1. education
2. school

r
e
t
t
e
l
s
w
e
N
May
JOHN SWEENEY CATHOLIC SCHOOL
Principal’s Message
May 2015
Dear God,
Thank you for my mother.
Catholic Education Week occurs every year at the beginning of May.
During this week, the Catholic community celebrates the distinctive
contribution that Catholic schools make to our students, our
community, and our society. Traditionally, we begin our celebration on a
Sunday to highlight the relationship of Catholic schools to the broader
Church community, especially with the parishes that remain the center
of our faith community.
During Education Week and throughout the year, we hope that
everyone in our school community takes time to reflect on the
significance of Catholic Education’s presence in, and contribution to,
our Church and our society. Please take the opportunity to have a look
at the flyer sent home last week and participate together with us as
you are able.
Our students continue to be involved in a wide variety of events and
activities, and this month is already proving to be a busy one for us all
with EQAO, baseball, soccer, cross country, folk dancing, May
Crowning, track and field and special retreat days! We ask that you
keep our Grade 8’s in your prayers as they experience their retreat to
Camp Brebeuf, from May 4th to May 6th, and our Grade 2’s as they
have their retreats on May 20th and 21st and celebrate their First
Holy Communion on Saturday, May 23rd.
I am extremely proud of all of our students who represent John
Sweeney and I am so very thankful for the staff and parents who
regularly work in partnership with us to ensure their participation at
various events!
Finally, a very Happy Mother’s Day to our moms on staff and to all
moms in our school family!
Respectfully yours,
Mrs. N. Sabo, Principal
May 3 - 8, 2015
‘Exploring the Paths of Joy’
She works so hard to take care of me.
Help me to be more thoughtful of her,
and to be kind and helpful.
Help me to cheer her up when she is down.
To spend time with her, and to listen to her.
To give to her, and to thank her for all she gives to
me.
Help me to do nice things for her.
She is a good mother,
Please look after her,
and give her health and happiness every day.
Amen.
Catholic
Education
Week
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Catholic Education
Week Prayer
Catholic Education
Week Prayer
Catholic Education
Week Prayer
Catholic Education
Week Prayer
at 8:55 a.m.
at 8:55 a.m.
at 8:55 a.m.
at 8:55 a.m.
Catholic
Education Week
Prayer
at 8:55 a.m.
Grade 8’s on Retreat to Camp Brefeuf May 4 — 6
Parishes and
schools will
highlight the
importance of
and present the
theme
in parishes
across the
province today!
Cardinal
PM OPEN HOUSE
Visit the school
today!
12:35 – 3:20 p.m
AM OPEN HOUSE
Spirit Day!
Visit the school
today!
Wear Your Spirit wear
or school colours!
8:55- 11:35 a.m.
Folk Dance
Crowning of Mary
Liturgy
Demonstration
2:15 p.m.
10:15 a.m. in the gym
in the JS gym
Cardinal
WACKY HAIR
Spirit Day! and
Sub Lunch
Folk Dance Festival
School Council
Meeting
6:30 p.m.
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Kinsmen Arena
Kitchener
Track and Field
JK Orientation Night for 2015-16
This year’s school level Track
Parents and children registered for Junior Kindergarten, or new
and Field Event for all students
to Senior Kindergarten,
in
for September 2015 are invited to
Grad es
4
-
8
w ill
attend an Orientation Night on Wednesday, May 13th from
be held on Thursday, May 21st
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at the school. We hope to see you here! More
for the full day here at our
information will be sent directly home to families of registered
school.
students.
Sacrament of First
Communion
The cake walk held by our very own Grade 8’s
was a great success! Staff members, parents
and some students generously donated cakes
to help the Grade 8’s fundraise. The gym
was full of fabulous cakes. There was everything from a Dragon to
Hamburgers to Rubics Cube and Candy Land cakes.
Our Grade 2 students of John Sweeney Catholic School will
First place for the most tickets (finally) went to Mrs. Sabo for
her 'Minecraft' Cake
Second place went to Mr. Ertel's 'Soda Pop' cake
Third Place went to Ms. Kress' 'Beanie Boo' cake
receiving this very special Sacrament in other parishes
