Hello Parents,
I am hoping to start the Strong Start program after the holidays.
This program benefits those who need assistance with words, sounds,
and words.
Please consider volunteering in 2024!
Feel free to contact me via email or number.
Thank you
Ms. Kavanagh
December 2023 News at-a-glance
Please continue to watch for Newswire Reminders from the Office or D2L messages in classrooms!
A
Athletics: Intermediate Boys’ Volleyball team finished 3rd in their tournament at St. Benedict SS on November 30th. Congratulations to our boys! Thank you to Mr. Nic and Ms. Walker for coaching!
B
St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School Grade 8 Parent and Student Night is December 7th from 6-7:30 p.m.
C
Catholic School Council will meet Wednesday December 6th at 6:15 p.m. Welcome Mrs. Bogias as our NEW Chair, Mrs. Pendergast and Mrs. Brochu as Assistants to the Chair, Mrs. Sullivan Names-Petra as our Secretary and Mrs. Caddigan as our Treasurer.
Cambridge Firefighter Food Basket Fund: This year marks The Cambridge Firefighters 102nd year of Basket Fund Operations. -Our goal is to provide 400 hamper baskets of nonperishable food for the Cambridge families supported by the Cambridge Fire Fighters. -It will run from November 27th – December 8th and the class with the highest class # of non-perishable items from all of Cambridge schools, wins a pizza party for their class and a tour of the firefighter’s truck.
Christmas Week Activities will be posted separately.
Christmas Concert will be Wednesday December 20th from 12:45 – 3:00 p.m. More information will be sent home. Parents are welcome to attend!
D
Dogs on the yard after hours. Please ‘scoop when your dog poops’ so students aren’t stepping in it!
F
Our Forest is off-limits and ‘out of bounds’ for staff and students for safety reasons.
Faith:
First Holy Communion and Confirmation information letters will be sent home during the month of December from St. Patrick Church. Stay tuned.
G
Poinsettias will arrive at the school on December 11th. They can be picked up at the Office between 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Dec. 11th. Thank you for supporting our Grade 8 students with their will be to raise money for their Mount Mary Retreat.
H
Hot lunches are organized by our Catholic School Council. New vendors are being added, so keep watching for changes. Orders are found on SchoolCash online. Orders need to be in the previous Sunday by 12:00 p.m. Please check weekly to confirm your order.
I
Inclement Weather protocol: A bell will ring at 8:35 p.m. when our supervision starts. STUDENTS SHOULD NOT ARRIVE BEFORE 8:35 A.M. Students will enter at the gym ramp and stay in the gym, supervised until the bell rings at 8:50 a.m.
K
Kernels Popcorn will be starting up again on Dec.1. Orders can be placed until Dec.14 on SchoolCash Online. (Click on Link) Orders will be delivered to classrooms on Dec.15. & Dec. 22. The last day to order will be the week leading up to Christmas break Thursday Dec.21. We have many flavors to choose from based on availability. Each bag costs $3
Do not miss out on this opportunity to support our school. All money raised for popcorn will go towards fun school activities led by student leadership such as: Halloween Dance, Christmas Play Day, and Play Day at the end of the school year.
M
Monthly Themes and Student Recognition has begun. November focus was COMMUNICATION and the Grandfather Teachings theme of HUMILITY. Staff select a student from each class to receive a certificate. December theme explores LEARNING PARTNERSHIPS.
N
Nutrition for Learning is available to all our students every day!
P
Parking Lot Safety! Our parking lot is ONLY for staff, approved transportation vehicles and parents contacting the Office for a specific need. PLEASE find drop off and parking areas safely in the community!
S
Student Leadership Team consists of 25 grade 7 and 8 students. Regular activities are planned for the school community.
Safety Patrollers on our Bus are thanked with a Movie Day December 10th at Landmark Cinema, Boardwalk.
T
Trips with families are common. Please contact the school Office if the student (s) will be away for any period. Please continue to contact the classroom teacher for absences and copy the office to ensure safety.
V
Volunteers will be welcomed back into the school this year. Stay tuned for the opportunities we offer! All volunteers (classroom, drivers, trips etc.) will need a Vulnerable Sector Criminal Record Check. Call the Office for the ‘paperwork’ and procedure to follow.
Mr. J. Schnarr
Principal
Hello St. Margaret Parents / Guardians,
Nutrition for Learning is available to ALL students every day at St. Margaret!
Nutrition for Learning has partnered up with Produce Express and they have together created an amazing fundraising opportunity!
Produce express is a local organization who provides fresh food right to your door
Here is how it works:
Go to https://www.fresherproduce.ca
Once you are finished shopping, use promo code “N4L1123” when you are ready to checkout
5% of each purchase will go back to our Nutrition for Learning program where we will be able to continue purchasing all the wholesome food that is available to all students each day.
Please note that this fundraising opportunity is only available to Cambridge residents as produce express does not yet deliver outside of Cambridge.
All support is appreciated!
If anyone has any questions or needs support with purchasing, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Burns at ryan.burns@wcdsb.ca
Thank you Scotties!!
St. Margaret Families. The links below share supervision on our schoolyard, communication protocols, student expectations etc.
These are reviewed in class regularly and included in our daily announcements!
Snow Safety Plan Highlighting Safety, Student Behaviour and Communication St. Margaret Nov 21 2023
St. Margaret Families:
Bully Awareness and Prevention Week is November 20 -24th, 2023
The focus for the WCDSB Pastoral Plan is to be ‘STRENGTHENED’ to bring Awareness and Healing to Anti-Bullying Efforts.
