EQAO Parent Night 

Wednesday, January 15th at 7 p.m.

Monsignor Percy Johnson High School Library

2170 Kipling Avenue Rexdale ON M9W 4K9

EQAO Assessments: The Power of Good Information Every year, Ontario students in Grades 3, 6, 9 and 10 write province-wide tests. These assessments provide an objective indication of how well students are developing the reading, writing and math skills defined in the Ontario Curriculum. Since results are available for every student, provincial test data have become a key ingredient in helping schools, school boards and the province identify students’ strengths and target areas where attention and resources are needed. Parents are given an indication of how well their child is learning in relation to the provincial standard. This presentation delivered by a principal from EQAO’s School Support and Outreach team will give parents an opportunity to gain an understanding of the EQAO assessments. The presentation includes lots of information about the assessments and what parents can do to support their children. It also dispels some of the myths about EQAO. One of the activities includes looking at previous years' assessment booklets, looking at how a writing item is scored, and doing a multiple choice question.

CHRISTMAS OUTREACH St. Simon Catholic School will once again be making Christmas Baskets to donate to families in need. The baskets will be picked up by St. Jude’s Church on Friday, December 13th, so they will be ready for the families on Christmas morning. We will be giving the children more information in the next week, and we thank you in advance for your support during this important time.

Community Police Liaison Committee Meeting December 2, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. 

 Please see attached invitation.

 Meeting Invitation

Halloween Dance-a-thon

ALERT!!! TO HAVE YOUR NAME ENTERED IN THE DRAW, YOUR PLEDGEFORM MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL NO LATER THAN MONDAY, OCTOBER 28TH BY 3:30 P.M. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE. Our Halloween Dance-a-thon fundraiser is back! Please click on the link below for all the information and pledge forms. Students can be in costume on Thursday, October 31st, but, please, no toy weapons or masks of any kind - they frighten the younger children.

Halloween Dance-a-thon

HOT LUNCHES!!!

Our CSAC fundraising committee has worked hard to organize our hot lunch program. We thank them! Forms are no longer being accepted.

TERRY FOX WALK & CURRICULUM NIGHT

Thursday, September 26th will be a busy day. In the morning (9a.m.) all grades 1 - 8 students will be walking for Terry Fox. They will bring in a toonie, which will be donated to cancer research. We hope to keep the memory of Terry's courage alive!

Thursday is also Curriculum Night. Please come to the gym at 7:00 p.m. to begin our evening. We will then adjourn to your children's classroom to get an overview of the curriculum and some expectations for the year.

PLAYDAY! PLAYDAY!

 

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We will be having a school Playday and BBQ for the students on Friday, June 21st. This will require many volunteers to serve bags of chips, water and hotdogs. If you are interested in helping, please see Mr. Miotto, or sign up on the volunteer sheet on the community bulletin board at the front door.

NEIGHBOURHOOD COMMUNITY POLICE LIAISON MEETING

St. Simon will be hosting a community meeting, in the gym, on Monday, May 27th at 7:00 p.m.
Police officers from 31 Division will be present to address local policing concerns. This will give community members an opportunity to engage in an open dialogue with their community police. If you have any specific concerns, please contact Vivian Broersma, Co-Chair, CPLC, 31 Division 416-743-4814 vivian.broersma@yahoo.ca

OUR VOW OF SILENCE

On Friday, May 17th, our school will be participating in the world-wide day called Vow of Silence. Below is an explanation of the even which is being led by our Me to We student leaders.

- Purpose: we're being silent for children around the world whose voices have been silenced.
- no talking, texting, or emailing...yes - staff included!
- The silence begins after morning announcements and will end at 3:00pm (you will have time to do agendas, etc...we will break the silence over the P.A.)
- If someone speaks, they have to put a coin in the jar.  Use any container you have in your class to collect coins.  Students can bring in pennies, nickels, dimes, etc.
- You can be creative if you want: teach them a few words in sign language or have a special hand signals for "washroom", "take a drink", etc.
- We are challenging students and staff to keep the silence during recess too.
- Primaries: use your discretion, but we think the kids will find it fun to stay quiet the whole day - especially if their teachers can't talk.



