- Construction starting
- World Changers' campaign
- French Scholastic Book Fair
- Island School Trip
- Assemblies: Power of One, UPOWER Concerts, Q-MACK
- Character trait for March: Honesty
- Character development: A partnership with families
- Other items: Lost & found, Lunchtime routines, Neighbours and ball retrieval, Anaphylaxis, Lockdown procedures, High water levels
- Important safety reminders
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Construction at Brown to accommodate the increased space needs due to Full-Day Kindergarten is starting very soon. We do not have the full details of when it will start or how it will impact the physical space at Brown, but we will learn those details shortly and will send an email to all parents and guardians with specific information. Please watch out for this important message which will come in the next few weeks.
Our World Changers organized a wonderful WE ARE LOVE campaign in February to raise money for Free The Children. These LOVE pins/buttons were distributed on Valentine’s Day and we thank all of our students and parents for helping raise funds and most importantly, awareness. In this day and age, it is important for all of us to help families around the world to have safe sources of drinking water. We are also helping build schools to allow all children to have access to education around the world. Great thanks to our teachers Mme Breslin and Mme Sulymko for their fine efforts in organizing the campaign, and to our students, staff and all of our parents who volunteered their time for this great cause.
French Scholastic Book Fair
The French Scholastic Book Fair was an incredible success again this year. Thanks to Mme Gagnon and our student and parent volunteers for their help throughout that week. $3,000 worth of books was purchased with a $1,500 return to our school to purchase books for our classroom libraries and school library. We thank everyone for their continued support.
Island School Trip
Our grade 5 and 6 students had a great time at the Island Natural Science School. Our French Immersion students attended the Island School on February 11, 12 and 13. Our English students attended on February 19, 20, and 21. It was a great learning experience for all and I am sure many stories and pictures have been shared since then. I had the opportunity to attend the Island School with our students. I really enjoyed my time in the lighthouse with students listening to the story of the mysterious disappearance of its first keeper, J.P Rademuller. Special thanks to our teachers and parents who made this excursion possible.
We are now planning the Ottawa/Montreal Graduation Trip. A parent survey with details will be arriving to your home soon.
Assemblies
We welcomed the Power of One – Anti-bullying production back by popular demand for our K-4 students on February 14. The Power of One has an important message that resonates well with students about bullying defining terms and responsibilities. Students participated in the presentation and took the Bully Prevention Oath:
I will not bully others
I will not stand by while others are bullied
I will report and deal with bullying whenever I see it…
…because I have
the POWER OF ONE
As part of our Character Education program here at Brown P.S., we will be welcoming Sara Westbrook and her UPOWER Concerts for our Primary and Junior students during the month of April. Sara covers the topic of RESPECT and provides Junior students with a choice making formula that will lead them to how to make choices based on respect for themselves and others. Parents are welcome to join us on April 30th in the gym starting at 9:00 a.m. for the Junior presentation. At 10:45 a.m. Sara will be presenting the Primary students with Reach for Your Dreams which is a fun, interactive program specifically developed for K-3. This is a perfect age to inspire, encourage and motivate children to reach for their dreams. Using a combination of stories and songs Sara will introduce our students to life skills that will help them understand and respect their power of choice.
On April 30th we also welcome back Q-MACK with his anti-bullying message using his basketball skills to convey important messages to our students. This is a fan favourite and we are happy to bring this presentation back for an entertaining hour during the afternoon.
The character trait for March is Honesty
Our students were invited to our monthly assembly on March 4, to learn about this character trait and how to demonstrate honesty at home and at school. Certificates were given to students who exemplified the character traits of TEAMWORK for January and FAIRNESS for February. Congratulations to all those students.
Character Development: A Partnership with Families
We continue to develop character in all students and this is a shared responsibility between home and school. There is a need for family, community and schools to engage cooperatively to encourage students' learning and maturing as social beings.
