White Oaks Secondary School Principal: Vice‐Principal: Vice‐Principal: Vice‐Principal: Vice‐Principal: Important Dates John S eva Rasa Baksys Paul Daignault Paul Dawson Kate Rehm South Campus 1330 Montclair Drive Oakville, Ontario L6H 1Z5 Phone: 905‐845‐5200 Fax: 905‐845‐9136 February 2 Semester 2 Starts Superintendent: Julie Hunt Gibbons Phone: 905‐335‐3665, ext. 3385 School Trustee: Kelly Amos E‐mail: [email protected] February 9 Semester 1 Final Reports Distributed School Council Chair: Sherry Kirkham E‐mail: [email protected] North Campus 1055 McCraney Street East Oakville, Ontario L6H 1H9 Phone: 905‐845‐5200 Fax: 905‐845‐5124 February 12 Semi‐Formal February 13 PA Day—No Classes February 16 Family Day—No Classes February 19‐20 Sears Drama Fes val March 10 Le ers of Concern Emailed March 16‐20 Spring Break March 26 Parent/Teacher Interviews March 26 OSSLT Literacy Test April 3 Good Friday—No Classes April 6 Easter Monday—No Classes This year, for the first me in White Oaks history, our school sent a delega on of students to the Harvard‐MIT Mathema cs Tournament (HMMT). We were one of few Canadian schools at this tournament and our team of Tom Ding, Tongyi Zhu, Tongqi Zhu, Yuxiang Dai, Brian Kang and Sang Bin Kim represented White Oaks with pride. The team was led by Tom Ding who not only researched to find this tournament, but also coordinated, planned and trained the team to compete at the compe on. The HMMT consisted of 50 minute rounds of individual contests, 60 minutes of team based compe ‐
ons and a challenging 80 minutes of 36 diﬃcult math problems called the “Guts Round”. Of par cular note, out of over 900 students, White Oaks placed 21st overall in the team round of compe on. Our WOSS students not only did a fantas c job of represen ng our school and our country, but also gained from the experience of the compe on. Go Wildcats! April 15 & 16 Term 1 Ends / Term 2 Begins April 22 Mid‐Term Reports Distributed April 24 PA Day—No Classes April 28 Inside Ride Yuxiang Dai Tom Ding Brian Kang Sang Bin Kim Tongqi Zhu Tongyi Zhu
April 30 Culturefest April 30 Full Disclosure 1 SAFE SCHOOLS COMMITTEE Paul Daignault Vice‐Principal, WOSS STUDENT EXCELLENCE 2015 TONY MISTAK The Safe Schools team here at White Oaks has had a busy se‐
mester implemen ng many ac vi es to help keep our stu‐
dents feeling safe and to encourage a sense of belonging. The student representa ves on our team have been an excellent addi on and have helped plan and implement many ini a ves. As we start oﬀ Semester 2, our team will be busy collec ng data once again by asking students, parents, teachers and staﬀ to respond online to the Tell Them From Me survey. We are hoping to increase par cipa on by star ng this process earlier this year in March. These results are very important to our commi ee as they help us set Safe Schools goals for next year. Please encourage your son or daughter to take 20 minutes to complete it. On Thursday, May 7, 2015 the Halton District School Board will honour representa ves of the excellence within our stu‐
dent popula on at the 31st annual A Celebra on of Student
Excellence which will be hosted by Dr. Frank J. Hayden Sec‐
ondary School in Burlington. Students will be accompanied by parents/guardians, school principals, as well as one other staﬀ member from each school. Trustees and superinten‐
dents will also be in a endance. Each elementary and secondary school is asked to select a student who best represents the quali es of excellence as defined by the school. Tony Mistak has been selected to rep‐
resent White Oaks Secondary School. Tony is an International Baccalaureate student who has achieved honours in each of his high school years. His leadership skills are evident in so many areas of the school. He has been a leader in the Student Council for 4 years, implementing effectual change and improving school culture. Tony has been the liaison with other groups in the school such as Activism and Awareness Association, Cat Crew, Athletic Council, Positive Space and many more. As a AAA member since grade 9 and the president for the last 2 years, Tony has demonstrated strong commitment to global issues as well as those close to home leading each meeting with a positive attitude, inclusive nature and exceptional or‐
