The Thunderbird Nest

Principal: C. Roda

Vice-Principal: L. Marcuzzi

Head Secretary: J. Sequeira

Catholic School Council Chair: M. Fleming- Thompson

Superintendent of Mississauga North: L. Odo

Catholic School Trustee Wards 9 & 10: Brea Corbet (905) 301-9373

Please remember that the student agendas continue to be the best way to get in touch with your child's teacher, as emails are not monitored throughout the day.

Email: St.TeresaofAvilaInfo@dpcdsb.org
Website: https://www.dpcdsb.org/avila
Location: 6675 Montevideo Road, Mississauga, ON, Canada
Phone: (905)858-3462
Twitter: @AvilaDPCDSB

Please feel free to click on the Translate button on the bottom of the newsletter to choose your language of preference! (Arabic, Spanish, Hausa, Portuguese, Taglog, Polish, Italian, Malayalam, Hindi etc.)

First Communion Registration Meetings

Sunday, January 21, 2024 7:00pm @ Church

Tuesday, January 23, 2024 7:00pm @ Church

Enrolment Ceremony (All Masses)

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Sunday , January 28, 2024

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Sunday, February 4, 2024

Ash Wednesday February 14, 2024

Easter Sunday March 31, 2024

First Communion Masses

Saturday April 13, 2024 10:30am @ Church

Sunday, April 14, 2024 2:00pm @ Church

Saturday, April 20, 2024 10:30am @ Church

Sunday, April 21, 2024 2:00pm @ Church

Confirmation 5 Classes/Sessions 9am-12 Noon (Saturdays only)

November 11th and November 25th 2023

December 9th 2023

January 20th 2024

February 10th 2024

Confirmation Retreat Saturday 9am-12:00

February 24, 2024 and March 2, 2024

Confirmation Dates-Celebrant Fr. Joyson George

Tuesday, April 9th 2024 @ 7pm

Thursday, April 11th 2024 @ 7pm

Tuesday, April 16th, 2024 @7pm

Please contact Julia D'souza at (416) 275-5646 or sjocmississauga@gmail.com

Please Note...November's THRIVE will be posted once it comes available.

The Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations

Catholic education views human life as an integration of body, mind, and spirit. Rooted in this vision, Catholic education fosters the search for knowledge as a lifelong spiritual and academic quest. The expectations of Catholic graduates, therefore, are described not only in terms of knowledge and skills, but in terms of values, attitudes and actions. Vision of the Learner The Graduate is expected to be:

1. A discerning believer formed in the Catholic Faith community who celebrates the signs and sacred mystery of God’s presence through word, sacrament, prayer, forgiveness, reflection and moral living.

2. An effective communicator who speaks, writes and listens honestly and sensitively, responding critically in light of gospel values

3. A reflective, creative and holistic thinker who solves problems and makes responsible decisions with an informed moral conscience for the common good. 4. A self- directed, responsible, lifelong learner who develops and demonstrates their God -given potential.

5. A collaborative contributor who finds meaning, dignity and vocation in work which respects the rights of all and contributes to the common good.

6. A caring family member who attends to family, school, parish, and the wider community

7. A responsible citizen who gives witness to Catholic social teaching by promoting peace, justice and the sacredness of human life.

God helps us to choose to be good people.

A person of conscience…

• chooses to do the right thing, even when it is hard

• takes time to think and pray before making decisions

• knows that their actions and decisions affect all those around them

• thinks of others before themselves

CONSCIENCE is the voice of God within us. As you develop your conscience, you will learn to make decisions that will make sure you will always have love in your life. Our conscience reminds us how to act towards other people and how to be a good friend. Sometimes it is hard for us to do the right thing, but we must always remember that the right thing to do is not always the easy thing to do.

Let us now pray...for the grace and strength to be people of conscience-people who know the good and decent way to act and then choose to act that way.

AMEN

We are looking for some more dynamic members of our community who may wish to support the school as a lunch monitor!

The commitement level could be whatever is manageable- if you wish to support everyday, amazing! If you can only commit to one or a few days a week, that is great too! If you want to be considered for on-call support- that is also welcome!

