Principal’s Message As the summer approaches and the 2016-2017 school year comes

to an end, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you on behalf of the entire staff for your ongoing support and commitment to the values and goals of Catholic Education. Each of us are called to work together as a community and each of us has a vital role to play. Please make a special effort to become involved with our Catholic School Parent Council (CSPC) during the next school year. A special thank you to all of those parents who have been actively involved in the CSPC and the committees needed to make great things happen at the school. All our Pizza Days are run by CSPC volunteers with proceeds going towards vari-ous worthwhile endeavours for the students of our school. I would like to thank the many wonderful parent volunteers who support and assist with so many of the initiatives that took place this year – Pizza Days, CSPC Christ-mas Party, Proudly Pinoy etc. A special note of appreciation to the CSPC executive: Ms. DaSilva, Ms. Gueverra (Co-chairs), Ms. Mitchell (Treasurer) Ms. Cortez (Recorder) and Mr. Sinclair as our Community Representative. Thank you to all the parents who worked so hard to make this year a posi-tive and productive one. How blessed we are at St. Margaret.

I would like to personally thank Father Andy and Father Noel for their spiritual guidance and involvement with our students. We are blessed to have such a rewarding relationship with the parish.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank teachers who will be moving on in their careers. Ms. Figredo and Ms. Ceolin will be retiring at the end of this academic year after many years of service in the SMS Com-munity. Mr. Rasquinha, Ms. Gutierrez-Ruiz and Mr. Dodsley’s long term assignments will conclude at the end of this year. The staff gave freely of their time and shared their talents to the benefit of our students. They will be missed. We would like to wish them success in their future endeavours as they enter new chapters in their lives. The next few weeks promise to be very busy as we work to have everything in place for the upcoming year. As the school year draws to a close we ask God to bless our staff, stu-dents and their families and take good care of them over the summer months. What a pleasure it has been to have served the St. Margaret com-munity. Have a safe and restful summer and may God bless you all! L. Warburton S. Ranalli Principal Vice-Principal Consultation with regard to St. Margaret Building All Parents/Guardians are invited to a Parent Community Consultation on Tuesday June 13 at 6:30pm at the Carmichael campus. Trustee Rizzo will be in attendance. We hope you can attend, ask questions and hopefully understand more about the future of St. Margaret School. Intermediate Performance at CEC On May 1st, eleven grade 8 students performed at the TCDSB Awards Night in Recognition of Outstanding Achievement. It was an exciting evening as we per-formed for the Director of Education, Trustees, Senior staff and parents. We performed solos on our flutes, baritones, altosax, trumpets and trom-bone. Our performance was very well received. We are thankful for this opportunity and to Mr. Russo for his dedication! (Abigail, Gr. 8 Ms. Pu-rificati)

JUNE 2017

St. Margaret Catholic School News

Principal: L. Warburton Vice Principal: S. Ranalli

Secretary : V. Picillo Secretary : M. Barbara

CSPC Co-Chairs: J. Guevarra & A. Da Silva

Superintendant: P. Aguiar 416-222-8282 Ext. 2267

Trustee: M. Rizzo

416-512-3405

Parish: St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church 416-485-7781

Pastor: Fr. Andy

TORONTO CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOLBOARD

TRUSTEES 2015-2016 Wards 1. Joseph Martino 416-512-3401

2. Ann Andrachuk 416-512-3402

3. Sal Piccininni, 416-512-3403

4. Patrizia Bottoni 416-512-3404

5. Maria Rizzo 416-512-3405 6. Frank D’Amico, 416-512-3406 Vice Chair 7. Michael Del Grande 416-512-3407 8. Gary Tanuan 416-512-3408

9. Jo-Ann Davis 416-512-3409

10. Barbara Poplawski 416-512-3410

11. Angela Kennedy, 416-512-3411

Chair 12. Nancy Crawford, 416-512-3412 13. Karina Dubrovskaya, 416-512-3417 Student Trustee 14. Allison Gacad, 416-512-3413 Student Trustee