ganizational skills. Tony has distinguished himself as a role‐
model to younger students, somebody who is willing to push personal limits and take risks without fear of failure. In the community, he was part of the Ontario Parliamentary Youth Advisory Committee (OPYAC) for Kevin Flynn and a member of Student Senate with all other student council rep‐
resentatives in Halton. Tony always makes time to say hi and wish everyone well. He is accepting, per‐
ceptive, involved and kind‐hearted. For all his experiences we would like to congratulate Tony Mistak as the 2015 Student of Excellence represen ng White Oaks Secondary School! Our team is also really excited to be asked by our School Coun‐
cil this year to apply for the Premier’s Award for Accep ng
Schools. It is a provincial award that recognizes schools that are successfully implemen ng strategies that make a posi ve change in the school environment improving student engage‐
ment. We look forward to sending in the applica on by Febru‐
ary 20, 2015 and will let you know the results in June. A big thank you goes out to all our staﬀ, students and parents who have been part of our team and we welcome you to join us at any of our Semester 2 mee ngs. White Oaks Secondary School
Thursday, March 26, 2015
South Campus
6:30 to 7:20 Informal Meet & Greet Session 7:30 to 9:00 Formal 10 Minute Interview Session Beginning Monday, March 2, 2015 parents can book formal 10 minute interview appointments by calling the school oﬃce at 905‐845‐5200. Please have the re‐
quested teacher names ready, prior to calling the oﬃce. We look forward to mee ng with you on Thursday, March 26, 2015. 2 GRAND TOUR OF ITALY VIMY RIDGE 2017 Calling all Grade 9 and 10 students interested in an adventure of a life‐
me. White Oaks is ac vely plan‐
ning and preparing for a trip to France in 2017 to help commemo‐
rate the 100th Anniversary of Vimy Ridge. In Italy, you can travel through thousands of years of history to witness some of humankind’s most transforma ve moments. Ancient Roman advances in engineering made the Coliseum possible. At the Duomo in Renaissance Florence, the world took its first steps out of the Dark Ages. And Venice’s Grand Canal was at the heart of one of the world’s great naval pow‐
ers. Everything you get:  Full‐ me Tour Director  Sightseeing: 6 sightseeing tours led by expert, licensed local guides (9 with extension)  Entrances: Doge’s Palace; Duomo; Basilica of St. Francis; Pompeii Roman Ruins; Sis ne Chapel; St. Peter’s Basilica; Coliseum; Roman Forum; With extensions: Catacombs; St.
Paul’s Outside the Walls; Os a An ca
 We share, our online pla orm that taps into each stu‐
dent’s interests for a more engaging learning experience  All of the details are covered: Round‐trip flights on major carriers; Comfortable motor coach; 8 overnight stays in hotels with private bathrooms (10 with extension); Euro‐
pean breakfast and dinner daily We are very excited to be embarking on a new adventure for March Break 2016 ‐ A Grand Tour of Italy. There will be an informa on mee ng for parents and students on Tuesday, February 17th at 7:00 pm in A119. For any info prior to the mee ng, please contact Fonda Lo lo [email protected] or ext 281. We realize it may seem early, but this will be a monumental event and there will be a shortage of flights and accommoda‐
ons. Early registra on is important and payment plans are available. The trip will depart April 5th and return April 13th, 2017. Any interested students in Grades 9 or 10 are encouraged to a end the upcoming informa on night on Wednesday, Febru‐
ary 18th at 7:00 pm in the South Cafeteria. Please note that there is also adult pricing available for this amazing travel op‐
portunity. If you have any ques on please contact Donna Beaudin, [email protected] or Fonda Lo at lo [email protected]. Please also take a look at the following videos from when our students par cipated in the 95th anniversary: h p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3UtS4NsmLA h p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPDfY3v_6UQ IMPORTANT LINKS AND WEBSITES Cashless Schools halton.cashlessschools.com Crimestoppers www.haltoncrimestoppers.com Daily Announcements wosann.hdsb.ca/WOSSannouncements Halton School Bus Info www.haltonbus.ca HDSB www.hdsb.ca HDSB Sports Informa on www.hssaa.org/schedule.html Kids Help Phone 1‐800‐668‐6868 Parent Web A endance Portal hdsb.schoolconnects.com School Newspaper www.word2thewoss.edicy.co Student Informa on System info.hdsb.ca/sis WOSS Web www.wossweb.com WOSS SCHOOL COUNCIL WOSS School Council mee ngs will be held in the South Cam‐