A MESSAGE FROM OUR PASTOR

Dear students, parents/guardians, and teaching staff:

Eastertime is a time to celebrate life and the blessings we have received from God but celebrating life is often difficult for those who struggle to even make ends meet. The kindness shown by the St Simon school community thru your unconditional generosity to the Easter Food Drive has helped those in need celebrate Easter with a little more joy and helped to nourish our faith by showing that we can best serve God by assisting those in need. Thank you.
“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” ― Mother Theresa

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Confirmandi!  May the Holy Spirit enliven your faith and preserve you in the truth as you live for Christ. Congratulations!

As we enter into the month of May dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God,  let us turn to Mary our Advocate  as we seek the Christ in her arms and offer up our daily prayers for her intercession in helping us do the will of God.
In Christ,   
Fr. Efren

SCHOOL BUS STRIKE INFORMATION

Below is an email we received from our student transportation group.



Dear Principal:

I am pleased to advise you that your school will not  be affected by the potential strike by bus drivers for Stock Transportation.

Generally, the strike will only disrupt transportation for students in the North and East sections of the Board travelling on small buses, mini-vans and wheelchair access vehicles.

Regular bus service will operate normally for your students. You are encouraged to communicate this to your parent community.

Regards,

Kevin Hodgkinson

General Manager

Toronto Student Transportation Group

THIS IS GOOD NEWS!!!

 

May Read-A-Thon

Our May Read-A-Thon is almost here! Permission forms have been sent home, with information about the book recycling program, and a request for parent volunteers. The Read-A-Thon is an event used to promote literacy among young students and their families. Each Friday, we will have the reading buddies program which pairs up older and younger students to read together for 20 minutes. While there is a fund raising aspect to the Read-A-Thon, it is certainly not mandatory. All money raised is used to benefit our students and school in various ways. For further information, visit the St. Simon Read-A-Thon blog at
http://stsimonreadathon.blogspot.ca/

 

"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall."

— Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION WEEK

April 21^st  – 27^th, 2013 is Volunteer Appreciation Week. This is a perfect way to express our gratitude for all the volunteers here at St. Simon Catholic School. Thank you so much for your generous gift of time and energy. Whether you are a CSAC member participating in our monthly business; a special event participant making sure our lunches, play day, Carnaval/ Carnevale and spiritual visits enhance our school day; a volunteer in our classrooms helping our students to get the most out of their lessons; a community member who works hard to link the broader community to the school; a library worker who helps keep our books in order; a volunteer driver who transports our students to various activities; we value all of you and all that you do. The following is an excerpt from an anonymous letter to volunteers, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves:

You can give me money for my cause. Sure. But I may pay that back to you. But how do we give back time? As a volunteer you give time. Time - the most precious resource in our lives.

Money can be printed. Time cannot. Once you give an hour of your time it is lost forever. That hour you just gave volunteering will never be replaced. Your time volunteering must be valued, but we can never put a value on that time. How can you value something that is priceless? As a volunteer you bring much to this school: skills, advice, experience, friendship, vision, leadership, inspiration, etc. These talents you bring, but time you give. In our time-poor world you bear the gift of time. You choose to donate the most precious commodity in the known universe. We may count your time in numbers. We may attempt to count your time in cash value.  Though such methods have their reasons, we will all be poorer if we don’t realize that the giving of your time is simply and utterly magnificent.

So today, we take a little time out to thank you for the amazing “time in” that you give.

As a symbol of our appreciation, our Student Council will be making a donation to The Angel Foundation for Learning in the name of St. Simon volunteers.

Witness to Faith Cross!

 

You are cordially invited to join us:

·        Friday, April 19, 2013 @ 10 am

·        Monday, April 22, 2013 at 9: 00 am

For

Witness to Faith Cross!

The 2011-2012 school year was the final year of the Toronto District School Board’s three-year pastoral plan focusing on Word, Worship and Witness.  The Board ushered a very special celebration to launch “The Year of Witness”.  As part of this celebration, the students of Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School created a traveling cross.  This cross has been traveling from school to school across our school system throughout the year so that each school has an opportunity to spend a day with the cross.

St. Simon is thrilled to receive the cross on Friday, April 19, 2013.  Our celebrations will begin with a mass in the school gym which begins at 10:00 am.

On Monday, April 22, 2013 at 9: 00 am, St. Simon staff and students will be in a procession which will start at the school and proceed to St. Basil the Great High School to deliver the cross to that school.

