Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Elementary School
25 Mount Royal Circle
Brampton, Ont. L6P 1W3
Phone (905) 913-1703
FAX (905) 913-2918
February 2013
Father,
Bless the love that brings people together
And grows ever stronger in our hearts.
Principal
Sonia Rotino
Secretary
May all the messages that carry the name of your holy Bishop Valentine,
Mary Doria
Be sent in good joy and received in delight.
~
We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord.
Superintendent
Amen.
Max Vecchiarino
Trustee
Scott McLauchlan
Prayer During Black History Month
Dear God,
Parish Priest
You have done such a marvellous job of
creating us and the world around us. You
have placed this creation, including all
the people we meet, in our care. We come
to you now asking for the grace and
strength to be accepting of others. We
admit that we can never fully know Your
plan for the people around us. Grant us
the strength to admit that our role is to
invite others to participate in Your saving
plan and then to accept the choices that
they make in their own lives!
We ask this in the name of Jesus, our
brother. Amen
Father Papais
As brothers and sisters who share one
Holy Spirit, we are all valuable to God.
We all deserve to be shown courtesy,
consideration, sensitivity and
thoughtfulness, which are all different
ways of showing respect.
Respect should come first and foremost
from ourselves. We have to respect
ourselves and then we will be able to
respect others. We should also be able
to expect to be treated with respect by
everyone we meet—our brothers and
sisters in Jesus.
SACRAMENTAL DATES
Sacrament of First Holy Communion
First Reconciliation and The Service of Light will be celebrated at St. Patrick’s Church on
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. First Holy Communion will be celebrated
on Saturday, April 13, 2013. Mrs. Champsi and Mrs. DeBerardinis’ students will
celebrate at the 11:30 a.m. mass and Mrs. Deputat’s students will celebrate at the 2:30
p.m. mass at St. Patrick’s Church, for those families that have registered their child.
Sacrament of Confirmation
The meeting for parents whose children are celebrating their Confirmation will be held
on February 20, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church. The grade eight students will
be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on May 29, 2013 at St. Patrick’s Church at
7:00 p.m.
Visit our School Website:
www.dpcdsb.org/lourd
DPCDSB is now on Twitter! For
the latest board news and
information, follow us
@DPCDSBSchools.
www.connect2ENDviolence.ca
Our Lady of Lourdes
GOODBYE & WELCOME
Goodbye and thank
you to Mr. Rodda, a
teacher from Australia
on
exchange
assignment who left on January 17.
We welcome back Mr. Corcoran who
has now taken over teaching the
grade 7 class.
LUNCH AND TREAT DAYS
Pizza days are on Wednesday February 6, 13, 20 and 27.
All pizza lunches have been pre-ordered with the
forms provided at the beginning of this term.
Treat Days will be offered on Fridays and we will be selling
baked chips, popcorn and Terra Cotta cookies for $1.00 each
Lunch Lady days are on Monday February 4, 11 and 25
UNDERSTANDING KEY
ISSUES IN CATHOLIC
EDUCATION
What sacrifices did Catholics have to
make to send their children to
separate schools?
Because the United legislature of
Canada East and Canada West
roughly had consisted of members
advocating non-denominational
common schools and half were in
favour of them, separate school
legislation, for about fifteen years,
contained four obstacles to their
existence:
Catholics could establish and
support a separate school, but had to
continue paying common school
taxes. Thus, they paid tuition for
their children in the separate school.
The separate school had no
permanence of existence. If the
local common school board hired a
Catholic as one if its teachers, then
the separate school ceased to exist.
Separate schools kept opening and
closing in the early years.
In the cities the separate school
board required the permission of the
common school board to open a new
or an additional separate school.
Sometimes the permission was not
forthcoming.
The legislation required twelve
Catholic families to be resident
within a city, town or township
common school section.
The
townships’ common school sections
were so small that often there were
not twelve resident Catholic families.
PARENT COUNCIL MEETING
Thursday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m.
*Please note the change of
date*
All parents are welcome.