The Grade 8’s would like to thank everyone who donated a cake and
our entire school community who supported the initiative. Thank
you so much for your continued support!
Page 2
be receiving the Eucharist for the first time on Saturday
May 23, 2015 at Blessed Sacrament Church. Mrs. Van
Dam and Mr. DiMascio’s students will celebrate at 1:30
p.m., followed by Mrs. Perham and Ms. Keogh’s students at
3:30 p.m. We congratulate these children, along with those
over the next few weeks. We welcome you to the Table of
the Lord and look forward to sharing this very special meal
with you as a school community at our school liturgies in
the future.
Congratulations, Grade 2’s!
May 2015
Youth in Action Lent Project Update
Free the Children's alternative income programming ensures that communities not only have the means to
repair water projects, they can also pay for school fees, support medical projects and reinvest into farms—
all of which ensure sustainability of our projects. Micro-loans are given to community members who wish to
start their own business. Unfortunately, business owners are often faced with unexpected illness, wiping
out their savings and causing their business to fail. WE HELPED! Here at John Sweeney, as part of our
Lenten Sacrifices, Prayer and Almsgiving, collected $2750 to help purchase 55 goats for communities in
India. We are proud of our partnership with Free the Children, and of our own Youth in Action group for their leadership
with WE CREATE CHANGE. We truly can make a difference, $1 at a time!
“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.” —Malala Yousafzai
WE ARE SILENT On Friday, May 1st, our Youth in Action group took a pledge of silence. In
advance, they prepared a presentation for our school community, sharing facts and figures about
many social justice issues that have come to their attention.
Their research, shared with our
school community, gave all of us much to think about. Around the world, there are those whose
voices are not heard. They are the girls who are denied an education because of gender inequality,
school fees or the need to stay home and care for younger siblings. They are the child labourers or
the children growing up in poverty. Every one of them has a voice that needs to be heard. We took
a silent stand so they can speak out. Thanks for sharing Youth in Action! Your message was heard!
EQAO Grade 3 & 6 Testing
The EQAO Assessments are based on the reading, writing and mathematics expectations in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades
1–8. This assessment provides both individual and system data on students' achievement in these three curriculum areas.
Each subtest will generally take one hour, but every student may have an extended period of time in which to finish the
assessment to the best of his/her ability. Our teachers continue to motivate students to achieve success and the students
have been working very hard all year and look forward to this opportunity to demonstrate their learning.
Parents of children in Grade 3 and 6, kindly ensure that your child is present for each of the testing days.
EQAO Testing will take place during the period of:
Grade 6 - May 25 to May 28
Grade 3 - June 1 to June 4
Look Ahead to June
Cardinal Recognition Assembly
June 1
Sub Lunch
June 5
Christian Living Awards Assembly
June 18
Year End Mass
June 19
Pizza Lunch
June 19
Page 3
Mark your
calendars!
Year End Awards Assembly
June 22
Report Cards
June 23
Grade 8 Graduation
June 23
Last Day of School
June 26
May 2015
Transportation for Next
Moving or
Information
Changes?
School Year
Transportation details will be available on August 24, 2015. Parents
and students will be able to login and view their transportation details
We are in the preliminary stages of planning for
next September and it is important that we have
information that is as accurate as possible.
If you are planning to move between now and
September, please notify the office as soon as
for the next school year.
Parents of students entering grade 4 who
are currently transported are especially asked to check eligibility, as
the walking-transportated distance changes for grade 4 to 8 students.
To check you child’s transportation details please visit www.stswr.ca
and click on student login, then enter the following information.

