St. Joseph Catholic School
10 Guelph Street
Guleph, Ontario N1H 5Y8
Tel: 519-836-2671
Fax: 519-836-8209
October News 2014
Autumn has quickly come upon us and each year we marvel at
the beauty of the season… the brilliant colours of the leaves in
the sunlight, the abundance of locally grown fruits and
vegetables and the richness of all that Thanksgiving represents.
Thanksgiving encourages us to take a breath from our busy
lives and to focus on all the gifts with which we have been
blessed and that we sometimes take for granted. It is a time to
tell loved ones how much they mean to us. A time to make
peace with those who perhaps we have neglected and a time to
share our good fortune with those who are less fortunate.
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on our faith and to thank God
for all that is good in our lives and, if we are being faced with
challenges and despair, to ask God to walk with us and give us
strength and hope. As the warm days continue to brighten our
spirit, let us take time to appreciate our faith, the wonderful
country we are blessed to live in, our health, our family, our
friends and our wonderful school community.
We thank each of you for your continued support and we
extend a Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Open House
Our Pizza Night and Open House, held on September
18th was a huge success! Families had the opportunity to
meet the staff, tour the school and enjoy a pizza dinner
as well as take some fun photos at our photo booth!!!
A big thank you goes out to the following volunteers and
students who helped make the night so successful:
Theresa Fischer, Hilary Jenkins and Ray and Emily
Belanger for baking the MacMillan’s Cookies for
everyone to try and to Mattea Callegari for handing them
out!
Hilary Jenkins, Marliese Ferraro, Mrs Bilton, Keegan
Holman and Alex Berno for helping organize and hand
out the pizza and drinks. Also Diane Hassan for doing
the shopping ahead of time.
Zoe Holman, Kassie Ferraro, Mattea Callegari and
Alessia Ferraro for making posters and Catherine
McCullough, MacKenzie Gibbings, and Naomi Artuso
and for helping hang them (though we think it was really
to get out of going outside at recess!)
And a big thank you to David Slade who had to clean up
all the feathers from the exploding boas from the Photo
Booth and to Dave Jennings for all his help in setting up
for the evening.
Thanks to all the families who participated in the
evening and to the staff for their continued dedication!
St. Joseph Catholic School
Council
Introducing our new Catholic School Council:
Co Chairs: Marliese Ferraro; Hilary Jenkins
Treasurer: Open
Parish Liaison Member: Hilary Jenkins
Secretary: Shared/Open
Teacher Representative: Traci Coulas Gaca
Community Member At Large: Open
Please join us for our next CSC Meeting on November
18th in the office meeting room at 7p.m. All are welcome
to attend. Come and bring a friend!!
Student Achievement
Teachers in junior kindergarten through grade eight
spend time at the beginning of each year assessing
student strengths and needs to assist them in focusing
their teaching and scaffolding learning for their
students.
During their kindergarten year and at the beginning of
grades one to three, teachers assess each student using
tools such as the Language Assessment Resource
(LAR). The LAR is a comprehensive language
assessment consisting of seven assessment tools
including Oral Language, Letter Recognition,
Letter/Sound Recognition, Sight Words, Spelling,
Phonemic Awareness and the Developmental Reading
Assessment (DRA).
In the primary level, the DRA is administered in a 1:1
session, with the student first reading aloud to the
teacher and then the teacher recording student responses
to comprehension questions.
In the junior and intermediate levels, students are
assessed using a variety of assessments such as the
DRA. During the DRA, students read a short passage
orally to the teacher, and then complete the remainder
of the assessment independently. The Junior
Achievement Assessment (JAR) also provides
information about each child’s spelling skills.
All of these assessments are designed to assist teachers
in providing direct instruction to meet the needs of each
student.
Welcome
We welcome Paulina Flak and Jordan Baker from the
Laurier Faculty of Education. We are very pleased to
have these two Teacher Education Candidates join our
staff this year. They will spend two days each week at
our school as part of their field placement and will also
complete their three practicum sessions in various
classrooms. From October 6th to October 17th Miss Flak
will be joining Mrs. Machold’s grade three classroom
and Miss Baker will be with Mrs. Borghese’s grade 4/5
class.
Newsletters
A monthly newsletter and calendar will be sent home
on the first day of every month. Each newsletter and
calendar will contain information that is relevant to
the upcoming month of our school. If you would
prefer to have your newsletter sent by email, please
let us know by calling the school or writing a note in
your child’s agenda. Newsletters and calendars are
also available online. Please visit our website at
www.wellingtoncdsb.ca to view news from the
Wellington District School Board and from St. Joseph
Catholic School.