St. Margaret Catholic School

85 Carmichael Avenue Toronto, On M5M 2X1

416-393-5249 x 0 50 Ameer Avenue

Toronto, On M6A 2L3 416-393-5249 x 3

Athletics Update The students and coaches worked diligently in preparing for this year’s Track and Field Tournaments. The student athletes are to be com-mended for their excellent performance, sportsmanship and school spirit. Despite some of our challenges, St. Margaret ended up placing second in their division. We had several students who represented SMS at both the regional tournament and city finals. Thank you to all the coaches: Mr. Belmonte, Ms. Defina, Mr. Saulle, Ms. Simone, Ms. Boulos, Mr. Stocker, Mr. Labate, Ms. Fernandez, Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Marchetta. A special thanks to Mme. Harper for supervising the students eating their lunch after practice. We couldn’t have done it without you! We wish our boys and girls soccer teams success at the upcoming tournaments. School Mass Please join us on Wednesday, June 21st, at 9:45 a.m. for our year-end mass at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish. Grade 8 Graduation The graduates will participate in many activities starting with the year end excursion to Niagara Falls on Friday June 16th. The awards and diploma ceremony will begin at 6:00 pm on Thursday, June 22nd fol-lowed by refreshments in the church hall. Thanks to CSPC for paying for all of the awards and subsidizing these activities. Parents are re-minded to return the ‘Attendance Form’ back to school by Wednes-day, June 14th to ensure the safety of our students and proper attend-ance recording after Graduation. SK Graduation The senior kindergarten graduation will take place on Wednesday June 21st 1:00 pm. We will be honour ing our SKs as they move on from the kindergarten ranks to Grade One. Thanks to our Kindergar-ten staff and Ms. Cumine who are working hard to prepare a memora-ble celebration. Parents are reminded that this momentous celebration is restricted to moms and dads only (two seats per child—your cooper-ation is appreciated). Play Day Our Annual Year-End Play Day will take place on Monday, June 26th beginning at about 9:00 am. Students in grade seven will be our sta-tion leaders and our grade 6s will captain the teams. All students from grades 1 to 6 will be placed on teams as they collaboratively partici-pate in a variety of activities. We hope the weather cooperates for this important school spirit event. All students will be treated to an ice cream cone at the rest station. Thanks to our committee for all of their support— Mr. Belmonte, Ms. Fernandez, Ms. Egizii and Ms. Boulos. Royal Ontario Museum On Friday May 12, 2017 my class went on a trip to the Royal On-tario Museum to begin our studies for the ancient civilization unit. While we were there, we saw historical artifacts from different time periods including armour and swords. During our time with Jacques, we went into a lab, sat down by a table, put on white gloves and we actually got to touch Medieval objects. The most interesting artifact was the wooden altar relic because it showed us pictures that were important stories from the Holy Bible in wood. In the afternoon, my group went to the discovery gallery, dinosaur exhibit, Roman exhibit and the bat exhibit. It was a great trip! (Ysabelle, Gr.4 Ms. O’Malley) May Rosary Celebration On May 18th, our class performed a play called “Our Lady of Fatima.” During the play Mary appeared to 3 children beside a small oak tree with a flash of light. Everyone gathered around Mary praying and singing. After they prayed all the sick people in the world were cured. After the play, we recited the Rosary and 3 students helped crown Mary. (Maeko, Gr. 2 Mr. Labate)

Year End Reminders All lost and found items will be displayed during the last week in June. Please have a look or remind your children if you are missing any articles of clothing or personal belongings. All left over items will be donated after June 29th. On Wednesday, June 28h, students are asked to bring plastic bags to school in order to clean out their desks and take all their personal belongings home. School materials will be collected by teachers during the month of June. If students cannot locate these items or return them in poor condition, they will be responsible for the replace-ment costs. As you do your spring cleaning, please look for any lost books, and even if they are from previous years, return them to school.

Music Celebrations Mr. Russo and the Intermediate Band will be performing their annual ‘Celebration of Music’ concert on Wednesday June 14th at 7:00 pm in the Beatr ice Cafetor ium. All inter mediate parents are invited to attend this performance and witness the outstanding musical talents of our band. Me-to-We

We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to the SMS Com-munity for their ongoing support of our initiatives. Through your generous support we were able to donate $1200.00 to meet our Global Goal for India and it’s health programs. Thanks to Ms. Carlucci for her ongoing efforts to engage our student body in opportunities for Leadership. Kudos to our many student leaders that led these initiatives. We look forward to continuing our efforts to become “Agents of Change—as we move from a Me-to-We Socie-ty.” Samsung Solve Tomorrow Challenge We are so excited to be named as one of the 150 regional-finalists for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Challenge! Thank you to Ms. Virgilio and the grade 6 and 7 students who worked on a real-world project to help us better our school and community. This initiative is inspiring them and getting them closer than ever to STEM subjects. We’re hoping to win up to $20,000 in Samsung tech for our classrooms! Congratulations to Ms. Virgilio and her team! Camp Olympia From May 10th to May 12th Ms. Boulos’ class went to Camp Olympia in Muskoka. We had an experience that we will never forget! We learned leadership skills and met students from other schools. We did many exciting activities: rock climbing, zip lining and high ropes This camp experience inspired us to be leaders in our everyday lives. (Camila and Hannah Gr.7, Ms. Boulos)

