Principal:
Brenda M. Spearman
Office Administrator:
Katie Abbott
Office Assistant:
Elizabeth Brook’s
Chief Custodian
Jeff Weatherall
Website: http://www.terryfoxes.ocdsb.ca/
Newsletter #3
School Council Chair: Kevin Thurlbeck
OCDSB Website: www.ocdsb.ca
Trustee: John Shea – 613-875-7432
Superintendent: Pino Buffone
OCDSB Board Office: 613-596-8222
“The Dream Lives On”
November 2010
exists along Jeanne D’Arc Blvd. adjacent to our school.
The proposal is to (i) revise the speed limit in the existing
“School Speed Zone” adjacent to Terry Fox Elementary
School from 40 km/h to 50 km/h and (ii) revise the time
period the flashing beacons are in operation on the street
to 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. time periods.
The intention of this action is to standardize the operation
of the two “School Speed Zones” on the street. I have
serious concerns for the safety of our children should this
proposed plan come into effect. For more information
please contact the City of Ottawa, Traffic Assessment
613-580-2424 Ext. 22517.
Principal’s Message
The staff and I would like to thank the many volunteers
that support all the wonderful programs and activities
that go on every day at Terry Fox. Please know that
spending your valuable time assisting us is very much
appreciated.
Since the beginning of school, we have practiced three
Fire Drills and on October 19th we had our first
Lockdown Drill. Our School Resource Officer,
Constable Albert was present. I was very proud of how
our students and staff conducted themselves during this
drill. Teachers have been talking to their students on the
importance of being prepared should this be required at
school. I ask that you take a few moments to have a
discussion with your child on this issue.
Grade 8 students once again participated in the “World
of Work” fair held annually at the Aberdeen Pavilion,
showcasing some area high school specialty programs,
as well as Algonquin College, and other training centres.
Throughout the year, we make an effort to present the
wide range of career options to our students to better
inform and help with their choices for high school.
Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of dog/animal
feces on our school yard. We kindly ask everyone to
respect the signage “No dogs permitted on school
property”.
Many of our students are preparing for our
Remembrance Day Assembly on November 11th at 10:30
a.m. in the gymnasium. All are welcome.
City of Ottawa Proposed Speed Change
I have received notification from the City of Ottawa with
a proposed plan to revise the speed limit that currently
Progress Reports Interviews
The evening of November 11th and the morning of
November 12th have been set aside for Parent Teacher
Interviews this term. Invitations for interviews will be
sent home the week of November 1st. Progress Reports
will be sent home on November 4th. This is an anecdotal
report which highlights Learning Skills first and Subjects
second. If you want more detailed information, please go
to the Ministry of Education web site:
www.edu.gov.on.ca and look for “Growing Success”.
P.D. Days
Reminder that there is no school on November 12th for
Parent Teacher Interviews; and November 26th due to
Professional Development Activities.
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capable of in our schools. Students will be asked
questions about their backgrounds, about if they feel safe
at school, if they feel valued and respected at school and
if they enjoy learning. A survey of this size and
magnitude will take time to analyze. The board is looking
at the arrival of the preliminary report in the Spring of
2011. Each school will receive data based on student
answers and this will help us address student
concerns and also point out our strengths from the
students’ view (winter 2011/12). The school board will
also have a student story of how we are doing in our
board and this will help as we make decisions for the
future for our children. The final detailed analysis is
projected for 2012.
Healthy School Protocol
We are monitoring student and staff absences closely. If
you are leaving a message on our answering machine
regarding your child’s absence, we would appreciate it if
you could give a reason for the absence. Our custodians
are on heightened cleaning protocol. Thank you for your
support as we get through this year’s flu season.
Healthy Snacks
We encourage our students to bring healthy lunches and
snacks to school. Suggestions include fruit, vegetables,
yogurt, etc. We believe that students learn best when
they are running on good fuel.
Cell Phones
A number of our children seem to be carrying cell
phones to school. While children are at school, cell
phones are to be turned off and kept away in school
bags. Please remind your child if he or she carries a cell
phone to keep it turned off and put away. While the
potential health effects of cell phone use on children are
still relatively unknown at the present time, most health
officials are recommending limited cell phone use with
children until further medical studies are done.
Terry Fox Walk
We reached our goal for our Terry Fox Walk. The amount
donated to the Terry Fox Foundation was just over $2500.
Thanks to everyone for keeping Terry’s dream alive. Our
community continues to demonstrate such wonderful
spirit. We know Terry Fox would be very proud!
Students On the Leading Edge – S.O.L.E.
