Thornhill Secondary School PAW PRINTS
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Thornhill Secondary School PAW PRINTS Thornhill Secondary School June 2017 VOLUME 8 ISSUE 4 167 Dudley Avenue Thornhill, ON L3T 2E5 PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE Telephone: 905.889.5453 This newsletter signals the end of another chapter in the history of Thornhill Fax: 905.889.0360 Secondary School. What a year it has been! Thank you to our members and Website: http://thornhill.ss.yrdsb.ca partners for all your input into our ongoing success! Administration I am very fortunate to be part of a community where student learning, David McAdam, Principal achievement and well-being are a top priority; thanks largely to the Georgia Vatousis, Vice-Principal tremendous efforts of an awesome staff. It is a pleasure to work as part of a Kandeephan Ganeshalingam, Vice-Principal team that tirelessly promotes student development in a caring, respectful and Superintendent of Schools Rashmi Swarup inclusive environment. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge parental support and the home-school-community partnerships which help ensure the success Trustee Susan Geller of T.S.S. Many thanks to each and everyone for your contributions. A special ‘thank you’ and farewell to Shirley Porjes-Gupta. We are grateful for School Council Co-Chairs Susan Eaton and Shirley Porjes Gupta everything you have done in leading the School Council for the past four years. As well, a big ‘thank you’ to Susan Eaton who has served as co-chair. Throughout the school year our students have been involved in a number of amazing opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. Be it in daily INSIDE Page(s) course instruction, Grade 9 Day, the Terry Fox Run, the Semiformal, the Prom, Department News 2-20 Math Contests, Computer Contests, Science Contests, Relay for Life, Intra-mural Staffing Changes 3 Sports, Tournaments, Parents’ Nights, Post-Secondary Fairs, Grade Assemblies, Registration Information 4 Safety Week, Workshops, Conferences, Simulations, Open Mic Nights, Movie School Cash On-Line 5 Nights, Field Trips, Excursions, Vimy 100, the Asian Heritage Festival, Canada Message from Trustee 6 150, Fundraising Activities, the School Play, the Athletic Banquet, Graduation, Thornhill Athletic Council 8 and a host of other experiences, our students have demonstrated great Parent Council Nomination Form 11 character. Hats off to you, especially to the Class of 2017! We are proud of you Eco-Certififed 15 for taking advantage of the many occasions to learn and grow, and for Character Matters 19 responsibly pursuing self and community development. I also extend special congratulations and well wishes to staff members who are on the move. Please see “Staffing Changes for 2017-2018” in this newsletter for more details. As we close another chapter in our school’s history, I am grateful for our individual and collective efforts and achievements. I am also anticipating the LOOKING AHEAD new or extended opportunities that await us. Our school staff continuously reflects upon and evaluates our practices in order to make sure that we are August 29 Registration/Photo Day September 5 First Day Grade 9 effectively addressing students’ needs, interests and abilities. More specifically, September 6 First Day Grades10-12 within our School Improvement Planning process, various data continue to be September 14 Parent Council reviewed to identify relevant, impactful goals for our student body. Looking September 25 PA Day ahead, our focus is to more explicitly develop students’ resiliency, intrinsic September 27 Photo Retake Day motivation, and metacognitive skills as lifelong learners. We are eagerly September 28 Terry Fox/Carnival October 9 Thanksgiving anticipating the journey. October 12 Parent Council On behalf of the Administration Team, we look forward to seeing all returnees October 13 Interim Reports to T.S.S. next year. We wish everyone a restful, safe and happy summer! October 19 Parents’ Night Sincerely, October 20 PA Day David A. McAdam. VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1 TSS PAW PRINTS PAGE 2 On behalf of the staff, and particularly the Mathematics Department, we would like to congratulate all TSS students for taking part in the math contests. The following students received medals for obtaining the highest scores in the Waterloo contest: Euclid Contest, Grade 12 - Hao Ran Zhu Fryer Contest, Grade 9 - Sean Huh, Andrej Stojanovic, Kevin Wang, Raymond Zhang Galois, Contest Grade 10 - Albert Ding Hypatia, Contest Grade 11 - Yuchen Xue Two weeks ago, our grade nine students took part in the EQAO Test. All students working toward a credit in Grade 9 Academic or Applied Mathematics are required to participate in this assessment. These tests evaluate how well students are meeting the curriculum expectations of the Grade 9 Academic or Applied Mathematics courses from The Ontario Curriculum. What a great year this was for TSS and the Math Department! Next year we will continue to prepare our students to succeed in high school, university