News

News, announcements, and reminders from the council, school, and community.

Garden School News

Posted: 
Sunday September 18

Well our second week has come and gone and I have to say I am thrilled that the weather, although still lovely, has begun to cool down. This week was almost perfect autumn weather. 

Last week we were fortunate enough to discover freshly cut logs at the back of St. Joe’s Hospital. Luckily the workers were happy to deliver them to our Garden yard. We now have created a wonderful science discover/reading area/outdoor classroom for all to enjoy in our Kindergarten play area.  

Our first School Council Meeting will be held on Thursday September 22 at 6:30 PM in the Gym. There are many ways in which Parents can support our school from being an elected Executive of the School Council or volunteering at fund raising events or even just coming and participating in our monthly meetings. All voices are welcome!! Ms. Ferreira will be available in Room 106 for free babysitting. 

I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend.  See you all on Monday.

Ms. Hardy

File(s): 
Parent Week at a Glance - Week of September 19-23

Grade 1 Kilometre Club Starts Tuesday, September 20

Posted: 
Friday September 16

 

Grade 1 Kilometre Club is starting on Tuesday, September 20 and will run for 4 weeks until Tuesday, October 11. 

Grade 1 students are invited to meet every Tuesday after school for a quick warm-up in Room 103, followed by laps around the yard. Students will be dismissed around 3:45pm. 

Permission forms are due back on Tuesday. Please see Ms. Bell or Ms. Cochrane for more info.

Cross-Country Starts September 15

Posted: 
Wednesday September 14

 

It's cross-country running season again! Forms are due back on Thursday, September 15 and practices start the same day. The meet is on Thursday, October 6 at Ashbridges Bay.

JUNIOR PRACTICES (Grades 4, 5 and 6)

  • 8:00am-8:45am, meet in the gymnasium, proper running shoes required
  • September 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, October 4, 5

PRIMARY PRACTICES (Grades 2 and 3)

  • 3:35pm-4:15pm, meet in the gymnasium, proper running shoes required
  • September 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 27,28, 29, October 3, 4, 5

For more info, or if you can volunteer to help with practices, please see Mr. Goetz.

 

School Council - Positions Available!

Posted: 
Saturday September 10

 

We need YOU! Garden Avenue School Council has 6 elected positions and we are looking for candidates for 3 of them for the 2016-2017 school year. 

  • Treasurer
  • Voluteer Coordinator
  • Communications Coordinator

You can read more about all of our elected positions here.

Our first Council Meeting is on Thursday, September 22 in the school gym at 6:30pm. Childcare is provided! 

We will elect our new Council at the first meeting and review all of the volunteer opportunities for the year.

Every parent at Garden is a member of Council. Please come out on September 22nd and learn more about what we do and how you can help!

 

Garden Avenue School Council - Now On Facebook!

Posted: 
Saturday September 10

 

We are now on Facebook! Join our group and stay up-to-date with the latest news from School Council. Please add other Garden parents and caregivers to the group, too.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/158936324541763/

For the 2016-2017 school year we are going to be using this Facebook group, in addition to our website and weekly email newsletter, as a means of communicating with parents and caregivers about all of the great stuff going on at Garden Avenue Jr. P.S.

Join us at the Potluck - This Thursday @ 6pm

Posted: 
Saturday September 10

 

Join us for the first community potluck of the school year on Thursday, September 15th, in the school gym at 6pm. 

Everyone is welcome! It's great opportunity to catch up with friends after a busy summer and welcome new families to Garden. 

Bring along a dish to share, and your own plates and cutlery. Your dish doesn't have to be fancy - or even homemade! Grab a veggie tray, baguette and cheese, or a roasted chicken from Sobeys or Rowe Farms and show up between 6-6:30pm to fill your plates.

No nuts please! 

We need a couple of volunteers to help with clean up after the event. Let Tina Braun know if you can help out, by email at ms_cbraun@yahoo.com.

TDSB Letter - School Bus Disuptions

Posted: 
Saturday September 10

On Friday 9 September, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) published a letter to parents/guardians about school bus disruptions [TDSB website] in Toronto's Public and Catholic schools.

Here is a copy of the message posted on the TDSB website along with links to more information:
"The Toronto District School Board and Toronto Catholic District School Board are experiencing school bus delays. In particular, parents of students who use Attridge Transportation, Wheelchair Accessible Transit or Sharp Bus Lines should expect significant delays and the possibility that some buses may not be running due to an unanticipated bus driver shortage. We are working to fix this issue as soon as possible."

Garden School News

Posted: 
Sunday September 4

Welcome back everyone!!!! I really hope that everyone had a wonderful, relaxing summer and enjoyed the sticky hot weather.

