Mississauga Secondary School

550 Courtney park Drive West,

Mississauga, Ontario L5W 1L9

IMPORTANT DATES

November 16 PL Day—No School November 22 Awards Assembly School Council Meeting MSU Fall Dance December 6 Arts Night December 12 Early Release **December 24 - January 4 Winter Break ** January 15-16 EQAO Math January 23 Sem. 1 Last day of classes January 24-30 Sem. 1 Exams (Formal)

Dear Parents/Guardians, We have had a terrific and busy start to the school year. Students have been very dedicated to their classes and are busy learning new skills and knowledge through a variety of teaching and learning opportunities.

In September, we welcomed all our new Grade 9s with an

outstanding orientation event, and we walked for Terry Fox in the

community and raised funds for Cancer Research. In October, we

welcomed future Lions with our Grade 8 Open House event, had

an information session for all of our regional choices programs,

welcomed parents for teacher interviews, began our physical

activity sessions and celebrated Halloween with our Red Carpet

Halloween 2.0 event. Thus far in November, we had an impactful

Remembrance Day assembly and our Grade 9s participated in the

Take Your Kids to Work day.

We look forward to celebrating students that have achieved honours standing and special subject award winners for the 2017-2018 academic year at an Awards Assembly on November 22nd. Invitations have been given to students and we hope that parent(s)/guardian(s) will join us for this celebration. This same day, in the evening, our Mississauga Student Union is hosting a fall dance for the entire student body in the café and we encourage all students to attend. I would like to invite parents to join me for our School Council meeting on November 22nd. You will see the list of dates within this newsletter and on our school website.

As students receive their midterm report card, they should be

proud of what they have accomplished thus far and encourage

every student to strive to do their best moving forward. If extra

support is needed, I encourage students to connect with their

teachers, as well as take advantage of MSS Initiative – see details

within this newsletter. Please review this newsletter, discuss its contents with your son or

daughter, and refer to the important dates section for upcoming

events.

Best wishes for continued success as we move into the second term of the semester. Sincerely,

Mrs. G. Woods Principal

November 2018

The MSS Initiative has

been hard at work this past semester providing a work place for independent study, collaboration, peer help and free one-on-one assistance. A reminder that drop in sessions are available in room 211 every Tuesday and Thursday on lunch. Peer tutors can provide specialized help in the areas of Math, English and Science and more. Everyone is welcome!

Terry Fox Fundraiser

Mississauga Secondary School is proud to have hosted

our 14th Annual Terry Fox Walk! Together students and

staff raised $2000 to

support Cancer Research.

Student leaders from

International Club, Art’s

Council, HPP Leadership

classes, Cross Country

Team and PRIDE

organized a great outdoor walk for the entire school with

lots of cheering and

energy from our

Spirit.

Way to go Lions!

Counting on You is an after school program that supports grade 9 & 10 students with literacy (English and French), and numeracy. Classes have begun, and we are very proud to acknowledge the one hundred five students that have registered for this semester’s program, and have made the commitment to attend twice per week. Classes are absolutely free, are taught by staff at Mississauga Secondary School, and snacks are provided for all students. If your son or daughter would like to register for second semester, please have them listen for the announcements in mid-February. A special thank you to our teachers: Ms. Macdonald, Ms. Gibbs, Mr. Stelea, Mr. Nashed, and Mr. Kothari. Your time, effort, and energy are sincerely appreciated.

The Student Census launches this November The Peel District School Board is committed to providing the very best learning environments so that all students can achieve personal excellence. In order to do this, the Peel board will launch its first Student Census this November. The census findings will help the board and our schools to:

better understand student populations and school communities.

identify and eliminate barriers to student success, inclusion and well-being.

establish effective programs and reallocate resources to where they are needed most.

Students in grades 4 to 12 will be invited to complete the Student Census in class during Nov. 19 to 30, 2018. The questionnaire will take approximately one class period to complete, and will include questions that ask students about themselves and their experiences in and outside of school. We want to capture the voices of all students - the more Student Census responses we receive, the more effective the data will be to help inform and improve programming and instruction. That being said, the Student Census is voluntary. If you do not want your child to participate, please return the slip on the bottom of the consent form that went home in October. The Student Census is confidential, but not anonymous. All collected responses will be stored in a secure, confidential database and will only be accessed by authorized Peel board research staff to identify and summarize trends among Peel students. For more information, including translated questionnaires and resources, visit www.peelschools.org/studentcensus

From the Student Services Department… Guidance counsellors are currently preparing students for the 2019-20 course selection process, completing the Individual Pathways Plan tasks on www.myblueprint.ca/peel, and discussing post secondary pathway transition plans. To assist students with the course selection process counsellors will be meeting will all classes in computer labs. A Power Point information presentation will be posted on myBlueprint. Course selection will open on December 3, 2018 and close on January 11, 2019. In preparation for the submission of college and university applications, counsellors are also working closely with grade 12 students to ensure successful navigation through www.ontariocolleges.ca (for college application and program information) and www.ouac.on.ca (for university application and program information). The application deadline for equal consideration is Jan. 16, 2019 for universities and Feb. 1, 2019 for colleges. Guidance resources for students and parents can be found on the MSS website under Student Services and at www.myblueprint.ca/peel.

