Catholic School News March 2018

Dear Blessed Pope Paul VI School Community,

We have just entered the season of Lent and the school community BLESSED POPE PAUL VI will be learning and sharing activi- CATHOLIC SCHOOL ties around this month’s virtue, Forgiveness. Let us continue to be 270 Laughton Avenue positive role models for our stu- Toronto, Ontario dents and ask God for courage and M6N 2X8 Telephone#: 416-393-5374 strength when we are faced with Fax#: 416-393-5842 challenges. Our Faith will allow us to take responsibility for our actions and guide us all in making right Principal: L. Lio decisions. March 2 is World Day of Prayer and we will recognize this Secretary: E.Pardela Superintendent: very special day during our morning announcements. Please note that J. Wujek March Break begins on Monday March 12. The students return to 416-222-8282 ext: 5371 school on Monday March 19. Enjoy the March Break! Trustee: F. D’Amico 416-222-8282 ext: 2873 L.Lio Principal Parish: St. Nicholas of Bari Church 1277 St. Clair Avenue West Toronto, Ontario 416-654-8908 March- Virtue of the Month is Enrolment: 326 Forgiveness

“The first step to forgiveness is to take responsibility for your actions.”

A prayer for forgiveness is something we all seek at some point in life. Forgiveness is a valuable gift that is neither easily obtained, nor easily given. Forgiveness is essential for life; it frees us from past wrongs and gives us hope for the future. It is for forgiveness sake that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for mankind. Uniform/Dress Code Policy

Just a reminder that as per the TCDSB policy, the student uniform consists of any combination of navy blue and white garments (i.e., plain white top, navy blue bottom, navy blue top and bottom, no denim). Please note that all clothing should be plain and free of pictures, wording or logos.

Kindergarten Registration

We are still accepting registration for Kindergarten for the 2017/2018 school year. You can register online through the TCDSB website at http://soar.tcdsb.org. Once you have gone online and register it will ask you to book an appointment with Ms.Pardela Please bring the following documents to your appointment: Child’s Birth Certificate, Baptismal Certificate, Immunization Record, and 2 pieces of proof of address. For more information please feel free to call the office at 416-393-5374.

St. Nicholas of Bari Parish ZUMBA CLASS: Come and join us for a weekly Zumba Dance/Fitness class offered in the basement of the Church. Tuesdays 1:00 - 3:00pm. This is a free event open to all parishiones. Come and spend some time learning something new and having fun meeting new people. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Maggie at 416 939 7517.

DAY OF CONFESSIONS: On March 16 there will be a day dedicated to the Confessions from 10:00 am to 12 noon and in the afternoon at 7:00pm to 8pm. The Priests will be here for us.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: Every Friday during Lent at 6:30 pm there will be The Way of the Cross. Come, join us. The service will be in English and Italian.

St. Nicholas of Bari Parish Hall is available for Rent for small parties: baptism, confirmation, First Com- munion, marriage anniversary, meetings, birthdays, etc. Please contact the Parish Office at 416 654 8908 for more details. February’s VIRTUE: Love

The Virtue for February was Love We would like to congratulate the following students who were chosen as recipients of the Virtue of the Month:

Teacher Grade Recipients

Adamczewski/ JK/SK Lucas R, Beatrix P.C Minnema Salituro/Olmedo JK/SK Isabelle C, Caleb H Di Iorio 1 &2 Ashley R, Tristen G Nahirna 1 Saverio S, Sonia B, T, Ethan A DeFrancesco 2 & 3 Luzane U, Rafael A Clara 2 & 3 Elijah C, Daniella R, Diego P Di Stefano 3 & 4 Nathan D, Martiniano E Almeida 4 & 5 James N, Kaytie R Mastrogiacomo 5 Jerico P, Jessica F. P, Makalyla S Leadbetter 6 Serena P, Michael Da S, Lucas A.

Pastusok 6 Bryanna, Andre Coscarelli 7 John A, Reeze T, Ana M, Daniela F Monastero 7 & 8 Rennajs, Diogo Berdenits 8 Nia O, Alisa F P Pozzobon Camila P and Steven P

Quotes of the month - Love

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

Piglet: “How do you spell love?” Winnie the Pooh: “You don’t spell it, you feel it.”

‘Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all thinks, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ Our next C.S.P.C. meeting will be on March 29th at 6:30 p.m. All Parents/Guardians are welcome!

