From the Principal

Volume 6, Issue 5

News from St. Sylvester

Principal

Mr. R. Fernandes

Secretary

Mrs. M. Jamjekian

CSPC Chair

Ms. Dias

Pastor

Fr. Steven

January 2020

““And so it begins again. While there is little doubt that September is the official

start of the school year, in so many ways, January represents a new beginning as

well. Unlike September of course, there is none of the gradual process of getting

used to a new class, new routines and new workloads. Rather, January offers the

chance to build on the great learning from the first four months, and to continue

to develop and grow in the areas of faith, academics, and extra curricular skills.

Rather than start the New Year off slowly, we’ll be continuing to grow with

renewed academic focus on areas we have focused on in our school learning plan

(engaging our students in the curriculum); further igniting of our school spirit (our

literacy spirit day is on the way); and centring it all in our Faith.

January is a time when many turn to the popular past time of making New Years

resolutions. Resolutions are always a good thing to make, but as we know, it is the

act of staying resolute or persistent that make new goals a possibility. Our School

Code of Conduct as well as the Catholic Graduate Expectations (both found in

the agenda) are always a good place to centre your goals for your children. God is

inside everyone is the first point on our Code of Conduct and mirrors the theme

of Operation Kindness. We talk about this idea constantly, but continued

reminders are key for this idea to be truly lived. The Catholic Graduate

expectations speak among other things of the need to create effective

communicators and responsible citizens. Please take an extra minute or two to

review both our code of conduct and the Catholic Graduate Expectations with

your child—both are guaranteed good uses of time in the month ahead.

The New Year may bring both excitement at the idea of new possibilities and

apprehension at the thought of how to reach these possibilities. And it is for this

reason that January’s virtue of Courage offers so much comfort as we move

ahead. The words of Jesus provide our strength and guidance as always. “Do not

be afraid, I am with you.” It can be very difficult to remember or to truly

understand the support that God gives us, but it is so clear that He is there. No

matter what challenges, successes, or failures we experience, God is there.

Knowing that He is there may not change the challenges, successes or failures we

endure, but it should definitely change the way we approach these things. With

God’s support we can face the obstacles put before us. Take courage.

And so as we welcome the year 2020 into our lives, we centre ourselves in the idea

that resolutions are something to consider at any time, but it is the staying resolute

that will lead to success. We focus on the School Code of Conduct, and the

Catholic Graduate Expectations. Most importantly, we allow ourselves to be

guided by Christ, our protector and guide. Blessings to you all and may the year

2020 be a time of health, fulfillment and prosperity for us all..

416–393-5373

School Information

School Enrolment

182 students

School Hours

8:30—3:00

Lunch Hour

11:15—12:15

School Parish

St .Aidan Catholic

Church

(416-494-2704)

Home, School, and Church

Page 2 News from St. Sylvester

It starts with communication

A repeat request— St. Sylvester school needs your help.

We are in the process of planning for next year. Numbers are

needed for each class for next year. With that in mind, it’s very

important that we know if your child will NOT be returning to St.

Sylvester next year.

Kindergarten registration is around the corner and we’re look-

ing to keep our numbers strong. Please spread the word about

the vibrant learning community that St. Sylvester is.

Church News

Our school took time during December to really

remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.

One of the ways we did this was by celebrating with

two Advent Circles which was a perfect way to

centre us all in the spirit and meaning of

Christmas—the birth of Jesus.

The Sacrament of First Reconciliation will be taking

place at St. Sylvester in Jan 13 at 12:45 pm

January is Courage month and we encourage everyone

to try and follow the points below. Those who do it best

will become our virtues stars for January

1. Let your actions be guided by the idea that God is

inside everyone .

2. Know that sometimes doing the right thing is very

tough but with courage you CAN do the right thing

3. Stand up respectfully when you see something

wrong that is being done

4. Live your life in a way that makes others know you

are a follower of Christ

Faith and Character Development

December Virtue Stars (Charity)

Ms. Furtado/ Ms. Demarco Elric Amalaraj

Mrs. Anievas Angeline Limbo

Mrs. Povo Zoey Arcilla

Ms. Ironside Rose Roney

Mrs. Severino Jayden Malbog

Ms. Harrietha Alina Lin

Ms. Stoner Ami Lee

Mr. Meli Krizelle Valino

Congratulations to all these students for demonstrating our

Virtue of the month. They have been awarded a certificate

for remembering that God welcomes us all and that we

should try to welcome others as well.

