We hope this finds you well.  We have six items for you today:

Grade 8 Grad

Our grade 8s will be having a virtual graduation ceremony next week. In lieu of a live sendoff, some younger students have elected to make “Congratulations grads”/”good luck”/”thanks!”/”hooray!”/”we will miss you!” signs or drawings, that we will put together to post online and send out as an electronic collage.  Please help us with this project by encouraging your K-7 students to draw a picture/write a note to the grads!  Please snap a photo of the picture/sign and send via email to stbrigidcsac@gmail.com.  No last names on pictures please, but do let us know what grade the child is in.  Also, please include in your email “I give permission for CSPC/St Brigid to email and/or post my child’s work online”.  Ideally we would have these by Saturday, June 20, so we can put them together before the grad ceremony, but if more time is needed we can send out a version of all notes/signs received by June 24th.  

Parent Council (CSPC) meeting TONIGHT (June 18)

The last parent council meeting of the year will be held tonight via Zoom, from 7-9 PM. If you wish to attend remotely, please follow this link to sign up. You will receive an email with a link to join the meeting from Ms. Blanchet later today. 

Pickup of Items at the School 

If you were unable to pick up your child(ren)’s items during the timeslot assigned to their grade this week, there will be another opportunity next week (stay tuned for day). Any items left after that will be stored at the school until September. 
 

TCDSB Distance Learning Survey

The TCDSB is requesting that parents complete a distance learning survey to provide feedback about their child’s experience since mid-March. The survey is available until June 26, and you can access it here.  Please take a few minutes to fill it out as it will inform how distance learning may look in the future.

Educational Activities

Have you come across any great activities/shows that are in line with the curriculum of your child’s grade, or that would be of general interest? If so, please send the info along to this email address! We will try to post it on a new “ideas” page on the CSPC website, organized by grade. Ideally these ideas would be things that don’t require expensive supplies or much parental support, so kids could have the potential to do them somewhat independently on shortened/cancelled camp days this summer. 

Pizza Update Just a reminder that the money raised for cancelled pizza days will be rolled over to next year, for all of those other than grade 8s as well as those who have separately requested a refund. You can see your refund in Munchalunch now; the system will be closed over the summer and reset in the fall.  If you wish to donate your refund to the St. Brigid 100th anniversary celebration coming

Dear St Brigid Families,

We hope you are managing as well as possible during these challenging times.  We wanted to give you an update on a few items:

1. Pizza Lunch

With school closures now lasting into May, we have decided the best and safest thing for us to do is CANCEL ALL PIZZA/SUB DAYS until the end of the school year.  As of the end of this week, all orders from March 23rd onward will be removed and credits will be issued in the Munchalunch system.  To keep things as simple as possible we think the best plan is to roll all credits over for pizza purchases in the next school year, with the exception of grade 8 students (grade 8 families will get an email regarding reimbursement in the next week or so).  We hope this is an acceptable solution for most if not all families. If you do need the money reimbursed rather than carried to next year please email us directly to let us know.

2. Resources for parents/guardians/kids:

Ms. Blanchet sent out some links to educational and mental health resources in her last email to parents/guardians.  Also included was a link to the Ontario government’s Support for Families application website, where families can claim $200 per child 0-12 years old, or $250 for children and youth with special needs (0-21 years old), to help offset costs associated with distance learning. 

3.  Online Safety Webinar and Courses for Youth

On April 15th, the TCDSB’s Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC) hosted a Zoom webinar entitled “Guard your kids online and help them shine”, with speaker Josh Ochs of Smart Social.  During the COVID pandemic Josh will be hosting other free Zoom webinars on keeping kids safe on Tik Tok, Snapchat, Instagram, Fortnight, Youtube and Netflix, if you are interested in attending from home at 7:30 PM on April 20 or 21.  See here to register for a webinar, and see here if you have an older student who is interested in an online lesson on how to set up Instagram, Tiktok, etc. for a positive impact (temporarily free if parent opts to sign up for a 30 day trial membership with Smart Social).   

4. CSPC Meeting

The CSPC meeting scheduled for April 16th was cancelled.  A remote meeting will be scheduled for next month if possible, to discuss whether any parent council funds need to be redirected/modified with the cancellation of pizza and move to distance learning.

5. TCDSB Budget Consultation

All parents are invited to participate in the TCDSB’s 2020-2021 Budget Consultation.  Please see here for more information as well as links to the proposed 2020-2021 budget and survey.  The deadline for feedback is May 7, 2020.