Christmas On Ice
Community Gathering
We are very excited to have our Christmas On Ice
Community Gathering on December 18th at the West
End Community Center from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. New
guidelines require that everyone (students, parents,
staff) wear a CSA approved helmet when skating.
Any person without a helmet is invited to come and
participate in the evening festivities off the ice.
Breakfast Program
Thanks to our many volunteers we are able to run the
St. Joseph Catholic School Breakfast Program.
Volunteers are always appreciated so please call the
school if you are able to help out with this wonderful
program.
The program provides every student the opportunity
to partake in a nutritious breakfast snack three
mornings a week – Tuesdays, Wednesdays and
Fridays- at no cost. If you have not already done so,
and would like your child to participate in this great
opportunity please complete and submit the School
Breakfast Program form.
Thank you to Janette Ten Hag, who have generously
volunteered their time to coordinate this program,
and to Diane Hasson for purchasing the nutritious
breakfast foods. Also thank you to Mary Delaney
and Barb Manera for their leadership with the School
Breakfast Program.
Volunteers Urgently
Needed For Our Strong
Start Program
During the first term, students in grades one and two
requiring assistance with early reading skills will be the
focus of our Strong Start Literacy Program.
Volunteers work with one child at a time for about
thirty minutes for a period of ten weeks. Through
games and activities repetition in recognizing letters,
sounds and words is provided.
We are currently in need of volunteers to run the
program which begins in mid-October. If you, or
someone you know, are able to volunteer by providing a
minimum of half an hour a week over a ten-week
period, please call the school. Training and materials
are provided.
Nut–Free Schools
Within our school community, there are several
students who have a potentially life-threatening allergy
(anaphylaxis) predominantly to peanuts and tree nuts
(i.e. almonds, cashews, hazelnuts and pistachios). The
Wellington Catholic District School Board believes
that the best way to reduce the risk of accidental
exposure to these students is to respectfully ask for the
cooperation of families within our school community
to avoid sending peanut butter and/or products with
peanuts or tree nuts listed in the ingredients, as well as,
products that may contain or may have come in contact
with peanuts and tree nuts i.e. cookies, chocolate bars,
donuts etc. As well, we ask that you not send “school
friendly peanut butter”, as this is difficult for students
to distinguish from regular peanut butter. Your
cooperation and understanding of these matters are
appreciated. Please call the school should you have any
questions.
Visiting the School
Please remember to check into the office when you are
visiting the school or if you need to access the
playground during school hours.
EQAO Provincial Assessment
Last spring, students in Grades 3 and 6 at our school, and at every publicly funded elementary school across Ontario,
participated in provincial assessments in reading, writing and mathematics. These assessments were conducted by
Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO).
EQAO assessments are an important source of information about student learning. Our school uses the results, along
with other important contextual information, to guide improvement programs and teaching practices so that all
students benefit. Our school board and the Ministry of Education also use the results to direct attention and support
where they’re needed.
When looking at our school’s results, it’s important to look at achievement trends over time. It’s also important to
consider the information about our school community included in our school’s full report, which can be found on
EQAO’s Web site, www.eqao.com. More information about the assessments, including sample tests and examples
of student responses at different achievement levels, can be found in the “Parent Resources” section of EQAO’s
Web site at www.eqao.com.
The following tables provide a summary of the EQAO student achievement results, for the Province of Ontario, the
Wellington Catholic District School Board and for St. Joseph Catholic School. The assessments were graded on a
four level system, with one being the lowest and four the highest. The results below express the percentage of
students achieving at or above the provincial standard (Levels 3 and 4), and represents all of the students in the grade,
including students who were exempted and those who took part in the assessment but did not produce enough work to
be scored.
Grade 3 Achievement Results
READING %
WRITING %
MATHEMATICS %
Province
70
78
67
Board
68
79
74
School
61
79
55
Total number of students in Grade 3 at St. Joseph Catholic School - 33
Grade 6 Achievement Results
READING %
WRITING %
MATHEMATICS %
Province
79
78
54
Board
75
79
58
School
88
88
65
Total number of students in Grade 6 at St. Joseph Catholic School - 26
Our staff will be analyzing our results and reviewing our School Improvement Plan to address student needs and to
assist our students to develop to their full potential.
