ST. DAVID OF WALES SCHOOL
4200 Beacon Lane, Mississauga, Ontario L5C 3V9 TEL. 848-4200
B. Gillis
D. Gibson
C. Baron
Principal
Secretary
C.S.C. Co-Chair
C. Saytar
P. Ferreira
St. Martin of Tours
1290 McBride Lane
Fr. Joyson Pottackal
Superintendent
Trustee
Parish
(905) 279-5742
Pastor
JANUARY / 2011
VIRTUE OF SELF-CONTROL
Dear God,
You have done such a marvelous job of creating us and the world around us.
Sometimes life is easy…sometimes life is challenging.
We know that you do not want us to suffer.
We know that you do not want us to make other people suffer.
We come to you now asking for the grace and strength to keep a sense of self-control.
We hope that by remaining calm in the middle of difficult situations, we can contribute to
Making our school a safer, more caring, and more inclusive community.
May your virtue of self-control help us to make decisions that serve the good of all your
People—in our families, neighbourhoods and school community
We ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son, who lived to show us your way.
Amen
A person with self-control…
●
●
●
●
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Is patient
Knows how to wait his/her turn
Can calm him/herself down and think before reacting to situations
Knows how to avoid physical aggression (hitting, kicking, pushing, fighting, etc.)
Can think things through and do what is best for everyone
CHRISTMAS CONCERT
On Thursday, December 16, parents/guardians and family
gathered in the gymnasium for our Christmas concert. The
students from JK – Gr. 8 brought forth the joy of the
Christmas season and allowed us to reflect as a community on
this most blessed season. Special thank you to all of the staff
who worked so tirelessly. Special thanks to Mrs. Metlin for
directing the entire concert. It truly was spectacular!
our community over the Christmas Season. The Student
Council looks forward to the organization of Spirit days this
coming year. Our first spirit day will be Friday, January 28,
“backwards day”.
EAT WELL,
Demonstration
LEARN
WELL
Presentation
and
A special thank you to the community for being so generous in
donating to our Angel Tree as well as many boxes of food
items, mittens, scarves and hats. Our Community Outreach
truly demonstrated the spirit of giving. God Bless!
Thank you to the many parents/guardians that came by to wish
us a Merry Christmas. Your kind words, cards and gifts were
greatly appreciated.
On behalf of staff and students, I would like to wish you all a
very Happy New Year.
CONGRATULATIONS………………………………
St. David of Wales’s staff and students are very pleased to
announce the accomplishments of three of our students who
have been recognized for sharing their gifts/talents.
Congratulations are extended to the following students:
Matteo S., grade 6 student who took 1st place in The Royal
Canadian Legion Poster Black/White Contest.
David K., grade 6 student who took 2nd place in the Royal
Canadian Legion Essay Contest
On Tuesday, February 8, 2011 students and parents/guardians
are invited to attend the “Eat Well, Learn Well”
presentation/demonstration to learn how to incorporate healthy
items into our child’s snacks/lunches. The event will start at
6:30 p.m. @ St. David of Wales School. Please keep this date
open on your calendar and plan to join us with your
child/children. Additional information and a sign-up form will
be sent home soon.
REPORT CARD AND INTERVIEWS:
The first formal report card will be going home on February 1,
2011. Interviews will take place on the evening of Thursday,
February 3 and during the P.D. Day on Friday, February 4. It
is our hope that all parents and students attend the interviews.
Confirmation of the interview time will be sent home with the
report card.
EXTENDED VACATIONS
Jade B., who submitted a hand drawn Christmas Card to the
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board’s Christmas
Card art contest. Jade’s Christmas Card design was in the top
5 from over one hundred submissions from students across the
Board. Her Christmas Card design was featured by the Board
this Christmas.
Now that Christmas Break has passed and we are fast
approaching March Break, we encourage families to plan
holidays during these designated times. Some parents have
asked teachers to put together homework packages for their
children to complete when they are away on an extended
family holiday. It is difficult for teachers to do so since most
of the curriculum being covered is taught by the teacher in an
instructional lesson.
