Stephen Dempsey Principal Heather Hickey Vice Principal S. Curcic Secretary L. Filice Clerk/typist John Wujek Superintendent of Education 416 222-8282 Barbara Poplawski TCDSB Trustee Ward 10 416 512-4301 St. James Church Fr. Ignacio Pineda 416 767-6451

James Culnan Website:

www.jamesculnan.tcdsb.org

J A M E S C U L N A N

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S C H O O L P A R E N T

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O U R N E X T

M E E T I N G W I L L

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W E D N E S D A Y ,

J U N E 6 T H A T

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I N T H E

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A L L A R E

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A T T E N D !

J A M E S C U L N A N C A T H O L I C S C H O O L

605 WILLARD AVENUE

416 393 5325

June 2018

Principal’s Message

For the month of June, we focus on the virtue of Faithfulness. The quote from John’s gospel reminds us, “Happy are those who have not seen, yet still believe.” By doing so, we all become true witnesses to Christ, extending the kingdom of God and building a more humane world. The final weeks of school are always busy, and this year is certainly no excep-tion. Many activities have been planned for June, including athletic tournaments, graduations, class excursions, our talent show on June 13th, and of course, our annual Spring Fair hosted by our Catholic School Parent Council (CSPC) on Thursday, June 14th. I’d like to thank our dedicated parent council for the many hours of work that has gone into preparing this year’s fair. It’s sure to be a won-derful event and I look forward to seeing everyone here on the 14th. As with every June, this is a time for endings and new beginnings. Our Grade 8 students will celebrate their graduation at St. James Church on Thursday, June 21st. We wish all of our graduates much luck, success, and happiness as they prepare for the next phase of their academic careers – high school. I’m certain that James Culnan Catholic School has prepared you well for this next chapter in your lives. As well, I would like to extend thanks and best wishes to Fr. Ignacio Pinedo, Pastor of St. James Church, as he is taking on a new assignment outside Toronto later this month. For many years, Fr. Ignacio has been a dedicated and commit-ted spiritual leader to the entire James Culnan community. He will be greatly missed. We look forward to meeting and welcoming Fr. Gustavo Campo, who will be assuming leadership at St. James Church. As a final note, I would like to thank all of the staff, students and parents of James Culnan for your hard work and continued commitment to the school com-munity this past academic year. It was a busy time, filled with many events, ac-tivities, excursions, initiatives, and celebrations – all designed to support the stu-dents and foster a welcoming environment for our families. Your time and ener-gy has been most appreciated and I look forward to working with everyone again in 2017-18. I wish you all a safe and happy summer. Regards, Stephen Dempsey Principal

ANAPHYLAXIS ALERT Allergen-Aware Environment

Please take special note that we have chil-dren in our school who have a very serious, life-threatening allergy to tree nuts, pea-nuts, all nut/peanut products, all seafood products, called Anaphylaxis. We are

notifying all parents that students should not bring any nuts, peanuts, peanut butter or any food containing nuts or peanut products such as peanut oil, sesame seeds, etc., as well as any seafood products to school.

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Many thanks to those who participated in the board-wide civvies day in support of the Angel Foundation for Learning on May 4th. James Culnan collected $307.40, with the money going to brighten the lives of students in the TCDSB.

Warmer Weather It is important to remember to protect ourselves from the changes in the weather regardless of the time of year. As the days get longer and the sun gets hotter we need to remember to drink plenty of water, cover up from too much sun exposure and use sunscreen daily. Even on overcast days remember the sun-screen.

Professional Activity (PA) Days for ELEMENTARY schools:

October 5, 2018 - Provincial Education Priorities/Faith Development November 16, 2018 - Parent-Teacher Conferences December 7, 2018 - Provincial Education Priorities January 18, 2019 - Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting February 15, 2019 - Parent-Teacher Conferences June 7, 2019 - Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting June 28, 2019 - Provincial Education Priorities

TCDSB SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR 2018-2019

Number of school days Number of Professional Activity Days Labour Day First Instructional Day Thanksgiving Day Christmas Break Start of second semester for secondary schools Family Day Mid-Winter Break Good Friday Easter Monday Victoria Day Last day of classes for elementary students

194

7

September 3, 2018

September 4, 2018

October 8, 2018

December 24, 2018–January 4, 2019

February 4, 2019

February 18, 2019

March 11–15, 2019

April 19, 2019

April 22, 2019

May 20, 2019

June 27, 2019

Please be aware that James Culnan has been selected as an official polling station by Elections Ontario. On June 7th, mem-bers from our community will proceed to the gym to cast their ballot. As a precau-tion, security will be on site assist with main-taining a safe school environment.