pus Staﬀ Room Conference Room at 7:00 pm on: 3 February 23, 2015 May 25, 2015 April 27, 2015 June 15, 2015 (if required) Following is a link to Geroge Couros’ TED to get an idea on what his talk is about: h ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZQKD83rsPw 4 The debate camp we have run the past 2 summers, in the sec‐
ond last week of August, was a great success. We will be run‐
ning the camp again this summer. DEBATE Debate con nues to have one of the most exci ng years we have ever had. Our biggest news is Dasha Met‐
ropolitansky's results in two interna‐
onal tournaments. She competed in early January on the Canadian Na onal High School team at the EurOpen Championship. She and her team did extremely well, winning the semi‐finals by defea ng Holland. In the end, they lost the final to Pakistan. But this is a splendid result: sec‐
ond in a European final. Mrs. Kristen McCrea and Mr. Guthrie, Coaches D
E
B
A
T
E
Dasha was on one of three Canadian teams at the Pan‐
American championship in California later in January. All three Canadian teams made the "break" and thus reached at least the quarter finals. This is in itself is a par cularly good result for Canadian high school debate. We were thrilled to hear that Dasha and her team won the finals, and thus are Pan‐
American champions! NEHA BANERJEA—MISS TEEN GTA On Sunday, January 25th, Neha Banerjea Grade 10 student at WOSS, was crowned Miss Teen GTA. This was the next step in her journey to hopeful‐
ly be crowned Miss Teen Canada. There were 40 contestants and the top 20 were crowned, but only the top 10 go to Na onals in August. Neha will be one of these 10 finalists. This is the single most impressive result a White Oaks debater has ever earned. Dasha, who is in grade 9, is the first White Oaks debater ever to debate interna onally at the high school level. She is also the first White Oaks debater ever to win an interna onal tournament! White Oaks won the Halton Regional Debate Final, the four teams entered from our school taking all 4 top team places, and most of the awards for the top ten speakers. Represen ng White Oaks at the Provincial Finals in late February will be Taha Ahmed and Dasha Metropolitansky, and Nicole Nowo‐
selski and Denys Linkov. Neha is a passionate, hard‐working, loving and determined young lady. Born profoundly deaf in both ears, Neha learned from an early age that many things were to be a challenge, and was even told, in some cases, im‐
possible to do. She decided that she was not going to let this be a barrier, and hopes to inspire other teenagers not to let anything stop them. She un‐
derwent successful cochlear implant surgery several years ago and today, Neha is in the ALP/IB program at her school, she dances, plays the piano, is training to be a lifeguard and has a lead role in her school play. Results were splendid at McGill. The teams of Taha Ahmed and Denys Linkov, Heidi Mi al and Boya Zhang, and Dasha Metrpolitansky, who had teamed with a student from Upper Canada all reached the finals. At Western University, Jenny Hu and Wendy Wang made the "break", reaching quarterfinals, and Kiara Hassan and Emil Stanca reached the finals, and so were runners‐up. Teams are thriving. About 40 junior debaters prac ce regularly on Tuesdays from 2:50 to 5:00 in room A214. We are prepar‐
ing for the junior provincials on Saturday, February 21st. By compe ng in this pageant, she hopes to mo vate other About 20 seniors prac ce at the same me on Thursday young men and women to strive for their dreams, despite any nights. Provincial finals are Feb. 27 in O awa. New debaters obstacles they might face. are always welcome. All of the candidates were given a charity to raise funds for There are several more big tournaments later in the year, in throughout the preliminary compe ons. The charity was Car‐