JOIN OUR TEAM
In January the Our Lady of Lourdes
Eco-Team kicked off an ecoconscious new year. Students have
been working on creating G.O.O.S
paper notebooks and preparing to
launch our anti-idling campaign for
February in hopes to help reduce
pollution. Eco-Team students will be
giving out ―Thank You Tickets‖ to all
drivers who turn off their engine
when dropping off students at
school. Those who receive a ticket
have a chance to win a small prize
at the end of February as a token of
Mother Earth’s appreciation.
Winners will be notified by the EcoTeam by the end of February. In
addition to our anti-idling campaign,
the Eco-Team is introducing a ―Take
Back the Tap‖ campaign, in which
we are encouraging students to drink
tap water and use reusable water
bottles rather
than
plastic
water bottles.
REPORTING & INTERVIEWS
The Student-Parent-Teacher Interview
is designed to complement the
Ontario Report Card by enabling
parents to communicate with teachers,
to offer useful information, and to ask
relevant questions about their child’s
progress in order to support their
child’s learning.
A formal written report will be sent
home on Tuesday, February 5, 2013.
Interviews
will be
held
by
appointment during the evening on
Thursday, February 7 and during the
day on Friday, February 8.
EXTENDED FRENCH
INFORMATION MEETING
Grade 4 parent(s)/guardian(s), who
wish to enroll their child in a Grade
5 Extended French class for
September, 2013 are reminded to
submit their applications to St. Jean
Brebeuf, 63 Glenforest Road,
Brampton, L6S 1L8 by 3:00 p.m. on
Wednesday, February 6th, 2013.
FRENCH IMMERSION
INFORMATION MEETING
Senior Kindergarten parents/
guardians, who wish to enroll their
child in a Grade 1 French Immersion
class for September, 2013 are
reminded to submit their applications
at Our Lady of Providence, 35 Black
Oak Drive, Brampton, L6R 1B9 by
2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February
6, 2013.
February 2013
MITTENS, SCARVES AND HATS
We will be collecting new mittens, hats and
scarves this month for Regeneration
Outreach. Regeneration Outreach has been
called to bring healing, personal growth
and spiritual awareness to marginalized
youth and adults, all within a safe and
caring environment. Please send in new
mittens, scarves and hats during the month
of January. Thank you in advance for your
generosity. For further information, please
see:
www.regenbrampton.com/#/contact-us
Stay tuned for information about ―Love Grams‖ from the student
council.
Student council is also hard at work arranging a Valentine’s
Dance for all the students. The dance will take
place on Thursday, February 14 and will feature a DJ.
Spirit Week is coming during the first week of March! Details
will follow shortly!
Wear your Our Lady of Lourdes Spirit Wear every Friday!
LIBRARY UPDATE
February is a busy month in the
library. Our students are involved in
the Forest of Reading program which
brings an excellent selection of
recent Canadian children’s books to
the attention of Ontario children.
Students from Kindergarten to grade
3 are reading the Blue Spruce
selections, grades 4 to 6 are
reading Silver Birch and grades 7
and 8 are reading selections from
Red Maple. The program rewards
them by making them the judges in a
province wide event. In late April,
our groups will be participating with
over 80,000 children across the
province in voting for their favourite
book. Junior and Intermediate
students have been given
the opportunity to join a
lunchtime book club.
P.A. DAY
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8
Interviews will be held
during the day on February 8.
There will be no classes
students on this day.
for
DROPPING OFF YOUR CHILD
Parents please remember that the kiss and ride lane is to be used to drop off your children in a line. Parents should not
be pulling in and out of the spots in the kiss and ride but should instead follow the line of traffic. Do not park or wait in
the Kiss and Ride lane, parking spaces for persons with a disability, bus lanes or fire lanes. Keep your
car running in the Kiss and Ride lane and pull forward as cars move. Make sure your children exit
through the passenger side of your vehicle.
Students are not to be entering the school by the front door unless they are being dropped off after the
second bell has rung. Thank you for following these steps to ensure the safety and supervision of all our
students.
Parking enforcement will be closely monitoring the parking lot and will be issuing tickets to those who do
not comply.