Our Terry Fox S.O.L.E. students have been working very
hard this past month. They have tallied our student club
survey, organized our student clubs, hosted two fund
raising activities, hosted a litter free lunch challenge, and
put together an intermediate dance. With the support of
their families, peers, and teachers, they have become
stronger leaders and are preparing themselves for their
next big challenge. This upcoming month these 16 youth
will facilitate 7 unique and creative clubs. These clubs
where chosen out of the top 7 requested clubs; they are
yearbook, indoor and outdoor sports and games, fund
raising, sketching, movie making club, and S.M.I.L.E
(Students Making Important Life Experiences).
S.M.I.L.E. will be a junior leadership group that will take
on 24 junior grade students for 10 week sessions in
leadership training. After 10 weeks a new group of 24
will be requested to join. Our goal is to have a total of 72
junior students who will have participated in S.M.I.L.E.
by the end of this year!
Emergency Closure Network
Over the next few weeks you will receive a phone call
from a member of our Emergency Closure Network, to
confirm the phone numbers we have on file to call in the
event of an emergency or early school closure. Please
remember to keep the school informed should your
contact information and telephone numbers change
throughout the year. Please review with your child(ren)
arrangements you have made in the event of an early
school closure, so that they will know if they are to go to
the sitter, home or to a neighbour who has agreed to take
them. Thank you to Mrs. Lemay and the many
volunteers that help to have this system in place.
Student Surveys
The OCDSB is trying to collect information about our
schools from our students’ perspectives. For the first
time, our school board is going to ask students their
opinions on a variety of subjects through a student
survey. This survey will be offered in a pencil and paper
form to children in grades 1 to 6 and will go home so
Moms and Dads can help children navigate the
questions. Students in grades 7 to 12 will have the
opportunity to do the survey online at school.
Participation for all students is voluntary. This will take
place November 22 to December 10, 2010. Our school
board is hoping that the information the students provide
will help us identify students who are under served and
why. This will help us improve or enhance programs and
systems to help children achieve the success they are
EQAO Results
The individual EQAO scores from the Grade 3 and 6
provincial testing completed last June have arrived and
have been sent home to parents. As a school, we are
pleased with the results.
As a staff, we will be analyzing our results and looking
for ways to improve our scores through the development
of our School Improvement Plan. I would like to
congratulate not only our students, but our staff who have
worked hard to implement new teaching strategies and to
you our parents, who continually support our children at
home. We look forward to continued progress this year.
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We are excited that our school has met the criteria for
the Schools in the Middle (SIM) initiative again this
year.
Participation in this Ministry initiative means that our
staff will have the opportunity to work within a network
of schools and at our school site to improve instructional
effectiveness and pedagogy within and across schools
and to further develop instructional leadership.
Secondary School Information Nights
Colonel By S.S. will be holding their IB (International
Baccalaureate Program) Parent Information evening on
November 24th at 7:00 p.m. Applications are due by
December 9th. For more information visit their web-site
http://www.colonelby.com/IntBac.htm.
Canterbury High School will be holding their Parent
Information evening December 7th, at 7:00 p.m.
Students must audition to be accepted into the Arts
Program to study one of: Dance, Drama, Literary Arts,
Vocal/Instrumental Music or Visual Arts. The auditions
are held annually in January or February. Students may
audition in only one arts area. Application forms can be
found in the Arts Canterbury brochure, from Canterbury
or on their website: http://canterburyhs.ocdsb.ca/arts/
Information nights for regular high school programs will
take place in the new year.
Athletics
The Junior Boys and Girls Soccer teams competed in a
tournament on October 7th. Each team played 3 games.
Even though we didn’t bring home a medal, all players
are to be commended for their hard work and excellent
sportsmanship. Thanks to Mme Lefevbre and Mme
Hyndman for coaching the teams. Also thanks to the
parents that helped with the driving.
Boys’ Team Members: Aidan, Nolan, Lou, Rihards,
Alex, Jeremy, Jackson, Joshua, James, Brent, Foster,
Kurt, Jake, Callum, Christian, Alex, Jay, Ross, Stefan,
Taylor.
School Bus Cancellations Due to Inclement Weather
If the buses are cancelled due to weather conditions, the
transportation department of the Ottawa-Carleton District
School Board will have the cancellation announced by
6:15 a.m. on local radio stations. The announcement will
also indicate if the schools are closed.
If buses are cancelled in the morning, afternoon
transportation will not operate.
Students who are dropped off by parents in the morning
will have to be picked up again by parents at dismissal
time, 3:15 p.m.
Also, we try to contact all students who are absent during
these days. Please call the school if your child will not be
attending school on bus cancellation days.