both public‐speaking and debate, and plans to enter new diac Kids. Neha was the top fundraiser, raising $4017. For the events we have not a ended before. next round of the compe on they are allowed to choose the charity they will fundraise for and Neha has chosen Free the
We are so pleased to hear of the con nued success of former Children. Not only will she be raising money for Free the Chil‐
White Oaks debaters such as Tarang Marathe, Mohamed Sar‐
dren, she will also be par cipa ng in the White Oaks Voluntour raj, Joudy Sarraj and Jack Reeves at university debate. Jack trip to Ecuador in May. Reeves, for example has founded a debate program at York University in England, and it now has about 80 members. White Oaks would like to congratulate Neha and wish her the best in this journey! 5 SENIOR BOYS HOCKEY JUNIOR BOYS BASKETBALL "The Junior Boys Basketball has been on a hot streak lately, a er star ng the season with four straight losses the boys' hard work has paid oﬀ as they've now won four straight. Keep up the good work!" Coaches Rideout & Holmes would like to congratulate the Senior Boys Hockey team for a gold medal finish at the Ice Gardens Championships "Christmas Freeze Out" Tournament in Toronto. The lads were true ambassadors for our school. We are all very proud of them CHEERLEADING SENIOR GIRLS VOLLEYBALL The Senior Girls Wildcat Volleyball Team has had a near un‐
stoppable season thus far. Now into the second half of their season, the girls have a lot to be proud of: a Silver Fleet Championship from the McMaster University Regional Tour‐
nament, a strong win against long‐ me rival Georgetown and a current standing of 1st place in Halton. For years, this group of athletes has pre‐
sented with a great deal of versa lity, mo ‐
va on and passion for the game, and coach‐
es Bower & Crabtree are looking very for‐
ward to finishing oﬀ this year with some epic results. On Sunday, December 7th, your Wildcats cheerleaders compet‐
ed in the annual Cheer for the Cure compe on in Mississau‐
ga. Not only was this the team’s first compe on of the year, but also the first compe on ever for some of the girls! A er much hard work and dedica on, the team came in second place for their division. Well done Wildcats! The team’s next stop is in Kitchener this month for Cheer Evolu on’s Ontario Championships. Good luck 6 MOTIVE POWER OYAP/SHSM During the week of December 8th, all grade 9 White Oaks stu‐
dents par cipated in the Hour of Code during their mathe‐
ma cs class. The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. The goal of the program is to show students that anyone can learn how to write computer code and that it can be both challenging and fun! This movement was launched in 2013 by Code.org, a non‐profit organiza on looking to expand par ci‐
pa on in computer science. As our society moves towards greater reliance on technology, there is a growing need in the industry for highly skilled computer scien sts. There are things to celebrate in the OYAP/SHSM Mo ve Pow‐
er program. This semester we have had two students signed for their appren ceship and become members of the College of Trades, they are Sean Stewart and Raymond Thiessen. Sean is working at Unique Chrysler in Burlington and Ray is working at Midas on Lakeshore in Mississauga. It is the sup‐
port of local businesses like these that help to make our stu‐
dents successful. Others in the class working in the mo ve power field are Chris Hemming presently at KID Truck and Trailer, Mitch McHugh is at Iroquois Shore Tire, Eric Bradley is at Lockwood Chrysler and Kyle Walker is at Current Power. We thank these employers and hope that our White Oaks families support these local businesses. An interes ng note to our program; this February and March we will have a student teacher from Brock University who is a former OYAP and White Oaks graduate, Jeremy Hynek is a licensed Auto Service Technician presently pursuing a teaching career. We look forward to having Jeremy back at WOSS where he can hone his teaching skills and pass on some of his knowledge to our new class of OYAP students star ng in se‐
mester 2. For this year’s Hour of Code, our students and teachers en‐