To apply, please contact the office. You will reqiure a valid (less than 6 months old) Vulnerable Sector Level 3 Police Check.

Come join our amazing team!

We ask that parents continue to support their children in their morning routines so that they can arrive to school on time. This ensures that your child learns an essential life skill, participates in the entire school day, and that disruptions to the learning environment are minimal.

Some of the students in our school have severe life threatening allergic reactions to nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, peanut oils and any peanut by -products. For some children the smell of nuts can bring on a severe attack. We need your cooperation! We kindly ask that you DO NOT send snacks to school that contain nuts or any nut products.

Please note that to ensure the continued safety of all students, the Dufferin -Peel Catholic District School Board with the support of the Anaphylactic Society and the Peel Health Department has recommended that students not bring peanut butter alternatives (soy butter, sunflower butter) to school. We thank you for your cooperation in supporting student safety.

Please note that there are children who have allergies to animal hair, and who have a fear of dogs. In order to prevent a potential concern for our students, please do not bring your dog onto school property during school hours. Thank you for your continued cooperation

The Dufferin -Peel Catholic District School Board acknowledges the value of the use of technology for learning. Students are permitted to register and use personal electronic devices (PEDs) on board premises and/ or board sanctioned events for educational purposes, under the direction of staff and only with parent/ guardian permission. Students may register their PED for the purpose of connecting to the board wireless network. Students are required to adhere to the student “Personal Electronic Device Used with WI - FI Network Student Agreement” (GF 337) and the “Network User Application and Agreement” (GF066). Please be advised that the Dufferin -Peel Catholic District School Board will not be responsible for any cost incurred through the use of personal data plans.

PEDs are to be used responsibly and should not interfere with learning; their use must comply with the Catholic Code of Conduct, board policies and procedures. Any personal communications (i.e. phone calls, text messages, etc.) will continue to be directed through the main office. Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in a loss of PED privileges and/ or any other consequences deemed necessary by school administration.

The school principal may authorize limited acceptable uses of personal electronic devices during school -sanctioned activities for a specific designated purpose outside of instructional spaces and/ or in common areas. Students are responsible for the safety and security of PEDs at all times and the Board assumes no responsibility for lost, damaged or stolen devices.

The safety of our students, staff and visitors remains our number one priority. The following policies will be implemented to ensure the safety of all students, staff and visitors

Please review the following Kiss and Ride Safety Expectations:

• Keep traffic flowing. Proceed as far to the stop sign as possible before stopping your vehicle.
• Have your child exit from the right side (passenger doors) of your vehicle.
• NO PARKING in Kiss and Ride.
• If you wish to wait and see your child enter the school, park in the designated areas and wait in the designated pick-up/drop off locations.
• DO NOT stop or park in Bus Lane (side of the school).
• The same expectations apply during rain/snow. Do not stop or drop your children off at the side of the school. This is a Bus Lane only.

Whether it’s a medical appointment, an illness or other important event, there are times when students may need to be away from school. The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District school board is introducing a new method for parents to report their child(ren)’s absences. Using the SafeArrival system, parents will be able to report daily or future absences in one of three ways:

Web:

1. Go to the SafeArrival website at go.schoolmessenger.ca
2. Select Sign Up to create your account. (Only needed for the initial setup, after that you will click on login).
3. Select Attendance.
4. Select Report an Absence.

App:

1. Download and install the SchoolMessenger app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Please note that SafeArrival uses the SchoolMessenger app.
2. Select Sign-Up. (Only needed for the initial setup, after that you will click on login).
3. You will be prompted to enter your email (same email address your school has on file) and create a password.
4. The system will send a link to the same email address the school has on file, please click on the link you have received in your email to activate your account.

Phone:

1. Call the toll-free number 1-844-435-3440
2. Listen to and follow the instructions to report an absence.
3. If the system doesn’t recognize your caller ID, you will be asked to enter the student’s home phone number or any phone number for the guardian that is on file with the school.