Summer Safety As the summer holidays are just around the corner, many stu-dents may be spending more time in front of their computers surfing the Internet for information or chatting online with friends. We would encourage all parents/guardians to remain vigilant and to monitor the online activities of their children. While at school, students adhere to the Board’s Acceptable Use Policy, and online activities are strictly monitored. Internet safe-ty is discussed with the students at age-appropriate levels at vari-ous times during the school year. Parents are also encouraged to review safety and security rules with their children and remind them of the expectations for safe play, school yard safety, and outdoor safety during the summer weather. September 2017 When school re-opens on September 5th, a tentative class and grade organization will be in place. Changes in the month of September can occur due to unexpected enrolment shifts over the summer months. It is the responsibility of the principal to ensure that various needs and abilities are taken into consideration when changes are made. Children will be tentatively assigned to a classroom for September. In the coming weeks staff will be working cooperatively to organize students in classes. Appropri-ate placement is based on educational factors which will benefit all children in all classes. Our goal is to establish balanced clas-ses with effective working groups which are educationally sound. If you are moving over the summer or going on a vacation that extends past September 5th, 2017 please inform the school. Proudly Pinoy On May 13th, St. Margaret School hosted Proudly Pinoy. It was a wonderful event! I attended the event with my family and we took part in workshops learning more about the Filipino culture. We enjoyed watching many performances from our students and other Filipino organizations. The Filipino food was yummy too! What a great event! (Jaedine, Gr.3 Mrs. Colanto-nio) Track and Field Cities Gold Medal Winner On Wednesday May 24th, I attended the Track and Field City Finals at Varsity Stadium to compete in the grade 6 200metre dash. I was the only student to attend from St. Margaret School. I attended the event with my parents. I was nervous before the

race because I really wanted to come in first. We were 8 competitors in total. I was in sixth place in the beginning of the race but when I turned the bend I was in the lead. The second place finisher asked if I was even human. I was so very proud of myself and could not be-lieve I won the gold medal! (Adrian, Gr.6 Ms. Britto)

Family Math and Science Night On Tuesday May 2nd, I attended Family Math and Science Night with my father. We had a wonderful time! We meas-ured our arm and compared the size to other parts of the body. We did a chemistry experiment mixing different in-gredients to form a reaction. We also used cups, blocks and popsicle sticks to build a giant tower. My tower was trian-gle shaped using cups, blocks and popsicle sticks. I had fun learning Math and Science with my dad! (Seth, Gr. 2 Mrs. Badali)

Woodbine Music Festival On May 4th, the St. Margaret School choir went to the Woodbine Music Festival. We were a group of mostly grade 3 and 4 students. We watched other schools perform songs and some played instruments. Our choir sang 3 songs: “This Land is Your Land”, “Alleluia” and “Let Me Love You”. They loved our singing and they showed their appreciation with their applause. Thanks to our many parent volunteers! We had a great day! (Sienna Y., Gr.4 Ms. O’Malley) First Holy Communion On Sunday May 7th, St. Margaret students received the sac-rament of First Holy Communion. It was a special day! We were all excited to receive Jesus! We all looked great too! We ended the mass having all students gather to sing “His Banner Over Me is Love.” We thank Father Noel and our teachers for preparing us for this sacrament. (Tristan, Gr.2 Ms. Farelli) Rhythm Works Dance Workshops The grade 1-4 students enjoyed these dance workshops throughout the month of May. Students were chosen to play the drum and students repeated the rhythm. We had fun drumming and dancing. (Angelina, Gr.2 Ms. Badali)

FROM THE BOARD Course options and registration info for secondary school students: https://www.tcdsb.org/ProgramsServices/ContinuingEducation/SecondaryCreditCourses/SummerSchool/Pages/Default.aspx Information about Reach Ahead Credits and Summer Enrichment Camps for elementary students: https://www.tcdsb.org/ProgramsServices/ContinuingEducation/SecondaryCreditCourses/SummerSchool/elementaryss/Pages/default.aspx School Cashless Online Payment Coming to all TCDSB Schools The Board of Trustees have approved the implementation of new system for cashless online payment of school-related activities, goods and services across the TCDSB. Once the program is fully implemented by February 2108, all parents, staff and students will have the option to make secure payments online by credit card and receive a receipt. The new online payment system provides the following benefits: • A convenient fee payment option that saves time • Reduces paper • Student safety - no more need to send cash or cheques to school • A quick and easy way to register. (It takes less than 5 minutes) The Board is currently “Beta testing” the new cashless online pay-ment application in selected TCDSB schools. More details and in-formation regarding when the payment system will be introduced in our school will be provided to parents as soon as it is available. Year of the Parish Capping off the Year of the Parish, and Catholic Education Week, the Toronto Catholic District School celebrated Parish Family Day on Friday, May 5th. This culminating celebration featured a Mass of celebration, and a showcase of student artwork, written work (poetry and stories), original music and video tributes that spoke to the special bonds that have developed between our school commu-nities and their parishes, pastors, sisters and others in their parish community. To see all the wonderful submissions from our schools, see https://www.tcdsb.org/Board/NurturingOurCatholicCommunity/YearoftheParish/PFDShowcaseSubmissions/Pages/default.aspx

