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St. Vincent School February 2015
Principal: Mrs. K. Cascone Brown Secretary: Mrs. A. Hughes
Phone #: 905—849-0777
Fax #: 905-849-4579
Internet: www.schools.hcdsb.org/vinc
“Joy filled witness to Christ”
ADMINISTRATOR’S MESSAGE: The St. Vincent School Community continues to impress others with
not only their academic achievement but also the warm welcoming
community that we maintain. We recently had our District Review
around the School Effective Framework and St. Vincent School had
resounding success. The report included the following statements:
-It is evident from the presentation that this team works together and
is focused on student learning and achievement.
-St. Vincent school is a welcoming school community, there is a
sense of family with a sense of respect and kindness.
-The students seemed happy and wanted to engage with the visitors
not only in the classroom but also in the halls.
-It is evident that there is a good deal of growth in the development
of effective Instruction and Assessment at St. Vincent School since
the last review.
Teachers are working on report cards and we are all looking forward
to Valentines Day followed by the Holy season of Lent, when we are
reminded of God’s love for us. We have just held Kindergarten
registration for the fall program and we continue to have regular
inquiries about families who wish to join the St. Vincent School
community. That is a testament to the great program we provide and
the wonderful partnership we share with the families, Parish and
school.
Thank you for your ongoing support in your child’s learning,
K. Cascone Brown
To the milk and special lunch day volunteers for adding such a
healthy element to the children’s lunch!
To the many parents who volunteer in our school. We always have
room for more!
To all parents who remember to call in their children's absences each
day!
To the patient parents who are careful in our parking lot and follow
the rules!
To the many parents who drop by with a kind word of thanks and
appreciation to the staff. Your support helps keep us going!
To our wonderful parish team who help us bring the Gospel to our
community!
To the fine School Council led by Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Blackburn
who give their time to keep on top of school and Board happenings.
RECONCILITATION UPDATE
Msgr. Sheridan has rescheduled the Reconciliation Parent meeting
for January 31st at 10:00 am. Our grade 2 students will be
celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation on February 21
at St. Andrew Church at 10:00 a.m. We hope that their
commitment to their faith will allow them to keep God at the
centre of their life journey.
PUBLIC SPEAKING FESTIVALS Our Public Speaking Festival will be held in the gym
on Thursday, February 26 at 12:30 p.m.. Students
from Grades 4 - 8 will be competing for the opportunity
to represent St. Vincent at the Regional finals. Parents
and friends are welcome to attend.
PROFFESIONAL ACTIVITY DAY– Friday February 13th
will be a P.A. day. No school for students.
FAMILY DAY– Monday February 16th– No school for staff or
students. Enjoy the day!
SCHOOL COUNCIL Our next School Council meeting will be on Monday,
March 2- 7:00 p.m. in the School Library. All parents are
welcome to attend.
TABLE HOCKEY
Table hockey club had another successful run this season culminating
with a dramatic final series in which the savvy veteran and high
flying Lumberjacks squared off against the youthful and defensively
minded Medieval Claws. In the end the Medieval Claws prevailed 3
games to 1 to capture the Second Annual Winter Classic Table Hockey
Tournament. Congratulations to the winning team members: Mathew
Rukavina, Quintin Plutino and Mr. Zielke. We look forward to the
Spring Fling Tournament in April.
HOCKEY
Congratulations to the St Vincent Vikings Hockey team who won
the silver medal at the Wave Tournament on January 16th. The team
lost a heartbreaker in the final with only seconds left in overtime.
Goalie Thomas Rea was named tournament MVP for his outstanding
efforts in goal. Great work team!!! Photos of the tournament can be
viewed in our showcase by the Tree of Life, special thank you to Mrs.
Zuliani for her tireless work as the teams roving journalist and
photographer.
BASKET BALL
The boys basketball team has played in a tournament and a couple of
regular season games to start the year. They have shown great team
work and energy, and have improved their play with each game. Thank
you Mr. Sutherland and good luck, in the rest of the season and the
playoffs.
The girls team is off to a great start this season. Keep up the good work
and thanks to Mr. Zielke for his time and effort coaching.
SAFETY & COMFORT Please remember:
Shoes or slippers are required on your child’s feet at school because the
floors are cold and wet after the students come in. Please have your
children leave some kind of footwear in their lockers.
Physical Education classes - running shoes are required for daily physical
education classes. For your child’s health and safety, we cannot allow
either bare or stocking feet in the gym.
If your child is not feeling well, please keep him/her at home.
