From the Principal

Volume 2, Issue 4

News from St. Sylvester

Principal

Mr. R. Fernandes

Secretary

Mrs. J. Palmeri

CSAC Chair

Ms. Ewing Chow

Pastor

Fr. J. Sultana

December 2015

“Ready the Way of the Lord.” The first three months of the school year have flown by

and we are entering one of my favourite liturgical seasons of the year: The season of

Advent. The Advent season that leads us to Christmas is a time of waiting, a time of

anticipation and mostly, a time of hope. These themes will be evident throughout all we

do in the month of December.

The theme of waiting and patience is perhaps the most difficult to make

happen but surely so very important as we move through the different

stages of our lives. Students from a young age are taught the importance of waiting

their turn to speak. Parents and teachers both know the importance of showing

patience to our young people as they work through new learning concepts and familiar

expectations of behaviour that will of course often be tested. And most importantly, we

know how important it is to be patient with each other as we work together for student

success.

Anticipation: There is much to anticipate with the season of Christmas ahead. At the

school level, we are eagerly anticipating school trips, our primary Christmas play, and

the Christmas holidays, and we know many are very eager for family time, and the gifts

to buy and receive. There is so much to look forward to, and so much to be grateful for

during this time. Our virtue this month – Charity – encourages us to really remember

that there are many people less fortunate than us who we can help in simple ways.

Finally, there is the theme of Hope. Hope is a powerful and beautiful concept that guides

us in our lives as Christ’s followers. We know that there are many things that can bring

us stress and anxiety on a daily basis. However, we remember the Israelites who over

2000 years ago tired of waiting. They finally saw the Star of David as a sign from God

that allowed them to anticipate and hope for better things. We too are given the gift of

hope from God during this special season. Advent offers us hope, and the saying is

true: Jesus is the reason for the Season.

It is our hope that in this season of Advent as we lead toward Christmas that you are

able to find signs of hope all around you. Hope in the good work your child has

completed in the first three months of the school year (and patience if you both know

that better work can be done), hope in the person your child is maturing into (and

patience if you know more work can be done – we are ALL a work in progress) and

hope for the peace of Christ to continue to reign in our hearts. Thank you for always

keeping your faith in the work we do at St. Sylvester. We know our mission is guided by

God and we look forward to continue working with you as partners in the months (and

year) ahead. Wishing you a blessed and holy Advent and Christmas season, and early

wishes for a fulfilling New Year ahead.

Sincerely, Mr. R. Fernandes

416–393-5373

School Information

School Enrolment

180 students

School Hours

8:30—3:00

Lunch Hour

11:15—12:15

School Parish

St .Aidan Catholic

Church

(416-494-2704)

Home, School, and Church

Page 2 News from St. Sylvester

It starts with communication

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’re staying

up to date with school happenings. The goal is to get even more

people reading and staying involved with what’s happening in our

school. Last month’s newsletter informed parents that Mrs.

Palmeri was retiring at the end of December. It wasn’t until I was

talking to our choir in the middle of the month about coming up with

some songs for our next school Mass for Mrs. Palmeri that the

word seemed to get out. So it’s time to start rewarding those who

read the newsletter. Send me an email with the number of times

Mrs. Palmeri is mentioned in this newsletter and your child will

receive a free civies day. Deadline to let me know is by Tuesday,

December 1st! And for those who felt the November newsletter

item was too small a blurb about Mrs. Palmeri. Rest assured, that

was just an intro—we hope you have read the full letter now.

Church News

As we enter the season of Advent we encourage all

families to find time to spend at Church. Our

students are learning and talking about the

importance of preparing for Jesus in our minds and

hearts. The best place to continue this learning is of

course in the Church. Family Advent circles are also

an excellent way to prepare for Jesus’ coming. Stores

like Josephs or Broughtons sell pertinent reflection

books for those who are interested.

Charity - Ubi Caritas et amor, Deus ibi est—Where there is

charity and love, God is there

December is Charity month and we encourage everyone to try

and follow the points below. Those who do it best will become

our virtues stars for December

1. Remember throughout Advent that Charity starts from the

home and moves forward in all you do.

2. Let the Christmas season create Charity in your

actions throughout the year.

3. If we expect other people to do charitable acts

towards us, we must first remember to show

generosity towards others.

4. We should always remember those less fortunate

than us, especially in a season filled with giving.

Faith and Character Development

November Virtues Stars (Peace)

Ms. Semple Vivian Chen

Ms. Chen Ellynn Amalraj

Mrs. Ricetto Joe Roby

Ms. Ironside Joshwah Anthony

Ms. D’Amico Jazmine Tolentino

Ms. Harrietha Agnel Suresh

Ms. Stoner Austin Lins

Mrs. Povo Juno Lins

Congratulations to all these students for demonstrating our

Virtue of the month. They have been awarded a certificate

for remembering that God welcomes us all and that we

should try to welcome others as well.