Fundraising Campaign
Book Fair 2014
Each year we run two major fundraising campaigns at
St. Joseph Catholic School. The campaign for Peanut and
Nut Free Belgian Chocolate began on Friday, September
19th and continues until Tuesday October 14th. As well,
the MacMillan’s Gourmet Foods Fundraiser
will be sent home on October 23rd to ensure items ordered
will be delivered in time for Christmas. The money raised
from both of these fundraisers will be used to support
various classroom and school activities and to purchase
supplemental resources designed to enhance your child’s
educational experience.
Our Book Fair was another incredible success! Thank
you to all who supported this important fundraiser! Get
ready for lots more awesome reading as over 100 new
books will be 'hitting' the library shelves in the next little
while!!
We will be pleased to issue additional boxes of chocolate
once payment for the first box has been received. On
Wednesday, October 22st the eldest or only child in
families who have participated or made a donation, will
be provided with draw tickets for an opportunity to win
one of the following prizes: $150.00 Stone Road Mall Gift
Card, $150.00 Future Shop Gift Card, $100.00 Future
Shop Gift Card, a TRIKKE carving scooter and a Family
of Four Cineplex movie package. The draw will take
place on October 27thst.
Should you choose to make a financial donation to the
school instead of selling chocolates, a tax receipt for a
donation of $20.00 or more will be issued. Please make
cheques payable to St. Joseph Catholic School.
We encourage all families to participate, either through
selling chocolates or through a financial donation, as
funds raised benefit all students in our school. Thanks to
all the students and their families for their support.
Grade 8
Career Pathways
The grade 8 students at St. Joseph will be attending Career
Pathways on Wednesday, October 16th
at the River Run Centre. This exciting event is sponsored
by the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and provides
students with an opportunity to be introduced to career
options they may have an interest in exploring.
We also had several draws to help promote our Book
Fair. The winners of a poster from the Book Fair were:
Taylor Dawes, Hayden Donnelly, Seth Rye, Myla
Urysty, and Farhat Geresin.
The winners of $10.00 worth of books/product from the
Fair were: Logan Isley, Sasha Townsend, Nicolas
Roballo, Jack Vandenberg and Alex Berno. Our winner
on staff was Mrs. Oporto.
Our dual Grand Prize winners of $25.00 worth of
books/product from the Book Fair were: Nikola Mantle
and Mrs. Borghese.
Congratulations to all!
Thank you to Mrs. McAnany for organizing the book fair
for our families.
Each year, our library and our classrooms suffer losses of
our school resources. Books, as you know, can be very
costly and the money required to replace these losses is
money which would otherwise have been used to
enhance resources and programming in other areas. If,
over the summer months, you have come across library
books, classroom text books or other school materials,
you may drop them off at the office at any time.
Thanksgiving Food Drive
Green Legacy Program
St. Joseph Catholic School has chosen to support the
food drive again this year. It seems each year the
need becomes greater, and thankfully our students,
staff, and families continue to serve those in need by
bringing in non-perishable food items.
Green Legacy began in 2004 to celebrate Wellington
County's 150 year anniversary. Since that time over one
million trees have been planted in the County of
Wellington by community partners, making it the
largest municipal tree planting program in North
America!
They may include food items like pasta and sauce,
peanut butter, canned goods, cereals and cookies, etc.
They may also include household items like diapers,
kleenex, shampoo and conditioner, bathroom tissue,
etc.
If each person brought in just 1 item each, our blue
barrels would be full to overflowing.
During the month of September, each of our junior
classes has participated in a half day nature hike and a
half day of tree transplanting to promote good land
stewardship. What an amazing experience!!!
Thanks to Mrs. Palmer for organizing this program for
our school.
The drive runs from October 1st to October 17th.
Thank you to Miss Stradiotto and Mrs. Manera for
organizing the Thanksgiving Food Drive!
Smile!!!!!
Make our Parking Lot Safe
Picture Day October 3rd
Please remember not to park by the gates that lead to the
playground as students use this area to enter and exit the
playground. Please follow the arrows when dropping off
or picking up your child so traffic flows safely in one
direction. Working together we can make the parking lot
safe for all of our students!!!
St. Joseph Catholic School
September 2014
Dear Parents,
Lunchbox Orders is back! St. Joseph Catholic School is thrilled to announce that we will be continuing to
offer our lunch program on-line with Lunchbox Orders.
