O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 St. Francis School Home of the “FLAMES” 691 Lilac St. Sudbury, ON P3E 4E2 705-674-0701 www.st-francis.scdsb.edu.on.ca Key Dates Oct. 13 Thanksgiving – NO SCHOOL During the month of October, our Catholic Schools will be celebrating the virtue of FAITH. Catholic schools have the unique educational purpose of presenting a Catholic view to our students. That means that in all we do, we share our faith looking at the world through a Catholic Church lens. Oct. 15 Individual Education Plans go home – Please sign and return Our faith also brings us together for we share a common belief in God and in the gospel of Christ. We are rooted in the Catholic faith and as a community, express our identity through living out gospel values. Our faith must be manifested in three interconnected directions: spiritual growth, community building, and outreach. As a caring community, we encourage our students to examine and evaluate their beliefs. We want them to make informed moral decisions, integrating faith with life. Oct. 31 Student of the Month Assembly – Please join us! Dec. 18 Christmas Concert Message from the Administrators Our staff would like to encourage parents/guardians during the month of October to talk to their child(ren) about their faith and to help them and guide them with their questions. In your conversations, refer to the teachings of Jesus. Pray with your children for prayer brings us closer to God and we begin to know God as a friend. Opportunities to grow in faith come in every form. Yours in Catholic Education, Sandra St. Denis and Tina Timpano ST. FRANCIS SCHOOL OCTOBER 2014 Student of the Month SUDBURY WOLVES The Sudbury Wolves are pleased to partner with St. Francis for the Sudbury Wolves Tickets Reward Program sponsored by BOB'S SERVICE CENTRE. Through this program, the school has two pairs of tickets to 30-34 regular season home games. Each pair of ticket comes with an information letter for the parents and an adult voucher redeemable for $4.00 at the Sudbury Arena Box Office. St. Francis will be raffling off the tickets prior to the games. Good luck to all students! A round of applause goes to the following students who were selected “Student of the Month” for September. Our Catholic virtue was “respect”. Teacher K. Beaton C. Bedoya Students Joshua M-C. Dwayne F. Averi T-C. J. Charlebois Gr. 1/2F Liam J. Amaya D. E. De Angelis Communication Brayden B. A. Douglas Gr. 3/4R Isabella P. G. Honse Gr. 2/3F Shane C. T. Kolodinski Gr. 3R Abigail T. Jacob L. A.Lachance FDK F Zayle B. Lucca V. Lukas L. J. Lillie Communication Emma H. L. Malette FDK/1FI Joshua K. Abygail B-S. M. Mallette Life Skills B Jamie B. S. Marcon Gr. 5/6R Gabrielle Z. Reese M. L. Marion Gr. 5/6F Evan T. Autumn P. S. Narduzzi Gr. 3/4F Hillary D. Quentin E. Jade G. D. Rinaldi Gr. 5/6R Reese M. Nicholas T. L. Romani Gr. 2R Vivian R. Santino R. A. Stopar FDK R Ken Luigi W. Danika M. Happy Hallowe’en Hallowe’en is Friday, October 31st and staff and students are looking forward to some fun that day. In addition to our costume parade (9:30 a.m.), individual classroom activities will take place. Note: Please do not send your child to school with costume accessories such as weapons! Thank you. ***At 11:00 a.m., you are welcome to view a drama performed by Gr. 5/6R (Ms. Marcon). The play is titled: "Hansel and Gretel and the Four Fabulous Food Groups". Grade Life Skills A Gr. 1/2R The October assembly will take place on Friday, October 31st @ 2:00 p.m. Please join us! Sacramental Prep. For more info., call your local parish. 2 ST. FRANCIS SCHOOL OCTOBER 2014 Safety At Our School Children Being Picked Up At School: All visitors to the school are asked to report to the office. For safety reasons, all doors of the school are locked. Use the buzzer system to gain access to the school, daycare or Hub. On occasion, some children will say they don’t have to take the bus because someone is supposed to pick them up at dismissal time, yet they don’t have a note, nor have we received a phone call. If the parent has not arrived by bus time, the child will be sent home on the bus. If friends or relatives are picking up your children, parents/guardians are asked to advise the school prior to dismissal. Please note that our answering machine may not be checked after 2:00 p.m. If you know you or someone other than yourself will be picking up the child, please send a note to the classroom teacher that morning. This will avoid unnecessary interruptions to the