Parent involvement Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC): www.tcdsb.org/cpic

Our CSPC (Parent council) meeting took place on Tuesday, November 17th at 6:15. Please remember that you can

visit our website for updated CSPC news and minutes.

Our Parent Council raised over $1400 from our Halloween Dance a thon and are now starting to

get ready for their chocolate sale fundraiser. Thanks to all those who have and are continu- ing to work

for our students.

Page 3

Active Living

Neither cold, nor wind, nor snow…. Alright, bitter

cold and biting snow might keep our roadrunners

inside but so far, we’re still motoring around the

school and yep into the City. Our motivated group

of runners (36 at this point from Gr. 1-8) continues

to burn up the streets. Our goal is creating life long

runners and we hope we’re doing just that.

In other active news, St. Sylvester students from

JK-Gr. 6 were able to take part in the Little Aces

Indoor Tennis program during November. A

qualified instructor came to spend time with our

K-6 students. If you’d like to hear more, ask your

child for the details

Happening at a School Near You

Remember we’re online at www.tcdsb.org

Click on schools, alphabetical school directory, St.

Sylvester. From here you can surf our home page .

It’s worthwhile to book mark it.

You are also encouraged to let us know if there is

information you are not finding on the school

website that you’d like to see and we’ll do our best

to get it on there.

Knowledge is power so we strongly encourage you

to read and learn on our school website.

Volleyball

Two full days of volleyball have come to an end. Congratulations to both the Girls and the Boys Intermediate teams on both their sportsmanship and their play. For the girls, they tried their best and held their heads high, finishing off the day on Monday with their very best game, defeated by just a narrow margin of 25-19. Well done girls! Team members were: Amelia, Taja, Madonna, Sairis, Juno, Brianna, Liz, Astrid, Kyla, Leeann, and Adejah And with the boys yesterday, it was a very successful day with either winning or splitting all sets against all schools. The day literally ended on one point with the final game capping off at a 27-26 battle against Epiphany. Epiphany advanced on that one point but, well done boys; great sportsmanship right to the final handshake. Team members were: Noah, Romeo, Joshua, Andrew, Joaquin, John, Dan, Miki, Japheth and Aiden. Thanks to Mrs. Mondaca for driving both days and for supporting both teams, and also a big thanks to Javier for being assistant coach and keeping track of all the volleyballs! Well done Javi!. B. Stoner Eds note: Thanks as well to Mrs. Stoner for all her time coaching and preparing the team

As mentioned in our November Newsletter, the

best secretary ever—Mrs. Palmeri is retiring at the

end of December. Our final school Mass on Dec

18 at 10 am will be in her honour. Parents are

most welcome. You can also say bye to Mrs. Palmeri

before our Christmas play on Dec 16. Also, Mr. Santos

returned on Nov 25 to St. Sylvester as head caretaker.

EQAO results Results are in from the Ministry EQAO tests which are ONE snapshot of how a school

is performing academically. Our Gr. 3 and Gr. 6 scores as compared to the board

average were as follows. Complete results are available at www.eqao.com

Reading Writing Math

Gr. 3 St. Sylvester 73 87 80

Gr. 3 TCDSB 69 79 64

Gr. 6 St. Sylvester 80 60 60

Gr. 6 TCDSB 78 80 52

We encourage all parents to continue finding ways to make reading, writing and math

authentic for your children (show them how you do all three in day to day life), and to mod-

el a love of all three to your children. If you have questions about the test results, feel free to

call me or email to ask about how we are working to help your child at school (a hint , check

out the school improvement plan above because that’s where it starts).

And a few other important things

School improvement plan

Every school is asked to have a school learning and improvement plan. We shared our plan with parents through our parent engagement night on Oct 27, and through the newsletter. The plan is also on line. The key goal of our learning plan is to find ways to engage students in the curriculum with a focus on the CGE’s of Effective Communicators, Responsible Citizens and Life Long Learners.

Your help to reach these goals are key. We begin by asking you to talk to your children about what they’re learning at school and what they’re interested in learning more about. At the start you may be met with blank stares, but as your children reflect on what interests them in their learning, they will naturally start to take more interest in their learning. It will make a difference as well if you share what you are interested in learning more about. The first step to being a life long learner is to get excited about learning, and that’s what we hope to do for our students. Stay tuned for more info in the upcoming months.

Kindergarten registration keeps our schools growing and vibrant. Parents/guardians with children born in 2012 or earlier

and who will be enrolling in Kindergarten, have the opportunity to apply on-line using the “Student On-line Admission

and Registration” platform known as S.O.A.R. and found at the following link: http://soar.tcdsb.org .

More info can be found on our website under admissions and boundraries.

Keeping the Christ in Christmas

Our primary Christmas play is on

Dec 16 at 7 pm. Costume letters

have been sent home with all

students and are also available on

our website.

On the night of the Christmas play,

students should be at school for

6:30 p.m in their classroom. We are

asking for all parents to bring a

canned good for charity and a

donation of at least a toonie to

help with the costs of our Christmas

play. We thank you in advance and

are looking forward to sharing our

work.