Principal Mr. M. Boccia

Vice-Principal Ms. L. Graham

Superintendent Ms. L. Notten

Trustee

Mr. S. Piccininni 416-512-3403

Parish

Fr. Efren St. Jude Catholic Church

3265 Weston Rd. 416-742-9072

Secretary

Ms. P. Pisani

CSAC Chair Mr. E. D’Alfonso

St. Simon Catholic School 20 Wallasey Ave.

Tel - 416-393-5383

Fax - 416-397-6299

School Hours 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

School website: http://www.tcdsb.org/SCHOOLS/STSIMON School BLOG: http://stsimonschoolblog.blogspot.ca @TWITTER: https://twitter.com/stsimonces

St. Simon Catholic School

To report an absence, please call 416 393-5383 (4:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.)

As St. Simon is an eco-certified school, our newsletter is only available by

email (if you have not yet done so, send your request to Laurienne.Graham

@tcdsb.org) OR online at www.tcdsb.org/schools/stsimon under News. If

you wish to receive a paper copy, please notify your child’s teacher. St.

Jude’s Parish bulletin is also available on our website under News.

Good Friday — Easter Monday, April,18—21,2014.

The Virtue for the month of April is Justice. EDUCATION WEEK—MAY 5—9TH

Love for others, and in the first place love for the poor, in whom the

Church see Christ himself, is made concrete in the promotion of justice. The Hundredth Year, #58, p. 108.

April, with its celebration of Easter, has been assigned the virtue of

JUSTICE. At this time we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus who is the

Just One who died for the sake of the unjust, that He might lead people

back to God. But justice is also an important part of Catholic teaching be-

yond Christ’s Death and Resurrection. The need to do justice comes from

the obligation to respect the dignity of every human person. At St. Simon

School, we will be working towards justice by treating each other with re-

spect, whether or not we are friends or classmates.

ST. SIMON XPRESSIONS NIGHT MAY 8TH AT 7:00 P.M.

As we climb out of a long and cold winter we look forward to new life

breathed into our community. With the subtraction of snow we may add

some green grass and flowers. Looking ahead we can focus on one of the

largest activities of the year. On the evening of May 8th, we will be cele-

brating Catholic Education Week, we will have activities throughout the

week, culminating with our St. Simon Xpressions Night. The evening will

consist of many activities linked to the arts, and every student of St. Si-

mon will contribute to the evening. Each student from kindergarten to

grade eight will create and contribute a visual arts piece. The kindergarten

to grade three students will create visuals using plastercine, while the

grades four to eight will use acrylic paint. Artwork from every student will

be on display. The school band and choir will also perform at different

times throughout the evening. Along with the visual and musical arts, we will

also have the spoken art being highlighted, along with other activities yet

to be decided on. The evening activities will be commencing at 7:00 p.m. and

will run to 8:30 p.m. this will be an opportunity for everyone to simply me-

ander through the school admiring all the art forms on exhibit. Also that

evening we will have a silent auction for the canvas art produced by each

class, these pieces will have the hands of all the students of the particular

class in them. The students are excited to create this evening for our en-

tire community and we all hope to see you there.

Thank you for your support,

Mario Boccia

APRIL

AN EASTER MESSAGE FROM YOUR TRUSTEE As our journey through Lent

comes to an end, we look for-

ward to the most important

celebration in our Catholic

liturgical calendar. The season

of Spring and the celebration

of Easter bring hope and joy in

the promise of new life. In our

Catholic schools, we are

blessed with the opportunity

to witness hope for the future

through the lives of our students who are entrust-

ed to us. We are called to be faithful to the gifts

that we have been given and to renew our commit-

ment to the Gospel values in Catholic education. At

this happiest and holiest time of the year, I wish

you and your families peace and happiness as you

welcome the message of the Risen Lord into your

homes and hearts.

God bless!

Sal Piccininni

JK ONLINE REGISTRATION

(SOAR.tcdsb.org)

Registration for September 2014 began January

8, 2014 and will continue throughout the year.

Placement will be on a first-come first-serve ba-

sis, and only if you have completed the entire reg-

istration process. Parents have access to completing

an online application and booking an appointment with the

school. Parents who do not have computer access will be

assisted by school staff in completing the application.

SOAR will trigger the registration and appointment pro-

cess. Should you require any assistance, please call us.

ADMISSION CRITERIA AND DOCUMENTATION FOR FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN

For September 2014: The following original documents are required upon reg-

istration:

1) Birth Certificate

2) Proof of Catholicity (one of the following):

student’s Catholic baptismal certificate OR

the parent's Catholic baptismal certificate (if child is

not baptised Catholic, one custodial parent residing in the city of Toronto must be) OR a letter of enrol-

ment to the R.C.I.A. programme from a Catholic

parish priest.

