OCTOBER 2014

William Berczy P.S.

120 Carlton Road, Unionville

905-477-2047

Principal

Ms. Kathy Lott

kathy.lott@yrdsb.ca

Vice-Principal

Mr. David Williams

david.williams@yrdsb.ca

Administrative Assistants

Ms. Nina Douvinos

Ms. Debbie Wong

Lead Caretaker

Mr. Sebastian Dignoti

Trustee

Ms. Ada Yeung (416) 885-3294

ada.yeung@yrdsb.edu.on.ca

Superintendent

Dr. Lisa Walsh

(905) 940-7800

School Council Chair

Mr. James Lin

School Website

williamberczy.ps.yrdsb.ca

A Message from Administration –

Our first month at William Berczy Public School has been a very

busy and exciting one! Our staff have been working together to

complete our Health and Safety training and re-examine our

school improvement plan goals and strategies. Teachers have

dedicated time to learn about each student’s strengths, interests

and areas of need as we work towards creating lessons and units

to engage all of our learners. We have reviewed individual

student profiles and class profiles and discussed how best to

support and plan for student achievement. All teachers are

working diligently to create the classroom routines and practices

to allow for differentiated instruction to meet the needs of each

learner in our classes. We take great pride in knowing our

learners and programming for their needs. On Tuesday, October

7th, we will hold our first School Council meeting of the year

where we elect a new Council to represent our school

community. Thanks to those parents who are currently in the

role and actively supported and represented our School Council

during the 2013-2014 school year –

School Council Executive member–

Chair - James Lin

Secretary Ellen Viero

Treasurer – Rise Enokido

We look forward to our upcoming 2014-2015 school elections!

All are welcome to attend as General Council members or run in

the election for an Executive position. School Council meetings

are open to all parents and we will send out the Council Agenda

with all students in advance of a meeting.

Partners in Education,

Ms. Lott & Mr. Williams

REMINDER –

School Photos – October 1st or October 2

nd

(All students have their date by homeroom class)

SAFETY while picking up and dropping off children –

To ensure the safety of all children, we ask that parents drop off or meet children outside their

designated entry/exit doors. Our school ground is supervised by our staff beginning at 8:40 a.m. All

parents who enter the school are asked to sign in at the office and receive a visitor’s tag.

In the morning if you are entering the safety loop at the front of the school to

drop off your children, please do not exit your car. This slows down traffic and

can stop our buses from entering. Please stay in the loop that is farthest away

from the school and do not let your child exit your car until you have been

alerted by a school staff member that it is safe to do so.

Please consider not driving to school if possible and if driving is your only

option, then please be patient while our students are exiting their cars and buses.

It can take quite a while to get everyone safely into the school when the weather

is uncooperative.

A huge thank you and congratulations to the many students who have been

using their bikes and scooters as a means for transportation to and from

school. What a great way to promote healthy, active living - while children take

initiative and practice responsibility.

School Parking: We don’t have enough parking places for parents before and

after school and for all our staff and daycare staff. Please park on a side street

when dropping off or picking up your child. If you are coming for a meeting at

other times during the day, please feel free to use the available parking. Thank

you for your assistance with this issue.

Safe Arrival - Ensuring a safe environment at William Berczy includes our Safe Arrival Policy.

You will receive a phone call home in the morning if your child is absent and you have not reported

their absence. Attendance is taken immediately following the National Anthem

which is played each day at 9:00 a.m. – the beginning of our instructional day.

Please call the school office when you know your child will be away from

school. Ms. Wong makes it a priority every morning to check on the safe arrival

of each of our William Berczy PS students.

EQAO – EDUCATION AND QUALITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

Individual Student Reports have been sent home with all current Grade 4 and Grade 7 students this

year. Your report will highlight your child’s achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. We

have made a copy of your child’s report that is kept in their Ontario Student Record (OSR). Additional

information has been developed specifically for parents and can be found in 21 different languages,

along with other useful information, at www.eqao.com Also, more information will be shared at our

1st School Council Meeting, October 7

th, 7:00 PM – please join us.

Our EQAO assessment results are incorporated into

our School Improvement Plan along with other

student assessment data collected by the school.

