Congratulations to all our students for a year of hard work, dedication and commitment to learning. You, the students, have made the staff of St. Justin, Martyr very proud of your many accomplishments. Thanks to your tremendous efforts and the expertise of all our teachers and staff, our school was once again acknowledged by the Fraser Institute as one of the top schools in the Province of Ontario, achieving Distinction for Overall Academic Achievement. Our EQAO scores also continue to reflect excellence in both Grade 3 and Grade 6 tests.
To our grade 8 students, we wish you much love, happiness, good health and success as you begin the next step of your education. May the blessings of our friend, Jesus, be upon each and every one of you today, and through the summer months.
To the parents, we thank you for the countless hours you devote to your children in their quest for higher learning. We are grateful for the encouragement you provide for your children to be the best that they can be.
To our many parent volunteers, and especially to the members of the Catholic School Council, thank you for all your tremendous support of our efforts this year. Together we have learned from one another, supported one another and moved education to new heights. Every year we get better and better!
Yours in Catholic Education, Mrs. S. Knetsch
June 2010, Newsletter
St. Justin Martyr Catholic School monthly newsletters will be available for download here.
It is with very mixed feelings that we say Good-Bye and God Bless to several of our staff members: Ms. Russo, grade 5/6 PACE teacher, Ms. LaValle, Grade 5 PACE teacher, Ms. Greco, JK/SK teacher, Ms. Presta, Grade 7 teacher, Mr. Bouchard, French Teacher, Mrs., Mustachi, and Mrs. Sylvia Ceniti, Educational Assistants, Ms. Moreira, Phys Ed teacher, Ms. Scariot, Grade 8 teacher and Mr. Williams , Core Resource teacher. We say goodbye and send our best wishes to Mrs. Georgas, as she awaits the birth of her baby. Though we are sad to see these staff members leave, we know that what awaits them is filled with a wealth of possibilities.
To these marvelous people, we extend our warmest thoughts for success in their future endeavours. Thank you for leaving your wisdom and warmth with our students as lasting imprints. Good-bye to the families that are leaving St. Justin, Martyr this year. To our grade 8 graduates and the families who are moving from our community, we wish you God’s blessings on your new journeys.
Talent Show a Huge Success!
The school community was treated to wonderful day and evening performances of our Talent Show held
June 23. Thirty-five student acts were featured along with a tribute to Canadian artists, performed by many of our staff members. The children were simply sensational in all the talents that they presented, and our staff members held everyone in laughter and huge applause for their high spirits and great sense of fun. A warm and special thank you to Mr. Iannelli for all his efforts in coordinating the “SHOW.
School Begins Turesday, September 7th at 9:00 a.m.
Special Information
For bus transportation news for next year check the internet at www.schoolbuscity.com
Class lists will be posted on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the back of the school at 8:45.
New registrations for next year can occur at the Board office during the summer by contacting the Admissions Office (416) 221-5050.
Please return to our school in September any resources or textbooks that you may find at home.
Track and Field – A Huge Success!
Congratulations to all the members of our Track and Field team who represented us so well at York University on June 10th. Our school placed 2nd overall which is a tremendous standing! The day was filled with great sportspersonship and many happy faces. Special thanks to all the staff members who coached our teams over this last month. Your efforts with our students were awesome.
World Famous Talent Show
Our Fifth Annual School Talent Show will take place on Wednesday June 23. Students and teachers are hard at work preparing for St. Justin, Martyr's "World Famous" Talent Show. This amazing show will take place in our school gymnasium on June 23 between 7:00 and 9:30 p.m. Parents, family and friends are welcome to attend. As always, this promises to be one great show with a variety of great performances and some surprises too. We look forward to a very memorable evening of fun and superb entertainment. We hope you can attend!!
St. Justin, Martyr Catholic School Council Final Reports
Our final Council report has been placed on our school website: www.sjmcouncil.com. We are very appreciative of all the efforts made by many parent volunteers to make our council an effective advisory committee, dedicated to supporting the students at St. Justin. Please take the time to read about the many initiatives that were undertaken by many parents donating both time and resources. Thank you!
And finally….
A very special thank you to our Catholic School Council and all the parent volunteers who have made this year such a success. The Council members have been instrumental in facilitating many exciting activities. Thanks to the generosity of parents in our community, all of our students have enjoyed countless events that have enriched the curriculum and the personal life of each child. As a staff, we are very grateful for your support of our endeavours,
and for your kindness in providing your time to our school. God Bless You!
Reminder: our school newsletters will be able to be accessed through our school website www.sjmcouncil.com.
Agendas for September
As in the past, the school has pre-ordered standardized agendas for all students from Grades 1-8. They will be available to students on the first day of school. We ask that all students use these customized agendas as this will ensure accurate information going between home and school.