TRUSTEE
SAFETY AT ST. DAVID OF WALES
The St. David of Wales’ community would like to
congratulate and welcome Peter Ferreira, our newly elected
trustee. We look forward to working with Mr. Ferreira. You
may contact him by calling (416) 805-7110 or e-mail him at
peter.ferreira@dpcdsb.org.
STUDENT COUNCIL
Student Council has been very busy this year. During the
month of December Council members helped organize and
collect non-perishable food for families in our community.
They also designed the Angel Tree tags and helped organize
and promote the Angel Tree gift giving. Thank you to
everyone who contributed, it was a huge success. The selling
of Christmas Cookie-grams was also successful. We are
hoping our Valentine’s Cookie-grams are also a big hit with
the students. All the monies raised went to help families in
We consistently remind students of safety in the yard during
our public announcements and through our assemblies.
Students are well aware that rough play, contact games,
shoving and pushing, ice/snowball throwing, kicking snow at
students and sliding down hills or snow banks are not
permitted in the school yard. It is greatly appreciated if you
could spend some time discussing the seriousness of these
activities with your child.
It is important that students come to school on time on a daily
basis. Yard supervision begins at 8:30 a.m. and the bell rings
at 8:45 a.m. Students who are late for school need to get a late
slip from the office.
making decisions to limit the amount of outdoor play during a
given day.
Visitors/Parents in the school must report to the office and
sign in. We ask that all volunteers and visitors to the school
wear a visitor/volunteer sticker so they can easily be identified
by staff and students.
SNOWBALLS
Please inform the school office if your address or phone
numbers have changed. It is important that we always have an
up to date list of all emergency phone numbers in the event we
need to contact you. Also, it is greatly appreciated if you could
place a call to the school (905) 848-4200 press #1 to inform
us that your son/daughter will be absent or late.
ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK
Please be aware that there are several pupils in our school with
a severe life-threatening food allergy (anaphylaxis) to peanuts
and nuts. This is a medical condition that causes a severe
reaction to certain allergens and can result in death within
minutes. Although this may or may not affect your child’s
class directly, please send foods with your child to school that
are free from peanuts or nut products.
When the snow does arrive, we would like to remind students
that the snow is to stay on the ground. This means no
snowballs, kicking snow or any other activity with snow or ice
that could be harmful. Throwing snowballs and sliding on the
ice is fun but dangerous in a school yard. Please review the
importance of this with your child
CASUAL FRIDAYS
You may observe that the staff dresses in a casual manner on
Fridays. Staff has made donations to United Way of Peel and
ShareLife.
PHONE CALLS DURING SCHOOL TIME
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
KISS AND RIDE & DROP-OFF
Parents who wish to drop their children off at school in the
morning or pick their children up at dismissal are asked to use
the Kiss and Ride lane, especially during the winter months
when parking is very limited. We often have meetings and
workshops at the school and require the parking. In our efforts
to be environmentally friendly we ask that parents do not
leave their cars idling on school property and at no time are
parents to leave their cars unattended. Students need to exit
the vehicle from the school side of the car/van, walk onto the
sidewalk and then proceed to the schoolyard. It is important
that parents wait for the staff member on duty to direct
students to exit the car as busses and vans are pulling into the
driveway at different times. Please do not park in the Kisss
and Ride lane or the bus loading zone when dropping off
or picking your child up from school.
Also, a reminder that parents are NOT allowed in the school
yard except when they are picking up their children for lunch
or after school. Thank you for following these important
safety reminders.
The office often gets requests from students to make phone
calls home to ask parents to bring forgotten items such as
running shoes, agendas or textbooks/homework. We are
reinforcing with students that it is their responsibility to bring
all necessary items to school and to arrange in advance their
out of school activities. Students will not be given permission
to use the phone to make such calls. Also, please make after
school arrangements with your children prior to school. We
make every attempt to minimize interruptions to classes.
