From the Principal

Volume 2, Issue

10

News from St. Sylvester

Principal

Mr. R. Fernandes

Secretary

Ms. P. Spatora

CSAC Chair

Ms. Deir

Pastor

Fr. J. Sultana

June 2016

Dear Parents:

A quote I recently shared with staff went like this “The bad news is that time flies. The

good news is that you’re the pilot.” Our gr. 8 parents likely find it mind boggling that

their children’s time at St. Sylvester is coming to a close and I equally find it shocking

that my first two years at St. Sylvester are coming to a close as well. Time does fly..

Let’s take a quick review of the year that was.

From the initial spirit of the Terry Fox Run, our primary Christmas play,Young People’s

Theatre plays, Interest Day, Education Night, Zero Waste Project, Roseneath Theatre

Productions , Capturing pennants in volleyball, basketball, and Cross Country, Trips

Galore, Virtues assemblies, Literacy Day/Night, forays into self directed and inquiry

based learning, the list could go on and on. A common thread weaves through all these

activities and that is—Holistic Education at its best. Our belief as educators at St. Syl-

vester is that learning takes place all the time and in every place—be it on stage, on the

roadrunner course, in the Church, in the classroom, on field trips, in the school yard,

and of course at home. We encourage you to continue this learning journey throughout

the summer holidays at the library, the Church, your backyard, the grocery store and

wherever else you choose. The most important thing for our students and for us as

adults is to continue the life long learning process in whatever way we can while always

remembering that life indeed is a journey rather than a destination.

Ten months have seen us go through ten virtues and I would ask you to discuss with

your children which of the ten virtues (all found in the agenda) are most important and

most relevant to your life. I would like to start by focusing on the virtue of gratitude.

Thanks to our staff for continually bringing their energy, motivation and innovative

teaching to our classrooms and school. Thanks to our parents for sending your children

to us to learn and for trusting that our goal is to help your children succeed. Thanks to

our students for giving our mission a reason. Together all three groups have made St.

Sylvester an excellent place to be.

Our final virtue of the year is Faithfulness and it is a very appropriate idea to consider.

Always believe that there is a reason for things and trust in God’s plan. I hope you will

continue to embrace the main point of our code of conduct. God IS in everyone and this

should impact our every interaction. Respect DOES breed respect and laughter is a gift

that should always be shared. Thank you parents for the privilege of working with your

children. We appreciate your faith in us and I feel confident in saying that over the last

ten months, we have together ensured a positive year for our students at St. Sylvester.

God’s Blessings on you all for a safe, happy and recharging summer holidays ...when

they arrive!

416–393-5373

School Information

School Enrolment

180 students

School Hours

8:30—3:00

Lunch Hour

11:15—12:15

School Parish

St .Aidan Catholic

Church

(416-494-2704)

Home, School, and Church

Page 2 News from St. Sylvester

It starts with communication As we begin the process of creating class lists for next year, we are asking for your input on class placement for your child. If there is anything you would like us to consider with regards to your child’s placement for next year, please send a letter to Mr.

Fernandes by June 6th with all the details. Please be assured that we will carefully consider your concerns and suggestions, however final decisions regarding class lists are made collaboratively by the staff. You can be guaranteed that much thought goes into the process of creating the most beneficial class groupings for all of our students. Regardless of classroom placement, at St. Sylvester Catholic School, our priority is to ensure that all students receive a quality education and enjoy a positive learning experience in a caring and supportive

environment.

Church News

As we move into the summer holidays, we remind all our

parents, that our faith is one that is best celebrated when we

find time to devote to God. Finding time to get to Church over

the holidays is the best way to show our children that our

Catholic faith is not something that exists only at school but

rather year round. God has given us much to be grateful for,

and in return, we are encouraged to thank Him in His house.

Coming out of the Year of the Family, we move into the second

stage of the Board’s pastoral plan—the Year of the Parish.

.

Faithfulness - – “Happy are those who have not

seen, yet still believe” John 20:29

June is the month of Faithfulness and we encourage

everyone to try and follow the points below. Those who

do it best will become our virtues stars for June

1. Being a Catholic is founded in Faith—Faith in the

Lord.

