Friday 29 September 2017

Thank-you!

In Terry's words....
“The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me.
But I soon realized that that would only be half my quest, for as I went through the 16 months of the physically and emotionally draining ordeal of chemotherapy, I was rudely awakened by the feelings that surrounded and coursed through the cancer clinic. There were faces with the brave smiles, and the ones who had given up smiling. There were feelings of hopeful denial, and the feelings of despair.
My quest would not be a selfish one. I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist, even though I would be set free from mine. Somewhere the hurting must stop… and I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause.
From the beginning the going was extremely difficult, and I was facing chronic ailments foreign to runners with two legs in addition to the common physical strains felt by all dedicated athletes.
But these problems are now behind me, as I have either out-persisted or learned to deal with them. I feel strong not only physically, but more important, emotionally. Soon I will be adding one full mile a week, and coupled with weight training I have been doing, by next April I will be ready to achieve something that for me was once only a distant dream reserved for the world of miracles – to run across Canada to raise money for the fight against cancer.
The running I can do, even if I have to crawl every last mile.
We need your help. The people in cancer clinics all over the world need people who believe in miracles."
Thank-you to our community for helping to support Terry's cause. Together we raised $370.00 to donate.
Together we learn.
Together we succeed.
Together we are.

JLPS Pride

Thank-you to all our students and staff who once again demonstrated their commitment to supporting causes that draw attention to social justice.  Today our students and staff recognized the resiliency and bravery of Residential School Survivors by wearing orange.




Thursday 28 September 2017

Grade 8 Information

 To our Parents/Guardians of our Grade 8 students, Please find below of list of important dates for you to be aware of:

Bill Crothers Secondary School, 44 Main Street, Unionville, Ontario.

Thursday October 12th, 2017 – Students in the West and Central area of Region
 Information sessions will be from 7:00 – 8:30 pm in the school cafeteria and/or Gym                                                 
 Applications will be available from the Bill Crothers school website:  Friday, October 13th, 2017
Applications are due:  Friday, November 3rd, 2017

Tommy Douglas Secondary School
October 4th- Parent Engagement Evening, 7-8:30pm
November 1st- Grade 8 Transition Day for students during the day
November 22nd- Grade 8 Open House 7-8:30pm June 6th- Life Beyond Grade 8

Maple High School
IB INFORMATION NIGHT
October 17, 2017

Current Grade 8 students and families interested in the Programme are invited to attend an information session at the school offering the IB Programme in their area.  During each session, information about the Programme and the application process will be shared. 


Maple High School
@ 6:30 p.m.



Friday 22 September 2017

Orange Shirt Day

September 29 is Orange Shirt Day!
The Orange Shirt Day movement started in 2013 to highlight the pain and suffering of thousands of Indigenous children who were sent to residential school throughout the last century. The colour of the shirt is connected to the experience of Phyllis Webstad who was sent to Cariboo Residential School near Williams Lake, BC, in 1973.

Six-years old at the time, Phyllis went to her first day of school wearing a new bright orange shirt. New clothes were a rare thing for the young girl, who was being raised by her grandmother. However, upon arriving at the school, the nuns stripped her of the shirt, forcing her to wear the school’s institutional uniform.

Webstad has felt the impact of that event long after it occurred, “that feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years. Even now, when I know nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter.”

The shirt has since gone on to become a symbol of a national movement that recognizes the suffering of Indigenous children at residential schools across the country and to show a renewed commitment to ensure that every child matters.

At JLPS we will be recognizing the resiliency and bravery of Residential School Survivors by wearing orange on September 29th. Please help your child support our efforts, while also earning a point for their house team.

Re-Organization 2017-18

Dear Parents/Guardians:
Re: Re-organization of Grade 1 to Grade 8 Classes
Welcome back to another exciting year!
Each year we monitor, on a regular basis, the change that takes place between June and September in our school’s enrolment in order to make the most effective classroom organizations to meet the learning needs of all of our students.  We are happy to welcome many new families to our community for the 2017-18 school year. As the Johnny Lombardi community grows, changes become necessary to our class organizations. We have been allocated additional staffing in order to help accommodate this increase in population due primarily to house closings.  This has made it necessary to move students into classes to abide by the requirements mandated by the Ministry of Education and are necessary to meet provincial class size requirements.
 