joyed the one of two tasks (try it out for your‐
self!): 1. Moving the Angry Birds around to catch the pigs: h p://studio.code.org/hoc/1 2. Moving Anna & Elsa, the main characters in the popular movie Frozen, to create ice drawings: h p://studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1 Not only were these games fun to play, they also challenged our students through problem solving and also taught them the basics of computer programming. If your son or daughter is interested in taking computer science at White Oaks, please feel free to contact Mr. Ching or Mr. Van Rooyen for more informa on. MUSIC COUNCIL NEWS Wri
en by: Emily Smithers The Music Department has been working very hard over the past few months. At the end of November the music department held a small concert here at WOSS. Performers included the Grade 9 vocal and instrumen‐
tal classes, as well as various small instrumental ensembles. The night encompassed great talent and perfor‐
mances. Early in December, the Chamber Choir, Grade 9 vocal class and Concert Band toured around to feeder schools to perform for elementary students. The day was successful, as the elementary students en‐
joyed the talented performances by our ensembles. Visi ng these schools promoted the White Oaks music program and provided extra prac ce for the Home for the Holidays concert held in December at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. There was a great turn out for the Home for the Holidays concert. There were performances by all sorts of music groups; clas‐
ses, student lead and teacher instructed. The choirs, small ensembles and Jr. Jazz Band performed excellently with well pre‐
pared sets. Our two large bands, Intermediate and Concert, had remarkable performances. All of the instrumental music groups are currently preparing new material for the upcoming Music Fest compe on in Collingwood in early March. Music Fest is a compe on determining which ensembles will have a spot in Na onals later on in the spring. Concert band is hoping to put on another concert similar to that of A Night at the Movies. Themes and material are s ll to be determined. More informa on about these compe ons is coming shortly. 7 PUZZLE CONTEST ACTIVISM & AWARENESS ASSOCIATION Wri en by: Kaylah Wilson White Oaks Awareness and Ac vism Associa on has been up to some great things this past semester. In the fall, we had a large group of AAA members go to Kerr St. Ministries to pre‐
pare and serve a breakfast to those less fortunate. It was a great experience and everyone had a fun me working to‐
gether to do something helpful and encouraging for other people. We also ac vely par cipated in An ‐Bullying week, which was November 17‐21. During this week we had two ini a ves; Free Hugs and our Mix‐It‐Up Challenge. For Free Hugs, in the morning we had members of the commi ee stand at the front doors of the school and oﬀer hugs to stu‐
dents as they came in, in hopes that it started their day oﬀ well. For the Mix‐It‐Up Challenge members brought a fun treat to share with students in the cafeteria and went to sit with their peers at random tables who, on a day‐to‐day basis, they might not normally sit with. This was to encourage peo‐
ple to be kind and outgoing as bullying is something that has touched the lives of almost everyone in some way, and hope‐
fully our ini a ves helped brighten a few people's days. Finally, our big event of the year! Our annual Coﬀee House was held on December 5, 2014 in the North campus cafeteria and we had a great team of students and teachers to help it along the way. The night of the event was a huge success and we had our very talented performers sing, play and dance their hearts out, all in hopes to raise awareness and funds for AIDS research. We also had representa ves from The Aids Network (which is an organiza on that oﬀers services and educa on to the people living in the Halton community about AIDS) come out to the event and answer any ques ons peo‐
ple had for them. CANFAR (which is a more research based organiza on) donated a booth of informa on booklets, pam‐
