St. Denis Catholic School News

May 2014

Toronto Catholic District School Board

Trustee 2013-2014

1. Peter Jakovcic 8. Gary Tanuan

2. Ann Andrachuk 9. Jo-Ann Davis, Chair

3. Sal Piccininni 10. Barbara Poplawski

4. Patrizia Bottoni 11. Angela Kennedy

5. Maria Rizzo 12. Nancy Crawford, Vice Chair

6. Frank D’Amico Enrique Olivo, Student Trustee

7. John Del Grande William Lawrence, Student Trustee

Dear Families:

May is a beautiful month of promise. We look towards Mary, our spiritual

inspiration, and hope that she will continue to look after us. Each year, the

Catholic community of Ontario engages in a week-long celebration of the

unique identity and distinctive contributions of Catholic education during

Catholic Education Week. This year’s celebration entitled: ―Serving In The

Love of Christ‖ is scheduled for the week of May 4th to May 9th.

St. Denis students celebrated the sacraments of First Communion and Con-

firmation and the school production of OZ-SOME takes place during Catho-

lic Education Week.

Academically, students and teachers are preparing for the annual comple-

tion of CAT/4 Test (grades 2, 5, 7) and Primary (grade 3) and Junior (grade

6) EQAO tests. Both of these assessments will be written during the

month of May and the first week of June. Please continue to ensure that

your child comes to school on time, focused and ready to do their best.

Finally, a happy and blessed Mother’s Day to all moms and people in our lives

who are like a mom! THANK YOU for ALL you do!

―For truly, I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ―Move from here to there and it will move;

and nothing will be impossible for you‖ (Matthew 17:10)

Serving You In Catholic Education,

D. Comacchio

Principal

St. Denis Catholic School

67 Balsam Avenue Toronto, Ontario

M4E 3B8

————————————

Principal:

Mr. D. Comacchio

Secretary:

Mrs. J. Mallia

Superintendent:

Mr. J. Shanahan

416-222-8282

Angela Gauthier

Director of Education

Website: www.tcdsb.org

Community Parishes:

St. John Church

416-698-1105

Corpus Christi Church

416-694-0382

Enrolment: 303

Hours of Operation:

8:15 a.m.—3:15 p.m.

Lunch Hour:

11:35 a.m. - 12:35 p.m.

————————————

Catch the spirit!

notifying the school office prior to

the end of the day.

In addition, students on the bus are

required to follow the safety rules

of the bus as well as behave in a re-

spectful and caring manner. Failure

to do so may result in the loss of the

bus privilege.

TRACK AND FIELD

Our Track and Field

team has been se-

lected. Thank you to

all students who tried

out for the team this

year. Permission forms for the Divi-

sional meet will be distributed Fri-

day, May 2 and are to be submitted

by Monday, May 5. Thank you to all

staff for coaching and practising

with our students.

The Track and Field meets will be

held on the following dates:

Divisional Meet: Wednesday, May

14th, 2014

Regional Meet: Wednesday, May

21, 2014

City Meet Tuesday, May 27 at

Varsity Stadium

GOOD SHEPARD

The Kids 4 Kids and the grade 8

students went to the Good Shep-

herd Men’s Homeless Shelter. Each

person that arrives at the Good

Shepherd get a nice new pair of

clothes, a place to stay for the

night, and a locker to store their

things. We brought toiletries for

the men that live and stay there.

There is a chapel for people to

pray in, whatever their religion may

be. There is a nurse’s office if the

men get sick. Each day many volun-

teers come at 6:00 to prepare and

serve them food. They make 3,000

STUDENTS OF THE

MONTH

The Student of the

Month Award is to rec-

ognize students’ posi-

tive characteristics

and actions towards other students,

staff and parents in our school com-

munity. We would like to congratu-

late the following students who were

chosen as recipients of the Virtue

of the Month for April. The virtue

was JUSTICE.