Community members are reminded that parking on school property overnight is not permitted. During
the winter months, snow removal equipment must be able to remove the snow. Vehicles remaining on the property
overnight or during the day that do not belong to staff or to parents volunteering during the day will be towed away at
the owner’s expense.
Our Lady of Lourdes
PARENT INFORMATION SESSION
MANY THANKS
“I wanted to extended my gratitude on behalf of
the families that were recipients of the wonderful
infant bags your school community had donated to
our centre. The bags were very helpful to quite a
few of our young mothers, in addition to some of
our young expectant mothers. Your generosity has
been most helpful, and I can’t express how much
you and your school community have made a
difference. Again, on behalf of the Brampton
YMCA child Care Centre a sincere thank you!”
C. Howe, RECE
Senior Director Brampton YMCA
Child Care & Summer Camp
“I would like to thank-you on behalf of the children
who received your generous donations at
Christmas. The families were very excited that they
were able to have some toys to give their children,
along with the other gifts, food and gift cards.
They were also very grateful at the kindness that
was shown to them by others who are not part of
their community.
Thank-you for your enthusiasm and kindness, it
really did make a difference! Your discipleship in
taking care of others is the true calling of being
Catholic.
Many blessings for a great year to everyone in the
Our Lady of Lourdes Community!”
Principal in Brampton North East Family of Schools
“Donna and her team of volunteers handed out
your donation of coats at Knightsbridge Community Centre and the people who received the coats
wanted to say thank you to the Our Lady of
Lourdes Community who has been so generous with
their continued support of coat donations.
Thank you to everyone who has donated to Coats
for Kids.”
February 27th - Grade 4 Parent Information Session “I
Matter!”: Child Abuse Program. This session is open to
all parents of Grade 4 students in the Board.
DATE:
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013.
TIME:
LOCATION:
7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Catholic Education Centre, 40 Matheson
Blvd., West, Mississauga (northwest corner
of Hurontario and Matheson) ROOM 301
P.A.L.S. PLAYGROUND ACTIVITY LEADERS
IN SCHOOLS
We continue to run the P.A.L.S. program in our school.
The main goals of this program are to; encourage
students to be physically active by playing games at
recess, prevent bullying from happening at school and to
give older students the opportunity to become leaders on
the playground. Sincere thanks are extended to the
Region of Peel Public Health network, our organizer
Mme. Mastrangelo and our student leaders for
volunteering to help in this activity.
PARENT/GUARDIAN SCHOOL CLIMATE
SURVEY
The Ministry of Education requires all publicly funded
school boards in Ontario to survey students in Grades 412 every two years about school climate (including
safety, inclusion, bullying, etc.). In addition to surveying
students, boards are also to survey parents/guardians
about their perceptions of school climate. Dufferin-Peel
is interested in gathering parent/guardian opinions
about their children's school climate through this survey.
The survey is voluntary and asks parents/guardians
questions about their child's or children's experiences
related to school climate (for example, safety, inclusion,
bullying, etc.). The survey is anonymous. The board
intends to use the information from this survey to help
understand parents'/guardians' views about school
climate and how schools can best support students and
their families.
Please note that the elementary survey is for
parents/guardians of students in Kindergarten to Grade
8 in Dufferin-Peel Catholic schools. The surveys are open
from January 22 to February 28, 2013. To access the
survey see:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CCCCSurveyK8
February 2013
BRAMPTON LIBRARY WORKSHOPS
These FREE workshops are interactive sessions
taught by Spirit of Math Schools’ teachers. Each
workshop introduces your child to a famous
historical mathematician and then to the
mathematical concept with which they are
credited. Students then work on related problemsolving questions, first individually, then in pairs, and finally in groups. For the
final part of the workshop, students compete against each other in groups to
solve questions from past Spirit of Math competitions in a short math rally.
Cyril Clark, Saturday, February 16
Grades 1 & 2: Pascal Pathways at 10:30am
Grades 3 & 4: Venn Diagrams at 1:00pm
Grades 5 & 6: Gauss Series at 2:30pm
Advance registration is required. Call 905-793-4636 or visit
BramptonLibrary.ca
LEGO®MANIA!