We have had a busy summer of construction and clean up. The Sunnyside Daycare in room 107 and 108 has become a new Pre-School and Toddler area. We have had our TDSB workers in and out of our building throughout the summer putting in countless hours and weekends to ensure that our new day care space was ready to go for the first day of school. The rooms look just beautiful with new cabinets, and new floors, new bathrooms and even a brand new office space for our Sunnyside Daycare.

Also during the summer all of our pillars and windows in the front of the building received a bit of a facelift with a new coat of painted. Thank you to Mr. Morris and Mr. Tamrakar who have worked tirelessly cleaning classrooms and hallways to make our school shine for this upcoming year.

We welcome our new families to Garden! Ms. Cundari will be replacing Ms. Swail until she returns from parental leave in March of 2017. Ms. Bowman will be coming in for the interim in Room 106. We are pleased to welcome back both teachers to Garden.

In our lunchroom we will be returning to a one lunch sitting for all grades. This will allow all students a little more time to eat their lunch. However for the first day of school only the grade 1/2 classes will be eating in the lunchroom in order to support them with learning the new lunchroom rules/routines. All other classes will be eating outside weather permitting

Looking forward to seeing everyone this week!! Enjoy the wonderful long weekend.

Ms. Hardy

"That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong."
William J. H. Boetcker

File(s): 
Parent Week at a Glance - Week of September 5-9

TDSB Makes Repair Backlog Lists Public

Posted: 
Sunday September 4

In August, the TDSB made public the full lists of school repairs waiting to be done across the entire school board, and provided a breakdown of the repair backlog per school: see the renewal needs backlog for Garden Avenue Public School.

They have also created a Facility Condition Index and provided an index rating for each school.

For more details, consult the TDSB's media release: TDSB to Report School-by-School List of Needed Repairs.

Garden School News

Posted: 
Saturday June 25

Well we are into our last week of the school year.  Parents please note that report cards will be sent home on Tuesday June 28th. This year there may still be staffing changes over the summer months. To that end we have decided as a Staff to only put the room numbers of the classroom which students will be moving into in the Fall. We feel that this is the most equitable way to deal with the changes that may occur. If you have any concerns please feel free to speak to the office.

This weekend construction will be beginning on the new Daycare toddler area. To that end the parking lot will be off limits. This is in order to make room for all of the trucks that need to drop of materials. Please remind people that park in our lot over the weekend that they will be tagged and towed if they are there past 6:00 AM. It also means that our gym will be off limits for the last week of school. Let’s hope for lots of sunshine so that we can continue to enjoy our outdoor lunches. 

Please remind your children to look in the lost and found to recover their items. There are many wonderful sweatshirts, t-shirts etc. that make their way into our lost and found and it would be nice to have them reconnected with their owners before summer begins. All left over items will be sent to Good Will.

As this is my last week at a glance for this 2015/2016 school year I want to say thank you to everyone for making this year, my first year as a principal, so memorable. Thank you for being so supportive and caring and I look forward to working together with everyone again in the 2016/2017 school year. Have a wonderful, restful summer sharing time with your families and loved ones. See you in September!!

Ms. Hardy

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

 

File(s): 
Parent Week at a Glance - Week of June 27 - July 1

Last Potluck of the Year on Thursday 6:00-7:30

Posted: 
Sunday June 12

Join us at the last Potluck of the year! We'll be sharing food in the backyard from 6:00-7:30 pm on Thursday. If it's raining, we'll see you in the gym

Everyone is welcome. Bring a dish to share with old and new friends. Please list ingredients and remember - no peanuts! 

If you have no time to prepare something at home, feel free to pick something up on your way over.  

Please bring your own plates & cutlery if possible to help us work together as an Eco School.

Garden Avenue School Council Needs You!

Posted: 
Sunday June 12

A strong school community creates the foundation for our children to learn and thrive. The School Council* plays an important role bringing together school staff, administration and interested parents to create a place for discussion, idea sharing and planning of initiatives.

The school council operates with a Council Executive (elected roles) and interested parents who participate in monthly meetings over the course of the school year.

Each school year in September, all Council Executive roles are open for election however each year there are certain roles that have no incumbent. This year the Council Chair role has no incumbent. In addition we have added two important new elected positions to the Council Executive: "Director of Parent Engagement" and "Director of Communications".

In the file below, the Council Executive roles, their approximate time commitment and responsibilities. Please consider how you can make a difference for your child(ren) and community by volunteering for one of these important roles.