Your child’s Ontario Education Number (OEN) from report card

Your child’s birthdate (day, month, year)
This helps us when planning classes, staffing,

Your street number from your home address
transportation etc. and it helps to eliminate last

John Sweeney School name from the drop down list
possible.
minute confusion or surprises.
Junior Kindergarten and new Senior Kindergarten students will not
Similarly, if you have changed phone numbers,
workplace contacts, etc., it is equally important
that we have up to date information at the school.
Please call and update us if you have changes to
this information as well.
have an OEN number prior to September; therefore you will not be
able to check transportation information for these students. The
transportation office will be mailing families of these students
directly with transportation information. Senior Kindergarten students
will receive a postcard with Student Login Information. Letters and
Postcards will be mailed in late August.
Warm Weather Reminders
With the warm weather now here, it is appropriate to remind our school community about school policies
related to dress code and safe arrival at school.
Dress Code
It is our policy that students dress in a manner that is clean, modest and presentable. We therefore respectfully ask
that the following clothing items not be worn to school: halter tops, tank tops, cut-off shirts/shorts, “short” shorts.
In general, clothing should reflect the idea that the students are at school “to work at learning”. Students are also
asked to avoid clothing which presents inappropriate slogans/language/design which are contrary to the values that
we try to model in a Catholic learning environment.
Arrival at School
Also, a reminder about our safe arrival at school policy. Several students have been coming to school
(some are being dropped off by parents) as early as 8:00 am. Supervision out on the playground does
not begin until 8:35 a.m. (15 minutes before our morning bell). Students are asked to remain at home
until this time.
Parental support for the dress code and the safe arrival at school is appreciated.
Page 4
May 2015
Parent Child Communication Survey
Talking to your children about growth and development, healthy relationships, self-esteem, and sexual health may be
hard. Complete a survey to help The Region of Waterloo Public Health and other community agencies determine what
parents/guardians need to make it easier to talk to your children about these topics.
The online survey will take you approximately 10 minutes to complete and will ask questions about how you talk to your
child now about human development and sexual health. Complete the survey and you will have a chance to win a $25.00
gift card to a grocery store of your choice.
Click here or visit tinyurl.com/parentsurveyWR to complete the survey
or contact the Region of Waterloo’s Service First Call Centre at
519-575-4400 (TTY 519-575-4608) for a paper copy.
School Cash Online - Payment Method Survey
As of April 2015, all schools in the Waterloo Catholic District School Board use School
Cash Online. School Cash Online offers parents the convenience of making online
payments for their child’s field trips, lunch days, agenda, spirit wear, donations, school fundraising, etc. This helps remove
cash from schools and allows parents to maintain an electronic receipt history for items purchased. WCDSB is reviewing
adding credit card payments as an additional payment method for School Cash Online and is looking for parent feedback.
Please take the short survey:
on Friday, May 15th, 2015.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wcdsb‐sco. The survey will close at 4:00 p.m.
May Fit Bit
Going out to a restaurant can be a fun opportunity for kids
to learn about different foods and eat in a new
environment. Unfortunately the options on the kids’ menu
can be very limited and usually don’t offer up much
nutrition. Here are some ideas to help make healthier
choices when eating out:

Consider ordering an appetizer for your child instead
of a kid’s meal. Fresh spring rolls, quesadillas,
bruschetta or a salad with grilled chicken could be
healthier options.

If you do choose an item from the kids’ menu, ask for
veggies, rice or baked potato on the side instead of
fries or half fries and half veggies as other options.

Bypass the sugary drinks and order water or milk to
drink. If the meal comes with dessert, ask for extra
spoons for sharing or substitute a fruit salad.
When eating out with kids visit EatRight Ontario at:
https://www.eatrightontario.ca/en/Articles/Child-ToddlerNutrition/You-can-ask----for-healthy-foods-for-yourkids.aspx
Page 5
May 2015
Sports and Math – A Winning Combination
This summer, Ontario is hosting one of the largest sporting events in our
history. An estimated 7,600 top athletes from the Americas and
Caribbean will compete at more than 30 venues located in 16
municipalities across southern Ontario. To kick off the event, a 41-day
PanAm Torch Relay is planned from May 30th to July10th to share in the
spirit in more than 130 communities across the province. The Parapan Am
Torch Relay is planned for August 3-7.and will involve 250 torchbearers.
The games will offer a broad range of math knowledge and skill building
opportunities for everyone in the family in a variety of sport events:
baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, canoe/kayaking, cycling, equestrian,
soccer, golf, judo, swimming, figure skating, triathlon, softball, and many
more.
In celebration of the games, plan to engage the entire
family by taking part in math activities. Here are some
suggestions to get you started:
 Plot the journey of the torchbearers taking part in
the Torch Relay. How far will they travel? How long
will it take? This offers an opportunity for families
to discover Ontario cities and towns in greater detail
(size, demographics, summer events) as well as math
activities such as calculating distance between
communities and the amount of time to get there.
 Compare one’s performance in a sport with the
results of the competitors in the games.
 Predict how many medals Canada will win. Which
country will rank 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the medal
count?
 Compare the results (time, distance, strength) of
your favourite athlete over time.
 How do the athletes or players use angles to succeed
in their sport?
 Looking at data on each of the participants, do you
think the triathlon will be won by someone who is
very strong in one event and average in the other
two, or someone who is strong in all three
disciplines?
The following links will assist in your planning:
 Toronto 2012
Pan Am/Parapan AM Games
http://www.toronto2015.org/ provides information
about the venues, sporting events and the two torch
relays.
 M ath s
an d
S po r t:
M il l ennium
Pr o j ec t
http://sport.maths.org/content/ developed by the
University of Cambridge to celebrate the London
Olympic 2012 and Paralympic Games.
Page 6
May 2015
Page 7
May 2015