Our Next School Catholic School Council Meeting dates...

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Virtual Link to attend the meeting available upon request.

At St. Teresa of Avila, we have made available prepared lunch options for each day of the school week. All options are available through SchoolCash Online.

Monday- Ozmow's (LunchBox)

Tuesday- Domino's Pizza

Wednesday- Subway Sandwiches

Thursday- Domino's Pizza

Friday- Hero Burger (LunchBox)

Pizza only will be available for same-day cash purchases. Each slice costs $3.00.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties accessing LunchBox options on SchoolCash Online, please contact the vendor directly at info@lunchboxorders.com

They are happy to work with you to address any issues.

Please ensure that your child arrives at school with all the items they need for the day. We realize that there will be occasions where students forget something at home There will be a table located outside the office for parents/guardians who are dropping off items.

Please label the item clearly with the CHILD’S NAME AND TEACHER.

If you plan on bringing your child’s lunch in the morning, let your children know that you will be leaving the lunch on the table at the main office.

All students who have been diagnosed by a doctor with asthma, anaphylaxis, diabetes, or seizures must have completed the necessary Plan of Care Forms. These forms only need to be completed once (unless the diagnosis or medication has changed) and they will be stored in your child's OSR.

If your child requires an epi pen or puffer and they must carry it on them at all times this must be clearly indicated on the Plan of Care, otherwise it will be stored in the main office. The Authorization for the storage and administration of medication must be completed annually.

If your child requires any other type of medicine to be taken during school hours (Advil, Tylenol etc. ) you must complete the Authorization for the storage and administration of medication form and it will be stored in the main office.

Please send the required forms and medicine to the main office in a clearly labelled bag.

Are you interested in volunteering at St. Teresa of Avlila? Our volunteers support programs and activities at the school. We appreciate and rely on parents who can devote a small portion of their time to help. People who volunteer in schools and attend trips are required to have completed Vulnerable Sector Check -Level 3 ($35), which can be completed online at the link below.

Please note that if you have previously submitted a Criminal Reference Check, they have expired due to the pandemic time lapse, unless you have completed the Annual Declaration. Please connect with the main office if you are unsure.

Once the form is completed, your volunteer service can begin. We look forward to working with you for the betterment and support of all students.

Build your math skills and confidence with a personalized math coach. Tutors are available online Mondays-Fridays from 9am to 9pm ET and Sundays from 3:00pm to 9pm ET.

The days are getting colder and pretty soon winter will arrive. It is important for students to come prepared to participate in all activities, including outdoor recess. We ask that students dress appropriately for colder weather by having coats, hats, scarves, boots and mittens or gloves. For health reasons, and to keep the school clean, we ask all students to have indoor shoes. Please note that in the event of an emergency evacuation, students will not have the opportunity to put boots on. Thank you for your support in this matter.

If your child rides the bus daily, it is important that they are aware of the safety rules on the bus. Students are required to:

• Listen to the Bus Driver at all times and report any problems or injuries to him/her
• Go directly to their seat and remain seated during the entire bus ride
• Do not eat, drink, swear, fight or chew gum on the bus
• Do not put arms out the window, or throw items or garbage out the window
• Ensure that all sports equipment (especially sports balls) are packed away in a backpack or bag while on the bus.
• If any damage to the seat of bus is caused, students will be held responsible
• Be at least 5 minutes early at your bus stop to ensure that you don't miss the bus

Please review these rules with your child.

*All parents are encouraged to register with STOPR to receieve updates and infomation about route changes, delays, and cancellations. You will require your child's OEN in order to register

You can now reset your password remotely by registering for the Password Reset Tool. You must know your old password to create a new one.

To reset your password remotely you must first register with the “Password Reset Tool”, which you can do by following one of these two steps:

Students: students.dpcdsb.org and select Password Reset

Staff: https://account.activedirectory.windowsazure.com/PasswordReset/Register.aspx ​

**Access to personal email/cell phone is required for registration.

Once you are registered, please follow the Password Reset Instruction

On October 5th, 2023 St. Teresa of Avila saw an incredible outpour of donations and participation for the Annual Terry Fox Marathon of HOPE! We had many enthusiastic walkers, which made the event a heartwarming testament to the enduring impact of Terry Fox's mission and ongoing fight against cancer. Great job Thunderbirds!!!