INTEGRATED RIDERSHIP – SCHOOL
NEWSLETTERS
WARM WINTER CLOTHING
The cold weather has arrived and with it, the necessity for
students to wear warm clothing when playing outside (mittens,
scarves, hats, boots, etc.). It would be helpful if items were
labeled as many items get misplaced over the course of the
winter. It is also necessary that students have indoor shoes
e.g. running shoes to wear. Students can keep these at school
and change into them when they arrive. Unless weather
conditions are extreme, students will go outside during
recesses for some much needed fresh air and need to be
dressed warmly.
We obtain our information from
Environment Canada and follow Board guidelines when
The school board’s bus transportation services are
operated by Student Transportation of Peel Region
(STOPR). This is a consortium, or partnership, between
the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and the
Peel District School Board. The Ministry of Education
requires school board bus transportation consortiums to
improve efficiency.
One initiative promoted by the Ministry of Education, that
is designed to improve efficiency is known as integrated
ridership. In integrated ridership, students from both
Dufferin-Peel and Peel schools will ride on the same
buses, where feasible. A number of school boards
across the province have successfully implemented
integrated ridership. All eligible students continue to be
transported on runs where integrated ridership is
implemented.
Integrated ridership is designed to create a more
effective and efficient operation of service, is more
environmentally friendly and reduces traffic in our
communities. Integrated ridership may also result in
higher transportation funding levels for school boards.
Integrated ridership works best in situations where
schools are located close to one another and the
number of students involved helps achieve better
organized bus runs.
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board has
approved the implementation of integrated ridership,
where feasible, starting September, 2011. During the
next few months, STOPR staff will be looking at areas
where integrated ridership would work best. It should be
noted that integrated ridership does not work well in all
areas and, as a result, there may be only a few areas
that will have this program.
STOPR will provide additional information regarding the
selection of schools where integrated ridership will be
implemented. Once a school is selected, a possibility
exists that school start and dismissal times may be
altered from the current times. STOPR will keep you
informed through regular updates in school newsletters
over the upcoming months.
JK/SK REGISTRATION FOR 2011-12
d)
e)
f)
updated immunization records
proof of Canadian citizenship or of
Landed Immigrant status
proof of address (utility bill, bank or credit card
statement)
For more information, contact your local Catholic School
or call the Admissions Department at (905) 890-0708 ext.
24500.
PARENTS OF JK/SK
NEEDS
STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL
There will be an information session
for parents of children with special
needs such as vision, hearing,
physical/medical, developmental or
autism who are entering JK, SK or the
Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten
Program in September 2011. The
information session will be held at the
Dufferin-Peel
Catholic
District
School Board – Catholic Education
Centre Room 301 on January 26,
2011 from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Parents/Guardians are also reminded
to register their child here at our
school office. Official Registration
Dates are February 7, 9, 10 and 11,
2011. Snow Date is February 8, 2011.
Registration will be held at all Dufferin-Peel Catholic
Elementary Schools on the following dates:
EXTENDED FRENCH INFORMATION MEETING
Monday, February 07, 2011
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Grade 4 parents/guardians who wish to enroll their child in a
Grade 5 Extended French class for September 2011 are invited
to attend an information meeting at St. Philip Elementary
School, 345 Fairview Rd. W. on January 13, 2011 @ 7:00
p.m.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011 (Snow Day)
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. if cancelled on Monday
Wed. February 9, 2011 - Fri. February 11, 2011
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
At the present time, the above mentioned school is the
designated centre for our area. More detailed information will
be available at the meeting.
FRENCH IMMERSION INFORMATION MEETING
All children born in 2007 and who are otherwise eligible (see
below) may attend Junior Kindergarten beginning in
September, 2011. Senior Kindergarten children who are
otherwise eligible may attend if born in 2006. Both Junior and
Senior Kindergarten are voluntary programs.