phlets and small tokens to show their support for our event; which we had set up at the back of the cafeteria for people to visit at any point throughout the night. Overall it was a huge success and we had a good turnout at this school years Coﬀee House. We are currently giving the members of our commi ee a break to focus on summa ves and exams but we will be re‐
star ng our weekly mee ngs on the first Tuesday of the sec‐
ond semester. We're looking forward to all that the new year brings our way and hope to make some more beneficial changes in our school and our local community. Come out and join us. We meet Tuesdays a er school in A128. During the cold month of December the library staﬀ decided to have a puzzle contest to create some cheer in the library. A table was set‐up at the front of the library with puzzle pieces laid out of a winter rocky mountain scene that needed to be solved. For days and over a week students gathered around the table and tried to solve the puzzle. Finally Sang Bin Kim, Brandon Roberts and Ka e Xu worked relessly to finish the puzzle before the holidays. All three won a Tim Hortons gi cer ficate for finishing the challenge. Students visi ng the library enjoyed the new a rac on of solving a puzzle. A new puzzle challenge will be set‐up for the month of February. 8 While the trip is open to the en re school we will be spending me working with Me to We at a Free the Children village. Deadline for this life changing trip is February 12th if you want to avoid late fees. Please contact Mrs. Toohy at [email protected] or Ms. Lo at lo [email protected] for trip infor‐
ma on. FREE THE CHILDREN The WOSS Free the Children Commi ee has had a busy se‐
mester. We have been working hard on our goals to help our village, Oloirien, in Kenya. We have also been trying very hard to be more aware of ways that we can help out with other projects both locally and in other parts of the globe. The WOSS Free the Children Commi ee is a large enough com‐
mi ee that we feel we can expand our ini a ves. "WOSS FTC Commi ee mee ngs are Wednesday's at 3:00 in the North Cafeteria and new students are always welcome to join us" In order to support our village we held our annual Holiday Bake Sale and Cake Auc on on December 12th and we raised an amazing $750. That is a lot of cookies and other delicious treats. Project Goat, the gi that keeps on giving is one of our favour‐
ite events. We will be selling goats again this year to support the families in our village. A dairy goat is a source of sustaina‐
ble income for a family, empowering women and men to sup‐
port their children and take charge of their futures. We will be selling goats un l we reach our goal of 100. I am very happy to report that we are a third of the way towards our goal. One goat costs $50 and you can purchase one in your name or you can give it as a gi in someone else’s name. If you don’t know what to give “that person who has everything” for their birthday, anniversary or any other event you can think of, a goat makes a perfect gi . I know from first hand experience in Kenya, the diﬀerence it makes to a family to be able to have a sustainable income. They tell us they don’t want a hand out but a hand up. We can easily help them with this. Please con‐
tact Mrs. Toohy for more informa on. WOSS WOMEN’S ACTIVISM COMMITTEE This year we collected hats, mi s and scarves to send to a First Na ons Community in Northern Ontario in order to sup‐
port Books with No Bounds. They told us of a need and we were able to help out with a couple of boxes packed ghtly with warm items. With help from our commi ee members we were also able to make dona ons to some other local chari‐
es over the holiday season. White Oaks' very own Women’s Ac vism Commi ee ‐ known as WWAC Pack ‐ has been busy this semester! We joined forces with the Safe Schools Commi ee in the fall to promote An ‐Bullying Week through an exci ng video‐graphic "Kind Campaign" and it was a huge success. Currently, we're in the midst of a fundraising frenzy for Brampton based women's charity Single Mothers in Pro‐
gress. Suppor ng women who are marginalized in our own local area is very important, and we will be selling "Exam Care Packages" at the end of the semester to raise funds for this great cause. We're also pu ng our eﬀorts behind facilita ng progressive discussions surrounding issues such as gender, assault, wage discrepancies and the rights of Aboriginal women in Canada. It's an exci ng me to be a part of WWAC Pack ‐ come and join us on Monday's in A328 for food, friendship and feminism! Everyone is welcome to join... Our next fundraiser will support the Free the Children com‐