The Eco Club had a very successful kick off initiative this year. We had an average of 50 students a day rolling to school the week of Oct 17. Thank you to all the parents who biked or walked alongside their child to encourage them!

The Eco Club is now planning this year's Eco Code and their next plan of action. Stay tuned.

Congratulations to the talented athletes of St. Teresa of Avila on their remarkable performance at the recent Cross Country meet! Your determination and endurance have shone through, making your school proud! Well down Thunderbirds!!! Thank you as well to our coaches and parent volunteers for making this team possible!!

Congratulations to the Girls and Boys Junior Volleyball Teams on an outstanding season!! Your hard work, dedication. and teamwork have paid off, and you have shown great skill and sportsmanship on the court. Thank you as well to our amazing coaches for all that you do to ensure our students are shining STARS!!!

Three cheers to our Wonderful Grade 4's who have successfully completed the Canadian Cognitive Abilities Test. You worked hard and did Great! Keep up the good work! Another big cheer to our wonderful Grade 4 teachers and fabulous Spec-Ed team who were with our students every step of the way!!

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, all classes had the opportunity to decorate, paint or carve their own classroom pumpkin!! The end results.....AMZAZING!!! Way to go students!!

On Halloween Day, our intermediate students braved a Haunted Tour of Toronto's Historic Distillery District! There, they learned all about some significant historical events and some spooky encounters!

On Halloween, Grades K-6 students got to show off thier dance skills at the school dance! Thank you to the Social Justice club for all of their effort with the music, decorations, and all the organization!

A shout out to the Social Justice Club, who are working hard every month on making an impact on our school community as well as advocating and promoting fairness and equality!! Go team go!!

The Breakfast Club is back in full-swing at St. Teresa of Avila! Thank you to our community volunteers and our dedicated teachers for all of their support! Please take a look at the menu below, and keep in mind any dietary restrictions/ allergies your children may have before sending your child to participate.

*Please note, registration for the Breakfast Club is soon closing. There will be another opportunity to participate term 2!

St. Teresa of Avila has partnered with Region of Peel Health in order to bring many healthy programs to our students. Our first program is called Playground Activity Leaders in Schools or PALs for short. Many students (grades 4-8) volunteered and wrote applications to be part of the program. They received several hours of instruction from a registered nurse with Peel Health on how to play healthy games and to help problem solve conflicts on the playground with younger primary students (grades 1-3). Our junior students are already developing leadership skills as they design games, actively promote the program and have been starting to play games with primary students at recess time. A special thank you to Ms. Speare and Ms. Braithwaite for their help with implementing the program and to Ms. Titanic, Public Health Nurse from the Region of Peel for helping to bring amazing initiatives and programs to our school.

Our Social Justice Team has surveryed the students of St. Teresa of Avila, as well as all of the Families who were able to attend our Open House BBQ in September. The purpose of this was to understand the cultural make-up of our school commiunity- so that we can purposefully hightlight the achievements and excellence of the many cultural groups at St. Teresa of Avila.

November's focus is centered around Nigerian Excellence. Teachers have all recieived information surrounding contributions of the Nigerian commuinity. They will be actively infusing this information into their teaching.

We would like your help! For those families from the Nigerian culture- we would like to enhance our school library to include titles from Nigerian authors and include stories depicting Nigerian experiences. If there are titles or authors you could recommend to the school, or beloved books you may want to share with the school for this month, that would be most welcome.

We will be updating the community monthly identifying the Cultural focus of the month.

Please click banner below for more details.

Early Sunday morning, on November 5th, don't forget to set your clocks one hour back!

Winter is coming!

Progress Report cards will be sent home on on Tuesday November 14th in hard copy. No digital copies will be sent home at this time. The Progress Report is designed to show a student’s development of learning skills and work habits, as well as a student’s general progress in working towards the achievement of curriculum expectations in all subject areas.