2018

Thank you parents for your yummy treats and baked goods. Thanks for supporting our annual bake sale! CSPC 2018

Shrove Tuesday Thank you Blessed Pope Paul VI C.S.P.C. for the yummy pancakes you cooked for us today! Carnval week This year, we all participated in the 2018 carnaval. On Tuesday, there was bonhomme on shelf surprisingly, Emma from Mrs.Clara’s Class found bonhomme in the library beside the eiffel tower. On Wednesday, we played bingo and all the classes participated, it was a fair game one of the kindergarten classes won the bingo game the class won a movie and popcorn day. On thursday, our 4-8 classes went skating at the JJP skating rink. Lastly, the whole school had a masquerade ball in the gym, we all had our masks and enjoyed the ball, we all thank the people that came early to school and helped decorate the gym. We hope your looking for- ward to next year's carnaval!

From: Ana, Yara and Reeze from Mr.Coscarelli class Kids, Cops and Computers : In the KCC Program we are writing about where we would like to travel in the future. We had to research the country of our destination and information about the place. We had to research the main attractions , it was a fun assignment! By: Thais

FRIENDS PROGRAM In our Friends Program we are learning about feelings and how people may feel at different times for different reasons. We are learning how to make friends with other students in our school, what to do, what to say and how to help others. Caring, helping and sharing are good ingredients in friendship and for our school community. By: Christian TH Girls Basketball 2018

Congratulations to the intermediate girls’ basketball team for placing first in the South Division basketball tournament. The girls played with drive, focus and commitment all while ex- emplifying teamwork, sportsperson ship and leadership. Great work ladies!

Boys Basketball 2018

On February 20th, Blessed Pope Paul VI's Boys Basketball team played a tournament at St.Nicholas of Bari school, placing in 3rd. Their last game resulted in a score of 23-23 against St.James Catholic School.The boys played extremely well and exemplified great team work and sportsmanship. Ms.Monaco and their assistant coach Luane Pinho are so proud of them. Good work Boys!

Celebrating 100 Days of School! The grade 1 & 2’s displayed their 100 Days of School projects with unique theme and creative expressions. Students and their families worked very hard on representing groups of 10’s to total 100. We are so proud of their hard work, way to go! 2018 Winter Olympics! Grade 3 students researched the various interesting sports that athletes competed at the winter Olympics. Each student used a netbook to find out information about the history of a specific sport and then drew a picture to accompany it. Information and facts were placed in text box- es around the picture. Ms. Clara’s gr.3 class.

Grade 6’s Learning About Flight Devices During our first term, we had fun working on our flight devices projects. We explored the various types of flying devices in our Science unit, hot air balloons were a popular choice for our projects. Many students were interested in learning more about gliders, helicopters, jet planes and space rockets. In our inquiry study, we learned how the devices were able to fly, the inventors and brave pilots who flew the devices for the first time. It was fun and informative listening to the projects being pre- sented and checking out the creative models that the students in our class constructed. The students used simple materials they had at home, like lego, plasticene, styrofoam and cardboard to construct their models. We even had some models that actually flew! Mrs. Leadbetter's Grade Six Class

W5H Team On February 21st the Junior W5H team went to St. Helen’s school for our tournament, and had a great time. We played against St. Helens, Pope Francis, and St. Nicholas of Bari. The first game we lost by 10 points. After, we lost again but we were 5 points away from winning. Finally, in the last game we were so close to winning but lost by just 2 points. At the end of the day we learned a lot! We had plenty of fun and came in 3rd place. We became very good friends with the other team members. St. Nicholas won and we are very happy for them. But next year we will come prepared again and ready for anything! We showed our school spirit! P.S. We learned that a young beaver is called a kitten and a group of monkeys is called a troop, and many other interesting facts. February was a very busy month in Ms. Mastrogiacomo’s grade 5 class. We learned that mental health affects us all. It is important to talk about our feelings and to be aware of the emotions of others. Our class researched famous celebrities who live with mental illness. We learned that even if you have a mental illness, you can still accom- plish anything you put your mind to. We also read many stories about civil right and black history. It is so important to recognize how unfair people were treated and how coloured people didn't have fundamental rights and free- doms. In science, we did many experiments about matter. We looked at chemical and physical reactions and even made a balloon inflate using baking soda and vinegar. Did you know that air takes up space? Try this…put a paper towel at the bottom of a cup and push it straight down into a bucket of water. What did you learn? During the 2018 pyeongchang winter olympics, our class created itrailer mov- ies to celebrate our Canadian Winter athletes. For example, Jose, Jacob and Renato created an itrailer about Jenna Blasman, one of our Canadian snowboarders. Alykzandra and Iara’s imovie portrayed the success of Kim Boutin, a speed skater and according to Brian and Makayla’s imovie, Tessa Vir- tue and Scott Moir Took over the World of Ice Dancing! In art, our class had so fun creating paper mache creatures. It took us 5 whole weeks to plan, build, mache, paint and accessorize but our final products were awesome. Our creatures came to life when we learned how to write narrative stories that explained the life of these magnificent creatures. For example, Jeffreys’s creature, Ozzy the Ocelot travels from the virtual world to present day while escaping a mad scientist. Uni the Unicorn was captured but was able to escape with its magical powers, while Makalya’s Hermine the Sloth received a special invitation to travel to the UK in order to attend Hogwarts, a school for sloth wiz- ards. What a fantastic month, I wonder what is in store for us in March. Monthly Update from the Board March 2018 TCDSB SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR 2018-2019 APPROVED Number of school days 194 Number of Professional Activity Days 7 Labour Day September 3, 2018 First Instructional Day September 4, 2018 Thanksgiving Day October 8, 2018 Christmas Break December 24, 2018–January 4, 2019 Start of second semester for secondary schools February 4, 2019 Family Day February 18, 2019 Mid-Winter Break March 11–15, 2019 Good Friday April 19, 2019 Easter Monday April 22, 2019 Victoria Day May 20, 2019 Last day of classes for elementary students June 27, 2019