Best Regards,

The Staff and Students

Of St. Simon Catholic School

 

May Read-a-thon

Please volunteer to help at our May Read-a-thon. Last year's was a great success, and the children were truly inspired to read. The sign-up sheet is on the community bulletin board, just inside the main doors to the school.

"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall."

— Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Toronto CPIC 2013 Spring Parent Conference CANCELLED

Please see below for email from Carla Marchetti of the TCDSB

Good Afternoon:

Please note that the Toronto CPIC 2013 Spring Parent Conference, “Parents Engaged in 21st Century Education” on Saturday, April 6, 2013 has been CANCELLED.

Notification of the rescheduled date and conference details will be sent, once they have been finalized.  

Regards,   

Carla Marchetti

Coordinator

Community Relations/International Languages/

Parent Engagement

CEC

Tel: 416-222-8282 Ext. 2591

Cell: 416-452-1200

APPROVED SITES

FULL DAY EARLY LEARNING KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM

Please see below for the communication from the Director of Education and the Chair of the TCDSB.

St. Simon's Supports the St. Jude Food Drive

ST. SIMON’S  EASTER  FOOD DRIVE

As part of our school outreach, and community involvement, we will be holding our annual Easter Food Drive. We invite students and families to donate food items to help replenish the St. Jude’s Food Bank.

FOOD ITEMS NEEDED:  Breakfast cereal, macaroni & cheese, sugar, rice, tuna, cookies, pasta, canned soup, etc. Although the above items are most needed, we appreciate any non-perishable food that is donated. All donations will be delivered to St. Jude’s Church, with the final delivery scheduled for Thursday, March 28, 2013.

TCDSB Communication on Weather Conditions for Wednesday, February 27, 2013



Below is an excerpt from a board communication.

*********************************************

According to news reports, another significant weather event is forecast to arrive in Toronto and the GTA, during the evening and overnight hours, which may impact tomorrow morning’s commute.  Due to the nature of this storm there is some uncertainty about the amount of rain or snow accumulation. 

A decision on school bus transportation will be made by 6:00 am, Wednesday (tomorrow) morning and communicated immediately thereafter via the TCDSB website (www.tcdsb.org) , TCDSB infoline (416-222-8282 ext. 2873),  and on Twitter @TCDSB.

In the event that school bus transportation is cancelled, but all TCDSB schools and offices remain open, students and parents are asked to plan ahead to allow themselves extra time to get to their destination safely.  

Parents are asked to report their child’s absence to the school.

TCDSB Communications Department



Litterless Lunches Starting Thursday, February 28th

   

At St. Simon, we are trying for eco- certification as an eco-friendly school. This is a student led initiative, and we are making great gains to try and attain eco-certification through Eco-Schools Ontario.

A litterless lunch project will help us to attain this goal. Students are encouraged to bring their lunches to school in reusable containers that can be taken home at the end of the day. 

This will be in full swing each Thursday, beginning this week, however, many of our students have already been bringing in litterless lunches each day.

Also, if you have a compost bin at home, students will be taking home their food scraps to compost. We get points if we have no food in the garbage cans.

Another way to cut down on litter is to use a reusable water bottle – these make great birthday gifts or treats! We already have declared ourselves a plastic water bottle-free zone. 

RCMP Foundation - Indentification Kits

These kits have been supplied to us through a parent (thank you Mrs. Farina). They will be sent home with each child. If a family wants to do so, they can fingerprint their children and keep the prints, at home, for their records. This is a public service and purely voluntary. The school's only role is to send home the kits.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

 

Please follow us on Twitter @StSimonCES to obtain timely communication. There may be days when nothing is happening, and others when we have many updates.

An example would be last Friday’s snowstorm – we would have posted information about the possible school closure.

Please be assured that our students’ safety is a primary concern. If their media consent forms have not been signed, they will not appear on our site. Also, for many school activities/events that we tweet, we will only use photos taken from behind the students.

For those of us who do not want to use Twitter, please know that we will continue to update via emailed newsletters and the portal, however, this may lack the timeliness of Twitter.

We welcome any feedback you may have.

Weather Conditions and Possible School Closures Tomorrow

............... From the TCDSB

The decision to cancel school bus transportation tomorrow will be made by 6:00 am Friday morning.

