1. education
2. school

Our Lady of Hope Catholic Elementary School
80 Red Cardinal Trail
Richmond Hill, Ontario
L4E 4B8
Phone: 905-773-1383
Fax: 905-773-4799
A Catholic Community of Faith
October 2014
School Trustees:
Anne Stong
Dominic Mazzotta
Principal:
Katherine Pellegrini
Vice Principal:
Fabio Nardo
Superintendent:
Mary Battista
Safe Arrival
Student Absence
Reporting
1-855-856-7862
Our Lady of Hope School
Website
olh.ycdsb.ca
Parish Information
Our Lady of the
Annunciation Parish
905-773-5223
Pastor:
Father Peter Lackmanec
Character
Virtue
COMPASSION
I will seek to understand others by
listening. I will be
willing to forgive
others. I will give
of my resources to
help those in need.
A Season of Thanksgiving
Autumn Prayer
God of the seasons,
You paint the world in a glorious array
During the autumn.
We wake up to a world
Filled with colour and plenty.
The mighty trees show off their splendour.
The harvests show us the ripened fruit of
our labours.
We praise you for this wonderful season.
Help us to appreciate all the wonder of our
world.
We ask this through your son, Jesus
Christ.
Amen
We welcome October and the
season of Autumn. We see the beauty
of autumn and the many wonders of
our world. This month we celebrate
Thanksgiving and give thanks for the
glory of creation and the love of family
and friends.
As a Catholic community we work together to help to make the world a better place for others in our community.
We are thankful to Luke 4.18 and our
families at Our Lady of Hope for reaching out in servant leadership.
St. Vincent de Paul Coat Drive
This year, the Our Lady of Hope Community has been asked to
assist the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in organizing the Winter
Coat Drive to assist local families. Our school community will be
collecting gently used coats for men, women and children until
October 17th. Please ensure that the coats are placed in a bag and brought to school
where they will be kept in the front foyer. Your generosity will be assisting those directly in our community!
Thanksgiving Food Drive
"It is in giving that we receive..." St. Francis of Assisi
It has been a tradition at our Lady of Hope to collect non
perishable food items during the month of October for the
Richmond Hill food bank. During this time of year, when
we reflect on our many blessings, our OLH community has always remembered to
assist others by generously donating to our Thanksgiving Food Drive. We will be
collecting items up until October 17th after which the items will be delivered to the
food bank. We thank you for your generosity.
Thanksgiving School Mass
Please join us at 9:15 AM on Friday, October 17th in the gym as we
celebrate our first school Mass with Fr. Peter.
SAFE AND CARING SCHOOLS
Pizza and Milk
We will have 18 pizza lunches in all
this year. Please be reminded that
with the winter weather encroaching
upon us, if buses are cancelled, pizza
lunch is also cancelled. Our milk programme will begin in October. Please
look forward to that information
coming home under separate cover.
A special thank you to Mrs. Vian for
all of her hard work organizing and
overseeing our pizza lunch programme. A big thank you to our parent volunteers who help us out with
these two programmes. If you are
available to help us one day a week,
please inform Mrs. Higgins, our
school secretary.
SPORTS NEWS
Both the intermediate boys’ and
girls’ volleyball seasons are well on
their way. The teams have been
practicing in preparation for their
upcoming tournaments in November.
The cross country team has been
training hard during lunch hours to
prepare for the meet at Bruce’s Mill
on Wednesday, October 15, 2014.
Thank you to all our coaches and
parent volunteers.
Go Hawks Go!!
Healthy Schools
We continue to promote Healthy Schools at Our Lady
of Hope. Thank you to all the parents who are sending
their children to school with nut safe, healthy snacks
and lunches. We also request that you do not send in
imitation peanut butter products, to avoid confusion. If
and when possible, please prepare snacks and lunches
together with your children the night before and send
them to school in the morning. This not only affords you great quality
learning time together at home, but it also allows for your child to enjoy
her/his lunch calmly for the entire 20 minutes allotted for lunch in class.
To alleviate stress, please be punctual about delivering lunches from
home on time. When lunches arrive late, students must either eat their
lunch quickly or eat their lunch in the office because their peers are outside, and the in class portion of the lunch period is over. If you are bringing in a lunch, please tell your child you are going to be delivering their
lunch, then label the bag and leave it on the lunch table for her/him to
pick it up. If you are at home and wish to treat your child with take out
food then may we suggest you pick up your child and take her/him out
for lunch. As our enrolment continues to grow it is becoming a daily
overwhelming feat to call down all the students whose lunch routine
changes daily. Also if you are using Lunch Lady, please send in your orders electronically! Your co-operation in keeping our students safe and
healthy is so greatly appreciated by all our staff!
October is Walk to School Month
We were very pleased to see so many families walking to school each day.
Our Lady of Hope will be continuing to promote making healthier choices
such as: walking to school, riding the bus, riding a bike,
or parking and walking a block.
School Drop Off and Parking
Please note that the Kindergarten loops are drop off areas
only. Please work together to keep everyone safe. When dropping off
children, ensure your child(ren) always exit on the sidewalk side. They
should not be allowed to walk in the drive through area as this is extremely dangerous. With the continued growth in the school this year, most
spots in the parking lot are needed for volunteers and employees. So if
you are planning to stay and watch your children play until the bell rings
consider parking on the road and walking your child(ren) onto school
property. Also please be patient with each other and drive slowly in a
school zone.
