Parents, please remember that teachers will not be available for interviews on the evening of February 13th. Teachers will, however, be available all day on February 14th for interviews and parents are encouraged to contact their child’s teacher to arrange an interview time to discuss your child’s progress. Confirmation of interview times will be sent home by Tuesday February 11th.

In accordance with the cell phone ban that was implemented by the Ontario Ministry of Education in November, students and parents are reminded that cell phones may not be used at school unless under the direct supervision of a teacher for educational, health, or medical purposes during the instructional day (this includes recess and lunch). Should a student need to communicate with a parent or should a parent need to speak with their child regarding an urgent issue, we ask that you please call the school office. Thank you for your cooperation.

Brimwood Blvd. Jr. Public School Newsletter The Bobcat

February 2020

Volume 5

Et ienne Mercieca , Pr incipa l

Diana Panag iotopoulos , Super intendant

Yal in i Rajakulasingam , T rustee

151 Brimwood Blvd.

Scarborough, ON

M1V 1E5

School phone: 416.396.6085

Safe Arrival: 416.396.6087

Homepage:

http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.

ca/Brimwood/

Twitter:

@brimwood_tdsb

Upcoming Events

Fire Safety Presentations – Feb. 4 & 5

Dental Screening – Feb. 7-13

P.A. Day – Fri. Feb. 14

Family Day Holiday – Mon. Feb. 17

Mental Health & Wellness Presentation – Fri. Feb. 21

Parent Council Meeting – Tues. Feb. 25 – 3:30-5:00 p.m.

P.A. Day: Fri. Feb. 14 Please be advised that Friday February 14th has been designated as a

Professional Activity Day for teachers. As such, there will be no classes

for students.

Parent-Teacher Interviews: Feb 13-14

Student Recognition / Heritage Month Assemblies Please be advised that these assemblies are currently not taking place.

We expect them to resume once a teacher contract settlement is

reached. Thank you for your understanding.

Student Cell Phone Use

As you are likely aware, we have been working hard to address safety concerns

regarding our cross walk at Brimwood and Delburn Dr. and the four-way stop at

Brimwood and Sandhurst Circle. We have recently submitted an application for

the City of Toronto to assign a crossing guard to our cross-walk for September and we have met with our Toronto

City Councillor, Cynthia Lai, and members of her staff to discuss these concerns. Thank you to the parents who

attended our parent council meeting on January 28th and participated in these discussions. For all our parents

who do drive their students to school, please know that we have contacted Toronto Police Traffic Services and

have requested that traffic enforcement be conducted in the near future. We would, therefore, remind parents to

only park your cars along the street where permissible or within the bus loop adjacent to our school parking lot

(parents are reminded not to park in the staff parking lot and not to park in the school bus loading zone). If

parking is not available when you arrive, we suggest that you drive around the block until you are able to safely

park and drop off your child. Ultimately, it will always be preferable to arrive late if it means arriving safely!

Chinese new year is also called Lunar new year. It lasts for 15 magical days, and on the 15th day people put up the lantern festival. The kitchen god is one of the most important gods of Chinese

New Year. A long time ago, 12 animals were racing, the rat was first place and the pig was last. Every year, people celebrate one of many animals from first to last on the zodiac wheel. One of the main focuses on Chinese New Year is luck. There are many lucky things people do on Chinese New Year such as, the colour red, cleaning your home, red pocket money and many more! Dragon dances represent luck. The longer the dragon dance, the luckier you are. Certain foods are eaten at this particular event. Egg Rolls represent wealth because they look like bars of gold. Noodles are not meant to be cut for a longer life. Some say cutting noodles means cutting life short. Shrimp represents happiness because they look like smiley faces due to the curve. Peaches represent good luck because they are red. According to legend, there once was a beast named Nian (Year). It came to the villages on the darkest night to terrify the villagers. There was a wise old man that told the villagers that Nian was scared of light, the colour red and loud noises. So the next time Nian came, the villagers took revenge by wearing the colour red from head to toe, lighting torches and firecrackers, hitting their drums as loud as loud as possible and Nian was never to be seen again. During the lantern festival, there are drum dances and lion dances, too. A nice way to greet people for Chinese New Year is by saying, “Gung hay Fat choy!” It is bad luck to cook food within the 5 days of Chinese New Year. Outdoors, people set firecrackers and fireworks in the air. More than 1 billion people celebrate Chinese New Year every year!