Take care and we hope to see you soon.

—

Next Pizza/Sub Session – OPEN FOR ORDERING!

Ordering for the Feb-June pizza/sub session is now open in Munchalunch.  PLEASE HAVE YOUR ORDER IN NO LATER THAN FEB 13th if you want pizza Feb 18th.  Note:

– THERE WILL BE 2 SUB MONDAYS, on  Monday, Feb 24th and Monday, May 11th.  NO PIZZA THOSE WEEKS! 

– WE ALWAYS NEED VOLUNTEERS – 3 people per week; 10:30-11:30 on a Tuesday.  Please sign up for a week here if are able to help.

– proceeds from 2 weeks of pizza will go towards the annual staff appreciation luncheon.  Remaining proceeds will go to the nutrition program at our school, which benefits students K-8 and is currently in need of funds. 

**If you wish to make a separate or additional donation to the nutrition program, please go to tcdsb.schoolcashonline.com, sign in, click on “Make a Donation”, and be sure to select “St Brigid – Nutrition Program” as the fund destination.  You will receive a tax receipt for your donation.  

Pancake Tuesday VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

February 25th is pancake Tuesday, and volunteers are needed to help cook and serve 1000 pancakes along with fresh fruit for students that day.  Ten volunteers are needed in the morning on Tuesday, and three people are needed from 1-3 PM on Monday, Feb 24th as well.  Please sign up here or reply to this email if you can help – it is a fun one to help out with and students very much look forward to this annual tradition!

Interview Night Signup Reminder

Just a reminder that the interview night signup went live yesterday.  Sign up if you’d like an interview with your child(ren)’s teacher(s)!  See Ms. Blanchet’s email from last week for link and password.  Also, a reminder that Ms. Pedler has organized a Scholastic book fair in the library during the week next week, including on interview nights.  Stop by to support our library!

Upcoming Dates:

Feb 10 – Book Fair starts

Feb 11 – Interview Night

Feb 13 – Interview Night

Feb 14 – PA day (no school)

Feb 17 – Family Day (no school)

Feb 18 – Winter carnival week

Feb 20 – x Movement family night (more info coming soon)  **CSPC meeting date will be moved**

At Home Alone workshop – January 22 from 7-9 PM

By popular demand we have arranged for a second At Home Alone workshop to be held at the school next Wednesday, January 22nd from 7-9 PM.  The At Home Alone workshop is facilitated by Toronto Public Health and is aimed at kids aged 10-14 (grade 4-8), along with their parents/guardians.  The goal is to prepare kids to be at home alone safely.  Attendance is limited so don’t delay and sign up using this link if you want to attend with your grade 4-8 child!  Those who were on the waitlist last time will have priority this time.

Possible One Day Strike next Tuesday

As noted in communications from the Board last week, the Ontario Catholic teacher’s union is currently carrying out a work to rule campaign and will be holding a one day strike next Tuesday, January 21, if no contract deal is reached with the province before then.  Look out for upcoming information from the Board on whether school will be in session next Tuesday.  Our ECEs are also currently on work to rule and also may be on a one day strike on Monday, January 20, but school will still be in session that day.

Pizza Update

Please stay tuned for info on whether we have to move pizza day next week due to the possible one day strike on Tuesday.

Also, our current pizza session is slated to end on February 4 but since we needed to cancel pizza on October 8th the session will be extended to Feb 11.  We will open a new ordering window on or before January 28th, at which time the current ordering window will be closed.  Please keep this in mind if you usually order pizza week to week.

Fun Fair – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!

Volunteers are needed to help plan our annual Fun Fair if it is going to happen this year.  Please help!  If you can help, if you wanted more information or if you have thoughts about whether we should scale back to a lower key end of year barbecue, please respond to this email, go to our website, or come to the parent council meeting on Thursday.  

CSPC meeting tonight

The next parent council meeting will be held this evening from 7-9 PM in the library.  All are welcome and babysitting will be provided for those who need.  

On Thursday November 28, 2019 at 7 pm, the TCDSB will be holding a caucus meeting at which they will be electing the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board for the upcoming year, and electing or nominating many committee positions for the upcoming year.  Click here to view the meeting agenda.

If you would like to provide our Trustee for Ward 11, Angela Kennedy, with any comments in advance of the meeting and the planned votes, you can email her or call  416-512-3411.