Interested parents - please identify yourself to Ms. Hardy or one of the current council members or by emailing gardenavenews@gmail.com

File(s): 
Garden School Council Roles 2016-17
Your School Council Needs You - Poster

Pizza and Pita Lunches Complete for the Year

Posted: 
Sunday June 12

Pizza and Pita lunches are all done for this year.  Many thanks to the capable team of parent and school volunteers who made it all work smoothly each week.  I wanted to share a special thanks to Loreen for her leadership and energy to make Pizza and Pita lunches such a success  The lunches contributed over $8K in fundraising which is over 30% of our annual operating budget for council.  The operating budget has enabled great opportunities for our children including the TSO trip, field trips, track and field travel, school special events and equipment/supplies in our classrooms.

As some of you may know, this is Loreen’s last year at the helm of Pizza lunches.  We need a new leader in order to offer a lunch program next year.  If you think you might be interested in taking on this leadership role either on your own or with a partner,  please get in touch with gardenavenews@gmail.com for more information.
 
Heather & Natasha Council Co-Chairs

Garden School News

Posted: 
Sunday June 12

Our Grade 4-6 Students will be participating in the Blanket Exercise on Monday June 13th in the afternoon. This Blanket Exercise is a teaching tool that shares the historic and contemporary relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in Canada.  The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is an interactive learning experience that teaches the Indigenous rights history we’re rarely taught. Developed in response to the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples—which recommended education on Canadian-Indigenous history as one of the key steps to reconciliation, the Blanket Exercise covers over 500 years of history in a one and a half hour participatory workshop. Thank you to Ms. Umezawa for organizing.  We are all looking forward to a thoughtful experience.

We would like to welcome all Parents to our Book Fair on Wednesday evening from 3:30 -6:00 PM. Please join us in the library and pick up some great reading materials for your children for the summer months. Feel free to stay for our last School Council meeting beginning at 6:30PM. Babysitting will be provided.

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Ms. Hardy

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day."
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

File(s): 
Parent Week at a Glance - Week of June 13-17

You're invited to attend Garden Avenue Kindergarten Orientation on Tuesday

Posted: 
Monday June 6

You’re invited to attend

"Garden Avenue Kindergarten"
Orientation

For parents and new JK/SK students

Please join us for an overview of the Kindergarten day!

This is an opportunity for the parents and our new students entering JK or SK in September to plan ahead and help ease the transition to full day learning.  Please join us in the gym for a short presentation at 3:30 followed by an orientation in a JK/SK classroom at Garden Avenue. 

When: Tuesday, June 7
Where: The gym
Time: 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.

Walk through a day in the life of a kindergarten student

We look forward to seeing you here!

File(s): 
FDK Info Night Flyer

2016 Fun Fair Results

Posted: 
Friday May 27

We are pleased to announce that the 2016 Fun Fair raised over $12,000 for Garden Avenue School Council. The money raised represents half of the budget that School Council will have for the 2016-2017 school year to fund things like trips to the TSO and the Science Centre, books and supplies for classrooms, dance programs for juniors, the Forest of Reading programme, and more.

We are grateful to everyone who came out and helped to make this year's Fun Fair a HUGE success, even if Mother Nature threw a spanner in the works! 

Thank you to all of the volunteers and donors. Whether you helped with set-up or tear-down, took a shift at the BBQ or Bake Sale, donated your books, filled a Mystery Bag or manned the Dunk Tank, we couldn't do it without you. 

Extra special thanks to Eli Klein for organizing another fantastic Fun Fair, and all of our team leads for stepping up to the challenge: A parent (Games & Activities), Peter Morrison (BBQ), Jeany Ellis (Bake Sale), Diana Ballon (Book Sale), Sara Clark (Arts & Craft), Tina Braun (Face Painting), Jennifer Alefounder (Raffle Baskets), Sarb Nagra (Mystery Bags), Shane Corkery (Karaoke Room), Simone Lau & Lisa Straus (Silent Auction).

 

Track & Field - Garden Brought The Heat!

Posted: 
Friday May 27

This past Tuesday, on the hottest day of the year, more than 50 Garden Avenue athletes made their way to Birchmount Stadium to run, jump, and throw their hearts out at the TDESSA South Conference track-and-field meet.

Not surprisingly, their many weeks of hard training and dedication paid off with a hugely successful day.

We saw amazing competitive performances, more than a few ribbons, and we were definitely the loudest team in the stands — Garden Avenue spirit is alive and well.

Many, many thanks to the coaching team led by Mr. Goetz, and the tireless efforts of the parent volunteers and teachers who contributed to another great year of Garden Avenue athletics.

Garden Avenue Seedling Sale Friday After School - Finally!

Posted: 
Wednesday May 25

Some of you may have missed seeing our seedlings at the Fun Fair.  It was a tough growing season, and our seedlings just weren't big enough on May 14 - but they are now.  

Come buy your seedlings from us!

At Garden School - Friday May 27 from 3:30-5:30

NE Corner of Garden and Roncesvalles (beside Solarski Drugstore)  - Sunday May 29 from 10-2.  