Freedom of Information and Privacy
Schools invite spectators – including parents – to certain school events. Once parents are invited, the event becomes a public event, and anyone in attendance may take photographs without first obtaining consent.
At the York Catholic District School Board 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, i.e. Facebook. Parents please note that pictures may be taken at all school events that parents attend: our masses, Halloween
Dance, oral communications. Please refer to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for
more information.
SAFE AND CARING SCHOOLS
Halloween Dance-a-thon
Our major school fundraising campaign will be a fun event scheduled for Friday, October 31st.
Sponsor sheets will come home with your children before the Thanksgiving Day holiday. We ask that children
DO NOT go door-to-door, but rather ask for support from immediate family and close friends. It is our hope that
you will support this event to the extent that you are able. Funds raised will be used to supplement a variety of
educational experiences and resources throughout the year.
The approximate dancing schedule for Friday, October 31st is as follows:
9:15– 9:45 AM
9:45 - 10:25 AM
10:45 - 11:30 AM
1:15 - 2:00 AM
2:00 – 3:00 AM
Kindergarten classes
Grade 1 & 2 classes
Grade 3 & 4 classes (4s from 4/5)
Grade 5 & 6 classes (5s from 4/5)
Grade 7 & 8 classes
Costumes
Students are encouraged to wear a costume or orange and black colours for our Spook-A-Thon. Please
ensure that costumes do not promote violence; this would include costumes of which weapons, or replicas of weapons, are a part. Also, costumes and masks need to fit the child so that he/she can walk without tripping or falling.
Halloween Safety
As Halloween is fast approaching, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of the children at
Our Lady of Hope who have LIFE THREATENING allergies to peanuts and nut products. Please do
not send any treats or candies to school to share with others.
Parents and Visitors
We ask all parents and visitors who come to
the school to please check in at the office.
We want to make sure that all adults in the
building are known to us. This will ensure
the safety and security for all of our children.
We encourage Parent-Teacher Communication. Only by working in a partnership of
knowing and supporting each other can the
school, parents and parish fulfill their role of
educating the whole child. Please make appointments to speak to classroom teachers.
This allows them to be prepared for your
meeting and prevents disruptions during class
time. We invite you to phone the teacher and
keep the lines of communication open.
Picture Day
On Tuesday, October 8th and Wednesday
October 9th we will be having our photo days.
Please note the following schedule:
Tuesday, October 7th – Staff Photo, FDK Minchella, FDK
Lanzarotta, Gr. 1, Gr. 3, Gr. 5, Gr. 7.
Wednesday, October 8th — FDK Gravett, FDK Lovisa, Gr. 2,
Gr. 4, Gr. 4/5 (Senior), Gr. 6, Gr. 8.
TERRY FOX RUN
Thank you to the Terry Fox Committee and all the staff, students
and parents of Our Lady of Hope for helping to make our annual
Terry Fox Run such a success. It was amazing to see all the students participate in this outstanding event. The ‘red
and white/black’ buzz in the air was most palpable
and the donations we’ve collected will go to continuing Terry’s dream.
Safe and Caring Schools & Quality Learning for All
Catholic School Council
EQAO @ a Glance
Firstly, many thanks to all members of the 20122013 Council for your hard work and commitment last year! Together with our school community, we purchased many things to enhance student achievement.
We are pleased to provide you with the highlights of
our school results on the provincial EQAO
(Education Quality and Assessment Office) test written last May.
Secondly, many, many thanks to all of the wonderful parents who have put their name forward
to either be part of our Catholic School Council
or to dedicate their time to the many committees
our CSC runs for our students’ engagement!
During Professional Learning Community opportunities, staff review EQAO results and other school assessment data, in order to build on our strengths and
address areas requiring improvement for student success. The students who participated in the assessment have received their individual results. For further information, please visit the ministry website at
www.eqao.com.
Congratulations to the following parents. They
comprise our Council Members for this school
year:
Co Chairs: Nadia Iacoucci & Cynthia Therrien
Vice Chair: Jim Campbell
Secretary : Anna Fermo
Treasurer: Liz Zelko
2013-14 EQAO Results at Our Lady of Hope CES
Students at or Above the Provincial Standard (Levels 3 and 4)
Grade 3
Grade 6
Staff Representatives: Cynthia Gomes & Sara
Varlese
CSC Council Members:
Raffaelina Belmonte
Laura Breda
Jim Campbell
Antonella Cassar
Antonella Cefaratti
Mary Colasante
Laurie D'Urzo
Anna Fermo
Tara Ferrigni
Melissa Giannotti
Tony Gioia
Nadia Iacoucci
Kim Iannuzzi
Nadia Tersigni
Cynthia Therrien
Antonietta Vian
Rosemary Walker
Liz Zelko
The next meeting is at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday,
October 15th in the Library. Please feel free to
join us.
Safety Awareness Week
SEPTEMBER 29TH – OCTOBER 3RD, 2014
We are very happy to announce that Safety
Week this year will be taking place from September 29th to October 3rd. As such, Our Lady
of Hope will join all of the schools in the Board
on this specially designated week to discuss
and prepare for emergency situations. The goal
is to promote routines and best practices that
will continue to make our school a 'Safe
Reading/Writing/Mathematics
Reading/Writing/Mathematics
PERCENTAGE OF ALL STUDENTS AT OR ABOVE THE