Lunchbox Orders is a convenient, online ordering platform featuring local restaurants. An ordering
calendar has been coordinated for the St. Joseph community and may be found at
www.lunchboxorders.com. All orders are submitted on the website and payment is processed on-line
via Visa, MasterCard, Discover or Visa Debit. Visa and MasterCard gift cards are also accepted on the
site.
Our ordering calendar will be open September 26 and delivery is scheduled to begin October 6.
Restaurants featured weekly are:
Delivery Day
Restaurant
Alternating Mondays
Swiss Chalet
Friday
Subway
How to Order:
1. Go online at www.lunchboxorders.com and click on “ORDER LUNCH”.
2. Click on the green “sign up” button to register your family account. (If you have registered in
past, you may login directly)
3. Add your child to your account.
4. Click “Order Now” to access the school’s ordering calendar.
5. Proceed with ordering your child’s lunch by clicking on the blue order date.
The Benefits:
1. With every meal purchased, a donation will be made to St. Joseph’s fundraising program.
2. All restaurants featured offer menu items that are compliant with the Ontario Ministry of
Education’s Food and Beverage Policy, PPM 150.
3. Lunchbox Orders is paperless and cashless. Ordering online is fast and easy!
4. Orders may be placed weekly or for the full length of the program.
Dates to Remember:
 On-line ordering will be available as of September 26, 2014
 The first lunch delivery is scheduled for Monday, October 6, 2014.
 Saturday, October 4th is the ordering deadline for the first delivery date.
 All orders must be submitted by Saturday at 3pm for the following week.
If you have any questions, please contact the Lunchbox Orders customer service team at 1.877.426.6860
or by e-mail at info@lunchboxorders.com.
Terry Fox Run
It was thirty three summers ago that a young man
named Terry Fox from British Columbia had a dream
to run across Canada and to raise money for a cure for
cancer.
On Wednesday, September 24th our school participated
in one of the largest fundraising events in Canadian
history. Our school joined thousands of other school
across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
Students in grades three to eight walked to Margaret
Greene Park to participate in the event. Our junior and
senior kindergarten students and our grade one and two
students participated by walking/running around the St.
Joseph Catholic School playground. After some fun
warmups, Mrs. Perz, Mr. Breadner and the grade six
class cheered our younger students as they walked for
fifteen minutes along the perimeter of the field.
Through your generosity our school raised $640.00.
Way to go Knights!!!
Cold Season
Our school, along with the Wellington Catholic District
School Board, continues to implement precautions to
prevent the spread of colds and flu. Teachers continue
to model and stress the following measures with their
students:




Washing hands well and often with soap and
water
Using hand rub (sanitizer) if soap and water are
not available
Coughing and sneezing into their sleeve or arm
Avoid sharing food, beverages and other
personal items with others
As well, custodians are cleaning and disinfecting high
risk surfaces and areas on a frequent basis. If your child
is ill, please keep them at home to avoid the spread of
germs and to ensure a speedy recovery.
CROSS COUNTRY
After four weeks of training at lunch times, some of
our senior team members are up to completing a 6
kilometer run before returning to the gymnasium for
lunch with teammates. Our younger competitive
runners in grades 3 and 4 can run at least 1.1
kilometers. This year, as there was no opportunity for
our Grade 1 and 2 runners to compete in any races, the
school has initiated the FIRST ANNUAL X-SCHOOL
YARD COUNTRY 500 meter run scheduled for 11:40
a.m. on Wednesday the 1st of October, 2014. This
year we have 4 runners scheduled to participate: Ayla
Booth, Sirak Bairu, Zander Draper and Jacob
Manyoro. We wish them well in this, their first
competition.
Our X-Country team was well represented at the
St. Peter Invitational Run on Friday the 19th of
September 2014. Forty-one competitors represented
our school and ran beautiful races. Once again, our
journey to improve our physical selves is well on its
way to enhance many of our students' academic
performances as well: a healthy body for a healthy
mind.
We look forward to this week's Championship Race on
Thursday the 2nd of October, at which time we
anticipate taking approximately 45 runners!
Thank you to Mrs. Manera, Mr. McAnany,
Mrs. Machold and Mrs. Perz for giving of their lunch
time since the school year began. Their dedication has
continued to improve the fitness levels of each of the
students involved.
One of Those Days
We would like to remind parents to please send a spare
change of clothes for their primary students. With the
cold wet weather on its way, it is always a good idea to
be prepared in case of spill/puddles/accident/tears.