The event truly brought to life our pastoral plan--Together With One Voice--Family, Parish and School. Throughout the year, we have seen the collaboration among our schools and our parishes, and witnessed many examples of partnership, celebration, outreach and involvement. To see photos from the celebration, click here: https://www.tcdsb.org/Board/NurturingOurCatholicCommunity/YearoftheParish/Pages/Parish-Family-Day-Celebration.aspx. The Board now looks forward to bringing together the Family, Par-ish and School as we launch the Year of the School starting September 2017, and we continue to build on the solid founda-tion that we have succeeded in creating together. http://archive.isiglobal.ca/vod/tcdsb/Board/NOCC/archive_TRAILER_Year-of-School-Animation.mp4.html 2017 Canada Day Celebrations With the celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, this Canada Day is truly extra special. As we have done in the past, schools are encour-aged to celebrate Canada Day a few days early by joining in our red

and white white spirit day on June 29th, and gathering as a school community to sing the national anthem together at 9:30 a.m.

TCDSB is in the process of creating a commemorative CD featuring 10 renditions of our national anthem as performed by TCDSB students. To view the more than 50 submissions from schools across the board, see: https://www.tcdsb.org/affiliates/Canada150/VideoContent/Pages/Music-Video-Submissions.aspx Students who have an artistic flair are invited to consider submitting a CD cover design by no later than June 16, 2017. Get all the details online here: https://www.tcdsb.org/affiliates/Canada150/VideoContent/Pages/CD-Cover-Design.aspx Secondary School Admissions Policy Changes Thank you to everyone who participate in the consultation regarding the proposed changes to the high school admissions policy. The online survey has now closed. A report will go before the Board in June 2017. Know Anyone Seeking Employment with TCDSB? The Toronto Catholic District School Board is currently hiring for secre-tarial and custodial positions. For more information regarding hiring procedures, please refer to the following link: http://www.tcdsb.org/Careers/Pages/Jobs.aspx Interested in Parent Involvement? Want to Help Others Become More Engaged in Catholic Education? The Toronto Catholic Parent Involvement Committee is a provincially mandated and funded committee, which supports student achievement through increased parent involvement. Members of CPIC work locally within their own wards, and also provide information and advice on par-ent engagement to the school board. The committee strategizes and plans initiatives and events that promote and facilitate parent engagement, and helps parents to support their children’s learning at home and/or at school. Toronto CPIC members are volunteer parents/guardians, who bring forward information and ideas from their own wards, and relay important decisions and important information from the central table back to the parents in their area. If this sounds of interest, consider running for election in the fall of 2017. Don’t have the time to serve on a committee? Consider nominating some-one for the committee, and remember to come out and vote for your CPIC representative. Visit www.tcdsb.org soon for detailed election infor-mation. June is…

National Indigenous Month https://www.tcdsb.org/FORCOMMUNITY/HeritageCelebration/NationalIndigenousMonth/Pages/default.aspx

Italian Canadian Heritage Month https://www.tcdsb.org/FORCOMMUNITY/HeritageCelebration/ItalianCanadianHeritage/Pages/default.aspx

Portuguese Canadian Heritage Month https://www.tcdsb.org/FORCOMMUNITY/HeritageCelebration/PortugueseCanadianHeritage/Pages/default.aspx

Other Important Dates:

June 4th—Pentecost June 5th-9th—TCDSB Indigenous Education Week June 9th—PA day for all elementary schools June 17th—Faith in Our Child Event at St. Timothy Parish June 19—Sickle Cell Awareness Day June 30th is a PA day for all elementary schools. Last day of classes

is June 29th. July 1st—Canada Day—Happy 150th Canada! July 4th—Summer School Begins July 28-30—Steubenville Toronto

Get all the latest news and information:

Visit the Board’s website www.tcdsb.org Subscribe to ENews to receive updates via email every week https://

web1.tcdsb.org/InterestSubscription/subscription.aspx Or Follow @TCDSB on twitter to get updates throughout the day