It is often difficult to track parents down during the day and we cannot
keep the children inside at recess breaks as the teachers on duty are
outside with the kids.
YOGA/Mindfulness
Our Grade 6 students are participating in a School Board pilot project
which looks at stretching and breathing as a way to help kids focus on
their school work and self regulate their behavior. There is no
connection between the stretching and breathing that the students are
doing and the Religious Yoga practice entrenched in Eastern religious
practices. Our yoga/mindfulness program is enthusiastically supported
by Bishop Crosby and Father Laurence Freeman.
CONCUSSION PROTOCOL
There is a new school board protocol where after a head injury
students are not allowed to participate in physical activity for 24 hours.
Also a form must be signed by parents and sometimes physician's
before a student may return to activities.
CASHLESS SCHOOLS IS COMING
The date is still to be determined however, St. Vincent School will be
going cashless and accepting online payments for all trips, lunches,
photo etc. We will keep everyone posted.
WINTER WEATHER
Winter has definitely closed in on us!! With the
colder temperatures, comes the need for warm
clothing and boots as the children need to go
outside and run and burn off energy during the
recesses.
We expect our students to wear the proper cold weather clothes you
have provided for them when they go out to recess. Please ensure that
your children are well dressed to face the often variable, bracing cold
weather. Children need to have their heads and ears covered; snow
resistant gloves are a necessity! All students must go outside for
recess, there is no supervision indoors during recess times.
Check local radio or television stations or the Halton Catholic District
School Board website for school closures and/or bus cancellations due
to inclement weather - you will not receive a call from the school with
this information.
You may also check the Board’s website: www.hcdsb.org.
In the case of an Emergency School Closure at St. Vincent School
during the course of a school day you will receive a call from
Synrevoice notifying you of the closure and the reason. The calling
system only takes place when school is to be closed during the day
(when the students are already here).
Students whose parents have given permission that they be
dismissed will automatically be dismissed by their classroom
teacher. Those students whose parents have indicated that they
are to remain at school and the parents will pick them up will
be held. For the safety of our students, anyone picking up
children that are not their own will require written permission
from the other child’s parent in order to do so.
SHROVE TUESDAY
We enjoy having parent volunteers in the school on Shrove
Tuesday each year to help flip pancakes for our students on the
day before Lent. Organized annually by Mrs. Glinski and her
class parents, this is a wonderful community event to celebrate
together before Lent begins. Students are asked to donate $2
each for pancakes and all funds raised will go toward
supporting our Lenten fundraising project. We look forward to
a wonderful syrupy Tuesday February 17, 2015.
ASH WEDNESDAY
Please join us for mass on Wednesday
February 18 at 1pm in the Gym. There
will be a full mass along with the
distribution of ashes.
MARCH BREAK
Please note that the March break this
year is on Monday March 16-Friday
March 20 inclusive.
School resumes on Monday,
March 23.
ARE YOU MOVING?
We are preparing a school organization plan for September
2015.
If you have moved or are planning to move to a new address
please notify the school office as soon as possible. In addition,
please provide the name and the grade level of any student who
will not be returning to St. Vincent School in September 2015.
Your assistance in this matter will help us with our organization
and with the preparation of the Ontario Student Record that
follows a student to a new school.
KISS’N RIDE
Thank you for your continuing support and patience with drop
off and pick up times here at school. The safety of all students,
staff, and the community continues to be our priority,
particularly during these busy times of day. While at times
lines form during these busy times, they are usually very brief
as everyone continues in an orderly fashion. If you are
planning on dropping your child off at the curb, please remain
in the lineup as it does move quickly rather than pulling out and
trying to pull back in again close to the front. There are many
students or parents who have parked and may be walking
through the lot. Your assistance with this continues to make
these busy times run smoothly and safely. Thank you also for
refraining from entering the front driveway of the school during
these busy times as they remain for the exclusive use of the
buses.
SPREAD THE LOVE FOR UNITED WAY
This year in celebration of Valentine's Day we will be spreading
the love to United Way! Students are asked to wear red, pink or
white on Thursday, February 12th and bring in a $1 or $2 dona-
tion for United Way. Student Council thanks you in advance for
your support!