These clothes can be placed in a large ziploc bag and
kept in the students’ lockers or cubbies.
BIG BROTHER BIG SISTER
ASSOCIATION OF GUELPH
St. Joseph is very pleased to announce some very great
things that are happening within our school through the
Big Brother/Big Sister Association of Guelph. The InSchool Mentorship Program is a program in which
volunteers in the community dedicate one hour a week to
work with individual students. The goal and purpose of
the in-school mentorship program is to help the students
learn social skills, play and friendship skills, relationship
building skills, and self -confidence. This is a nonacademic program that allows the students to spend
quality time baking, doing crafts, playing games and
talking with a caring volunteer. Even though it is nonacademic, we have noticed students develop gains
socially, emotionally and academically as a natural result
when their emotions are more balanced and their selfconfidence and excitement levels increase.
Currently we have two new adult volunteers starting with
two of our students and one university student returning
for the third year in a row. We also soon will have a
grade twelve co-op student from GCVI who will be here
each morning from Monday to Thursday until the end of
January to work with eight of our students. She is doing
her co-op placement through Big Brothers/Big Sisters
here at our school as an in-school mentor.
GAME ON will be beginning in October for a group of
8-10 grade 7 and 8 students. This is a fantastic program
led by two male university students focusing on social
and emotional skills, self-regulation, healthy eating, and
healthy lifestyle in a fun, energetic group.
If you have any questions, or have a child you would like
to see participating in either the GAME ON, or InSchool Mentorship Program, please call Mrs. Diane
Fountain, CYW here at St. Joseph.
Upcoming Dates
Remembrance Day… ……….
November 11th
Progress reports are sent home.. ……
November 11th
Gr. 7 & 8 Immunizations ……
November 13th
Grade 7 students’ Confirmation Retreat…..
November 17th
Progress report parent/teacher/student conference s
November 20th
Professional Development Day…..November 21st
Sacrament of Confirmation….
November 29th @2:00p.m.
Christmas Break…….December 22nd 2014 through to
January 2, 2015
First Reconciliation/First Eucharist Parent Meeting…
January 20th @ 7:30p.m.
Sacrament of First Reconciliation…
February 28th @
11:00a.m.
Sacrament of First Communion…
April 18th @ 2:00p.m.
School Procedure: Lockdown / Hold and Secure / Shelter in Place
Each year we have a number of safety drills to ensure our students know what to do in the event
of an emergency. The chart below explains three emergency situations for which we prepare our
students: Lockdown, Hold and Secure and Shelter in Place. In addition we also prepare our
students on evacuation procedures in the event of a fire and how to protect themselves if there is
a tornado warning in our area.
OFFSITE PARENT COMMUNICATION LOCATION FOR ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC SCHOOL IS AT
ST. PETER CATHOLIC SCHOOL LOCATED ON WESTWOOD AVENUE.
Lockdown
Hold and Secure
Shelter in Place
A Lockdown is used when there is
an immediate and imminent threat to
the school population. School staff
and students are secured in the
rooms they are currently in and no
one is allowed to leave or enter until
the situation has been resolved.
Hold and Secure is used when it is
desirable to secure the school due to
an ongoing situation outside and not
related to the school (i.e. bank
robbery occurs near a school, but not
on school property). In this
situation, the school continues to
function normally, with the exterior
doors being locked until such a time
as the situation near the school is
resolved.
Shelter in Place is used for an
environmental or weather related
situation, where it is necessary to
keep all occupants within the school,
to protect them from an external
situation.
Examples include a person is
causing serious bodily harm or death
to the school population; student in
possession of knife, gun or weapon
and a staff member is informed of
this; or irate parent in custody battle
with spouse has attended the school
to remove their child.
Examples may include chemical
spills, blackouts, explosions or
extreme weather conditions
Although a Lock Down / Hold and Secure or Shelter in Place situation will cause alarm in both students
and parents, it is imperative to remain calm and follow the instruction of school staff and direction as
provided in the school’s emergency procedures. Emergency Services will be responding to any such
incident and will require the full cooperation of students and parents to be the most effective.
PARENTS MUST NOT ATTEND TO THE SCHOOL AREA as this may impede Emergency Services efforts.
Parents are to attend to the off-site safe zone at St. Peter Catholic School where they will receive
information and updates. Information will also be provided on local radio stations. Please read and
familiarize yourself with the school’s emergency procedures.