News

From the TDSB Website:
School start up forms can now be completed online! This new model is easy, simple and secure and will help streamline the process of a number of standard forms as well as save paper and resources.

How does it work?
After your child’s first day of school, an email will automatically be sent to the parent/guardian that is the primary or secondary contact with an email address on file with the school. The email will come from TDSB Online Form (noreply@tdsb.on.ca) and will take you to a secure site to complete and submit your child’s forms.

More details, including FAQ, are available at the TDSB website link below.

We are very excited to welcome Melanie Florence who will be visiting this Wednesday afternoon to present to all of our kindergarten to Grade three students. Melanie is an award-winning author of Cree and Scottish heritage based in Toronto. She will be presenting to our students about traditional storytelling and folktales, and will read her award-winning picture book Stolen Words. According to Melanie Florence's website, Stolen Words is the "story of the beautiful relationship between a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks her grandfather how to say something in his language- Cree- he admits that his language was stolen from him when he was a boy. The little girl then sets out to help her grandfather find his language again." This picture book has given many of our classes an understanding of the impact of residential schools and has allowed for rich discussions of this topic in an age-appropriate way. We are so honoured to have Melanie visit with our youngest students this week.

On Monday 11 February, the TDSB sent a letter to parents about Winter Weather using the School Messenger service. A copy of the text of the letter is reproduced below.

February 11, 2019

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Environment Canada is once again calling for a winter storm for Toronto and surrounding area with a wintery mix expected on Tuesday. With this in mind, I wanted to provide you with some important information about how the TDSB makes the difficult decisions surrounding the cancellation of school buses, programs, and/or the closure of schools due to winter weather.

A number of factors are taken into consideration when making these decisions. On days with severe weather, staff are up very early to look at current and forecast weather conditions, road conditions, and advice from our bus carriers, among other pieces of information. In consultation with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the decision on school buses is then made. The decision about school buses is sometimes made because it has been determined driving conditions are too unsafe. The decision is sometimes made to avoid having students wait for unusually long periods of time in inclement weather for a bus or remain on that bus for hours due to weather-related traffic delays. It is important to note that, unlike other school boards across the Greater Toronto Area, a vast majority of TDSB students — more than 90 percent — do not use school buses. Also, as the Greater Toronto Area may have different weather and road conditions, the decision made for one area will differ from the decisions made in another area.

As I hope you can appreciate, the decision concerning whether to keep schools open or closed has a major impact on the lives of thousands of families across Toronto and that is why we strive to keep them open whenever possible. Should all schools be closed, it causes significant hardship for many families, some of which have no other options readily available for their children.

Parents/guardians make the final decision whether they wish to send their children to school during days of extreme weather. The TDSB supports whatever decisions parents/guardians make on these days. Students will not be penalized.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this important information. While days of winter weather like we are expecting tomorrow may result in delays getting to and from school/work, I want to reassure you that the safety of our students and staff is always top of mind when making these difficult decisions and we would never put that at risk.

As always, for all the latest information and updates about possible cancellations/closures, please check the TDSB website, @TDSB and tune to local media.

Sincerely,

John Malloy
Director of Education

The Parents as Partners Conference 2019 is on Saturday, March 30 and all parents are welcome! This free conference – planned by parents, for parents – includes a variety of workshops and resources that will help any parent support their child in their achievement and school and at home. Transportation, food and translators are all provided, as well as free day camp for children ages 4-12 to support participants attending the conference. Registration opens mid-February at www.parentsaspartners.ca.

Dear Parents/Guardians/Caregivers,

This is a friendly reminder that student supervision starts at 8:45AM. The school does not provide supervision before this time, therefore we are not able to ensure your child’s safety if you drop off your child before 8:45AM. If you bring your children to school before 8:45AM, please stay with them in the school yard until 8:45AM.