Girls’ Team Members: Kenya, Lila, Katrice, Maya,
Shannon, Noor, Jamie, Eddi-Lyn, Jaime, Sylvie, Kaylee,
Haileigh, Cynthia, Emily, Jasmine, Sofie, Keira, Mia,
Danika, Emma, Sabrina.
Congratulations to all students who competed at the
Senior and Junior cross-country meets held in October.
It was an exciting time for our school and we are very
proud of our competitors. Thanks to the coaches, Mr.
Kelly, Miss Mason and Mr. Fournier.
School Access After Hours
Student responsibility is an important element of building
a strong community of learners, and we strive to support
our students every day as they mature and increase in
independence. Our office staff is on site until 4:00 p.m.
every day. Due to the presence of an on-site care giving
facility run by the city, main school doors are open until
6:00 p.m. Due to that fact, students who have left an
important item of clothing or schoolwork behind can
certainly access their lockers, or the hallways outside
classrooms until 6:00 p.m. at the latest. Where we run
into difficulty is after hours, and/or when students seek
out custodial staff to open classroom doors. The
challenge is that cleaning the school, preparing it for the
next day, is the focus for our night staff, and they really
cannot take time from their extremely tight schedules to
leave an area, open a classroom door, supervise a student
until they have found the material, then lock up again and
return to the previous task. Please be sensitive to your
child’s requests to return to school for items in this
context.
Thirty-three grades 4 and 5 students represented our
school marvelously well at the Eastern Regional Junior
Cross-Country Meet held at our school on October 18.
Our top twenty finishers were:
Grade 4 Girls (80 runners)
Mary – 14th
Shannon – 13th
Grade 5 Girls (85 runners)
Savannah – 20th
Sylvie – 14th
th
Charysse – 6
Grade 5 Boys (101 runners)
Joshua – 20th
Aidan – 16th
th
Jake – 10
Kurt. - 7th
th
Jackson – 6
Tops 20 place finishers from the Intermediate event are:
Sabrina M. – 1st place (Gold Medal)
Gillian F., Sarah P.-D., Tommy B., Jakob W. went on to
the Board finals. Well done everyone!
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To ensure the safety of all our students, please report to
the office to sign children in or out of the school. If you
are picking up or dropping off a child, one of the office
administrators will help you. Please do not proceed
directly to the classroom. This will avoid disruptions in
the class. It is very difficult for teachers to start classes,
maintain interest and order, motivate students or teach, if
surprise interruptions occur at the class door.
Head Lice: Not Dangerous, but Contagious
As a parent of school age children, you have routine
tasks to do at home like making lunches, and snacks,
helping with homework and checking your child’s head
for lice.
Lice are small, flat insects that live on the human scalp.
They have no wings and cannot jump or fly. They look
like greyish brown sesame seeds and are very hard to
see. Adult female lice lay their eggs (nits) on hair shafts
near the scalp. These tiny eggs are the size of a grain of
sand, oval in shape, and brownish in colour. The eggs
are glued to the hair and cannot be washed-off with
shampoo or flicked-off like dandruff or dust. The eggs
hatch in about seven days but leave the empty, white
eggshells still firmly attached to the hair shafts. As the
hair grows the nits are seen farther away from the scalp.
Check hair carefully for nits or lice by looking close to
the scalp. Pay special attention to the areas around the
ears and at the back of the neck. Use a bright light and a
magnifying glass, if available.
Ottawa Public Health recommends that parents check
their children’s head weekly for Head Lice. Lice do not
pick and choose their victims based on social status, and
it is not a sign of un-cleanliness. If you discover head
lice on your child, notify the school and/or childcare
provider immediately. Early detection can avoid the
spread of the Lice. Children with head lice should not
attend a school or childcare facility until they have had
the first of two treatments If your child does get head
lice, be sure to check all other family members,
including adults.
For more information, contact the Ottawa Public Health
Information Line at 613-580-6744, or visit
ottawa.ca/schoolhealth
We are also trying to avoid interrupting valuable teaching
time with calls into classes with messages from home or
reminders of appointments. We ask that you consider
making such arrangements with your child in the morning
and include a note to the teacher in the agenda to avoid
confusion. Students are asked to share this information
with their teacher at the beginning of the day and will be
encouraged to meet parent(s) in the office at the
appropriate time if they are to leave early.
We continue to ask for everyone’s co-operation in
working to provide a safe learning environment for our
children. It is school procedure that all visitors (parents
and service people) must enter/exit through the main door
located at the front of the school. All visitors to the
school must sign our visitor book, indicate the reason for
their visit and obtain a visitor identity tag. Please
consider this visitor identification process as protection
for all our children.