Interviews will be held, upon request of either the teacher or the parent, on the evening of Thursday, November 16th.

Ontario has passed legislation to recognize the importance of treaties and to bring awareness to the treaty relationships between Indigenous and non -Indigenous people in the province. The first week of November will be known as Treaties Recognition week. The purpose of this week is to help promote awareness of treaties. Quick Facts Ontario is covered by 46 treaties and other agreements, such as land purchases by the Crown signed between 1781 and 1930. Treaties are the legally binding agreements that set out the rights, responsibilities and relationships of First Nations and the federal and provincial governments.

Monday November 13- Friday November 17: Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week to help promote safe schools and a positive learning environment.

Bullying is defined as a form of repeated, persistent and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is in- tended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/ or harm to another person's body, feelings, self -esteem or reputation.

Bullying occurs in a context where there is a real or perceived power imbalance. Bullying can take different forms, these include

• Physical – hitting, shoving, stealing or damaging property
• Verbal – name calling, mocking, or making sexist, racist or homophobic comments
• Social – excluding others from a group or spreading gossip or rumours about them
• Electronic (commonly known as cyberbullying) – spreading rumours and hurtful comments through the use of cellphones, e -mail, text messaging and social networking sites

At St. Teresa of Avila, we work collaboratively and very hard to create and maintain a safe, caring, inclusive and healthy environment for all. To this end, we have been planning and organizing a number of initiatives to benefit our community including celebrating and highlighting various awareness days, and continued messages communicated during daily announcements.

“Let us allow God to fill our hearts with his goodness and mercy. ” – Pope Francis

On Thursday, November 2, 2023 Brightpics will be back at St. Teresa of Avila to accommodate student retakes! If you are interested in photo retakes, please ensure you are at school in the morning, as the photographer will likely only be at the school until first recess.

Over 500,000 students, educators, and parents have experienced UPower® Presentations. They are a unique hybrid of speaking and singing to share strategies that participants can use to strengthen their resilience and emotional and mental well-being.

Students, educators, and parents are expected to make responsible, respectful choices in spite of challenging circumstances and the emotions those challenges trigger.

An awareness of emotions, intentional reflection on how they impact choices, and the resilience to overcome challenging circumstances and tough emotions is essential to overall well-being and success. Suppressing, avoiding, and reacting out of emotions negatively impacts relationships, choices, and behaviour, causing stress, anxiety, and overwhelm.

We are so pleased to welcome Sara Westbrook to St. Teresa of Avila on Thursday, November 16, 2023

On Wednesday, November 29th, 2023, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, Peel Public Health will offer an immunization clinic for students attending St Teresa of Avila Separate School. To help protect against serious diseases, students in Grades 7 and up can get some or all of the following vaccines depending on the availability at the time of the clinic. A follow-up school-based clinic will be scheduled to administer any outstanding vaccines or to complete a series (see table below).

• Meningococcal ACYW-135 helps protect against inflammation of the lining of the brain caused by certain bacteria. This vaccine is required to go to school in Ontario.
• Hepatitis B (Hep B) helps protect against disease affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis B virus.
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV-9) can prevent certain cancers later in life.

Students will get these three vaccines for free while in school. When students leave high school, they will need to pay to get these expensive vaccines.

A link to register was sent out in spring 2023 and Peel Public Health was in contact with parents throughout the summer to answer questions on vaccines and assist with registration/consent.

Registration and consent process:

• If you have not yet registered, sign up online through the Region of Peel vaccine booking system. An online consent and questionnaire form must be completed to confirm a spot.
• Submitted consent remain valid for second and third doses of the same vaccine series unless consent is withdrawn.
• If you need help with registering or completing consent, please call the Region of Peel (905–799–7700) Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
• A parent or guardian must complete the consent form for students under 14 years of age.
• Students between the ages of 14 and 16 can complete the online consent form on their own.
• If they are able, students 16 years or older must complete the consent form on their own.
• Sometimes a student is unable to register online and complete the consent form. In this case verbal consent may be accepted. For this, the student needs to understand the treatment and why it is being recommended. They also need to understand the risks and benefits of getting a vaccine. For students under 14 years of age, parents will be called by phone for consent prior to their child receiving any vaccines.
• If a student is unable to receive their immunizations at school (i.e. vacation or illness) appointments can be booked here.