As a Catholic School this week we will:
-review and model the messages shared by our SAIDAT guest speaker
-participate in classroom activities and discussions to understand what Bullying is and is not
-celebrate student progress though Progress Reports sent home November 20th
-meet parents and talk about goals for improvement in the classroom and socially on Thursday November 23rd
-highlight our monthly theme of ‘Communication’ and Grandfather Teaching of ‘Humility’
-Highlight Safety, Student Behaviour and Communication for St. Margaret students and staff and share with families on Newswire
Progress Reports
Today a letter will be sent with each student reviewing the Progress Report Conferences process. My apology for the short turnaround time.
Progress Reports are sent home Monday November 20th. Conferences for students/parents/teachers are held on Thursday November 23rd.
Please complete one Conference letter for each family ONLY and return it to the school by this Friday November 17th. If you are unable to meet on November 23rd, a phone call or rescheduled time to meet would be appreciated.
A confirmation of meeting time (s) will be sent home with the Progress Report Monday November 20th.
If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to the classroom teacher, or call the office.
Mr. Schnarr
Parents/Guardians,
Starting for the month of November, new vendors have been added including Domino’s Pizza. Tuesday Pizza days will be alternating between Gino’s and Dominos. If you have not purchased pizza for Dominos, please go into the lunchbox orders and check that you have purchased for those specific dates.
If you haven’t signed up for D2L please do! It is a communication tool between the Teacher and Parent as to what is going on in the classroom. Here is a link for a helpful video to help you navigate creating an account and its features.
November 2023 News at-a-glance
Please continue to watch for Newswire Reminders from the Office or D2L messages in classrooms!
A
Athletics: Boys’ Volleyball tryouts for grades 7 and 8 are happening now.
B
Bully Awareness and Prevention Week is Nov. 20th-24th. Stay tuned for more information.
St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School Grade 8 Parent and Student Night is December 7th from 6-7:30 p.m.
C
Catholic School Council met Monday November 6th. Welcome Mrs. Bogias as our NEW Chair, Mrs. Pendergast and Mrs. Brochu as Assistants to the Chair, and Mrs. Sullivan Names-Petra as our Secretary.
We still require a Treasurer. Please contact the Office if you are interested. Meeting dates are the first Wednesday of each month. Our next meeting is December 6th
D
Dogs on the yard after hours. Please ‘scoop when your dog poops’ so students aren’t stepping in it!
F
Our Forest is off-limits and ‘out of bounds’ for staff and students for safety reasons.
Fire Drills were completed, and students evacuate in a very safe and timely manner!
Faith:
-Our Feast Day mass is November 16th at the church. All students will be bussed to St. Patrick Church for 10:00 a.m.
-Grade 4 Bible Celebration is November 14th at 9:15 a.m. in the Learning Commons.
-Christmas Program from St. Vincent DePaul is running again. Families living within the parish boundaries can request Christmas assistance by leaving a message on their voice mail at 519-623-0173 from Nov 1 to Nov 30. A volunteer will return the call and collect the required information. Families will receive a grocery store voucher and Walmart gift cards for children under 18.
G
Grade 8 students are selling Poinsettias to raise money for their Mount Mary Trip. (They have already had the retreat and are now covering the costs due to the early date).
Guest Speaker Saidat presenting on November 15th Grades JK-3 form 9-10 a.m. / Grades 4-8 from 10:30 -11:30 a.m.
H
Hot lunches are organized by our Catholic School Council. New vendors are being added, so keep watching for changes. Orders are found on SchoolCash online. Orders need to be in the previous Sunday by 12:00 p.m.
I
Inclement Weather protocol: A bell will ring at 8:35 p.m. when our supervision starts. Students will enter at the gym ramp and stay in the gym, supervised until the bell rings at 8:50 a.m.
Indigenous Veteran Day was November 8th. Flags were flown at half-mast.
M
Monthly Themes and Student Recognition has begun. For November we focus on them of COMMUNICATION and the Grandfather Teachings theme of Humility.
N
Nutrition for Learning is available to all our students every day!
P
Pegasus Picture retake day Wednesday November 1st.
Parking Lot Safety! Our parking lot is ONLY for staff, approved transportation vehicles and parents contacting the Office for a specific need. PLEASE find drop off and parking areas safely in the community!
PD / Faith Day for WCDSB staff is Monday November 13th– No School for students! Note the correction from our Student Agendas.
Progress Reports will be sent home Monday November 20th Parent/Student/ Teacher Conferences will be scheduled for November 23rd after school. Watch for the schedule forms to be sent home soon.
R
Remembrance Week: Wed. Nov. 8th we welcomed Winslow Taylor from the Canadian Armed Forces to talk to our grade 4to 7 students about the importance of Remembrance Day and Veterans week.
School Remembrance Day Celebration is November 1oth beginning at 10:30 a.m. Please wear RED and Black. Poppies will be distributed. Please consider a small donation for the Galt Legion and Poppy Fund.
S
Student Leadership Team consists of 25 grade 7 and 8 students. Regular activities are planned for the school community.
T
Trips with families are common. Please contact the school Office if the student (s) will be away for any period. Please continue to contact the classroom teacher for absences and copy the office to ensure safety.
Tiny Homes ‘Sheltering Hearts; A Home for Everyone’. We encourage St. Margaret Families to consider donating. This will replace our fundraiser for Monica’s House done in the past.
V
Volunteers will be welcomed back into the school this year. Stay tuned for the opportunities we offer! All volunteers (classroom, drivers, trips etc.) will need a Vulnerable Sector Criminal Record Check. Call the Office for the ‘paperwork’ and procedure to follow.
Mr. J. Schnarr
Principal
Monday November 13th is our WCDSB Faith Day – NO School for students
This is a correction from our student agenda that stated November 14th was the PD Day. Students return to school November 14th.