Staff are committed to a successful school year for each and every student at our school. Decisions are made for many reasons including meeting provincial requirements, supporting students with identified needs and balancing classes so students are learning in the best environment possible. We have tried to keep the movement to a minimum but this year a full grade 1 to 8 school organization was necessary. We understand that change can be difficult, rest assured that in all of our classrooms, our teachers differentiate the instruction, assessment, and expectations based on each student’s individual strengths, needs and interests in order to program and deliver the Ontario Curriculum. Thank you for your ongoing support and understanding.
All Students from grade 1 to 8 received a letter today confirming their teacher. Some students have remained in the same class and some have moved. Please review this information with your child so that we may begin on Tuesday, September 25 with students in their confirmed homerooms.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Rita Angellotti
Principal


Thursday 21 September 2017

Support our Litterless Lunches!

In our province, we generate more than 400,000 tonnes of waste per year – that’s 2.2 kilograms per person, per day!  We can avoid much of this waste by reducing, reusing and recycling.
The JLPS Eco-Team has kicked off our first initiative-LITTERLESS LUNCHES!
Students are asked to bring a lunch that has no waste.    
A waste-free lunch may include:
  • Reusable lunch bag/box
  • Reusable sandwich container
  • Reusable drink container
  • Reusable containers (for veggies, yogurt, snacks)
  • Reusable cutlery
  • A cloth napkin
  • Whole fruit
A waste-free lunch does not include:
  • A paper or plastic lunch bag
  • Sandwich baggies
  • Individually wrapped lunches and snacks
  • Disposable cutlery
  • Paper napkins
Packing a waste-free lunch for your child not only helps cut down on the amount of waste we generate, it also helps children learn about the importance of making the 3Rs a part of their daily routine.
Thank you for your support,
The JLPS Eco Team

Monday 18 September 2017

Operation Smile

A heartfelt thank-you to our school community for their generous donation to our Operation Smile Charity drive. Together as a school we helped to raise  from donations and our school store $820.00. These funds will be used to support the operation of 4 children in the world.
Thank-you for helping to make 4 children's lives easier and to help them smile.
Way to go Lightning!

Terry Fox Walk

All members from our community are welcome to join us for our annual Terry Fox Walk on Thursday, September 28 from 1:00-1:45 pm.

The routes are as follows:

Grades 1-4 - Stanton to Ironside, Ironside to Chatfield, Chatfield to Lawford, Lawford back to the school.

Grades 5-8 - Lawford to Chatfield, Chatfield to Ironside, Ironside to Stanton, Stanton back to school.

Please continue to support this very worthwhile cause by sending in a $2.00 donation with your child that we will donate to the Canadian Terry Fox Campaign.



Help us build our Library!

We're so excited to announce that once again we will be taking part in the 2017 Adopt a School program, which starts this Saturday!

From September 16 to October 8, we will encourage our school community to help transform our school library.

JLPS will receive:
  • Every dollar raised in-store and online to support our students and school library
  • Eligibility for a match of up to $1,200 from the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation
  • 30% off books at Indigo, Chapters and Coles when using program donations
Starting this Saturday, community members can visit the Adopt a School website and support our school through the Book Bonus, the Tell a Story, Give a Story matching program and the Adopt a School Story contest!

Book Bonus:
For every two books donated online to our school, the Love of Reading Foundation will donate an bonus book to our school, up to 100 books!*

NEW! Adopt a School Story Contest
The five most-loved stories in each province will be entered into a random draw for a chance to win* a grand prize of a $2,500 Indigo eGiftcard to purchase books!  The remaining four top “hearted” schools in each province will win a $500 Indigo eGiftcard to purchase books.  
Tell a Story, Give a Story
Every time an approved story is posted to our school’s Adopt a School profile, the Love of Reading Foundation will donate a book to our school, up to 20 books!*
 
NEW! Books for Updates
Love of Reading will donate one book to our school every time you make one of the profile updates outlined on our school’s dashboard!*


* The Love of Reading Foundation values a book at $10.To learn more, see their  Program Overview and Contest Details pages.
For additional program information, visit their Frequently Asked Questions page.

On behalf of the staff and students at JLPS, we thank-you for helping us to build our Library.

Tuesday 12 September 2017

International Dot Day

Friday, September 15 is International Dot Day. This day encourages everyone to show their creativity. It began when a teacher  introduced his class to Peter H. Reynolds’s book The Dot on September 15, 2009 and is a day that celebrates creativity, bravery and self expression.
‘The Dot’ is a story about an art teacher who inspires a student who believes they can’t draw on a journey of self discovery, creativity, and eventually inspiring others, starting with a simple dot on a piece of paper.
AT JLPS we are asking students to find something with dots and wear it to school.  Teachers will be encouraging students to celebrate their creativity through writing, drama, music or art. All students can earn a point for their House Colour Team.

