should have brought home
library books. Students
have access to all 20,000
items here in the OLOP
library. A reminder that it is a good idea to
keep library books in a special place away
from food, babies and pets. This helps lengthen the life of our books.
Interested students in grade six have
volunteered as library helpers. They will
continue to go through a training period and
then volunteer their recesses to help keep our
library organized and tidy.
October is also the month when the 2015
Forest of Reading nominated titles will be
released to the public. Soon after the lists are
made public, we will start preparing for our
participation in this provincial reading
program here at OLOP (Blue Spruce, Silver
Birch Express, Silver Birch and Red Maple
Book Clubs).
Also, many of you have asked about donating
books to our library. We welcome gently used
books. Books that are donated and are already
in our Library and / or books that are donated
which may not be suitable for our classroom
libraries, may be provided to students.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
October:
20
SCHOOL COUNCIL Meeting, 7:00 pm
22
BUS APPRECIATION Day
23
Hep B, Mennigococcal & HPV Clinic
24
SUB Day
27
Municipal Elections
29
Parent Information Evening for Gr. 7 & 8
Overnight trip, 7:00 pm
31
SPIRIT Day! ‘Orange and Black’ or
‘Costume’ day & Dance!
PIZZA Day!
November:
1
SCHOOL COUNCIL Members Training
Day at St. Joseph S.S. at 8:30 am
3
PHOTO RE-TAKE Day
7
SUB Day
School wide walk
Girls Night In (3:30—10:00 pm)
11
REMEBRANCE Day Liturgy, 10:45 am
13
PROGRESS REPORT Interview Evening
14
PA Day! (Students stay home)
18
SCHOOL COUNCIL Meeting, 7:00 pm
19
Gr. 8 Registration Evening at St. Marguerite
D’Youville Secondary School, 6:30 pm
BOOK FAIR:
Our Book Fair is scheduled for:
Friday, November 7 to Thursday, November 13.
Please mark your calendar with these dates.
More details will follow closer to the event.
Attachments:

2014-2015 SCHOOL COUNCIL Members

Gr. 1 French Immersion Information Night
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Revised Staff List

International Languages Program
21
SUB Day
25
Parent Information Meeting for those
interested in FRENCH IMMERSION
Programme, 7:00 pm
28
PIZZA Day
30
First Sunday of Advent!