ST. THOMAS MORE SCHOOL
December Newsletter
ST. THOMAS MORE CATHOLIC SCHOOL
3270 Tomken Road
Mississauga, ON., L4Y 2Y7
(905) 279-6472
Fax: (905) 279-3205
Website: http://www.dpcdsb.org/TMOREPrincipal
M. Noce
Vice Principal
R. Patterson
Secretarial Staff
L. Antilope, Head Secretary
M. Shahbaz, Assistant Secretary
Superintendent
M. Lewis
(905) 890-1221
Trustee
Mario Pascucci
Mississauga Wards 1 & 3
(905) 302-3096
(905) 800-0708 x 20161
School Council Chairs
C. Zouein/M. Conte
Pastor
Rev. John Facey
St. Patrick's Church
(905) 270-2301
OFFICE REMINDERS
Attendance:
Please call (905) 279-6472 (press 1) to let us know your child will be late or absent. This information is important to the safety of your child.
Visitor's Protocol:
In keeping with Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board Policy, all visitors to the school must report to the office.
We are asking for your cooperation to ensure that there are no visitors on the school yard other than those adults wearing an orange safety vest. Parents are welcome to wait outside fenced areas.
Appointments:
Any student leaving the school during the day due to appointments, etc., must be signed out at the office. Please ensure that you send a note in this regard to your child's teacher.
Parking Lot Safety and Kiss 'n' Ride
PLEASE NOTE: The Kiss 'n' Ride lane is for drop-off/pick-up ONLY.
You CANNOT park your vehicle in this lane or in the driveway or bus lanes. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated!
PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME
Start Time 9:00 a.m.
A.M. Recess 11:05 a.m.
Lunch 12:00 p.m.
P.M. Recess 2:30 p.m.
Dismissal 3:30 p.m.
LUNCH PROCEDURES
For students who will be signing out on occasion, but do not normally do so, WRITTEN PERMISSION IS REQUIRED FOR EACH TIME THE STUDENT LEAVES THE SCHOOL GROUNDS.
ALLERGY AWARENESS
As many of you are aware, we have several staff and students who have severe, life threatening allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, etc. Please notify the office immediately if your son/daughter has a life threatening allergy and follow the procedure for medication administration. We require all members of our community to continue their cooperation in this regard by ensuring all snacks/lunches sent to school are peanut, tree-nut, and shellfish/fish allergen-free.
ASTHMA
There are students and staff who may have asthmatic reactions to air pollutants and scented products (scented markers, paint, hairspray, perfumes). We ask that you not send these products to school and have your child refrain from using them during the school day. Thank you for your support in keeping all students and staff safe.
WINTER ATTIRE
A reminder to all parents/guardians that as the cold weather is upon us, students will need to be dressed appropriately for outdoor weather. It is important for students to have a winter
jacket, hat, mittens or gloves and boots so that they are able to enjoy outdoor recess in the colder months. Please remind your son/daughter to ensure that if they wear these items to school, they are expected to wear them for recesses. Thank you for your cooperation.
EMERGENCY EVACUATION
In rare circumstances, our students and staff may need to
evacuate the building as a result of an emergency in the building or in the nearby community. Our evacuation site is St. Patrick’s Church located at 921 Flagship Drive in Mississauga. Board
regulations and safety precautions require this contingency plan. Should an evacuation be necessary, you will be notified as soon as possible and your child will be held at St. Patrick’s Church until we make direct contact with a parent/guardian.
VISITORS PROTOCOL/VISITORS TO ST. THOMAS MORE & VOLUNTEERS
For the safety of staff and students, all visitors to our school (including parents) are required to enter the building through the front doors of the school and report immediately to the office. Please note that pets are not permitted on school property at any time. Please ensure you sign-in and obtain a visitor’s sticker if you are remaining in the building for any reason during school hours. Any individual who works as an employee of the Board or volunteers to assist with our
Programs/field trips must have a Criminal Reference Check completed by the Peel Regional Police.
BUSSING NEWS
Inclement Weather:
As colder weather and winter approaches, bus transportation may face disruptions, including delays and cancellations. Please refer to media announcements for information. Parents can also subscribe to have any delays or cancellations sent directly to their e-mail by registering at stopr.ca.
VIRTUE OF HOPE
A person with Hope…
Expects the best to happen for everyone
Holds on to their dreams
Always counts on God to help in the tough situations
Looks for life’s blessings
Please join us for our next Virtues Assembly on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 when we celebrate the Virtue of Self-control.
9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Group 1: FDK 1, FDK 2, 1A, 2A, 2/3A, 3B, 4/5A, 5C, 6A, 6C, 7B, 7/8A, 8B
10:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Group 2: FDK 3, FDK 4, 1/2A, 2B, 3A, 4A, 5B, 5/6A, 6B, 7A, 7C, 8A,8C
ADVENT MASS
Our Advent mass will take place on Friday, December 6th at St. Patrick’s Church and singing will be lead by our St. Thomas More Choir. Thank you to Mme Klis and Ms. Costa for leading our choir.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES AT STM
NEWS FROM OUR YOUTH FAITH AMBASSADORS
UPDATE:
Our Youth Faith Ambassadors extend their sincere appreciation to the STM community for helping children, families and seniors here in Mississauga during the Thanksgiving Food Drive, by providing them with nutritious food they need to thrive. We were able to contribute 339 pounds of food! Again, thank you for your support.