Our EQAO data is an additional source of

information to support the improvement of student

learning. Improving student learning is a slow,

gradual process.

We look for sustained growth in achievement over

time.

We do not support the use of EQAO results to rank or

compare schools.

Berczy Staff look at the ‘triangulation of data’ to help us further understand where a child is at in

their learning. We work together to gather many different forms of student achievement data.

3 sources we look at are: conversations, observations and products.

Thinking about the ‘triangulation of data’ may help when learning more about

your child’s current challenges and successes.

Life at William Berczy PS –

Do encourage your child(ren) to listen carefully to the announcements in the morning.

Once a day, just prior to our morning exercise/nutrition break, student leaders read the

announcements for the school. The announcements are then posted in our front hallway to serve as a

reminder throughout the day. Recently we have had many opportunities for our students to get involved

in William Berczy PS life – ask your children about what our teachers are offering beyond the regular

school day!

We hope that all students seek out an opportunity to be involved in William Berczy PS life! Our

teachers are offering many learning experiences for our Berczy students in athletics, arts, academics,

music, student leadership, intramurals and more! Berczy is a healthy, active place to be!

Communication

We believe communication is critical for student success. Your children, our students, MUST see us as

partners in their education. We will contact you when (and if) your child develops patterns of poor

decision making, and when they are not engaged in their learning. We will ask that we work together to

strategize our next steps towards improvement.

We will also contact you when there is reason for specific praise and celebration of success as we are

often proud of student achievement and are excited to let you know - as well as to ask you to extend the

praise at home. Please do keep the lines of communication open. Let us know about medications your

child may be on, planned trips, or conflicts that may affect your child’s day to day learning. Our

understanding of these matters will benefit your child’s self esteem as well as their achievement levels.

Let’s work together as partners in education

and have a great year of learning and growing together.

Terry Fox Run –

Each year, reflecting on the life of Terry Fox allows us to

teach our character traits in a meaningful way. Terry Fox is a

local hero who we continue to celebrate annually. This year,

our Terry Fox run was held on Wednesday, September

24th. A huge thanks to Ms. Rhodes for coordinating our

student run again this year – and thanks to all students and all

families for your donations to the Terry Fox foundation and

cancer research. Together, we can make a difference!

Our annual Terry Fox run is always a special time not only to

raise funds but to think about those people in our lives who have been affected by cancer. While our

junior and intermediate students were out assembled as a group prior to the run, we learned about some

people very near and dear to our hearts who have been affected by cancer and who are cancer survivors.

Thanks to Ms. Chapman for

sharing her personal survival story.

Thanks also to the runners and

participants in our Terry Fox event

this year who wore individual

dedication stickers for those

special people in their lives. Truly

an educational, moving, and

inspirational event for all!

Thanks Berczy!

Thanks to Markham Fair team for coming to Berczy to meet with all of our primary students – and

teaching us about the history of agricultural fairs!

Intermediate Boys Volleyball Team

We are ten very dedicated guys who practice 4 days a week. Monday

during lunch, Tuesdays and Thursdays after school until 5:00 PM and

Wednesdays mornings at 8:00 AM. To prepare ourselves for the area

tournament in late November, we frequently play exhibition games against

Parkview Public School and will be having two upcoming tournaments in

late October. We also trust in our very talented coach, Mr. Pickthall, to help

us improve our skills, get better together as a team, and build chemistry. We

strongly believe in representing William Berczy with pride, integrity, and

sportsmanship. Those representing William Berczy’s volleyball team this

year are:

Felix F, Andrew D, Nathan L, Nicholas L, Jordan C, Kevin R, Colin

H, Bill L, Owen T, Jack Z, and Mr. Pickthall, Coach

Cross Country

Close to 90 students from grades 4-8 have been waking up early to run in

the mornings as part of this year's Cross Country Team. The team

competed at the Area Meet Monday September 29 at Milliken Mills Park

and those that qualify will go to the Regional Meet on October 10 at

Bruce's Mill Conservation Area. Congratulations to all athletes for your

perseverance in your training! ((Ms. Chapman and Ms. Harris, Coaches)

All the best to all of our WBPS athletes!