Throughout the year, we continue to focus on the 10 attributes identified at the TDSB and we encourage parents to reinforce these attributes at home whenever possible: Respect, Responsibility, Empathy, Kindness and Caring, Teamwork, Fairness, Honesty, Co-operation, Integrity and Perseverance.
Some tips for supporting Character Development in the home, include:
- Use the language of character development and be clear about your values
- Model and teach respectful manners
- Listen to your children and spend time with children in shared activities
- As a family, take part in community service projects or civic activities
- Establish family traditions and enjoy family celebrations together
- Teach your children to be responsible and discerning with their choices in media and entertainment and online activities
- Teach your children how to resolve conflict in a peaceful, respectful way
- Become involved in your child's school life from Kindergarten to Grade 12
- Live character every day
For more information, please visit www.tdsb.on.ca/character
OTHER ITEMS
Lost & Found
We will continue to put all Lost & Found articles out for display in the hallway on Mondays. Items not claimed by the end of the month will be sent to Goodwill. Please note that the Lost & Found is on the first floor in the meeting room near the office and available to students and parents to look through for their lost personal items.
Lunchroom Routines
We need your help in promoting an enjoyable lunch experience at school. In the lunchrooms, our supervisors are facing some ongoing challenges. We ask for parents’ support in reinforcing etiquette and routines with their children. Our lunch supervisors are noticing that many children do not finish their lunch, and instead of taking it back home or eating it at recess, they throw their uneaten food in the garbage. There is a great deal of food waste.
Lunchroom supervisors try to encourage the children to eat or save what they bring for lunch, but often food ends up in the garbage anyway. It is certainly a waste of money for parents, and most importantly deprives children of their nutritional requirements. As an ECO school we are promoting “BOOMERANG LUNCHES” which means that students are to return all food items, garbage and containers back home at the end of the day. No garbage is to be left behind as we continue to monitor our garbage and recycling waste.
Playground Equipment
We are allowing students to borrow playground equipment such as balls, and skipping ropes during recess. Students sign out the equipment and return it after recess.
Neighbours and Ball Retrieval Issues
We try very hard to be amicable with our neighbours whose homes border onto the perimeters of our school. Unfortunately, some of these neighbours do not appreciate parents or students knocking on their doors to retrieve balls that have made it over the fence and into their back yards.
Please refrain from going to the neighbours. We will do our best to stock our equipment box with balls for borrowing as best as we can. Students should be reminded to be more aware of their surroundings when playing to avoid these mishaps.
Anaphylaxis - Taking the Necessary Precautions
Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction that can be life threatening. This medical condition can cause a severe reaction to specific foods or other materials, and can result in death within minutes. Although foods such as peanuts, milk, eggs, and sesame seeds are the most common cause of anaphylaxis, insect stings, medicine, or latex can also cause a reaction. In recent years, anaphylaxis has increased dramatically among students. The TDSB is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment for all students and works with Toronto Public Health and other partners to ensure the successful implementation of Sabrina's Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2006.
Sabrina's Law requires every school board to establish and maintain an anaphylactic policy that includes strategies to reduce the risk of exposure to anaphylactic causative agents in classrooms and common school areas. The TDSB has procedures for the prevention and management of anaphylactic reactions.
Although this may or may not affect your child's class directly, we want to raise awareness about this life-threatening condition. Students who have severe allergies to such food substances are exposed to a severe health risk when such products are consumed in their environment or shared with them. As prevention is the best approach, we ask that you speak with your child about not sharing their snacks or lunches with other students and please do not send any snacks or lunches with your child that contain peanuts.
If your child has health problems of any kind, please inform your child's teacher or office staff immediately so that the necessary health protection steps may be taken and to ensure everyone's co-operation for a safe learning environment.
Whether you are living with the allergy yourself, caring for someone who is, or concerned about people in your community, more information about life threatening allergies is available on the Anaphylaxis Canada's web site at www.anaphylaxis.org or by calling 416-785-5666. More information about anaphylaxis will also be available at our Meet the Teacher Night.