In addition, during inclement weather (on rainy or very cold mornings), we encourage you, if possible, to drop off your children at 8:55AM, to assist us with their supervision in the gym. The gym is small, so it will help if it is not packed with children in the morning. It will make for a much smoother and calmer start to the day for them.

Thank you for your co-operation,

Lindita Guffin

The following information is copied from the TDSB news posted on December 27:
TDSB Recognizes Tamil Heritage Month

The TDSB is celebrating Tamil Heritage Month in January 2019 with the theme of “Remembrance. Resilience. Recognition.”

In October 2016, the House of Commons voted unanimously to recognize every January as Tamil Heritage Month. This month was chosen as it coincides with one of the most important celebrations for Canadians of Tamil heritage, the Thai Pongal Harvest Festival. Millions of Tamil people around the world, irrespective of their religion, celebrate Thai Pongal, and offer thanks for an abundant harvest. TDSB proudly marked Tamil Heritage Month for the first time in 2016.

As Toronto has the largest Tamil populations outside of the South Asian subcontinent, this committee aims to ensure that the objectives of TDSB’s January’s Tamil Heritage month are reflected in the curriculum and learning objectives for students. To explore these themes, the planning committee will be inviting students to learn about the rich culture of the Tamil heritage and how their own respective ancestry can be used to shape their future through essays, original artwork and public speaking contests. The poster for the month was designed by committee member and Wexford CI student, Ganga, and has been shared with schools across the system.

The elves of Garden Avenue have really outdone themselves this year!

There are some amazing gingerbread houses to be won at the raffle tonight (Tuesday, December 18) and today is the last day to buy tickets, before and after school. Tickets are $1 each or 12 for $10.

Carol Night starts at 6pm, and will feature the Junior Choir & Junior Strings, as well as our annual community sing-a-long and the gingerbread house raffle draw.

Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy some holiday cheer. You might even leave with one of these beauties!

Thank you to all of the families who baked and created.

Room 205 students are taking the initiative to help the homeless by participating in a sock drive through Socks 4 Souls Canada. The Sock Drive will run between November 26th and December 17th.

This organization is run by volunteers who are committed to contributing warmth, comfort, dignity, mobility and health to approximately 5000 people who are homeless by providing them with new, clean socks. Since many homeless people do not have access to laundry facilities, multiple pairs of socks are needed for each person.

We are asking students to bring cotton adult socks and to put the donated socks in the box located in the front foyer. Your support is greatly appreciated.

This year, Garden Avenue will be supporting the Parkdale Community Food Bank for our Annual Holiday Food Drive. From December 3rd through to December 18th, please send in any non-perishable food items with your students that you can donate to this important cause. There will be donation boxes set up in the front foyer of the school. Also, please consider bringing a donation to Carol Night on December 18th, which is the last day for donations. Thank you so much for your generous support!

The Food Bank is also looking for fridges and cleaning supplies. In case you want to donate your old fridge, please see the link below. They will arrange for pick up.
http://www.pcfb.ca/how-to-help/current-needs

Do you like building tiny houses out of gingerbread and decorating them with icing and candy while your small children clamour at your heels asking if they can EAT IT NOW? 

Then have we got a job for you!

The Annual Garden Avenue Gingerbread House Raffle is a kid-favourite. 15 families have the opportunity to build and decorate a gingerbread house and deliver it to school on Monday, December 10. The houses will be displayed on tables in the main hallway and you can buy raffle tickets to win your favourite creation.

Raffle tickets will be on sale from December 11-18 and the draw for the 15 winners will take place at Carol Night on Tuesday, December 18. 

If you would like to build a gingerbread house please email Katherine Ball at kanddball@gmail.com. Kits are available or you can go your own way - there are no rules for building other than it has to be edible!! 

Mark the calendar for Holiday Movie Night on Thursday, December 6.

There will be pizza and popcorn for sale, so put on your elf hats and jingle bells and come out for some family fun.

The doors open at 6pm and the movie will start at 6:15pm