Physical Activity (P.A.) is Back! Our motto at Mississauga SS is "Be Fit to Learn, Learn to Be Fit". Our Lions have had a blast modelling this motto during P.A. Kick-Off Week. Grade 9 students were provided with the opportunity to try Parkour, a new "sport" through which participants learn to safely jump, land, balance and climb. For the next six weeks, classes will continue to participate in a wide range of fun and engaging activities including Kan Jam, Spike N' Smash and Four square. A great start to the P.A. program for the 2018/2019 school year! Go Lions!

School Council Meetings

We would like to invite parents to attend our School Council meetings. Upcoming dates are: Thursday, November 22, 2018 Thursday, February 7, 2019 Thursday, April 4, 2019 All meetings are in our library and begin at 7:00 p.m. We hope to see you there.

Steps & Dates for the 2018-2019 Immunization Record Review Process

Important dates: First letter mailed to parents: October 22, 2018

Second letter mailed to parents: November 30, 2018 Third (Order of Suspension) mailed to parents: January 17, 2019

Suspension starts: February 7, 2019

Peel Public Health mails letters, immunization records and Orders for Suspension from Attendance at School directly to parents.

Parents/students are to update Peel Public Health directly of any new immunizations that they have received by using one of the following methods:

Online: www.peelregion.ca/immunize Fax: 905-565-0426 or 905-565-0793 (Attn: Immunization Records)

Call: 905-799-7700 (Caledon residents call free of charge 905-584-2216)

This year 38 High Performers are members of our PRIDE. They are elite level athletes and artists involved in hockey, dance, gymnastics figure skating, and soccer, to name a few. All have unique training and rehearsal schedules. Programing is individually determined based on grade level, academic and performance requirements. We are very proud to report that James took a bronze

at the Eastern Canadian Judo Championships in the U18 -73kg category. Peter was recently invited to join Golf Ontario's Team Ontario senior golf team for the 2019 golfing season. Natalie competed at the youth Olympics in Argentina and Jôsi took 4

th place with her ice dance partner at the Challenge Cup competition in Philadelphia. Congratulations to ALL!

If you know someone who might benefit from this program direct them to www.peelschools.org/HighPerformers

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

Eco Lions Environmental Stewardship: Danville Park Tree Planting

Mississauga students had the honour of partnering with the Greater Toronto

Airport Authority and the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority in the brand

new community initiative at Danville Park. Our students were the first PDSB

students to begin the naturalization of this

new community park by planting trees, and

establishing the first step toward an

ongoing partnership between our

International Club and these community

leaders in promoting healthy communities

and environmental stewardship. Go Lions!

Our Health and Wellness programs are in full swing. So far students in our grade 9 and 10 Explore High Skills program have taken part in a breakfast launch and learning skills workshops. They also received certifications in Group Dynamics and Leadership.

Applications are now open for grade 8 students considering this specialized program. Apply at:

www.peelschools.org/ExploreHighSkills

Our Grade 11 and 12 Specialist High Skills Major students had a wonderful time on their overnight field trip to Cedar Glen. The focus was on team building and earning certifications. We also had the pleasure of working with The Get Real Move-ment for an inclusivity workshop. Currently SHSM students are working on preparing for our school wide wellness week at the end of November. All grade 10’s interested in applying to our SHSM program can access the application on our school website. They are due on November 21

st 2018.

MSS Arts Council By: Sania Pannu, President

Every year our student and staff bring lots of excitement to our Red Carpet Halloween event— the ultimate costume contest! This year was no different! We went online for the very first time and the event was a success! We saw a variety of fun, spooky, innovative, and well-engineered costumes from the MSS community! Through a public poll on twitter, three winners were chosen. Congratula-tions goes out to….1st Place: Mr. Byrne & Mr. Dykowytsch 2nd Place: Divya Patel 3rd Place: Meighan Toney-McGaw & Rachel Kissoon! Check out all the costumes at #RedCarpetHalloween2.0

@ArtsProgramMSS @MssArtsCouncil

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