Ms. Martins JK/SK am Julia Wellwood

Reid Cryer JK/SK pm Matilda Yousefzadeh

Ms. Mohan SK/1 Liam Burns Gonzalez

Ms. Lo Gr. 1 Carys Beatty

Ms. Kunkel Gr. 2 Connor MacDougall

-Hunter

Maya Beecroft

Ms. Richea Gr. 2/3 Megan McGuire

Ms. Pinsonneault Gr. 3/4 Christian

Goutounas

Ms. Molyneaux Gr. 4 Hayden Galbraith

Ms. Power Gr. 4/5 Beth Armstrong

Mrs. Manzer Gr. 5 Maggie Casey

Mr. Gordon Gr. 6 Charlie O’Brien

Kate Groenewegenn

Ms. Brine Gr. 6/7 Alex Conroy

Ms. Clarke Gr. 7/8 Sean Dick

Ms. Ruddy Gr. 8 Cassidy Alejandria

Sarah Scholbeck

BUS STUDENTS

and BUS SAFETY

The Toronto Catholic

District School board

and St. Denis School

are committed to pro-

viding students with

safe and reliable

transportation. School bus safety is

a shared responsibility. It involves a

partnership with students, parents,

staff and our bus drivers. I would

like to remind parents and students

that students are registered on a

particular bus/bus route. Students

are NOT PERMITTED to switch

buses at any time without a parent

meals a day. From 12:00 to 5:00 PM

they open the doors to the people on

the streets for food and shelter. On

behalf of the Kids 4 Kids and grade

8 students we would like to thank

Ms. Pinsonneault, Mr. Gordon, and

Ms. Ruddy for making this trip pos-

sible. We learned so much.

By Zoe Fraser,

Sarah Secord &

Lily Vienneau

Vow of Silence

A couple of weeks ago some Kids 4

Kids members in

grades 5, 6, and 7

participated in the

Vow of Silence. For

most of the morning

we could not talk, read, write or

communicate in any way. Even though

we had a fire drill we still did not

talk. We participated in the Vow of

Silence to raise awareness for peo-

ple who don’t have a voice like vic-

tims of bullying, girls denied educa-

tion, teen brides, and child labour-

ers. We were asked to make signs to

show what we were silent for and

explain why we could not talk. We

were also asked to bring in $2 to

support our cause. Some of us had

difficulty staying silent but most

people were committed to the vow.

We would like to congratulate all the

participants and thank Ms. Pinson-

neault and Mr. Gordon for organizing

it. We encourage those students

reading this to join us next year.

CAMP OLYMPIA

The grade seven Camp Olympia trip

was a great experience. From the

many leadership games, to the moti-

vational speeches, we learned a lot

of ways to become responsible lead-

ers. We had to prepare for the trip,

which included choreographing a lip-

sync, designing a school banner, cre-

ating a heritage minute on Mother

Theresa, and making our own warm

fuzzy note envelopes. We got the op-

portunity to connect with other stu-

dents from different schools in To-

ronto, and on the last night at camp

we had a huge dance in the gym with

all schools. There was loud music,

flashing lights, and glow-in-the-dark

bracelets which made it really fun.

We even started a dance circle that

all the other schools wanted to be a

part of. Over all, we all wished we

could’ve stayed longer. Thank you to

Ms. Clarke, Ms. Martins, and Mr.

Grozelle, for bringing us to camp.

By: Erin and Kalista

Intermediate W5H

The Intermediate W5H team had an

amazing season. It all started back in

April when we attended the first Di-

visional meet. We won all three of

our games there and advanced to the

next round. We competed at OLOL

and advanced to the next round again

after winning a three way tie for Di-

vision Champions. At Regionals, we

dominated, winning both of our games

and advancing to the city Finals. May

5 at 7pm, friends and family came to

support us at Madonna High School.

We beat St. Dunstan in the first

round, and lost in the finals to St.

Bonaventure. Congratulations to the

team: Kate Groenewegen, Claire

Verkuyl, Marco Pizzuti, Fynn Schmitt-

Ulms, Sean Dick, Michael Barrack and

David Arnott for a great season.

Also, thank you to Ms. Pinsonneault,

Ms. Lo, Ms. Brown and Mme Valentim

for coaching and supporting us this

season.

By: Claire Verkuyl

Pink Ribbon/National Denim Day –

May 13th.

The CURE Founda-

tion is a national,

non-profit organiza-

tion that provides

funding for breast

cancer research

which has affected

so many in our lives. St. Denis will

be supporting this day by encourag-

ing everyone, staff and students, to

wear DENIM on May 13 and in

return give a monetary donation of a

loonie or Twoonie for research.

Those participating will receive a

pink ribbon.

InSchoolwear

“Mark your calendar! In-

Schoolwear at our Brentcliffe store

Location will be hold a TAX FREE

event for all St Denis Catholic

School families on Friday and Satur-

day, May 23rd and 24th for placing

your Back to School orders‖

Many Thanks!

The staff of St.

Denis would like to

thank the ENTIRE St.

Denis community for making our

dream a reality. Never before has

such an ambitious project been at-

tempted and we exceeded our own

expectations.

This could only happen with the

cooperation and support of eve-

ryone and we are truly grateful.

A special thank you to Heidi

McIlmoyle for her wonderful

costumes, to Kevin Vienneau

for his mentorship with our

house band, to Fraser

McDougall for his expertise in

sound engineering and Marilyn

and David Fraser for their

coaching and stage direction.

Thank you to the parent volun-

teers who helped to supervise

during the performances as well

as Friday morning.

Above all, thank you CSAC for

your financial support in allowing

our vision to become a reality.

This is truly a group effort and

our students have benefitted

fully by this collaboration!!

Great work everyone!

Team OZ

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