The
parent/guardian should bring the following documents when
registering their child:
SK parents/guardians, who wish to enroll their child in a
Grade 1 French Immersion class for September, 2011 are
invited to attend an information meeting on January 13, 2011
at St. Gertrude Elementary School, 815 Ceremonial Drive,
Mississauga.
a)
b)
Completed application will be accepted at the French
Immersion School office over a period of two weeks following
the parent/guardian information meeting up to a deadline of
2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 9, 2011.
c)
proof of age;
original Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate or
Baptismal Certificate of other rite in communion with
the See of Rome (if the child has not been baptized, a
letter of counseling with the parish priest, to complete
the process will be accepted)
Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate of one parent
A copy of the application will be given to the
parent(s)guardian(s) at the time of submission. There will be
no numbering of applications.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Tuesday, January 11
Wednesday, January 26
3:00
Ice Hockey St. David of Wales vs. St. Luke @
Cawthra
Pizza Day
6:30
School Council Meeting
Thursday, January 26
All Saints Hockey Playoff (TBA)
Wednesday, January 12
2:45
3:30
Ice Hockey, St. David of Wales vs. St. Edmund @
Cawthra
Boys’ Basketball St. David of Wales @ St.
Monday, January 31
3:45
Boys’ Basketball St. David of Wales @ St. Mark
Bernadette
Thursday, January 13
4:00
Tuesday, February 1
Report Cards sent home
Boys’ Basketball St. Gerard @ St. David of Wales
Friday, January 14
Thursday, February 3
Interview evening
P.A. Day (no school for students)
Monday, January 17 – Term 2 Begins
Friday, February 4
P.A. Day
Rosary Apostolates
4:00
Boys’ Basketball St. Clare @ St. David of Wales
Tuesday, February 8
School Council Eat Well/Learn Well Presentation &
Demonstration
Tuesday, January 18
Sub Day
Wednesday, January 19
Wednesday, February 9
All Saints Hockey Tournament @ Erin Mills
Monday, January 24
4:10
Boys’ Basketball St. Jerome @ St. David of Wales
Tuesday, January 25
Pizza DayAll Saints Hockey Playoff (TBA)
6:30
Grade 8 & SK Grad photos
School Council Meeting
Monday, February 21
Family Day (no school for students)
St. David of Wales
School Council www.dpcdsb.org/dwale
NEWSLETTER
Happy New Year!
Welcome back! We would like to extend our warmest wishes for a wonderful 2011 to all students, staff and their families. May
2011 bring peace, health and happiness to all!
Lunch Programs @ St. David of Wales
School Council will continue to offer lunch programs every Tuesday of every month from January 11 through March 2011. The
dates for these lunches are as follows:
Pizza Days
Jan 11/11 & Jan 25/11
Feb 08/11 & Feb 22/11
Mar 08/11 & Mar 29/11
Sub Days
Jan 04/11 & Jan 18/11
Feb 01/11 & Feb 15/11
Mar 01/11 & Mar 22/11
Eat Well. Learn Well
On Tuesday February 8, 2011 School Council will host an evening dedicated to healthy eating. There will be cooking
demonstrations, expert advice from a registered dietician, recipes that kids can easily and safely prepare by themselves as
afterschool snacks and new lunch ideas. Our evening starts at 6:30 pm. Please plan to join us with your child for this exciting
event. More information to follow shortly.
Pancake Tuesday
On February 22, 2011 parent volunteers will flip and serve pancakes to our students to celebrate Shrove
Tuesday. Students with nut allergies will be given pancakes which will be made at a totally different
station to guarantee they are nut free. If you do not wish your child to receive pancakes, please send a
note to their teacher. We will be sending home a flyer requesting volunteers to help “flip”. If you are
unable to help cook or serve that day but have a griddle, we would greatly appreciate the loan.
Inspirational Quote
“I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery
depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.”
- Martha Washington –
Next school council meeting is on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 @6:30pm. All parents welcome!
A Historical Understanding of Key Issues
Related to Catholic Education
What guarantee for separate schools does the Canadian
Constitution still contain?
