ST. DAVID OF WALES
October 2015
Principal
B. Gillis
Secretary
B. Meo
Trustee
L. del Rosario
416- 805-7110
L. delrosario@dpcdsb.org
Superintendent
D. Amaral
905-890-1221
Parish
Pastor: Fr. Joyson
St. Martin of Tours
1290 McBride Lane
Mississauga, ON
L5C 1M8
905-279-5742
School Hours
Grades FDK-8
8:45 -3:15
St. David of Wales
4200 Beacon Lane
Mississauga, ON
L5M 2N6
905-848-4200
WebSite
http://www.dpcdsb.org/
DWALE
WebSite
http://www.dpcdsb.org/
Thanksgiving Prayer
O Gracious God,
we give You thanks for Your overflowing
generosity to us.
Thank you for the blessings of the food
we eat and especially for this feast today.
Thank you for our home and family and
friends,
especially for the presence of those gathered here.
Thank you for our health, our work and
our play.
Please send help to those who are hungry, alone, sick and
suffering from war and violence.
Open our hearts to Your love.
We ask Your blessing through Christ Your
son.
AMEN
ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY
The Ministry of Education states that it is the responsibility of each parent to ensure that his/her child be in attendance
and at scheduled activities on time and with the proper materials required for full participation. At St. David of Wales
School, we teach children to be on time for their scheduled classes. Regular and punctual attendance on the part of the
student is vital to the process of learning. Students who are habitually late or absent for class will miss essential parts of
the program. Also, when a child is late, the entire class is disrupted and program is affected for all. It is essential that
your child be punctual in order to achieve maximum success. Please reinforce the importance of promptness with your child. Should your child have a legitimate reason to be late or absent at any time, please provide them with a written note to assist us in appropriate follow-up. Frequent late arrivals or absences without appropriate reason from parents/guardians will result in letters home, and if necessary an attendance
conference.
IMMUNIZE ON TIME EVERY TIME
This is just a reminder that it is your responsibility
to report all immunizations your child receives to
Peel Public Health. Contact them at: immunizepeel.ca or 905-799-7700
PEDICULOSIS
From time to time, there may be cases of pediculosis or head lice in our school. This should not be a
cause for alarm. Lice are a nuisance, but are not
hazardous to your child’s health as they do not carry disease. One of the most important steps to both
their prevention and treatment is knowledge. Head
lice do not fly or jump. They can only hitch rides
from one head to another and they prefer clean
scalp and hair. By the time that the nits or empty
egg sacs are noticed on the head of one child in a
class or family, it is likely that other children may be
affected. If a child has pediculosis, we will ask the
parent to come to school and pick up the child. An
alert letter is sent home to parents of the infected
class.
LEAVING AT LUNCHTIME
Parents/Guardians please be advised
that ALL students must have written
permission from a parent/guardian to
leave the school at lunch. Verbal permission (over
the phone) will not be accepted. A signed and dated note with a parent/guardian signature is required for each occurrence. The note must come to
the office and students are required to sign out and
to sign back in when they return for afternoon classes.
VOLUNTEERS
We are looking for volunteers who have some time to
share during the week to assist the students of St. David
of Wales in the following area:
ALL STAR READING
What is All Star Reading?
All Star reading provides assistance with reading to students (1/2 hour per student/session). Students are seen
approximately three times per week and “coaches” focus
on specific strategies that are identified by the cocoordinator. Each coach receives training prior to the
program. If you are available please contact Mrs. Mete
at the school.
PALS
PALS is a peer led program in which children are trained
to plan and lead fun and safe activities on the playground at recess. The objectives of the program are to:
increase physical activity, decrease conflicts, reduce the
incidence of playground bullying, and provide a leadership opportunity for students. Please encourage your
children in grades 1-3 to take advantage of these activities once the students have been trained. Thank you to
Mrs. Mete and Mrs. Siconolfi for organizing the program.
We look forward to promoting a safe playground environment at school.
SCHOOL MASSES
We are very fortunate to have Father Joyson and Father Gijo join us at St. David
of Wales School during the school year to
celebrate Mass. Students participate actively in these masses and parents/guardians are always welcome to attend. Our fir st mass will be held on
Wednesday, October 8th at 10:00 a.m. in the school gymnasium. Please join us.
RECYCLING/ECO TEAM
This year St. David of Wales continues to be an ECO school
we encourage you to reduce the amount of garbage going to
landfill sites. We collect recycling materials from classrooms
each week. We want to encourage students to bring litter less
or boomerang lunches and reusable water bottles.
Thank You, A. Colautti and L. Horbatiuk
OPEN HOUSE AND CURRICULUM EVENING
Thank you to the St. David of Wales community for attending our Open House/Book Fair evening on Thursday,
September 24, 2015. This was a great evening for you to meet the staff and admire our beautiful school. I was very
fortunate to chat with many parents/guardians that evening. Please spend some time reviewing the Curriculum expectations and checking your child’s agenda for important information. Please refer to the K to 12 Homework Policy and Procedures section which outlines the homework policy of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.
A YEAR OF VIRTUES
At. St. David of Wales virtue formation contributes to a healthy
positive learning environment by fostering a climate in which all
members feel safe, confident and hope-filled about themselves,
their relationships and their futures. Each of the virtues is clearly
outlined in the Student Agenda.
A student centered liturgy and assembly will introduce the Virtue
of the Month. Parents/Guardians are welcome to join our Virtue
Assemblies.
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May
June
Faith
Empathy
Conscience
Hope
Self Control
Respect
Kindness
Love
Acceptance
Fairness
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
6
4
2
11
4
3
5
5
2
10:30 am
1:00 pm
9:00 am
10:30 am
1:00 pm
9:00 am
10:30 pm
1:00 pm
9:00 am
TERRY FOX WALK FOR A CURE 2015
On Friday, September 25 the staff and students of St. David of
Wales School were out in full force walking the field to show their support for cancer. St. David of Wales raised $612.80. We
would like to thank the whole community
for their support.
Terry Fox Coordinators: M. Mete and A.
Colautti
AFTER SCHOOL SECURITY
Students must be diligent in gathering all materials prior to the end
of the school day. Once dismissed, there is no supervision provided
to the students. Students/parents should not be returning to school
after hours to retrieve books/belongings. In order to ensure the
safety of the workplace, no students or parents may wander to
classrooms after school.
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT TEACHER
Once again, St. David of Wales will have a Special Assignment Teacher visiting to assist/support teachers. She will
partnership with classroom teachers. She will be working
with groups of students as well as individual students alongside the classroom teacher to target the learning needs of all
students. This teacher may be working in your child’s
classroom from time to time throughout the year. We
would like to welcome Ms. M. Riverso as our SAT .
MISSED WORK DUE TO ABSENCES
When children are absent from school they miss
important lessons and work that extends from
these teachings. If a child is absent due to illness we kindly request that children get the