Our Christmas Food Drive begins Monday, December 2, 2019. Help us to help others during the blessed season of Advent.
ECO TEAM
Eco More News!
Our incredible Eco team has many great ideas in the making! One of our ideas we implemented was providing writing utensils boxes to each class. We partnered up with Terracycle from Staples who donated these boxes to our school.
We use these boxes to "divert" pens, pencils, highlighters, markers and sharpies from going into the landfill. Did you know that plastic takes from 10 to 1000 years to decompose? This is just one of the initiatives STM is involved in. Let's try to make STM a healthier, more eco- friendly school!
Written by: Sara-Maria and Krystian, Eco members.
CODING CLUB
The Junior Coding club has begun to meet twice a week over the lunch hour. Students are enjoying exploring and coding using the application, Scratch Junior.
(Coaches - J. Faria, A. Capizzano, S. Serino, T. Costa)
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CLUB
We have started a new Healthy Lifestyle Club which will work on promoting regular physical activity in school and drinking healthy beverages. We will be offering coaching activities for various sports once a week starting in January, and we will be working with the ECO team to promote drinking water and using refillable water bottles. Stay tuned for specific dates.
NEW - DANCE CLUB!
We will be holding auditions on December 10th for a dance team to enter in the Dance competition in April. All students from Grade 4 - 8 are invited to try out.
BOYS' AND GIRLS' INTERMEDIATE VOLLEYBALL
STM school is so proud of our girls' and boys' intermediate volleyball teams! Both teams had an incredibly successful season demonstrating excellent skills and exemplary sportsmanship. Our girls made it to the second round at Board finals and our boys made it to the semi-finals. Congratulations for a job well done!
Thank you and congratulations is also extended to our wonderful coaches - Mme. Cruz, Ms. Oliver, Mr. Remigio and Mr. Di Filippo.
AT BOARD FINALS!
BULLYING AWARENESS AND PREVENTION WEEK IN ONTARIO:
Pink ribbons adorned the front hallway of the school from November18 to 22nd - Dufferin-Peel’s Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week Campaign. Staff and students at St. Thomas More took part in a province-wide initiative to stand up against bullying. Some of the activities that took place included; Kick-off Assemblies; Minute of Silence, STM Connection of Kindness Chains; Student Presentations about caring and kindness; Pink Day; Pledges of Silence for victims of bullying, Random Acts of Kindness Campaign, Mismatched Socks Day, Prayers, P.A. announcements and various other classroom activities.
MISMATCHED SOCKS DAY - WE ARE ALL UNIQUE AND ACCEPTED
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS - "CAUGHT YOU CARING CAMPAIGN!"
STM COMMUNITY CONNECTION TO KINDNESS CHAINS
FDK Kindness Chains
Intermediate Kindness Chains
Junior Kindness Chains
CLASSROOM VISITS BY OUR SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER
Thank you Officer Andrew for teaching us how to deal with bullying.
ANTI-BULLYING PRESENTATION
How fun and motivational Coach Martinez was! Thank you for showing us how to be kind and AWESOME!
Pink Day
Pink Day
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
We are excited to inform you of the following Christmas
activities taking place at St. Thomas More. Parents/Guardians are invited to join us.
Parent/Student Engagement Evening:
Wednesday, December 11th @ 6:30 p.m.
Join us for an evening of fun - Christmas crafts, caroling and meeting Santa!
Further information to follow.
Kindergarten Concert:
Tuesday, December 17 @ 1:30 pm (large gym)
Catholic School Council News
Please join us at our next Catholic School Council Meeting on:
Wednesday, January 8th, 2020 at 6:30pm in the Library.
IMPORTANT DATES
1 Advent Begins
4 Peel Police Presentation on Digital Citizenship - Grade 7 classes
6 Advent Mass @ St. Patrick's Church @ 9:30 a.m.
16 Elder - Isaac Murdoch Visit - all grade 6 classes
17 Gr. 6 trip to Black Creek Pioneer Village: Christmas Past
17 Gr. 7 Confirmation Retreat @ St. Patrick's Church
17 FDK Christmas Concert @ 1:30 p.m.
18 Grades 1, 2 and 3 to Young People's Theatre -"Adventures of Pinocchio"
19 FDK Pizza Nova Workshop
20 P.J. Day for ShareLife
20 Last day of classes prior to Christmas Break
*Dec. 23, 2019 - Jan. 3, 2020 (inclusive) Christmas Break*
JANUARY:
EXTENDED FRENCH PROGRAM INFORMATION FOR 2020-2021
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
7:00 p.m. at each EF site location (see below)
DPCDSB INFORMATION SESSION FOR STUDENTS WITH DIFFERING ABILITIES
On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board’s (DPCDSB) Special Education and Learning Services Department invites families to an information session to support children with differing abilities who are transitioning into school in September 2020.
WHAT: Information Session to Support Transition of Students with Differing Abilities
starting school in September 2020
WHEN: Wednesday, January 29, 2020
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
*Snow Date: January 30, 2020
WHERE: Catholic Education Centre – Room 301 (Third Floor)
40 Matheson Boulevard West, Mississauga (Hurontario & Matheson)
For more information about this session, please call 905-890-0708 ext. 24011.
For information about registering for school, visit the DPCDSB website at www.dpcdsb.org, contact your local school or the Admissions Department at 905-891-1221.