We have 3 delicious varietals of tomatoes, Zinnia flower, Echinacea, Peppers and herbs all germinated in Garden Family homes using heritage seeds in organic soil.  Prices can't be beat and it all goes back to the school.

CASH ONLY.  Remember to bring a way to carry them home.

Many thanks to the 23 families who grew with us this year.  It was a record year for participation.

Garden School News

Posted: 
Saturday May 21

Well I may still be waterlogged after the numerous (more times than I could count) dunkings this past weekend but…I want to extend a huge thank you to the entire Fun Fair team for organizing such a fantastic event.  Even though the weather was grey we made it so sunny inside with laughs and smiles of joy all around.  We still do not know the exact total of the money raised but we do know that fun was had by all.  Looking forward to next year when we hope it is 90 degrees and sunnyJ.

This past Wednesday, 61 avid readers from Garden went to Harbourfront Centre for the Festival of Trees celebration, in connection with our Silver Birch reading programs.  Thank you to all the amazing parent volunteers who came on the trip. Thank you to Ms. Cox for taking the lead on the entire event and to Ms. Childs, Ms. Baum, and Ms. Baigent for helping Ms. Cox organize and facilitate the Silver Birch reading program at school.  The trip was a big success.  It is always so wonderful to see students getting so excited about reading!

The Girls' Soccer team did a wonderful job of representing Garden at a tournament held at Ryerson P.S. on Thursday. The girls worked hard during practices to develop their soccer skills and they played their hearts out during the four tournament games. The girls demonstrated great team spirit and sportsmanship throughout. A great big thank you to Ms. Child’s for coaching the team and an extra special thanks to our fantastic parent coach, Amanda Cooper, as well as to Jen Alefounder and Kim Huffman for their support.  Way to go, girls!

Attention all Eco Club members: our final three week session for Eco Club, on Gardening, will be postponed by one week and will start on Thursday June 2nd after school.  Eco Club is cancelled for Thursday May 26th.

Ms. Hardy

"Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching."
- C. S. Lewis

File(s): 
Parent Week at a Glance - Week of May 23-27

Garden Avenue Fun Fair Today! (Saturday 14 May 10am-3pm)

Posted: 
Friday May 13

Join us Today from 10:00 to 3:00 for the
Annual Garden School Fun Fair.

It's Definitely ON Despite the weather!

The best FUNdraiser of the year! With bouncy castles, games, entertainment, food, book sale, plant sale, raffles...it all happens here. Tell your friends, neighbours, and family. Everyone is welcome.

Fun Fair Poster

Jump Rope for Heart postponed

Posted: 
Tuesday May 10

The Jump Rope for Heart event scheduled for this Friday has been postponed.
 

TDSB Chair of the Board and Director of Education Webcast

Posted: 
Monday May 2

Parents/Guardians of TDSB Students,

We are always looking to improve communication with parents across the city. Please join us on Tuesday, May 3 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. as we host our first live webcast for parents/guardians.

We will begin the session with a welcome and update on recent developments at the TDSB. This will be followed by a chance for parents/guardians to ask questions. After the webcast, please participate in a short survey about the webcast format and share your thoughts about topics for future sessions.

Please join the conversation at the following link:
http://www2.tdsb.on.ca/stream/Director/LiveWebcast.html

Learn more about the Learning Centres at http://www.tdsb.on.ca/learningcentres.

We look forward to speaking with you on Tuesday, May 3, 2016.

John Malloy
Director of Education

Robin Pilkey
Chair

Fun Fair - BBQ Team Lead Needed!

Posted: 
Friday April 29

 

The 2016 Garden P.S. Fun Fair is looking for a team lead for the BBQ!

Our long-serving BBQ team is out of the school this year. We are looking for someone who can take on a lead position to organize the BBQ supplies and volunteers.

The ask: 4-6 hours between now and Saturday, May 14 to plan how much food to buy, event set-up, volunteer schedule + 4-6 hours on the day of the Fun Fair (the Fun Fair runs from 10am-3pm - we have lots of volunteers but you will oversee the action).

If you are interested, email gardenavenews@gmail.com
 

Parent Council Meeting - Wednesday May 4 6:30-8:15 P.M.

Posted: 
Wednesday April 27

Garden Parents

Our next School Council meeting is on Wednesday May 4 at 6:30 - 8:15 P.M. in the school library.  All parents are welcome.  Childcare will be provided.  If you are bringing your child(ren) please message gardenavenews@gmail.com with the names and ages of your children.

At this meeting we will be discussing plans and budgeting for next school year, and council roles that will be up for election next year.

Hope to see you there.

Heather & Natasha (Council Co-Chairs)