Thank you to our Choir
Thank You
What a wonderful year our school choir has had. They have worked very hard to prepare so beautifully for all our masses, Lenten Canticle and Open House. Each choir member has met for practice at least once a week for the entire year. The older students spent a great deal of time practising harmony and descants while their accompanists practised the piano, violin and rhythm instruments. A special thank you to the dedicated staff who took time to lead these amazing young students. Mrs. Chan, Mrs. Munro. Mrs. Ceniti
Eco Update
We are so proud of the many enviro and greening initiatives we have supported this year. Our pilot project of collecting organic waste has been a huge success. We have been recognized as the school having the highest diversion rate of organic waste from the landfill. We recently were awarded a cheque for $1500.00 from Powerstream for promoting the Board’s Energy Champion program at the school. These funds will be used to support environmental projects at the school. We also were able to plant 3 shade trees on the school grounds with monies from environmental grants.
The Catholic School Council has offered their support with the Greening Initiatives and the beautification of the entrance to the school. More details will follow in September. Thank you to all custodial staff, students, staff members and parents that model and support the importance of “Doing the Green Thing”, at school and at home.
Summer Advantage Workbook
Summer Advantage" is a fully coloured, 200 page activity book designed to maintain and extend all Kindergarten to Grade 7 students' academic learning over the summer months. There is one activity book per grade level from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 7. The major units and 3 summer fun units in each book are aligned with the Ontario curriculum expectations. These activities are intended to keep students' thinking skills sharp over the summer, to introduce themes and subject content for the upcoming school year and to provide an alternative to television. When your child says, "I'm bored," Summer Advantage will provide that beneficial alternative. All books have parent information pages, evaluation forms, follow up activities and a family focus. There is also a Summer Advantage website (www.summeradvantage.ca) which contains more detailed information.
Year End and School Opening
Our teachers will be involved in staff meetings on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday of this last week of school. The school will then be closed until week of August 23. Class lists will be posted on the first day of school, September 7th, in the backyard of the school.
Lost and Found Items
Our lost and found pile is huge! If you go searching you will discover there items of clothing for all seasons, lunch bags, playground equipment, running shoes, boots, umbrellas, etc. We will be sending the articles to a charitable organization next week so please feel free to drop in the school until June 30th to claim any items.
EQAO
We are pleased to provide you with the attached highlights of our school results on the provincial EQAO test written by our grades 3 and 6 students last May. We will be reviewing our detailed EQAO results and other school assessment data in order to build on our strengths and address areas requiring improvement. The students who participated in the assessment will be receiving their individual results later this week. For further information please visitwww.eqao.com
Our school is obliged to protect our students and families personal information. Images of students are considered personal information. Images of students are considered personal information. Parents sign Freedom of Information consent form upon registering their child with our Board. This consent allows pictures to be posted on the School Board’s or school websites. It does NOT include permission for posting pictures on social websites (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, You Tube.) We caution parents and staff that when taking pictures of students in school or on field trips that those pictures are not to be posted on any social networking sites. Questions about the collection and the use of personal information should be directed to the Privacy Manager, YCDSB
Food in School
In our continued efforts to provide a safe and healthy environment for all our students, we are asking parents to honour our recently instituted practice of not sending in food from home for class celebrations. We have numerous students in the school with life threatening allergies to many food substances. By not having food in the school sent from homes, we are able to more effectively ensure that these students remain safe while in our care. Please consider celebrating your child's birthday by sending in non-food items for the class (e.g., pencils). If food from home is sent to the school it will be returned home via your child.
Thank you for your understanding and support of this most important request.
Are you Moving?
Are you moving? Please contact the school office if you are planning to leave St. Justin’s at the end of the year. We are working to staff our school for next year and your cooperation in letting us know of your moving plans would be very much appreciated. If you know of anyone moving into your neighbourhood, and in the St. Justin, Martyr school boundary, please encourage them to register their children as soon as possible. For your information, St. Justin, Martyr continues to be identified as a “red school”, meaning we cannot accept registrations from out of our school boundary.
Dress Code
As the warmer weather begins to take hold and the temperature rises, thoughts turn to lighter clothing. The following guidelines are in place at St. Justin, Martyr, and we look forward to parental support in reviewing these with your children. The guidelines are as follows:
no halter tops, spaghetti strap tops (narrower in width than 3 fingers), or tube tops
no low necklines, front or back
no half t-shirts, tops with cut-outs or tops with slogans containing offensive language or pictures
tops and pants/shorts must cover the entire midriff
no tight shorts or short-shorts
head protection (hats, sun visors, sunglasses) is advisable for outdoor play but are not for use indoors.
sunscreen is advisable during the warmer days, especially during the noon recess period.
Parent Handbooks
We encourage you to visit our board website at www.ycdsb.ca to reference our York Catholic District School Board Parent Handbook. It provides an overview of the key curriculum expectations for each grade level and highlights board policies as well. For those unable to access this resource on line, please request a hard copy from the school.
For transportation information, please refer to the website www.schoolbuscity.com. This is the most up-to-date information on busing. We will not have any more information at the school about busing other than what you will find on this important website.