Flag Football at WBPS – by Elysia and Colin

Flag football is a fun variation of football, with no tackling or physical contact. As an alternative, you

would pull someone’s flag, which would act like tackling. Although there is no physical contact, it is

just as exciting. Tryouts began on Tuesday, September 9th. Some of us didn’t know what it was, how to

play, or why they were trying out. However, as the time went by, we

felt more comfortable playing and our interest for the game grew.

The day before the final team was posted, we were all dying of

suspense and anxiety. The team consisted of 5 girls and 10 boys.

There should be 5 boys and 2 girls on the field at all times.

The team members are Rachel R, Ambika, Elysia, Kelly H, and

Evelyn for the girls. The boys are Colin J, Luke, Jaden, Bill,

Tayne, TJ, Jack D, Dylan, Caleb, and Elijah.

We had practices every Tuesday and Thursday leading up to our first

game against Aldergrove PS on Thursday, September 25th. We played against a tall and fast team. We

fought hard, but came to a close game. We lost 18-12. We scored 2 touchdowns and one conversion,

while they scored 3 touchdowns. Although we lost, we had a great time playing. There were definitely

some memorable moments in the game. Rachel stopped them from getting their first touchdown but

couldn’t defend against the second attempt. Evelyn pulled many flags and scored one touchdown. Tayne

and TJ were very consistent Quarterbacks and stuck to the plan. Kelly used her speed and agility to

score a touchdown, and Bill came close to getting us tied with the other team, and Jaden used his

aggressiveness and caught the ball many times. We have had a great season so far and we hope for the

best at our Area Tournament at the end of the season. Thanks to Mr. Kitching our coach!

Supporting Minds - Every day, educators see students who are struggling – students who engage

in challenging behaviour and act out, or who are withdrawn and anxious. Such behaviour may signal

problems that can interfere with students’ achievement at school and their social

functioning. While educators cannot and should not attempt to diagnose mental

health problems, they have an important role in:

promoting positive mental health at school;

identifying students who may have mental health problems; and

connecting those students with appropriate services.

Our WBPS staff are committed to

working together to support all of

our students!

NEW! Guidance Counsellor Office at

WBPS – with teacher/counselors

available for student support!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR CROSS COUNTRY

RUNNERS AT THE AREA MEET!

Thank you for attending our Curriculum Night.

Please come visit us in our main office anytime!

We look forward to the many opportunities throughout the year to work together.

REMINDER: School Council Elections

Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 at 7:00 PM

WBPS Library, 2nd floor

All are welcome to attend!

Respect Responsibility Courage Compassion/Empathy Optimism Initiative/Independence Honesty Fairness/Integrity Perseverance Inclusiveness

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2—Day 2

Lockdown Drill

3—Day 3 4

5 6—Day 4

Bus Safety

Staff Meeting

7—Day 5

Bus Safety

7 PM School Council

meeting and 2014-

2015 Elections!

8—Day 1

Pasta Day

Grade 3’s to Pioneer

Village

9—Day 2

Flag Football tourna-

ment

K to Apple Orchard

10—Day 3

Regionals—Cross

Country at Bruce’s Mill

11

12 13 14—Day 4

Grade 7’s, Ste. Marie

Among the Hurons

15—Day 5

Admin Meeting Division Meetings

16—Day 1 17—Day 2 18

19 20—Day 3 21—Day 4 22—Day 5 23 –Day 1 24—Day 2 25

26 27 28—Day 3 29—Day 4

Lead Team Meeting—8 AM

30—Day 5 31—Day 1

CHARACTER

ASSEMBLY ,

11:15 AM

October 2014

BUS ROUTES HOTLINE

1-877-330-3001

www.schoolbuscity.com

THANKSGIVING DAY

United Nations Day

Halloween

YOM KIPPUR **

SUKKOT

EID-UL-ADHA **

DIWALI **

ASHURA

PA/PT DAY

(No School)

William Berczy Public School

Tel: (905) 477-2047 Fax: (905) 477-2373

Web: http://www.williamberczy.ps.yrdsb.ca

eMail: william.berczy.ps@yrdsb.ca

YRDSB ANNUAL SAFETY WEEK

CAMP MUSKOKA, GRADE 7’S

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