Seven (7) Professional Activity (PA) Days for ELEMENTARY schools: October 5, 2018 Provincial Education Priorities/Faith Development November 16, 2018 Parent-Teacher Conferences December 7, 2018 Provincial Education Priorities January 18, 2019 Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting February 15, 2019 Parent-Teacher Conferences June 7, 2019 Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting June 28, 2019 Provincial Education Priorities *Seven (7) Professional Activity (PA) Days for SECONDARY schools: October 5, 2018 November 16, 2018 December 7, 2018 February 15, 2019 June 26, 27, 28, 2019 - Three PA days devoted to Provincial Education Priorities and supporting Article 19 of the Collective Agreement. - One PA day devoted to Faith Development. - One PA day devoted to numeracy across the curriculum. - The remaining two PA days will be devoted to system priorities, annual learning plans and local goals articulated in the School Learning Improvement Plans. * Secondary schools, in consultation with their Local School Staffing Advisory Committee, may schedule a Professional Activity Day to align with the day following one of the Parent-Teacher Interview nights. Upcoming Board-wide Consultations The Board is interested in your opinion and views. All TCDSB employees, Catholic Stakeholders, including parents, students and the general public are encouraged to participate in upcoming consultations the following issues. Further details and online surveys will be posted on the Board website at www.tcdsb.org

WHISTLEBLOWER POLICY (A.39) The Board of Trustees has approved this new policy for consultation. This “Whistleblower” policy supports the TCDSB’s commitment to provide a framework for the disclosure and investigation of alleged wrongdoing. Any individual or employee in the TCDSB who has knowledge of an occurrence of a wrongdoing, or has reason to suspect that a wrongdoing has occurred, has the right and obligation to report the occurrence using the channels of reporting provided under the various policies, procedures, and collective agreements. Under the new policy, an individual or employee may choose to report the incident to a third party whistleblower hotline.

March 21—World Down Syndrome Day March 22—World Water Day March 23—Earth Hour (schools) March 24—Earth Hour 8:30-9:30 PM March 30—Good Friday April 1—Easter Sunday April 2—Easter Monday April 2—World Autism Awareness Day

Coming Soon: Angel Brigade Week Introduces New Event! The Angel Foundation is busily preparing for Angel Brigade Week from April 16-20. This is a week set aside to educate, celebrate and instate the important work this foundation does. This year we are introducing a new event, The Angel Foundation for Learning Bowl-A-Thon on April 21st. The entire TCDSB community - students, staff, families and friends are invited to come out to celebrate and support our students. Lots of surprises to be announced but space is limited so get your teams together and register! More information can be found at: www.angelfoundationforlearning.org/bowlathon/.

Autism Awareness Evening April 8, 2018 6:30-9:00 p.m. at the Catholic Education Centre Featuring Aspie Comedian Michael McCreary https://www.tcdsb.org/ProgramsServices/SpecialEducation/Autism/autismawareness/Pages/2018-events.aspx

The new policy is committed to safeguarding the public interest and trust in public educations and sets out conditions to ensure those who make disclosures of such information are free to do so without reprisal or threat of reprisal.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION FOR 2018-2019 TCDSB BUDGET The Board’s annual budget consultation process will begin at the end of March 2018. The public consultation is an important plan- ning tool to ensure the development of an effective and balanced budget that supports the academic achievement of our students.

Under the Education Act (Section 232), the Board is required to prepare and submit a budget to the Ministry of Education outlin- ing estimates of its revenues and expenses for the upcoming 2018-2019 academic year by end of June 2018. Stay tuned for more details and information on our school and Board website.