Parent Involvement Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC): www.tcdsb.org/cpic

Parents who take an active, supportive role in their child’s education and school are showing a strong positive exam-

ple to their children. There are several ways to be involved in your child’s education.

Our next CSPC (Parent council) meeting will be on Jan 7th at 5:30 pm. Please remember that you can visit our

website for updated CSPC news and minutes.

Our Parent Council are now starting to get ready for their chocolate sale fundraiser. Thanks to all those who have

and are continuing to work for our students.

Page 3

Kindergarten Registration for September 2020 The Toronto Catholic District School Board invites families with children born in 2016 to register for Kindergarten beginning

Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 10 a.m. EST.

Registration options:

Online: Parents will be able to complete their application online at: https://soar.tcdsb.org/Login.aspx. A follow up with visit to the

school to present the required documents will be scheduled following the online application.

In Person: Parents can register at their local school with the required documents.

Information: 416-222-8282 ext. 5320 or 5314, www.tcdsb.org/kindergartenregistration

Healthy living

There are so many things that contribute to

healthy active living. This month, we’re look-

ing at three.

1. Stay active—Our DPA program aims to

do this with two to three sessions a week

in the gym and one roadrunner day

2. Eat healthy foods—our nutrition program

provides fresh fruit or vegetables each day

3. Get your sleep—please ensure your child

comes to school rested because a rested child is a

healthy child.

Happening at a School Near You

Staffing news

We wish Mrs. Severino all the best as she prepares for her

Maternity leave. Mr. Bernardino will be in the Gr. 3/4

class for the remainder of the year and we are grateful to

have him with us 5 days of the week.

We welcome Ms Christidis who will supply teaching for

Vocal Music until Ms. Dominguez returns.

We also will be welcoming 5 CYW students from Jan to

April in our JK/SK and SK/1 classes

Continuing the Eco Fight!

We continue to try and help change the world one

lunch bag at a time.

Our Eco team’s current goal is a war on packaging.

Think about it. Packaging is excessive, for the most

part horrendous for the environment, and often just

not necessary.

So what do we do next?

We start small and aim big. Our Eco team is

encouraging all parents and students to aim for waste

free snacks. The less packaging, the healthier the

snack generally is. Fruits and vegetables are great

snacks and they can go in Tupperware containers. If

you don’t want fruits and veggies, then go for home

baked goods—again in a Tupperware container. We

understand that some products—chips, chocolate

bars, etc are just going to have poor packaging. At the

minimum, try to reduce your reliance on those

products. Kool aid jammers? Please just don’t buy

them. Take it from me….WATER is the way to go (in

a reusable bottle of course).

And a few other important things

A picture says a thousand words? Keeping the Christ in Christmas was the name of the Primary Christmas play so beauti-fully performed on Dec 18th at St. Sylvester. Thanks to all who were able to make it out.

Thursday, January 16—6:30—7:30 pm

Get ready to be entertained!

St. Sylvester students have already been taught

plenty about environmental awareness. They’ve

also been treated to a performance extra

ordinaire by Alexis from Friendly Fables.

Now it’s time for the parents to have both

experiences as well.

Thanks to a ministry grant for parent engage-

ment, we invite all parents (and kids) for our 6th

annual literacy night event. We will be providing

patties for the first 75 people there (1 per

person). More news in our parent email, but come

out for an evening of learning and fun.

Guaranteed enjoyment on the way.

How you can help your child succeed at school

Our school learning plan this year aims to help our

students improve in their problem solving (math and

every day problems) as well as in their skills of critical

thinking which emphasizes a move from simple facts

to fact analysis.

Facts are important for our general knowledge and it’s

important that we know how to find facts through

reading, research and conversation. That’s step one.

Step two involves digging deeper. What do you do

with those facts? For instance, it’s fine to know what

the recommended hours of sleep are for children (9-

11 hours according to the National Sleep Foundation)

but next would be a look at why it’s important to get

that many hours and what happens to your overall

health and well being when you’re sleep deprived—

lack of focus, possible weight gain, memory loss etc…

The first part (the fact) is the WHAT? The second part

(analysis) is the SO WHAT? Next month, we’ll get into

the NOW WHAT?

Children will succeed best when they know the school

and their parents are working together for their best

holistic education possible.

Charity for those who most need it A sincere thanks to all parents who were able to contribute to either the St. Vincent de Paul Ham-per boxes organized by St. Aidan Church or to Chalice.ca. The St. Sylvester community contrib-uted greatly to families in need. This is such a perfect way to show your children the importance of giving to others and we thank you for your generosity.