2. Remember that it is through our words and actions

that our faith becomes evident

3. Let your actions be guided by Centurion’s words to

Jesus “Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only

say the word and I shall be healed”

4. It is our Faith in God that brings comfort to our lives.

Faith and Character Development

May Virtues Stars (Compassion)

Ms. Semple Gabrielle Bautista

Ms. Chen Shawn Tom

Mrs. Ricetto Rona Li

Ms. Ironside Jasmine Broadnax

Mr. Nemes Aleena Tomy

Ms. Harrietha Giovany Williams

Ms. Stoner Adejah Peters

Mrs. Povo Taja Francis Fuller

Congratulations to all these students for demonstrating our

Virtue of the month. They have been awarded a certificate

for being a follower of Christ

Parent involvement Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC): www.tcdsb.org/cpic

OAPCE (Parent involvement) www.tcdsb.org/oapce-toronto

At our final parent council meeting of the year on May 17th, plans were discussed for a school curriculum night bbq in

September.

Results were also discussed from our Pro Grant Survey. The majority choice was Parenting skills. Our CSPC chair Ms.

Deir has submitted an application in the hopes that we receive the $1000 ministry grant to run this parenting workshop

next year.

Page 3

Track and Field

Our second biggest school sport of the year is

Track and Field. Our first meet took place on Fri-

day, May 13th at St. John Paul Secondary school.

The Regional track and field meet was on Wednes-

day May 18 and the City Track Meet took place on

Wednesday, May 25.

A special acknowledgement to our three city Ath-

letes. Sumaya who qualified in the 200, 400 and

high jump. Amelia who qualified for the 800 m,

Japheth who qualified for the shot put. Sumaya

ended up as a double medal winner—

gold in the high jump, and bronze in

the 200 metre.

Happening at a School Near You

Jump Rope for Heart

This year the entire school participated in the

Jump Rope for Heart event on Tuesday, May

24th . We got physically active, had fun and

raised money to help others. Congratulations

St. Sylvester for raising just over $2,400.00

for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. A BIG

thank you to everyone for their hard work,

dedication, and great attitudes towards help-

ing others! A special thank you goes out to my

grade two students for the excellent attitudes

and patience running the stations. We look

forward to doing this again next year. S. Iron-

side

Eds note—Thanks to Ms.

Ironside and her Gr. 2

class for their leadership in

running our event.

Education night

On May 5th, we had our school Education night.

There were phenomenal displays from each class in

the gym demonstrating how every class has worked

towards meeting our school learning plan of engag-

ing students in the curriculum. Our Gr. 4/5 class

lead parents in an art workshop at 6:45 p.m. Perfor-

mances started at 7 pm and included, the Gr. 7/8

instrumental band, our School Choir, Winning Public

Speakers and our Zero Waste play performed by the

Gr. 5/6 class. Education night is designed to be a

celebration of all we have learned and our night was

a full and complete one.

Interest Day

One of the Catholic Graduate expectations is

becoming a Life Long Learner. At St. Sylvester we

took on that task with our School interest day

Students from JK– Gr.8 indicated areas they were

interested in learning more about and from there

we went about finding activities that we thought

could match these interests.

On May 11th, we had our first ever interest day at

St. Sylvester. The day included options for

cooking, lego, animal care, special effects make

up, arts and crafts, karate, and a high ropes

leadership course. Students and parents were

asked to comment on our padlets and we thank

those who took the time to do so.

Career day was last year. Interest day was this

year. Any thoughts for next year? No matter what

comes next, we feel we are continuing to provide

opportunities for our students in their world of life

long learning.

JK/SK

Jump rope for heart—Jordyn

When we went to the movies Nana

When we went to the Oark Jovan

I liked cooking pizza on interest day - Alphy

Our trip to the St. Lawrence Market—Ryan

Our trip to YPT (Goodnight Moon) Nathaniel

Gr.2:

Skating—Jasmine

Different celebrations like tropical day—Althea

Jump rope for Heart—Ashly

TTC trip—Therese

Caterpillars—Egypt

Stations of the Cross—Katrina

Christmas Play – Jason

Gr. 3

My favourite memory with Ms D'Amico was Halloween because we made a cookie monster pumpkin! - Aiden My favourite memory with Mr. Nemes was April Fool's Day when Mr. Nemes said he had brownies for the class, but he only had the letter Es and they were brown. Then the whole class laughed! - Kerrie

Gr. 5/6

I loved Mansfield! My Mom missed me but I was in her heart! (Javier) I loved building the LIVING DESK! It taught me how hard jobs like that are. (Sabinus) I loved being a PHANTOM SHOVELER because helping people goes hand-in-hand with Operation Kindness! (Clara) I loved how Mr. Nemes and Mrs. Stoner taught us team-work in Junior Volleyball! (Mitzi) I loved INTEREST DAY because I learned how to con-quer my fear of heights! (Joshua N.) I loved our REAL LIFE MATH because it will prepare us for the future! (Lisi) I loved the whole ZERO WASTE EXPERIENCE! (Narek)

Some of our Favourite Memories from 2015/2016