Let’s Help Catholic Charities by Supporting ShareLife Last year, as our pastoral plan called us to celebrate the “Year of the Parish”, our students, staff and their families across the Board were able to increase TCDSB’s participation from 20% of our schools supporting ShareLife to 85% participation. Thank you! This short video here highlights the impact our board has had in our local community.

2017-18 marks the "Year of School." It is an opportunity to celebrate our school communities and to celebrate in the lives of our students. Catholic education is built on the partnership among our families, parishes and schools, and during the Year of the School we will truly celebrate that foundation. During this Lenten season, and throughout the coming months, we invite our staff and our school communities to once again consider supporting the important work of ShareLife as it continues to “work wonders” in our own community and around the world.

ShareLife’s mission is to “Live the Gospel by providing for those in need” This is done through their support of many diverse Catholic social service agencies here in the GTA and beyond. This year, ShareLife Week will be celebrated the week of March 18-23. As we did last year, we invite everyone to participate in a Board-wide Civvies Day on Friday, March 23, 2018 to raise funds for the ShareLife campaign. Your donation of a loon- ie or a toonie will go a long way to supporting youth, the elderly, the marginalized and the vulnerable.

We thank everyone in the TCDSB community for all that they do throughout the year to help others—giving of their time and their resources to make a difference. We applaud those efforts, and take great pride in the commitment to living our Catholic values and putting faith into action.

Important Information for Parents:

Parents Reaching Out (PRO) Grant Applications Now Open Opportunity for Catholic School Parent Councils to receive funds to support parent engagement projects. Details online: https://www.tcdsb.org/FORPARENTS/CSPC/Pages/pro-grant.aspx

CPIC/OAPCE Parent Summit—Mark Your Calendars Helping Parents Get to Know Saturday, May 5th, 2018 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. At the Catholic Education Centre, 80 Sheppard Avenue East More details to come: https://www.tcdsb.org/FORPARENTS/ParentInvolvement/News-and-Events/Pages/cpic-parent- conference.aspx

Ministry of Education Consultation: A New Vision for Student Transportation Consultation for families relying on school bus transportation is open until March 29, 2018 https://www.tcdsb.org/programsservices/boardservices/studenttransportation/pages/bus-transportation-consultation.aspx

Important Information for Students:

Focus on Youth--Summer Employment Opportunity Application Deadline: March 8, 2018 https://www.tcdsb.org/FORSTUDENTS/FocusOnYouth/pages/employmentapplication.aspx

Student Job Fair May 2, 2018 Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Road, North York Work Connections . . . Be the One . . . Get Hired Looking for work? Taking a gap year? Finishing school? https://www.tcdsb.org/FORSTUDENTS/OpportunitiesForStudents/Pages/Job-Fair.aspx

Applying for College/University? See update on the OSAP application process: https://www.tcdsb.org/forparents/news/pages/osap-application-easier.aspx

Mental Health Newsletter for March Featuring “Mental Health Benefits of Prayer” and “Making Room for Our Negative Feelings Can Actually Make Us Happier” and more. Produced by the TCDSB Mental Health Department. https://www.tcdsb.org/ProgramsServices/SpecialEducation/mhs/newsletters/March%20Mental%20Health%20newsletter% 202018.pdf Mr. Steve Camacho Appointed Chief Information Officer TCDSB is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Steve Camacho to the position of Chief Information Officer for the To- ronto Catholic District School Board, effective March 19, 2018. Mr. Camacho brings a wealth of knowledge to the Board’s newly created Chief Information Officer portfolio that features over a decade of Information Technology and Infrastructure management experience. Most recently, he was the Director of Technology Services for the Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning at Humber College, overseeing multiple large-scale projects that included leading a province-wide technology sourcing initiative, the amalgamation of on-site support teams, and the installation of new IT networks and upgrades across the College.

Important Dates to Note: March is Celtic Canadian Heritage Month March 3—Lift Jesus Higher Rally March 5—Education Support Staff Appreciation Day March 8—International Women’s Day March 12-16—March Break March 21—International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination Coming Soon: Angel Brigade Week Introduces New Event! The Angel Foundation is busily preparing for Angel Brigade Week from April 16-20. This is a week set aside to educate, celebrate and instate the important work this foundation does. This year we are introducing a new event, The Angel Foundation for Learning Bowl-A-Thon on April 21st. The entire TCDSB community - students, staff, families and friends are invited to come out to celebrate and support our students. Lots of surprises to be announced but space is limited so get your teams together and register! More information can be found at: www.angelfoundationforlearning.org/bowlathon/.