needed rest they require so they can come back
to school healthy. The Teachers will not be sending daily
work home for your son/daughter to “catch up”. They will
spend time assisting students on their return to school.
REPORTING HEAD INJURIES
Even when it may appear to be insignificant, we inform
parents/guardians of all reported head injuries that happen
at school. We do this in recognition of the potential danger
of any injury involving the head area. Our intent is not to
alarm you, but to keep you informed. Please remind your
child to let a staff member know if they bump
their head or they get hurt at school. Your
child’s safety is our number one priority.
HOLD AND SECURE LOCKDOWN AND
FIREDRILLS
For your information, during this past month we have rehearsed with students a couple of emergency responses including a lockdown and a fire drill. All schools are required
by Board policy to practice these pro-cedures throughout
the year. Participation is essential for precautionary purposes only, so that in the event of an actual
emergency, students will be prepared to respond in a safe and responsible manner. If
you would like additional
Information, please feel free to contact the
school.
CATHOLIC SCHOOL COUNCIL NEWS
Thank you to all those who submitted their nominations for positions on our Catholic
School Council for this year! The first
School Advisory Council meeting for
the year was on Wednesday, September 30th.
Our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 28
@ 6:30 p.m. in the Library. Everyone is invited to
attend. Other meeting dates are:
December 9, 2015
February 24, 2016
May 25, 2016
Congratulations to the following parents who have
been acclaimed as parent members of our School
Council for the 2014/2015 school year.
C. Baron
P. Mancini
J. Dunne
L. Meloche
M. Howard
Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
Parish Rep
OAPCE
Teacher Rep:
Non Teacher Rep:
Principal:
Criminal Background Check
A Criminal Background Check is required if you wish to
volunteer your services in the school, transport students
and assist on trips. Please call to set a date and time to
meet with Mrs. Gillis to get the necessary forms to take
to the Peel Police station. Please submit your forms to the
police station listed on the back of the form. Copies of
the Criminal Background forms are available in the office.
The search results will be mailed to you approximately 4
to 6 weeks later. This only applies to residents of Peel.
Book Fair
Thank you to everyone who supported our Scholastic
school Book Fair. Our Book Fair was a very successful
event. We surpassed our goal of $l,700 in sales.
Teacher-Librarian: A. Colautti
J. Sato
B. Meo
B. Gillis
We look forward to an exciting year as we work in
partnership for the benefit of all the students.
Join and help us organize the Catholic School
Council Pro Grant Parents Evening
This year School Council applied and were approved
for a grant to host an evening on internet/social media safety for parents and children. This event will
take place in April 2016 and we are looking for parents who would like to participate in helping out on
the sub committee to coordinate the event. If you
have a lot of experience in this topic or are interested
in helping out please contact the office.
EMERGENCY EVACUATION
In the event that is necessary to evacuate for emergency reasons we will evacuate to Corpus Christi
School at 4155 Elora Drive, off Rathburn Road, east
of Mavis. Your child will remain at Corpus Christi
until we make contact with you or an emergency
contact. Please inform the office of any change to
emergency contacts, phone numbers or addresses.
STORAGE OF MEDICATION
Students that require medication
must have a forms (which are available in the office) signed by their parents/guardian and a physician. Students cannot keep medication in their
back pack or in the classroom. All
medication must be stored in the school office.
PHONE CALLS DURING SCHOOL TIME
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.
AROUND THE SCHOOL
Indoor Shoes/Change of Clothes
Please ensure that your child comes to school prepared to go
outside for recess and lunch hour breaks. It is the expectation
that each child comes dressed appropriately to go outside to
enjoy the weather and get some fresh air and exercise. If your
child is prone to getting wet during recess, please send a change
of clothes, especially socks and sweat pants. Please ensure that
your child brings a pair of indoor shoes to school. Please label the
shoes for our Primary students. Running shoes are preferred
because they are safe and can also be used for gym. Please ensure
that the shoes have non-marking soles. We appreciate your continued support.
DAILY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
The Ministry of Education has mandated
that every school in Ontario conduct 20
minutes of daily physical activity. Each
teacher has been asked to
establish a time on their
schedule that is convenient
in their curriculum. Staff
will also be participating in
the activities therefore you
may find that casual attire is worn.
PETS ON SCHOOL PROPERTY
For the safety of our students, parents,
guardians and staff, please do not bring pets
on school property during the school day
(8:30-3:30), most especially when you are
picking up or dropping off students-dents.
Several students
have severe allergies
and animals may be
unpredictable when
confronted by a
group of children.
Please note that no
ANAPHYLAXIX ALERT
pets are allowed in
There are several students in our school the school building
with a severe life-threatening food aller- at any time. Also
gies. This is a medical condition that can note that no pets are
result in death within minutes of expoallowed on school
sure. Although this may or may not af- property during school sanctioned events.
fect your child’s class directly, please
Thank you for helping to keep the school
send foods with your child’s lunch that environment safe for all!
are free from nuts /nut products. Further
to this, as part of “Sabrina’s Law”, we
SCHOOL SAFETY
are no longer permitted to allow treats
Parents are invited to the school throughfor sharing with other students. All of
out the year, however, for the safety of all
these treats will now be sent back home. children, parents and visitors are required
Thank you for your conto ring the door bell at the front door for
sideration and coentry, and must sign in at the office and
operation in making our
receive a visitor’s sticker each and every
classrooms and school
time you visit the building. Visitors are
safer for students.
not entitled to go to the classrooms as this
is a disruption to student programming.
SCHOOL YARD
Since the hallways are busy during pick up
SAFETY
Just a reminder that student supervision times, siblings and parents are asked to
begins at 8:30 a.m. Students must not arrange with your child, a meeting place
be dropped off at the school before this outside of the school. Messages and delivtime
eries (keys, lunches. Etc.) are handled
through the office. Please remember, to
most students in the school, you are a
stranger! We also ask that parents do
STUDENTS WATCHING SPORTING not enter the schoolyard during school
EVENTS
hours as this is also a safety issue.
Reminder that spectators are not allowed
at after school games. Staff are present to
SHARELIFE
coach or referee the games. No supervi“ShareLife Fridays” - Staff have contribsion is provided for other spectators. Only uted funds to ShareLife in order to “Dress
students who are accompanied by their
down” on Fridays! Thank you staff for
parent/guardians may stay. All other stu- your generous contribution.
dents will be asked to leave.
HALLOWEEN SAFETY
It is that time of year already when our
“little ones” will want to visit their neighbors for trick or treating. In school we will
remind them about the safety rules so that
they can both enjoy the evening and stay
safe and well.