SWEET HEARTS FOR SICK KIDS, LUKE’S LEGACY
Sunday February 8th from 11am until 4pm at Longo’s Market,
South East Oakville 469 Cornwall. It’s fun, sticky, and
sweet! Customize a confection for a good cause and donate while
you decorate! In December 2007, the St. Vincent community lost
a son, brother, and friend when Luke Holmes lost his battle with
Hypo plastic Left Heart/Critical Aortic Stenosis. He was treated
at Sick Kids from the time he was 2 days old and showed strength,
courage, and determination in every battle he fought. This event
always takes place on or around Luke’s birthday and this year
on Sunday February 8th, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. you can decorate
a heart shaped nut free “Artsy Baker” cookie in support of the
Cardiac Critical Care Unit of Sick Kids Hospital in memory of
Luke. The suggested donation is $5 per cookie.
If you cannot attend the event but would like to support Luke's
Legacy, forms will be sent home to order cookie decorating
kits. These kits will be delivered to school on Monday February
9, for the children to bring home to decorate. Please make time on
the 8th to decorate and donate in support of the very worthwhile
work taking place at Sick Kids. For more information, please
contact Carolyn Holmes at [email protected]
ANGELMAN DAY
Sunday February 15th is International Angelman Day. We will
show our support for our Angel, Callum and all families and chil-
dren with Angelman’s on Friday February 20th. The primary divi-
sion (K-3) is asked to wear green, junior division (4-6) is to wear
purple, our intermediates (7 and 8) yellow
and all staff to wear blue to show our support.
YEARBOOK The Yearbook Committee is already hard at work on the 2014/15
book but we need your pictures to make this year's book the best
one ever! The Yearbook Committee strives to include multiple
candid pictures of every student and cover as many school events
as possible. But without great pictures, there wouldn't be a year-
book. Last year's book contained over 800 candid pictures (in
addition to the individual and grad pictures from Pegasus) selected
from more than 4000 pictures! This year, we hope to have the
same daunting task of going through so many wonderful pictures.
Please send us pictures of your child(ren)'s classroom events, par-
ties, trips as well as school-wide activities, presentations, fundrais-
ers, etc. Pictures can be emailed to Bridgette Currie
at [email protected] or through eShare (see attached for
information). The Yearbook Committee would like to thank the
teachers and parents who have already submitted pictures and we
look forward to seeing many more awesome pictures from our
talented St. Vincent community. Keep snapping!
STUDENT COUNCIL HAPPENINGS
The St Vincent Student Council; the St. Vincent’s Voice,
meets every Monday at lunch recess. Our weekly meetings
include reviewing and talking about school issues, discuss-
ing spirit and fundraising events, and sharing ideas on mak-
ing our school a better place. Thanks for your support for
Wii Bowling for Big Brothers/Big Sister in support of their
school based programs. From February 2nd to 5th we will be
selling Principal for the Day raffle tickets in support of Big
Brothers/Big Sisters. The winner will be announced on Fri-
day February 6th. Tickets are 2 for $1. Thank you again for
your support. On February 27th a team of St Vincent teach-
ers will bowl in the board’s annual bowl a thon for Big
Brothers/Big Sisters.
On January 29th we had crazy hat day to bring some fun
during these cold January days. Each month, St. Vincent’s
Voice will organize a fun spirit day. Stay tuned to the an-
nouncements and the newsletter for more information.
On February 12th, we will be holding Red, White and Pink
day in support of United Way.
Thank you for your support before Christmas with our gifts
for a baby drive for Halton Women’s Place. The letter we
received from the Halton Women’s Place quoted “the items
that were donated made a big difference in the clients of the
Halton Women’s Place’s this holiday season.”
Our school is a Me to We school as well. Our support of
local charities will continue and we are also working with
Free the Children during their Year of Empowerment, to
support a global initiative. Stay tuned for more information!
CHARITY RACE Lighthouse Program for grieving children will partner with
the Oakville Mercedes Benz race on Sunday, April
26th 2015. There is a 5km & 10km race and a 1km Junior
Jog.
There was great participation from St. Vincent in the Oak-
ville Half Marathon last year with 14 students running the
10km relay. Light house is now partnering with the Mer-
cedes Benz race because it a more convenient time in the
school year. Other pros include:
Great advantages for schools to participate in the Mercedes
Benz/Lighthouse race:
Local well organized event supporting Lighthouse: an Oak-
ville charity supporting children who have lost loved ones.
The elementary school with the top 3 fastest runners will get
a trophy. The best medal ever! - the kids will be so excited
to get these huge medals.-Kids get experience of running a
real race with chip timing. Great practice for track & field.
Easy to register: I register with Team Lighthouse
Kind regards,
Deirdre Thomas
Volunteer Marketing & Events Manager
Address: The Lighthouse Program for Grieving Children
82 Wilson Street, Oakville, Ontario, L6K 3G5
Phone: 289.772.8039
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.grievingchildrenlighthouse.org