Friday 8 September 2017

Johnny Lombardi PS Cares

Today, JLPS kicked off our very first charitable campaign. Sasha Lombardi, granddaughter of our namesake Johnny Lombardi, shared her commitment for working with the organization Operation Smile. As a school we have decided to support this work. & President

Operation Smile was founded in 1982 when Dr. William P. Magee, Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen, a nurse and clinical social worker, traveled to the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers to repair children's cleft lips and cleft palates.
What they found was overwhelming. "People pushed their babies at us." recalls Kathy. "They tugged at our sleeves with tears in their eyes and begged us to help their children." In Naga City, approximately 300 families arrived hoping their children would receive surgery, but the team could only treat 40 children. As they prepared to leave, the Magees made a promise they would return to help more children. Operation Smile was born.

Today hundreds of children are helped each year. Funds raised help to support children's operations and the training of staff to perform these surgeries.

From Monday, September 11 to 15, students are asked to bring in $2.00 to show their support. Our school store will be opened and all monies raised during this week will go towards this also.

On behalf of the staff of JLPS we thank-you for your ongoing support as we continue to foster with our students how one small act of kindness can make the difference to so many.

Thursday 7 September 2017

Johnny Lombardi Homework Club



Homework Club is now open!
We are happy to announce that we will be providing for students in grades 4 to 8 an after school Homework Club.  From 2:30- 3:00pm each day, students who have homework can come to the school library where staff will be available to support students with their homework. This is on a voluntary basis, unless teachers recommend that students should attend. In these incidents teachers will be contacting parents/guardians directly. Students come as they need the service; they do not have to come everyday.

The expectation is that students must be working on homework. If they do not have homework they will be sent home. Students will not be coming to these sessions to be with their friends or for us to provide after school care. At 3:05pm students will be dismissed as they would have at 2:30pm.  Students must make their own arrangements to get home.  If parents are picking up their children, please wait at the front doors, where students will come out. It is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to know where their child is after 2:30pm dismissal. We will not be keeping track and informing parents if their child does or does not come to Homework Club unless the recommendation and agreement to attend Homework club has been made between teacher and parent.


If you have additional questions, please contact your child’s teacher

Wednesday 6 September 2017

School Council Nomination Form

Each student received a School Start Up Package. Please complete all forms and return them to your child's homeroom teacher as soon as possible or by Friday, September 15.

I would like to draw your attention to the blue School Council Candidate Nomination Form. If this is something you are interested in being considered for, please return the completed form. Elections will take place at our first School Council Meeting on Thursday, September 28th at 7:00pm.

Thank-you for completing all forms and returning them to the school.

Tuesday 5 September 2017

First Day!

A warm welcome to all families who joined us today on our first day of school. Our Year 1 Kindergarten students came for part of the day and will be here for a full day starting on Wednesday, September 6. We have had an increase in enrollment over the summer as our community grows. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and if we need to reorganize in order to meet Ministry Guidelines we will inform our community.

I was able to meet quite a few of you today, but if I missed you I hope to connect with you this week.

Thank-you for beginning this year with us, it is going to be another amazing year!






Friday 1 September 2017

Letter from our Trustee

As we begin the 2017-2018 school year, I want to take this opportunity to welcome all of our new and returning students and families. This is an exciting time of year and I hope you are starting this new school year as trustees are - with optimism and a commitment to working together to continue advancing student achievement and well-being.

An important part of that commitment is working together with staff members, families and communities to ensure our schools provide an environment that is safe, welcoming and inclusive. This takes on increasing importance given recent local and global events. We take pride in the diversity of our communities and will continue striving to uphold the values of equity and inclusivity in our system.

Trustees have had a busy summer, welcoming our new Human Rights Commissioner and beginning the process for selecting a new Director of Education as we continue to move forward implementing the Minister’s Directions.  

An important part of the director selection process includes collecting input from students, staff, families and community members - input that will be used to shape the job description, interview questions and more. I encourage everyone to share their thoughts through the survey available in September. We will continue to keep you updated as this work progresses.

Our schools are stronger when we work in collaboration with families and communities. Partnerships with parents and families are essential to achieving the goals we have for our students, and I hope that you will find opportunities to get engaged with the school and your child’s learning this year.  


I wish you all the best for the upcoming school year. 

Linda Aversa