Choose brightly-colored costumes

Use face paint instead of masks

Plan a safe route with your child
 Remind your child of road safety rules
 Accompany your children

Remind children not to enter homes

Check the treats before allowing your
children to eat them.
In addition, we will also be
stressing the fact that the
most important aspect of
our activities at this time of
year is the celebration of
two great Feast Days. November 1st we honor All
Saints Day in our church, and we are encouraged to pray that we might emulate
their example in our daily lives. On the
following day, November 2nd, we will remember all those who have gone before us
in faith by celebrating the Feast of All
Souls. Again, we are reminded that while
those who have died are out of sight, they
are not out of mind or beyond our prayers.
Students may choose to wear a
costume or wear orange and black to
school on October 30th. There are
some requirements that must be
followed by all:
SAFETY is the first consideration.
Students must be able to participate in
all regular school activities, including
recess while in their costume.
Costumes can be worn to school.
Students will not have an
opportunity to change at school
No masks are to be worn
No props should be brought to
school
Costume theme must be non
Violent and non threatening
The school cannot assume any
responsibility for wear and tear on
costumes
Please do not send treats for your
child to share
child to share.
In October #MAKEkindnessgoviral
Enjoy the beauty and cooler days of fall. Enjoy outdoor games before the toques and
parkas arrive! Teach a neighbour to skip or challenge your friends to a game of soccer or basketball.
How did you #MAKEkindnessgoviral? Share your stories with us.