Lockdown Procedures
The TDSB believes in the importance of learning environments where all staff and students feel safe and secure. The TDSB works very hard throughout the year to raise awareness among students, staff and parents about the factors that make a school community safe.
The Board’s Threats to School Safety Procedure was updated two years ago by the Safe and Caring Schools Team to help schools effectively manage emergencies and to reflect a significant change in the terminology associated with lockdown procedures.
The change in lockdown terminology was done to provide some clarity on the meaning of common terms associated with the procedure and reduce the panic that parents/guardians often feel when they hear their child’s school is in lockdown.
The revised terminology has been implemented at the TDSB and will be used by all schools in conjunction with the Toronto Police Service. The revised terms are as follows:
Hold and Secure - The term Partial Lockdown has been replaced with the term Hold and Secure. Hold and secure means that all movement in and out of the school is restricted, however movement within the school is not restricted and the external danger near the school poses no immediate threat to the students or staff unless they leave the building.
Lockdown - A lockdown is the most serious response to a threat to school safety and should be used only when the danger is inside the school or on school property and poses an immediate and serious threat to staff and students.
The Threats to School Safety Procedure (PR.695) is available on the Safe and Caring Schools webpage on the Board’s website at www.tdsb.on.ca. The TDSB is committed to making each and every one of our schools caring places that are safe for learning and a part of that commitment is keeping our parents/guardians informed.
High Water Levels Brings Increased Risks
The Toronto and Region Conservation monitors hazardous ice conditions as thaw begins and are reminding everyone to be very careful around all bodies of water. The first hint of warming weather and the promise of spring thaw can bring extreme danger to the shores and surfaces of streams, rivers, ponds and lakes, according to Toronto and Region Conservation.
As warmer temperatures arrive, stream banks become increasingly slippery and unstable. Lake and river ice weakens, becoming thinner or with higher flows breaking with little or no warning. During this time, the potential for flooding and ice jamming is high.
Higher, faster-flowing water and extreme cold temperatures combine to create increased dangers on or near rivers, streams and ponds for people wishing to enjoy the seasonal changes. Parents and caregivers are being asked to keep children away from stream banks, ponds and lakes.
March Break begins March 11-15. School begins again on March 18 at 8:50 a.m.
We wish you all a healthy, safe and happy March Break.
Gina Christakis Sonja Litner
Principal Vice-Principal
IMPORTANT SAFETY REMINDERS
Parking lot and Avenue Road issues
With construction starting soon for our Full Day Kindergarten addition, I would like to remind our parent community that the parking lot off Poplar Plains Road is for staff use only. The Avenue Road driveway will be blocked during construction for the maintenance and construction crews. There will be absolutely no parking in that driveway. Our school buses will be re-routed to Poplar Plains Road and Sonja and I will be parking in the Poplar Plains Road parking lot. We ask that our community follow the Kiss 'N Ride procedures to ensure the safety of our children and our parents. Your co-operation is appreciated.
Yard Supervision
Yard Supervision for Grades JK to 6 begins at 8:35 a.m. and ends at 3:45 p.m. Afternoon Kindergarten supervision begins at 12:45 p.m. Parents are responsible for their children’s safety and conduct in the yard before and after these times.
Visitor Sign-In Book
Visitors are requested to sign in at the main office and wear a ‘visitor sticker’. This is a safety measure to ensure that visiting adults are recognized and encouraged to feel welcome in our school. Thank You!
Kiss 'N Ride
Do not use the Avenue Road driveway as this is the school bus pick up and drop off area for our students. Please pick up and drop of your children at the Kiss N’ Ride designated area on Poplar Plains.