and college, and to apply what they learn to their future careers. On behalf of the Math Department we wish you all a safe and relaxing summer. Every year parents and students ask us where they can find practice exercises to better prepare them for high school and University so we decided to do just that. Grade 9 -12. http://www.aaastudy.com/geo79_x5.htm http://ginaotto.com/math.html http://www.purplemath.com/modules/polydiv.htm http://www.hyper-ad.com/tutoring/math/algebra/Synthetic%20Division.html http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110248/algebra/remfactintro.htmhttp://www.acts.tinet.ie/ trigonometry_645.html http://www.sosmath.com/trig/addform/addform.html http://www.sosmath.com/trig/douangl/douangl.html http://sosmath.com/trig/prodform/prodform.html http://www.acts.tinet.ie/trigonometry_645.html The Mathematics and Statistics Committee of the Atlantic Provinces Committee on the Sciences has put together a booklet that contains many sample questions and hints to help you prepare for University Calculus. (http://cs.smu.ca/apics/calculus/welcome.php) VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1 TSS PAW PRINTS PAGE 3 Congratulations to all for a successful end to the 2016-17 school year! The Thornhill ESL Department and the Hand in Hand Club have had a great year filled with fun, laughter and learning. Our Asian Heritage Festival celebrated art and culture from the many countries of Asia! There was art, food, music, games and many other activities. The TSS Heritage Band performed and students and staff took photos with traditional Asian characters! Our Asian Heritage Band also played at the YRDSB Asian Heritage Event for staff and students at Richmond Green SS. We are very proud of them! If you play a traditional instrument, come out and join us next year! In September, the ESL Department and the Hand in Hand club will welcome new grade 9 students and over 65 new Visa students. We will be part of the Grade 9 Orientation and we will host a special afternoon orientation for the Visa students on Tuesday, September 5th. We look forward to welcoming all of the new students to TSS. Come out and join the Hand in Hand Club! See you in September and have a wonderful summer! We encourage all students to obtain a Vaughan and/or Markham Public Library card. The Markham and Vaughan Public Librar- ies give students access to online databases that are important in pro- viding information for academic research—an extremely useful resource throughout their high school career and IT’S FREE! STAFFING CHANGES FOR 2017-2018 Congratulations, thanks and best wishes to the We welcome (back): following teachers who are on the move: Jason Adams, returning from leave of absence Keith Auyeung, to Unionville High School Walter Birch, from Sir William Mulock SS Jason Havelock, to Markham District High School Heather Leatham, Head of Moderns Kimia Kamarhie, to Bill Hogarth Secondary School Mathew Maclean, Educational Assistant, Anisa Karapici, to Vaughan Secondary School returning from leave of absence Jaymyi Lesmond to Regional appointment Lillian Mandatori, returning from leave of April McDonald, parental leave absence Gregory Monteith, to Maple High School Patricia Nasmith, returning from leave of Megan Ryan, to Bill Hogarth Secondary School absence William Schwan, to Tommy Douglas S.S. Jesse Richard, Autism Program Teacher Athina Tsatsos, returning to Bur Oak Secondary School as Head of Moderns A fond farewell to Lou D’Angela and Brigitte Thom. Support Staff: We thank you for your contributions to public Thanks & farewell to: education, and for your devoted service to our Our best wishes to Harold Tam, Educational students. All the best for a happy retirement! Assistant, as he takes a leave to attend Teachers’ College. VOLUME 4 ISSUE 1 TSS PAW PRINTS PAGE 4 REGISTRATION INFORMATION In accordance with Ministry of Education guidelines, schools will not charge fees for supplies relating to coursework that is necessary to meet graduation requirements; e.g., French workbooks, Family Studies food labs. The Fees Guidelines allows schools to charge fees for enhanced materials, i.e. enrichments beyond what is necessary to meet curriculum expectations such as: certifications; Iron Chef Competition; art kit; cedar wood in construction; and field trips. In classes that charge for enhancements, you will receive a letter from the teacher detailing what the fee covers. Payment of the enhancement fee is voluntary. In addition, fees can be charged for participating in extra-curricular activities such as sports teams, clubs, dances, graduation, etc. Our School Activity Fee serves to engage students in the broader school community by providing a wide range of opportunities that occur before school, at lunch and after school. Monies collected will cover or subsidize the cost of various extra-curricular activities in clubs, teams, sports, and student groups such as the Students’ Council. These groups, events and activities build school spirit and enrich the learning experience beyond the classroom and the designated subject curriculum.