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News from Parent Council

It’s hard to believe that this is the last newsletter going out for this year! Another great year is coming to an end and the year’s activities are winding down. We still have a few fun events hap-pening in June. Save the date as our annual Fun Fair takes place on June 14th from 4-8pm. Come out and sup-port your school for a fun evening of food, games, face painting and so much more. We are looking for volunteers, if you can help please email Michelle Steele at michelle.steele@rogers.com or Eliza-beth Galloway at eccgalloway@gmail.com. As a reminder, the funds raised via the Fun Fair go towards programming and other activities for the school community. In May we held our annual Multicultural Potluck with this year’s entertainment choice, a Spring Dance. Students, Parents, Teachers and staff all enjoyed an evening of shared International cooked and prepared foods, socializing and dancing. A BIG Thank You goes out Sonia Pacheco, Event Coor-dinator and Sub-Committee Team, David Belloumini, Xana McCormick and Elizabeth Jackson-Hall for all their help in planning this school community event. We also would like to thank our teach-ers and Staff who were on hand to help assist Mme. D’Lima, Mr. Enright, Ms. Curcic, Ms. Jacinovic Ms. Hickey and Mr. Custodio and his staff. Again we are most grateful for the volunteers who helped with the Potluck dinner and dance, spe-cial mention goes out to Dionne and Melwyn D’Costa, Elizabeth D'Agostino, Alicia Flaherty, Troy Scott, Paul Pacheco, Laurian Joseph, Nancy and Nancy Jr. Wanigatunga, Maria McChesney ,Elizabeth Galloway, Ana Ledo, Anabela Belluomini, Christina Meyer, PrimaLim, Cathe-rineOliver, JackieAvelino, StefanieTeves, Liz Teves, MichelleSteele,SandraHunter,Renee Marks, Le-onor Carneiro,Ann Marie Uhalde, Gabriella Mercer,Stephanie Curesma, Sylwia Halas, Anita Choi-Gibson, Heather Brubacher, Mary-Lynne Anstett, Katherine Bauer and students Sophia Steele, Evangelina Scott, Michael and Luca Belluomini, Ethan Avelino, Mariam and Eleanor Jackson-Hall and Sydney Ferren. My apologies! If I missed anyone here, we could not have done it without all of you. Save the Date! ‘Movie under the stars’ on Friday September 14th Everyone enjoys a movie un-der the stars! We are happy to let you know that our annual outdoor family movie event will take place again in the new school year on Friday September 14th.This is a great event to welcome back families to James Culnan and show the new families how amazing our school community is! The movie will be announced in September. Hope to see everyone there! Finally, thank you to the 2017-18 Parent Council Executives: Alicia Flaherty, Co-Chair; Nancy Wan-igatunga and Maria McChesney, Secretaries and Ana Ledo, Treasurer. Our Council Members: Jack-lyn Skudra, Shannon Wareham-Browne, Xana McCormick, Garth Mercer, David Belluomini, Eliza-beth Galloway, Michelle Steele, Katherine Olejarz, Jackie Averino, Cindy Trotman, Elizabeth D’ Ago-stino, Elizabeth Jackson-Hall and Maureen Smith, Mme. D’Lima, Teacher Representative; Ms. Hick-ey, Vice Principal and Mr. Dempsey, Principal, this has been an amazing and fun journey with you all!

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News from Parent Council (Continued)

If I could leave you all with one thought, GET INVOLVED! Our students love to see their parents at the school. ‘Just One Hour’ of your time makes a huge difference and allows everyone to enjoy! There are so many ways to get involved at our school and it helps Parent Council to do more for the school community. We count on ‘Parent Power’ to run these initiatives. As someone who never went to a Parent Council meeting before, I can tell you that volunteering in our school community has been incredibly rewarding. If you are looking to be more involved in your child’s school expe-rience, volunteering is the best way to do so. When you give of your time and talents to such an amazing school community, you get so much more in return! As we approach summer, I encourage all of our parents to think ahead to the fall. If you are return-ing to our school, I ask that you make time to be involved next year in our Parent Council or as a volunteer. I also ask that you find new parents next fall and welcome them, so that they feel com-fortable and a part of our fabulous community. Please encourage them to be involved and active, let new families know how the time and effort you put into being active in our School community has helped you and your children. Wishing you all a wonderful and safe summer! Neena Scott, Co-Chair on behalf of James Culnan Parent Council

TCDSB Three-Year Pastoral Plan

On May 9th, one parent, one student, and one child from each school in the TCDSB were invited to attend the launch of the new pastoral plan. The theme for our new plan is inspired by St. Paul’s letter to the Colos-sians: “Rooted in Christ: we Belong, we Believe, we Become”. Many thanks to Amy Apalit, Mrs. Apalit, and Ms. Pedro for representing James Culnan.