Let your imagination come to life as
you think, build and create your own
Lego® masterpieces at the Public
Library! Legomania is a free, drop-in
program for children ages 6 to 9.
Mount Pleasant Village Branch,
100 Commuter Drive
Thursday, February 26 @ 4:00pm
South Fletcher’s Branch,
500 Ray Lawson Blvd.
Tuesday, February 26 @ 4:00pm
We will be starting a LEGO® club at
Our Lady of Lourdes for all those
students who are interested in
building! If you have LEGO at home
that you are no longer
using, please consider
donating it to the school
for our club. Stay tuned
for the club start date!
LOST AND FOUND
Please be sure to check the Lost &
Found in the gym on Interview Evening
Thursday February 7 and during the
day on February 8 for any items that
may belong to your child(ren). We
will be donating all remaining items
during the March Break.
ONTARIO’S WINTER
WALK DAY
Here at Our Lady of Lourdes, we are
pr omoting ―Walk to School
Wednesday‖ through our ECO team.
This month, make an extra effort to
participate in Ontario’s Winter Walk
on Wednesday, February 6, 2013.
This is a great opportunity to get
your children more active during the
winter months and to improve the air
quality and safety around our school.
THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL
COUNCILS INVITES YOU TO THEIR MID WINTER EVENT
Kathy Lynn: Who’s in Charge Anyway? ©
Kathy Lynn is Canada’s Leading Parenting Speaker.
―Kathy brings invaluable wisdom, experience and down to earth tips to all her
parenting workshops, keynotes and books. All parents will benefit from Kathy’s
help and support.‖ Says the esteemed Barbara Coloroso, International
Parenting Speaker and Author www.Parentingtoday.ca
Date: Thursday, February 28th, 2013
Place: Mississauga Convention Centre
75 Derry Road West
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Kathy Lynn will address the issue of maintaining a balance between hearing
children and having them listen. It will help parents understand their role
concerning family rules, routines, expectations and limits.
Book signing to follow presentation
Free Admission...............Donations of non–perishable food items are welcome!
A special thanks to the sponsors
————————————————————————————
RETURN TO YOUR SCHOOL PRINCIPAL – ASAP
Reservation Request form for Kathy Lynn Keynote
Name: _________________________________________________________
School: ________________________________________________________
Number of Attendees: ____________
February 2013
SUN
MON
TUE
WED
THU
FRI
1
SAT
2
Treat Day
JK/SK Registration,
9a.m.-3p.m.
Italian Fun Lunch
offered by Parent
Council
3
4
5
6
7
8
Lunch Lady
Smart Start Program
for grades 7&8
Pizza Day
Smart Start Program
for grades 7&8
P.A. Day—No School
For Students
Parent/Teacher
interview evening
Parent/Teacher
interviews
Term 1 Report Cards
go home
Intermediate
Basketball
Tournament
9
Deadline for French
Immersion and
Extended French
applications
10
11
12
13
14
15
Lunch Lady
Smart Start Program
for grades 7&8
Pizza Day
Smart Start Program
for grades 7&8
Treat Day
Our Lady of Lourdes
Feast Day Paraliturgy and drama
presentation, 9:30am
17
24
Ash Wednesday
Shrove Tuesday
Family Lenten
Pancake Dinner,
hosted by School
Council
19
20
21
22
Family Day—No
School For Students
Smart Start Program
for grades 7&8
Pizza Day
Smart Start Program
for grades 7&8
Treat Day
25
26
27 Pizza Day
Lunch Lady
Aussie X Program
Aussie X Program
Virtue Assembly, 2pm
First Reconciliation
and The Service of
Light, 7pm @ St.
Patrick’s church
Upcoming Events for March
7
Down to Earth Conservation Education Presentation, School Council 7:00 pm
11-15 March Break
17
St. Patrick’s Day
18-28 Easter Food Drive
24
Valentine’s Day
Dance
18
Confirmation Parent
Meeting, 7pm @ St.
Patrick’s church
Palm Sunday
25-29 Holy Week
28
Holy Thursday, Para-Liturgy in gym
29
Good Friday
31
Easter Sunday
16
23
Immunization for
grade 7&8 students
28
February’s Virtue is