munity in Ecuador. We were not able to travel back to our village in Kenya this year as we planned, so we are turning some of our a en on to Ecuador. As we are now traveling there in May we want to get involved in at least one of their projects. It is great that the commi ee is now spending me working on Free the Children projects along with an equal amount of me on other projects. All of our members are encouraged to bring up global concerns that they feel passionate about and we discuss if there is anything we can do to help out. We are learning so much about other world issues thanks in part to the diversity of our students. While Free the Children will al‐
ways be our primary focus we are trying to live by the mo o “it doesn’t ma er what you do as long as you do something “. There is s ll me to register for the trip to the Amazon in Ec‐
uador, with EF Tours/Me to We, in late May of this year. 9 WOSS FIRST PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION February 23, 2015 3:00 pm North Campus Cafeteria To register please see Ms. Carcasson in the English Oﬃce 2014‐2015 YEARBOOKS 2014‐2015 yearbooks are s ll available to order! They are $45.00 and can be paid on Cashless or by Cash in the South Campus Main Oﬃce. We do not order extra copies, so don’t miss out…reserve your copy today! SEMESTER 2 PHOTO DAY TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015 Students and staﬀ new to White Oaks SS in Semes‐
ter 2 and any students or staﬀ members who have not yet had their photos taken yet may do so the morning of Tuesday, Feb‐
ruary 10th in the South Campus Cafeteria. 2015 RBC BLACK HISTORY MONTH STUDENT ESSAY COMPETITION The 2015 RBC Black History Month Student Essay Compe ‐
on was open to high school students across Canada who have applied to a Canadian college or university in the 2015/16 academic year. The compe on celebrates diversity and supports youth as they develop into well‐rounded adults. Black History Month honours the legacy of black Canadians and it’s also a me to celebrate our future. White Oaks Grade 12 student Sowmya Karthikeyan wrote a compelling and informa ve essay and was ul mately selected as a scholarship winner! She has been invited to a special event celebra ng Black History Month at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto on February 12th where her winning essay will be on display. White Oaks would like to congratulate Sowmya for wri ng such an outstanding essay! 10 AUTOMATED STUDENT ATTENDANCE SYSTEM In order to help expedite the repor ng and inves ga on of unreported absences and late arrivals, White Oaks Secondary School has implemented the Automated Student A endance Repor ng system first launched by the Halton District School Board several years ago in elementary schools. What does that mean for parents? As of November 3, 2014, absences and late arrivals must be reported using the new 1‐877‐409‐6310 number or the web portal. Notes or calls to the school to communicate an ab‐
sence, late arrival or early dismissal is not suﬃcient, you MUST call the 1‐877‐409‐6310 number or report online using the web a endance portal. Parents will be able to report absences, late arrivals or early dismissals up to one hour prior to the end of the school day or 1:26 pm. The new a endance repor ng phone number is 1‐877‐409‐
6310. Be sure to listen to the prompts all the way through un l you to receive a confirma on #. If you hang up prior to receiving this #, the absence is not reported. Absences can also be reported using the online We are accumula ng some Lost & Found ar cles on both cam‐
puses and would appreciate your help in claiming any missing items. There is a Lost & Found in both the North and South Cafeterias. Thank you for your assistance. SECONDARY STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM You can check your child’s a endance, credit summary and metable through the Halton District School Board website (if the student is under the age of 18). 
