Volume Issue

April 2017

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St. David Catholic School

Box 340, 3966 Catherine Street Dorchester, ON

N0L 1G0

Phone: (519) 660-2779 Fax: 519-660-2744

Miss Suzanne Terpstra, Principal Mrs. Pam Xuereb, Administrative Assistant

Learning in the name of

the Lord

A Message from the Principal: On behalf of the staff, we wish all families continued blessings this Lent and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter!

Miss Terpstra

Catholic School Council (CSC) Meeting Tuesday, April 25th The next Catholic School Meeting is Tuesday, April 25th from 6-7pm in the school library (please note the time change). All are welcome!

Social Media Presentation for Parents and their Children: Tuesday, April 25th The Catholic

School Council has rescheduled the Social Media Guest Speaker for the same evening as their meeting, Tuesday, April 25th from 7-8:30pm.

Please join us in the gym. The presentation is for parents and their children. Light refreshments will be served.

Spring Family BBQ: Save the Date (Tuesday, May 16th)

Please add Tuesday, May 16th to your calendars as this will be the day we gather as a school com-munity for our annual Spring Family BBQ. Many thanks to the Optimists for cooking and serving the food for us.

Grade 3 and 6 EQAO: Please Save the Dates:

Parents of students in Grades 3 and 6 are re-minded that EQAO (Education Quality and Ac-countability Office) assessment dates are coming next month. Please ensure your child will be at school between May 23rd and June 5th by not scheduling trips, appointments or sporting events.

Track and Field Save the Date: Tuesday, May 30th

Students in Grades 4-8 will be participating at the annual LDCSB Track and Field Meet at TD Water-house Stadium (UWO) on Tuesday, May 30th.

Congratulations to the Wildcat Senior Boys’ Basketball Team

Congratulations, Coach Palanuk and the Boys’ Bas-ketball Team for being Finalists this season! The final game went to double overtime !

Congratulations to the Wildcat Junior Hockey Team

Congratulations to coaches Doherty, Drummond, Shannon, and Doherty and the Junior Hockey Team for winning the LDCSB Tournament at Carling Arena on March 30th.

We are very proud of our Wildcat players who demonstrated great teamwork both on and off the court/ice.

Page 2 ST. DAVID CATHOL IC S CHOOL

April Theme: Lent and Easter What does it mean that Jesus has risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that those desert places in our hearts bloom. The love of God can do this! — Pope Francis, (Urbi et Orbi Message, Easter Sunday, March 31st, 2013).

Wildcat Wednesdays Wildcats celebrate on Wednesdays this year! Every Wednesday is a Wildcat Wednesday (a St. David Cath-olic School Spirit Day)! This month, the third Wildcat Wednesday is a special Wild-cat Wednesday when students are invited to participate by wearing special clothing. We are celebrating Earth Day (April 22nd) early by wearing blue and green.

April 5th: Spirit Wear (Red/Black)

April 12th: Spirit Wear (Red/Black)

April 19th: Earth Day Blue and Green April 26th : Spirit Wear (Red/Black)

Lenten Mission Water Walk: April 19th

This year the students at St. David School will be partici-pating in a “Walk for Water” Lent fundraiser. The pur-

pose of this walk will be to raise awareness and money for the Catholic organization Development and Peace. During Lent, stu-dents will be learning about issues related to water conservation, drought, and accessibility to clean water. The culmination of our learning will be a fundraiser walk carrying water pails to and from the conservation area behind our school. We are asking families to send in donations to support Development and Peace and their water initiatives. Donations can be sent in to your child's classroom teacher until Thursday, April 13th.

Spring Cleaning? Now Accepting Dona-tion for our Earth Day (April 22nd) Yard Sale Fundraiser St. David Catholic School, in collaboration with Mr. Slee’s not-for-profit family camp, Lighthouse Landing, will be hosting an Earth Day Yard Sale in our parking lot on Saturday, April 22nd (Earth Day). Leadership Staff from the camp will be setting up and work-ing at the sale. The proceeds will be divided between St. David’s technology fund and Lighthouse Landing. For information about the not-for-profit camp, go to www.lighthouselanding.ca.

Items can be sent to the school beginning Monday, April 3rd. The last day to donate items is Friday, April 21st. All unsold items will be taken to Value Village who, in turn, give money for each pound of donated goods.

Don’t’ forget to mark your calendars and join the Dorchester community on Satur-day, April 22nd from 8am-noon. Shop, recycle, fundraise, and help the earth at the same time! All are welcome! What a perfect way to spend Earth Day!

Congratulations to the Intermediate Students for Winning the Anti-Racism Most Creative Video Prize

Congratulations to our intermediate students, who with Mr. Slee’s leadership, demonstrated outstanding work in cre-ating a video for anti-racism. The students won first place in the category of Most Creative Video. This achievement comes with a monetary reward ($900) that our school will use for additional technology (film production). The Ukulele Club (with special guests Liam and Kylie) performed at Mu-seum London last week and all spectators were impressed by the talent. Use the link

h t t p s : / / p h o t o s . g o o g l e . c o m / s h a r e /AF1QipPQCi93pYZeNqiVNLDWYEa1zfVfWhq2Fyp-

M E r G 9 W 3 1 l q k c m W i B e o F n W E t B m x N a C I Q ?

key=a0ZuaHNsbE1SZEZUWE03S21TS2xkNzNNSExQOEx3 to see our Wildcats in action,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdwxnrgpS6k&feature=youtu.be (actual video) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=mCNtLGzWzHs&feature=youtu.be

(behind the scenes video) to view the win-ning video!

Salthaven Earth Day Presentation:

Tuesday, April 18th 9:15am On April 18th, Brian Salt from Salthaven, a wildlife rehabilita-

tion centre, will teach all students about their work and

ways in which we can all be more responsible in our care of

wildlife. Please see http://www.salthaven.org/home for

more information. Please see additional information that

was sent home via

email blast. The cost

is $2 per student.

ST. DAVID CATHOL IC SCHOOL Page 3

April Mental Health Strategy: Spring Clean-ing for Your Mental Health

This

month we

are spring

cleaning

for our

mental

health.

Our front

bulletin

board has numerous

ideas for focusing on

what is important.

Please use the link

https://bebrainfit.com/

declutter-stress-health/

for more ideas to de-

clutter your life!

Dental Health: Timing 2 Minutes of Toothbrush-ing We know we should brush our teeth for 2 minutes twice each day for good oral health, but most of us don’t brush for that long. To make sure that children brush long enough, parents can use timers and watches. More and more people are using their mobile devices for this purpose. Public Health England has even devel-oped a free toothbrush timer app that plays 2 minutes of music taken from the user’s device. This app called Brush DJ can also set brushing, flossing, and dental visit reminders. It is available from the App Store and Google play. Check out www.brushdj.com for more information, and let’s get brushing! From the Public Health Dentist

Carnaval Celebrations: Merci Mmes Drummond and Serpa-Tavares! March 6th to March 10th the students of St. David Catholic school participated in the French festival of Carnaval! During the week

there was a theme for each day where students came to

school decked out in French colours, their favourite hockey

team jerseys, Voyageur clothing and other Carnaval costumes.

The class that showed the most spirit and enthusiasm for the

week won a crepe party. The students also participated in

many fun and exciting activities throughout the week led by

the Grade 8 students. They built ice castles (STEM challenge),

marched in a costume parade with Bonhomme and sang and

danced to French songs. This fantastic week ended with an

hour long skate at the Dorchester arena where all students,

staff and parents were encouraged to come together and

spend time as a school community.

By: Chloe R. (Grade 7 student and guest contributor)