Page 2 of 5 Brimwood School Newsletter The Bobcat

School Pedestrian Safety

Chinese New Year By Even Chen, Kausar Mohammad & Vienna Gao Ms. Ohri’s Class

Emma Li

Students Demonstrating Kindness – Mme. Cane’s Class

The students in 5/6 F.I. wanted to participate in activities that show kindness. As part of this, they visited Mme

Akineza's class and Ms Fewson's class to help them with their work. The 2/3's needed help building structures

and the Kindergarten students needed help with a Patterning task. It was hard to tell which group had more fun!

Brimwood Parent Council Needs You!

Do you want to know more about what is happening at our school? Would you like to discuss school-

related issues with fellow parents and school staff members? If so, please come out to our next meeting on

Tuesday February 25th starting at 3:30 p.m. in the school library. Light refreshments will be served.

Free childcare will also be available.

Woodside Square has continued providing our school with a small

amount of food and healthy snacks that are available in our main office

area to all students. The snacks are there to supplement the food

students bring from home and to help when someone is feeling a little

“extra hungry” some days. Thank you very much Woodside Square!

Thank You Woodside Square!

Page 3 of 5 The Bobcat

Brimwood School Newsletter

Page 4 of 5 The Bobcat

Brimwood School Newsletter

Bell Let’s Talk Day – January 29

When it comes to mental health, every action counts! January 29th, 2020 is the 10 year anniversary of Bell Let’s Talk Day. This was Brimwood’s first time participating in Bell Let’s Talk Day. There are a lot of Canadians and people around the world who are struggling with different forms of mental illness. A lot of people who have a mental illness don’t feel comfortable talking about it with others. They keep it to themselves. This can cause even more stress and anxiety. Grade 6 students in Mrs.Tassopoulos’ and Ms. Patel’s class visited classes to talk about the strategies you can use when you are feeling stressed, mad or sad. Some of the exercises you can do to help calm down are; Just Breathe, Tense and Relax, Four Finger Affirmations, Gratitude Moment and Calm Place. It is important to take care of your own mental health by listening to your mind and body, advocate for a friend in need who might not be well enough to speak up for themselves, and treat mental health issues like any other health issue. Every action counts! Thank you for helping us create a positive change! By: Vickram, Kaniyan, Abi and Jathushan Grade 6 students

Secondary Program Review and Optional Attendance

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is undertaking a review of secondary schools to

ensure all students have equitable access to programs and opportunities, as close to home as

possible. As part of the Secondary Program Review, the TDSB is reviewing the Optional Attendance policy

(P013), which allows students to apply to schools other than their designated school by home address.

A public consultation process for both the Secondary Review and P013 started in November 2019. Please visit the

TDSB website for more information and opportunities to provide feedback: https://www.tdsb.on.ca/High-

School/Secondary-Program-Review.

If you have any questions and/or comments, please email SecondaryReview@tdsb.on.ca

The health and safety of all students, staff and our school community is our top priority. The TDSB takes its lead from public health agencies, which, at this time, have not advised school boards to take any additional precautions. Public health agencies continue to advise that the risk to the public remains low.

The TDSB is advised by the Ministry of Health that should a student, staff member or parent that has come into

contact with a school show symptoms and/or be suspected to have contracted the Coronavirus, Toronto Public

Health will advise the TDSB and the school on additional steps to be taken.

The TDSB will continue to keep school communities updated and will promptly advise should any additional

precautions become necessary.

If you have concerns about yours or your child’s health, please contact a medical practitioner or Toronto Public Health. The TDSB has created a webpage for more information at www.tdsb.on.ca/coronavirus. This page has important

links to more information from public health agencies.

Coronavirus – Tips on Staying Healthy

Ms. Lo Bianco – Karlsen Y., Phyllis C.

Ms. Moyles – Eason C., Benson

Mme. Gendi – Lemar C.

M. Ndeke-Manfata – Aneya C., Luna M.

Mme. Akineza – Umar Y-F., Emily L.

Ms. Chan – Sarvin V., Suwaibah S.

Ms. Ohri – Sophia Z., Alice Y.

Mme. Law – Raine Q., Nilesh S.

Ms. O’Neill – Shobika J., Zeenat K.

Mme. Cane – Aliya C., Harris P.

Ms. Tassopoulos / Ms. Patel – Cynasia S., Sahana S.

Page 5 of 5 The Bobcat

Brimwood School Newsletter

January Character Education Certificate Recipients: Teamwork

JungleSport

The students at Brimwood School enjoyed playing with the Jungle Sport equipment. There

were pirate ship walks, ropes to climb, a swing, a rock wall and even a zip line! We wore helmets to stay safe and we

followed rules. There were mats, so when we fell it kept us safe. It was sooooo fun! We can’t wait for next year

because it may come back to Brimwood!

From the kindergarten students in room 106