Log onto www.hdsb.ca 
Click on Parent Info 
Click on Parent Portal (Secondary Student Informa on System) under Quick Links 
Enter your child’s date of birth and 9 digit Halton Stu‐
dent Number IS IT A SNOW DAY? portal: hdsb.schoolconnects.com. Watch the CHCH TV Morning Show or listen Set the phone # and/or web portal as a favorite on your phone to the following radio sta ons a er 6:00 am and/or home or oﬃce computer. If using the web portal for for the latest news about school and bus repor ng, you may also access any phone or email messages cancella ons, or check the website sent by the school or the Board, e.g. hot lunch deadline re‐
www.hdsb.ca for info: minders, school closure informa on, etc. FM STATIONS AM STATIONS Should you prefer the on‐line repor ng method, you will re‐
95.3 Y95 680 NEWS ceive an email with a login and password. Please follow the 98.1 CHFI 900 CHML instruc ons to register your online repor ng account. 99.1 CBC 1010 CFRB 99.9 CKFM 1150 CKOC The system is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 102.1 CFNY 1250CHWO future absences and late arrivals, e.g. Orthodon st appoint‐
102.9 CKOC 1460 CJOY ments, vaca on, hockey tournaments, etc., can be reported at 107.9 CINK any me as soon as known. If you have two students in the same grade, you MUST call in an absence from a recognized phone number (home number or unblocked cell phone) or use the on‐line repor ng method. PLEASE KEEP US UPDATED! Thank you for your pa ence and coopera on while we transi‐
on to this new process. Please remember to let us know if you are changing your home address, phone number and/or email address. 1‐877‐409‐6310 hdsb.schoolconnects.com THE SCHOOL NUMBER IS: 905‐845‐5200. 11 ing those staﬀ on leave our best wishes as they have new re‐
sponsibili es in their lives. We also want to wish Mrs. Meena Sahi all the best at her new school. She has moved to T.A. Blakelock High School and we welcome Ms. Rasa Baksys who has joined us as a Vice‐
Principal on the North Campus. Ms. Baksys has taken over Mrs. Sahi’s por olio, so she will be responsible for our grade 10 students. This coming semester, we are looking forward to another exci ng, busy few months. Students have planned or are planning a number of events that will involve students, staﬀ and the community. Likely the best known is our April 28th Inside Ride. Always a great event and should you wish to as‐
sist in being a sponsor or donate goods for the silent auc on, please contact Ms. Fonda Lo at extension 281. Please assist us in reaching our goal of $35,000 for this year (which will give us a grand total of over $200,000 donated over the last 7 years). Thank you for your support of White Oaks and entrus ng your child with us to provide them with an educa on that prepares them for life. FROM MR. STIEVA’S DESK When you receive this newsle er another semester has ended and Semester 2 is already a week old. I would like to apologize for the delay in the distribu on of semester one reports. A snow day and diﬃcul es with our high speed printers result‐
ed in having to delay report card distribu on un l Monday, February 9th. Reports will be given to students in their period one class. If your son/daughter does not have a period one class, they may pick it up from the Main Oﬃce between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:00 pm. Please take me to read the report and should you have any concerns about the marks or comments please do not hesitate to call me. We can then discuss the issue and a empt to re‐
solve it. In November we switched to web‐based automated a end‐
ance. This allowed you to report an absence online or by phone rather than having to call the school. Thank you for your pa ence and coopera on in the implementa on of this new way of recording absences. I hope you have found this a convenient way of repor ng absences, lates or signing the student out of school. If you experience diﬃcul es please call and we will provide you with assistance to resolve the prob‐
lem. Are you a graduate of White Oaks or know a graduate? We are celebra ng our 50th Anniversary the weekend of May 22/23, 2015 and the website with informa on is open. It also allows you to register in a number of easy steps. We expect that a great number of former students will be a ending to walk down memory lane and relive some pleasant memories of their me at White Oaks. On the evening of Thursday, February 19, 2015, our School Council, along with a number of our elementary schools, we will be hos ng a speaker on digital ci zenship. He is a well known speaker who speaks across Canada about electronic communica on, its benefits and pi alls. It will be an infor‐
ma on evening and well worth the me to a end. If you are planning on a ending please register as we do have a limited number of seats available. Included in this newsle er is a flyer explaining how to register for this engaging evening. Students may have also come home and expressed that we have a fair number of staﬀ that are new to the school. This was a result of a number of staﬀ who are on maternity leave or have accepted other educa onal opportuni es. Welcome to those new to White Oaks and I am sure you join me in wish‐
White Oaks turns 50 this year and there is no be er way to celebrate than with a reunion! Reunion Dates: May 22‐23, 2015 Loca ons: White Oaks Secondary School & St. Volodymyr Cultural Centre There will be events for all with the decade rooms, school tours, a gala dinner and lots more! To register please go to: www.wossweb.com/50th‐anniversary.html 12