If you have the immunization record (yellow card), please send it with the student to the appointment.

The table below tells you the age and number of doses needed for each vaccine.

Meningococcal ACYW-135

Grade 7-12

1 dose only

Hepatitis B

11-15 years*

(2-dose schedule)

1st dose

2nd dose given 6 months after 1st dose (24 weeks)

16-19 years

(3-dose schedule)

1st dose

2nd dose given 1 month (4 weeks) after 1st dose

3rd dose given 5 months (20 weeks) after 2nd dose

HPV-9

11-14 years*

(2-dose schedule)

1st dose

2nd dose given 6 months after 1st dose (24 weeks)

15 years and over

(3-dose schedule)

1st dose

2nd dose given 2 months (8 weeks) after 1st dose

3rd dose given 4 months (16 weeks) after 2nd dose

*Immunocompromised individuals in this age group may require a 3-dose series.

Not sure if your child has had these vaccines? Please look at your child's immunization record (yellow card). You can also check immunization records online here: Immunize Connect Ontario (ICON) website. If you are still not sure what your child needs, please ask their doctor. You can also call Peel Public Health at 905–799–7700 (toll free: 1–888–919–7800) before registering.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. You can find more information about immunizations at peelregion.ca/immunize.

Sincerely,

Immunization Services Division

Peel Public Health

Grade 8's, please see below for Highschool Information Nights!!

On November 20th, 21st, and 27th, St. Teresa of Avila classrooms will be participating in presentations by the Ontario Diary Farmers about nutrition, dairy farming, careers, processing, and technology, all designed to connect to science, social studies and health for grades K-8!

This is a reminder that we have a PA Day on Friday, November 24th. There will be no school for students that day.

Intermediate girls and boys volleyball has begun. We are looking forward to an amazing season. The teams will be playing 4 games against different schools in the month of Nov.

It is hard to believe that we are already talking about Christmas! As part of our continuing fundraising efforts for ShareLife, we will be having Santa Claus pictures taken here at school.

Santa Claus is coming to St. Teresa of Avila on Tuesday, December 5th, 2023.

We will be selling 5 X 7 pictures for $10 each.

*All proceeds collected will be donated to ShareLife. We thank Brightpics for providing this opportunity.

*Each family will have the option to purchase both an individual and/or a family print.

*If you are choosing a family picture- please only purchase this option for one child in the family.

PLEASE NOTE: PHOTOS WILL ONLY BE TAKEN FOR THOSE STUDENTS WHO SIGN UP!

Students will receive the Santa Claus pictures before the Christmas holiday.

Picture orders are due: Thursday, November 23, 2023, on School Cash Online.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us here at school

Wednesday, November 1: Grade 8 French Immersion visit to St. Ignatius Loyola Secondary

Thursday, November 2: Photo Retake Day

Sunday, November 5: Daylight Savings Begins- Set your clocks back!!!

Wednesday, November 8: Remembrance Day Presentations

Saturday, November 11: Remembrance Day

Tuesday, November 14: Progress Reports Sent Home

Grade 3 Early Settlers Trip

Thursday, November 16: Sara Westbrook Presentation to entire school

Reporting of Student Progress to Parents

Friday, November 17: Intermediate Flag Football Tournament

Monday, November 20: Dairy Education Visit- Day 1

Tuesday, November 21: Dairy Education Visit- Day 2

Wednesday, November 22: Rosary Apostolate Visit

Catholic School Council Meeting @ 6:00pm- Library

*Virtual link available upon request

Thursday, November 24: Santa Photo's Due on SchoolCash Online

Friday, November 24: PA Day- No school for students

Wednesday, November 29: Grade 7/8 Vaccination Clinic