If buses are not cancelled we ask that parents of medically fragile students or students who currently have a long school bus ride (or any student that rides the bus) consider whether or not they wish to send their children to school on Friday given the expected (possibly significant) delays to the buses both in arrival and travel times as a result of traffic and weather. 

Updates will be posted on the Board and Transportation websites as they become available.

Parents/students/staff are encourage to follow @TCDSB on Twitter for the latest updates, visit the website at www.tcdsb.org, or call the 24-hour telephone information line at 416-222-8282 ext. 2873.



SCHOLASTIC BOOKFAIR AT ST. SIMON

Monday, February 11th to Thursday, February 14th.

Our Scholastic Book Fair is coming to our school from Monday, February 11th to Thursday, February 14th.  Your children will be visiting the Book Fair during their regularly scheduled Library class.  They will not be borrowing books during this week.

Students will be allowed to purchase books during their visit, and are encouraged to bring their spending money with them. There will not be any pencils, pens, erasers or bookmarks for purchase.  These items will only be available the evening of Thursday February 14 during the Parent-Teacher Interviews.  A Highlights flyer will be provided to your child to preview the books available for purchase.

Parents, if you are interested in helping us at the Book Fair, please fill in the bottom portion of this letter and return it to the school office.  We appreciate any time that you can spare to help this worthwhile school function to raise funds for new books in our Library.

Help is needed the afternoon of Friday February 8^th for setting up.  The Book Fair will need parent volunteers for the afternoons of February 11th, 12th and 14th; the morning of the 13^th and during the evening of the 14^th as well.  On Friday February 15^th, the Book Fair is taken down and the books are boxed.  Again, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Mr. G. Galego, 

Teacher-Librarian

Yes, I am interested in volunteering at the 2013 Scholastic Book Fair at  St. Simon’s C.S.

Your name:  ___________________________________

Your telephone number:  _______________________

Date(s) and time(s) that you are available: 



February 6th is Winter Walk Day across Canada.

Don't hibernate, participate!

Encourage students and staff to walk to and from school on February 6th, 2013 and throughout the year! Just because it's winter, doesn't mean we should hibernate! Walking to and from school will not only help students and staff meet the recommended daily amount of physical activity, but also improve community safety, promote social interaction, reduce traffic congestion, and protect the environment.

---- Message from Toronto Public Health

Important Message Regarding Planned Political Protest by ETFO on Friday

TORONTO CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

REGARDING ONE-DAY PROTEST BY MEMBERS OF

THE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS FEDERATION OF ONTARIO (ETFO)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 2013

ETFO has announced its members will stage a one-day protest on Friday, January 11,

2013, against the imposition of collective agreements by the Minister of Education. Like

other Catholic school boards in Ontario, the Toronto Catholic District School Board

(TCDSB) schools will not be impacted by this action.

These questions and answers are provided to parents of TCDSB students to help clarify

the issues surrounding the current labour situation in Ontario’s education system.

Q: Will all Toronto Catholic School Board schools be open on Friday during the

one-day protest by ETFO members across the province?

A:

Yes – all TCDSB schools will be open. Teachers in Catholic elementary and

secondary schools are

not involved in any form of organized job action.

Q: Why is ETFO conducting the one-day protest?

A:

As of December 31, 2012, the Minister of Education had the authority under Bill 115 to

impose contracts on

all school board employees. The Minister did that on Thursday,

January 3, 2013. Friday’s action by EFTO is being held to protest the imposition of these

collective agreements.

Q: What about TCDSB Unions?

A:

As the first major school board to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU),

members of TCDSB Staff and its labour union partners met throughout the fall in a series

of extensive collective bargaining sessions to complete collective agreements under the

requirements of new regulations outlined in the Ontario Ministry of Education legislation,

which came into effect on September 1, 2012.

Due to the leadership of our various unions who worked diligently with our Board staff at

the negotiation table, collective agreements have been signed and approved by teachers

and staff representing three of four of its union partners at the December 31, 2012

deadline. We continue to work with all our labour Union partners to foster positive

ongoing relations.

Q: What does this mean?

A:

The TCDSB is a strong supporter of free collective bargaining at the local level. By

reaching collectively bargained agreements with our Unions we are ensuring certainty for

parents, students and teachers. The signed deals will provide stability and a nurturing

learning environment in TCDSB schools for the next two years.