3) Passport/Immigration Documents

(if child was not born in Canada)

4) Proof of Address (some examples: Utility

bills, a lease agreement, proof of purchase)

5) Immunization Record

6) Application for Direction of School Support

(ADSS) Form.

MULTI-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN (MYSP) REPORT CARD Since its approval by the Board of Trustees on April

4, 2012, our Multi Year Strategic Plan (MYSP) has

guided the activities of the Toronto Catholic District

School Board. To help us continue the implementation

of the MYSP, monitor its success and to support ef-

forts to develop goals for our next MYSP, all mem-

bers of our community are being invited to complete a

MYSP Report Card. Feedback from this community-

wide engagement process will be compiled into a

single report. Submissions are confidential and will

not be attributed to any one school, group, or in-

dividual. Parents with students in a TCDSB school

were invited to fill out their report cards in Janu-

ary. As an active and important member of the

TCDSB, we are pleased to extend this invitation for

your personal participation. Parents who may not have

already taken advantage of the opportunity to pro-

vide input are also encouraged to do so at this

time. Click on this link to directly access the

MYSP Report Card. The link has been programmed to

receive responses from March 19 to April 11,

2014. Four Town Hall meetings will be held to facili-

tate further staff, student, parental and community

engagement on Monday, March 31st (CEC) and Tues-

day, April 1st (Don Bosco Secondary School).

CONSULTATION ON ADMISSION & PLACEMENT POLICY The Board approved the new draft Admissions and

Placement Policy in principle for the purpose of public

consultation at the February 27, 2014 meeting. The

Board is committed to working with community mem-

bers throughout the process to ensure that their

concerns and aspirations are consistently understood

and considered in decision-making processes. Parents,

staff, students and other stakeholders will be en-

couraged to participate in the comprehensive consul-

tation process, including invitations to a ―Consultation

in the Round‖ to be held at the catholic Education

Centre in late April or early May. Check the board’s

website or your school website for details coming

soon. www.tcdsb.org

CATHOLIC SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL Chair - Mr. E. D’Alfonso

Vice-Chair – Ms. A. Martino

Treasurer – Ms. L. Pullano

Secretary – Ms. M. Heim

Parish Liaison - Ms. A. DiSalvo

Principal – Mr. M. Boccia

Vice-principal- Ms. L. Graham

Members at large - Ms. B. Contento, Ms. B.

Varacalli, Ms. M. Capani, Ms. C. Faulkner, Ms. J.

Fonseca Alvarez, Ms. K. Fowler, Ms. R. Troia,

The next CSAC meeting is Wednesday, April 2nd

at 7:00 p.m. Please join us in the library.

VACATIONS & HOMEWORK

It is Ministry of Education Policy not to assign

homework to students whose parents choose to go

on vacations during the school year.

JUNIOR GIRLS AND BOYS VOLLEYBALL Congratulations to our junior teams that compet-

ed in their divisional tournament. Our boys place

3rd and exhibited great technical skills. Our girls

team played with heart and determination.

Thank you to the coaches, Ms. Arruda, Ms. As-

tudillo (Boys); Ms. De Caria and Ms. Fata (Girls).

Thank you as well to our parent drivers and sup-

porters and our student coaches.

AUTISM AWARENESS DAY—APRIL 2ND Raising a flag for Autism Awareness at each

school. An evening event at the CEC focusing on

―Life Beyond the Classroom Walls‖. http://

www.tcdsb.org/pages/world-autism-awareness-

day.aspx. We will have announcements and a

presentation the week of March 31st.

ECO-RANGERS The City Park Clean-up is April 2nd to April 26th,

2014 http://www.tcdsb.org/Board/environment/

Pages/default.aspx. Our school will be participat-

ing in the 20 minute clean-up around our school

yard. Also, we will be keeping the lights low on

Earth Day—April 22nd.

FOOD ALLERGIES Please note that we have a growing num-

ber of students in our school who have

severe, life threatening, allergies to peanuts and

nuts. This is a medical condition that causes a severe

anaphylactic reaction to specific foods that can be

fatal. Although this may not affect a student in your

child’s class directly, we ask that you DO NOT SEND

ANY PRODUCTS THAT MAY CONTAIN PEANUT

OR NUT PRODUCTS TO SCHOOL, as children can

come into contact with one another elsewhere in the

school. For more on our anaphylaxis protocol go to our

portal and look under For Parents … Safety.

ELECTRONIC DEVICES Please do not allow your children to bring electronic

devices to school unless they have been requested

for educational use. The school cannot be responsible

for students’ electronic equipment. Students may

have their phones on them, for safety reasons, but are

only permitted to use the office telephones during

school hours. If you need to contact your child, please

call the office and we will ensure that they receive any

messages you may need to forward. If a student is

using his/her telephone during school hours, it will

be removed.