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Track and Field

On Tuesday May 8th, James Culnan sent 67 students from grades 3 to 8 to compete in the Track and Field Divi-sional Tournament at the Pan Am York Stadium. Our students collectively earned us 2nd place in our division with 36 participants advancing to the Regional Meet the following week. We were represented by students run-ning distance events, relay, long jump and shotput. The students included Patrick O., Dahana. S., Dylan D., Emily M., Christina S., Andrew A., Mark L., Ethan D., Kelly O., David O., Kinga Z. Erika C., Soraia C., Sienna J., Stef-an J., Aleah L., Madison B., Lucas C., Jordan H., Karol M., Frank D., Layla D., Kendra B., Amy Z., Brianna B., Jahnoi J., Andrea P., Sandrina S. Mya M., Zariyah B., Lily P., Francesco G., Niko P., Filipe G., Tristan H. and Anthony G. On Wednesday May 23rd, 7 students participated in the City meet, the grade 7 boys relay team, and short and long distance runners. All the City finalists had amazing results including Zariyah (Gr.4) who came first in the 100 metre sprint. We are very proud of all our students, from the first meet to the last, they were always en-couraging of each other and cheered each and every participant forward. They came together as a team and fully experienced what it means to have school spirit. Thanks also goes out to our coaches Ms. Ciccarelli, Ms. Feness, Mr. Neri, Ms. Lausic, Ms. Usher, Ms. Weing, Ms. Domagala, Mr. Enright, Ms. Hughes, Ms. Galati and Mme La Cute for their time, support and encouragement.

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Soccer

The boys and girls intermediate soccer teams played in their divisional tournaments at High Park on May 30th and 31st. Both teams displayed incredible skill and sportsmanship and truly represented James Culnan with pride. Congratulations to our players and coaches: Girls: Madison, Maiara, Vanessa, Erika, Blanca, Kinga, Soraia, Nadia, Victoria T, Sophia H, Daniella, Sophia C, Alyson, Christina, Winter and Mackenzie. A special thank you to the team managers and junior coaches Rodrigo and Tiago. Ms. Alagas and Ms. Domagala were proud coaches that day! Boys: Rodrigo R., Carlos U., Patrick O., Samuel M., Anthony A., Jerson S. Dylan D., Rivaldo R., Tiago B., Noah A., Mark L., Andrew A., Kelly O., David O., Maximo S., and George H. Coaches: Mr. Pedrosa and Mr. Neri

James Culnan at the Coding Arcade

Based on provincial curriculum and using a critical inquiry process, Ms. Pedro has been teaching her Grade 4 students about coding. Through weekly, student-driven activities, children applied their coding skills to create a video game. As a culminating activity, Ms. Pedro's class participated in the coding arcade at Corus Entertainment to showcase the games they created based on an ancient civilization. The event was hosted by YTV's Suki and Jesse.

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Me-to-We News and Updates

Vow of Silence + Water Walk

The Me-to-We group will once again do a ‘walk in silence’ on Thursday June 7. This walk is a way to share our concern for the children and youth that are forced to work in factories, forced into slavery, living in poverty or abuse. In addition, the students will support the need to give water for one person for an entire year for only $25. The students will hold this one hour walk around the community during the lunch hour and proudly demonstrate that peaceful walk can bring awareness to our concerns.

Rafiki Bracelets The students from Me-to-We want to thank the students, teachers and staff at James Culnan for sup-porting the Rafiki bracelet fundraiser! The school sold over 112 bracelets! The students used this op-portunity to help support different global initiatives this year and we hope you will are wear your bracelets proudly!

Thank you!

Me-to-We Group

Big Time Talent!

Mark your calendars! The Annual James Culnan Talent Show will be held

during the afternoon of Wednesday, June 13th. Family members are most

welcome to attend this exciting event!