classroom every day. As always, we ask adults to report to the main office where we will contact the classroom teacher to send the students to the office. Please do not proceed to your child’s classroom during the day or at dismissal. Thank you for your cooperation. Safe Arrivals: Parents are asked to call the school prior to 9:00 a.m. should children be late or absent. When placing the call, please provide a reason for your child’s absence. Criminal Background Checks: As per Board policy, all volunteers require a current Criminal Background Check. This can be obtained by going to the Police station (Weekdays: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) and takes 2 weeks to process. Please note that when paying the fee ($25.00) at the Police station, you must have the exact change or you can use your debit card. You must also produce 2 pieces of identification. Offence declarations can be sent home to volunteers for whom we already have Criminal Background Checks on file. Please contact the Principal for further details. Thank you for returning the required paperwork to school so that our records are kept up to date. 3 ST. FRANCIS SCHOOL OCTOBER 2014 EQAO In September, the Education Quality and Accountability Office released the school and board level results for its assessment in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics (Primary and Junior Divisions). Percentage of All Students At or Above the Provincial Standard (Levels 3 and 4, 2013 – 2014) Grade 3: School Reading 64% Writing 73% Mathematics 45% Board 70% 77% 56% Province 70% 78 67% Board 74% 71 % 42% Province 79% 78% 54% Grade 6: School Reading 67% Writing 75% Mathematics 25% Fundraising Scholastic Book Fair: Our September fair was a huge success! One of our goals is to improve our literacy scores. What better way than to expose the children to a variety of different books through a Book Fair! When you purchase books through Scholastic, the company gives the school a chance to purchase additional books with the profits. The sales always generate a profit that we are able to take in FREE books from Scholastic. Teachers were able to top up their classroom book bins. The event would not have been possible without the help of our parent volunteers: Wendy Ethier, Crystal Legendre, Deb McLellan, Kim Swain and Jeff Xilon. Anna V. from Ms. Marcon’s class was the winner of the Family Event Door Prize - Happy reading everyone! Fall Catalogue Campaign (DFS): Orders and payment are due back no later than October 3rd . If you haven’t yet remitted your payment and order, please do so ASAP. The orders will be delivered in early November. We are looking for parent volunteers to verify the orders to check for accuracy. Please let the school know if you are available. When orders are completed, you will be notified of the pick up time and dates (one evening and the following school day). Thank you for helping us raise funds! Your support is greatly appreciated. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Way to go Flames! We raised over $400.00 for ALS research! 4 ST. FRANCIS SCHOOL OCTOBER 2014 Individual Education Plans (IEPs) On or before October 16th, all identified students will be receiving their IEP. As part of the ongoing communication with you about your child’s special education program, we ask that you review the DRAFT copy, advise us of any recommendations, and return the last page with your signature to school before the end of the month. What is an IEP? -a working document in writing (a plan) describing the special education program and/or services required by a particular student, based on a thorough assessment of the student’s strengths and needs Progress Reports will be sent home on Thursday, November 13th. The following week, Parent/Teacher interviews will take place on Tuesday, November 18th from 4 to 6 p.m. Catholic School Council Members 2014 – 2015 Chair: Kim Swain-Bellmore Vice-Chair: TBA Secretary: Lisa Levecque Community Rep.: Carole Brunet Staff Rep.: Carrie Ann Pyott Teacher Rep.: Lise Malette Vice-Principal: Tina Timpano Principal: Sandra Hiebert-St. Denis Please complete the ballot to win a Cineplex gift card: Our family read the St. Francis School “October” newsletter! Name: _________________ Feast of St. Francis of Assisi On Friday, October 3rd, at 2:00 p.m., we will be celebrating the feast of St. Francis. Students and staff are encouraged to bring pictures of their ‘pets’ to the liturgy. There will be a special blessing. All welcome! 5 Grade: ___________