E-CURRICULUM CORNER In keeping with our 21C theme of exploring engaging

numeracy and literacy websites, this month’s site is

Funbrain which delivers fun and safe experiences for

even the youngest children. The website is suitable

for K—12 students and has both math and language

games and resources. www.funbrain.com

ME TO WE EASTER FOOD DRIVE Starting on Monday March 31st

through to Friday April 11th, St. Simon

School will be hosting an Easter Food Drive. Donations will help benefit fami-

lies in our community through St. Jude’s Parish St Vin-cent de Paul program. Dried, canned or non-perishable

food items are welcome. Thank you for your continued

support and generosity!

TRUSTEES 2013 - 2014

Wards

1. Peter Jakovcic 5. Maria Rizzo 9. Jo-Ann Davis (Chair) 2. Ann Andrachuk 6. Frank D‘Amico 10. Barbara Poplawski 3. Sal Piccininni 7. John Del Grande 11. Angela Kennedy 4. Patrizia Bottoni 8. Garry Tanuan 12. Nancy Crawford (Vice Chair) William Lawrence, Student Trustee Enrique Olivo, Student Trustee

Angela Gauthier, Director of Education 80 Sheppard Ave. E, Toronto, On. Website: www.tcdsb.org

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

30 31

MYSP Community

Meeting (also on the

1st)

1

HISPANIC

HERITAGE

MONTH

2 Austism Awareness

Day

Autism Awareness

Event (CEC - 6 p.m.)

CSAC Meeting (7p.m.)

3 4 5

6

Fifth Sunday of Lent

SharelLfe Week

Volunteer Apprecia-

tion Week

7

W5H St. Bernard

8

TCDSB Music Festi-

val (Intermediates)

St. Patrick H.S.

9 10

Rosary Day

11

Rosary Making (Gr.

2)

Grad Pictures (SK &

Gr. 8)

12

13

Palm Sunday

14

Dance Workshop

(Gr.1/2 & 3s)

15

Dance Workshop

(Gr. 5/6 & 6s)

16

Dance Workshop—

(JK, SK a.m. & Gr.

2s)

17

Dance Workshop

(Gr. 1s)

Holy Thursday

18

Good Friday

19

Holy Saturday

20

Easter Sunday

21

Easter Monday

22

EARTH DAY

23 24

Dance Workshop

(Gr. 7 & 8)

25

Sibling Photos

Dress down Day—

$1

26

27

Divine Mercy

Sunday

28

Dance Workshop

(Gr. 4)

Blessed John Paul

II Day

29

Downsview Park

(Gr. 2s)

30

Dance Workshop

(Gr. 5 & JK/SK p.m.)

1 2 3

May 5—9 Education

Week; May 8—Open

House—7:00 p.m. St.

Simons Expressions

St. Simon School Year of Hope

APRIL 2014: JUSTICE OCSGE: A Reflective, Creative, and Holistic Thinker: Because I have ideas, I have a purpose and I will live my life like Jesus. CST: Participation and Subsidiarity: It is a fundamental demand of justice and a requirement of human dignity that all people be assured a minimum level of participation in the community.

INTERMEDIATE TRIP TO QUEBEC CITY

St. Simon Catholic School 20 Wallasey Ave., Weston M9M 1E2

Telephone: 416-393-5383 Fax: 416-397-6299

March, 2014

Dear Parent/Guardian,

The TCDSB school year calendar for 2014-2015 was approved by the Board on March 6,

2014.

We are required to align our holidays and Professional Development days with our

co-terminus Board, the Toronto District School Board, in order to offset transportation costs.

A school year calendar must be prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Education, on

or before May 1st of each school year. This is in accordance with the Education Act and O.

Regulation 304, School Year Calendar, Professional Activity Days.

The school year calendar is defined as the period between September 1 and June 30 and

must include a minimum of 194 school days, six (6) of which must be professional development

days.

Number of school days 194

Number of Professional Activity Days 6

Labour Day September 1, 2014

First Instructional Day September 2, 2014

Thanksgiving Day October 13, 2014

Christmas Break December 22, 2014–January 2, 2015

Start of second semester for Secondary Schools February 2, 2015

Family Day February 16, 2015

Mid-Winter Break March 16–20, 2015

Good Friday April 3, 2015

Easter Monday April 6, 2015

Victoria Day May 18, 2015 Last day of classes for elementary students June 25, 2015

Calendar information is posted on the board’s website at www.tcdsb.org.

Yours sincerely,

M. Boccia

Principal