In 1867 the Fathers of Confederation made section 93(1) part
of the Constitution. It states:
Nothing in any such (provincial legislative) Law shall
prejudicially affect any Right or Privilege with respect to
Denominational Schools which any Class of Persons (i.e.
separate school supporters) have by Law in the Province at the
Union.
Exactly what separate school rights does section 93(1)
guarantee?
Section 93(1) protects all the provisions of the last separate
school legislation passed before Confederation, the Separate
School (Scott) Act of 1863. Among others, the Act provided
the following rights:
(a) to form a separate school board with five or more
Catholic heads of family resident in a public
school jurisdiction;
(b) to receive government grants equitable with
those of the public school system;
(c) to receive equitable funding;
(d) to have separate school boundaries enlarged;
(e) to elect separate school trustees with all the
power of public school trustees
Once section 93(1) was enacted, why did Ontario’s
separate school supporters continue to suffer financial
hardship?
The Separate School (Scott) Act of 1863 did not anticipate the
creation and/or growth of corporations and public utilities in
Ontario, or the creation of public high schools. These two
omissions caused over 100 years of financial hardship and
inequity for separate school supporters.
Why did Catholic parents and students have to pay tuition
to attend a Catholic high school after grade ten?
In 1871 the Ontario government passed an Act to Improve the
Common Schools and Grammar Schools of Ontario. This Act
abolished common and grammar schools and created public
schools for grades one to ten and high schools for grades nine
to thirteen. The highest official with the Department of
Education, Egerton Ryerson, commented that the 1871 Act did
not affect separate schools. The separate school boards
operating secondary school classes carried on, receiving
funding from grants and taxes. However, early in the
twentieth century the government passed legislation which
forbade a separate school board from offering education
beyond grade ten if its boundaries fell partially or fully within
the boundaries of a high school district. This, all but one
separate school board (in Dublin) lost their ability to receive
tax or government grand financing beyond grade ten.
Furthermore, if a separate school board chose to continue
operating grades nine and ten, it received only elementary
school grants for them.
How did Catholic high school survive?
Catholic parents and students paid tuition after grade ten.
Parental groups raised money from draws, lotteries and school
events. Parish priest contributed money from their Sunday
collections. Many separate school boards, including DufferinPeel, opened intermediate-division (i.e. grades seven to ten)
schools. With the vital assistance of the religious teaching
Orders (which taught in and administered grades eleven to
thirteen for little or nothing), the diocese continued to operate
pr8ivate Catholic high schools and opened new ones. In fact,
Philip Pocock, the Archbishop of Toronto, decided in 1971 to
open one new Catholic high school in the archdiocese every
year until the government approved tax and grant funding for
grades eleven to thirteen.
How was the Catholic high school issue resolved?
In 1984, Premier William Davis, edified by the commitment to
Catholic high schools of the Catholic community and
convinced of the injustice of truncated separate schools,
announced that the government would be completing the
separate school system to the end of high school. The
Supreme Court of Canada unanimously responded to a court
challenge against the ensuing legislation by asserting that
separate schools before Confederation were operating
secondary school education with funding from taxes and
government grants and, therefore, section 93(1) of the
Canadian Constitution guaranteed the right of separate school
boards to administer from junior kindergarten to the end of
high school. After almost sixty years of financial sacrifice by
the Catholic community, Catholic high schools once more
became an equal partner in Ontario’s publicly funded school
system.
Catholic separate schools had a second obstacle to their
survival. How serious a problem for separate school
boards was the corporation tax issue?
This was very serious. As corporations like the Ford Motor
Co., Inc., the Royal Bank of Canada an thousands of others
cam on the scene, and as public utilities like the Ontario
Hydro and the Canadian National Railway were created, they
could not pay separate school property taxes. Thus the
assessment of urban public school boards became wealthier
and wealthier, while separate school boards received taxes
from only Catholic home and property owners and from fully
or partially owned small businesses. By the 1920’s urban
separate school boards were operating with about one-quarter
to one-fifth of the revenues of their urban public schools
boards. There were no compensatory government grants.