Thank you for your continued support in helping with our
efforts to ensure the safety of our students who have lifethreatening food allergies. Please continue to review and
eliminate the foods that may cause an allergic reaction to
these children. If you require information, please contact
Mrs. Abbott in the office.
Health, Safety and Security
Please be aware that members of our school community
are sensitive to even minor exposure to scents. Please
moderate your use of scents on school property.
Community News
From time to time, the school is asked to distribute information about
activities in the community that may be of interest to some
parents/students, for example, summer camps, gymnastic clubs, sports
groups, etc. This information is provided for your consideration only
and should not be viewed as an endorsement by the school or its staff
of any particular organization or activity.
If your child(ren) is to receive medication at school, it is
OCDSB Policy that a medication consent form must be
signed and completed by your doctor each school year.
Christmas Craft Sale at Cairine Wilson S.S.
November 20th 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
You are invited to a special day of holiday shopping at
over 100 crafters tables brimming with handmade
treasures. Something unique for everyone!
As we slowly and reluctantly let go of the last days of
warmer weather, we recognize that the days may get
colder and the need for warm and dry clothing is
essential. Children do go outside for recesses unless
there is heavy rain. Light drizzle will see our students
outdoors, and we hope that all will be dressed for the
varying weather conditions that are part of our Canadian
climate. It is a good idea to pack an extra set of dry
clothes in your child’s knapsack.
Good News!
We are pleased to acknowledge student achievements that
occur outside our school setting. If you have items for
this column, please send a written note to the office
explaining the details.
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Cyber Safety
Children use computers for completing homework
assignments, chatting with friends and playing games. It
is strongly recommended to keep the computer in a
location where you can monitor Internet activity and to
also choose a safe user name that doesn’t include
personal information and that is gender neutral. Here are
some important points to discuss with your children:
*Inform your children to avoid posting/sending pictures
without your permission.
*Have them tell you if they are being bullied or
harassed.
*Tell them not to give out personal information i.e.
name, age, school name or address.
*Make sure they are aware to never meet anyone from
the Internet without discussing with a responsible adult
beforehand.
*Inform them to avoid sharing their passwords with
friends. They may cause mischief by reading and
sending out emails from your child’s account.
SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR 2010-2011
(*school closed)
Progress Reports Home
Greek Plus Lunch
P.T. Interviews
Pizza Lunch
Colonel By S.S. Inf. Mtg.
P.A. Day
Holiday Store
Extreme Pita Lunch
School Council Mtg.
Canterbury H.S. Inf. Mtg.
Gr. 7 & 8 Immunization
Hot Dog Lunch
Christmas Break
Classes Resume
Pizza Lunch
P.A. Day
P.A. Day
Family Day
March Break
Used Clothing/Equipment Sale
Gr. 7 & 8 Immunization
Good Friday
Easter Monday
Education Week
Dental Screening
Victoria Day
EQAO Testing
P.A. Day
Last Day of Classes
For more information on cyber safety or bullying contact Ottawa
Public Health at 613-580-6744 or visit our website at
www.ottawa.ca/health.
School Council
School Council meetings are held on the first Monday of
the month in the school library. All are welcome to
attend. If you would like an item placed on the agenda
please contact the Chair, Kevin Thurlbeck.
Through the many volunteers at Terry Fox School, we
are able to offer a hot lunch program twice a month to
our students. If you can help please call Sara at 613590-7396.
Nov. 4
Nov. 5
Nov. 12*
Nov. 19
Nov. 24
Nov. 26*
Dec. 1
Dec. 3
Dec. 6
Dec. 9
Dec. 10
Dec. 10
Dec. 20-Dec. 31*
Jan. 3
Jan. 7
Jan. 14*
Feb. 18*
Feb. 21*
Mar. 14-Mar. 18*
Apr. 2
Apr. 11
Apr. 22*
Apr. 25*
May 2 – 6
May 5 - 6
May 23*
May 30 – Jun.10
Jun. 3*
Jun. 30
(Calendar is subject to amendment – consult monthly newsletters for
updates)
We will be having a fun, exciting activity on December
1st, our annual “Holiday Store”. Students will have the
opportunity of shopping for their family and friends. All
items will cost $1.00 to $2.00. We will be collecting
donations beginning in November, start saving items
such as small toys, books, holiday decorations, jewelry,
kitchen knic-knacks, etc. Items should be clean and in
good shape. Keep in mind that children will need to be
able to take their purchases home in their backpacks.
Gift bags and tissue paper are also welcomed. Items can
be dropped-off at the school at anytime. Call Sara at
613-590-7396 if your have any questions or would like
to volunteer.
Please check out the new Terry Fox School Council
website at: www.terryfoxschoolcouncil.ca
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