Community Issue
Our neighbours have recently been concerned about cars blocking their driveways during drop off and pickup times. Please ensure that you are not parking in front of anyone's driveway, as they need to be able to get in and out of their own driveway safely and promptly. There is one-hour parking on Balmoral in the event that you have to come into the school. We do everything we can to cooperate with our neighbours and would appreciate this is taken into consideration.
Safe Arrival Program
The Safe Arrival program is used by parents/guardians and schools to account for any student’s unexplained failure to arrive at school. Please call the school safe arrival number 416-393-1557 before 8:55 AM or 12:30 PM (for an afternoon absence) if your child will not be attending school or plans to be late. This line is available 24 hours a day with voice mail. If your child is absent and we have not heard from you, we will make every effort to contact you using the information provided on the Emergency Form. The name and telephone number of an emergency contact is absolutely essential.
Kiss 'N Ride Etiquette
The Kiss 'N Ride program is now in its fourth year. It began out of a need to ensure that student safety was maximized during the drop-off period. Not just for those in vehicles, but also for those walking.
In recent months some of those safety concerns have resurfaced as unsafe practices have re-emerged. Before there is an injury or accident and to ensure parents are not ticketed when the area is visited by police, here are some important safety reminders we ask everyone to respect and adhere to:
1. DO NOT park in the designated drop off area between 8:30 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. for ANY reason. This causes traffic back up and is just plain rude.
2. If you MUST park and enter the schoolyard, then park on one of the side streets where parking is permitted, or one of the few 15-minute spots on Poplar Plains, north of the second school driveway exit. NOTE, the first “space” immediately north of the entrance to the underground parking lot is not a legal parking spot. It is too close to both the crosswalk and the driveway.
3. DO NOT PARK OR WORSE, LET YOUR CHILD OFF IN THE UNDERGROUND PARKING. This is designated staff parking and it is VERY poorly lit. Letting children off here is dangerous, just check the poles for paint marks if you think otherwise.
*PLEASE NOTE: THE PARKING LOT IS FOR STAFF ONLY*
4. When using Kiss N Ride, DRIVERS PLEASE, STAY IN YOUR VEHICLE. Volunteers are wonderfully capable of opening doors on the passenger side. If you must exit the car, consider parking.
5. Do NOT let your children exit on the driver’s side of the vehicle into oncoming traffic. Again, this is dangerous. If an infant car seat is on the passenger side, consider moving the passenger front seat up to allow for an easier exit.
6. Please KEEP ALL BAGS, etc. in the car with your child, NOT the trunk.
7. Keep the flow moving; PULL UP TO THE FRONT of the line.
Please remember the motto of this program is: CHOOSE SAFETY OVER CONVENIENCE.
Preserving the Learning Environment - from the Office Staff
In the event of an emergency, we always do our utmost to relay messages to students; however, we will not disrupt classes and interrupt instruction time to give messages to individual students. Our Office Administrator, Lois Moulton and Clericals, Natasha Khakoo and Laurie Gray are very busy during the day.
To minimize the numerous phone calls they are currently receiving, we kindly ask for your cooperation to please make arrangements for special pick-ups prior to your child’s coming to school. The agenda is an excellent tool for communication between home and school for dental and medical appointments when your child needs to leave early.
Letters are required for our office staff and classroom teachers to notify us that your child is leaving the school early for an appointment or other matter. Parents who are picking students up must sign out the student at the office. Please help us with this process and make this a best practice at Brown P.S.
Swim Attire
Many students are forgetting their swim gear and having to call home. This is another disruption for the office staff and to instruction time. Please check your child’s timetable and ensure they have their swim attire on a regular basis. Possibly send the swim attire a day before the actual swimming class.
Hallway Safety
We kindly ask that parents and caregivers drop off their children in the school yard as a best practice and allow the students to go to their classrooms on their own upon the entry bell. Our hallways are narrow and when too many people congregate in the hallways, it creates a great deal of congestion. To ensure the safety of our students, please help us make this a best practice also.
