http://gss.sd42.ca

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Wow, 3 months down!! There have been many

excellent opportunities for students to become involved

in community building. Our High Five initiative will

continue with a field trip scheduled for December 9th,

our winter sports, including basketball, have kicked off,

rehearsals for Legally Blonde the Musical are in full

swing, and we have just wrapped up our most success-

ful Advisory Survivor competition to date.

We continue to invite our parent community to become

involved in the school. Our next PAC meeting will be

on December 7th, and I will share with the group the

BCED Plan, which was released by the Ministry of

Education a few weeks ago. The plan has several

important implications, and I would encourage you to

join us for this lively discussion.

Parents continue to ask about how to determine their

son or daughter’s progress. Teachers are continuing to

assess progress and communicate with parents. I would

recommend that parents make contact with the teachers.

There are a variety of ways to do this – meeting at a

mutually convenient time, phone calls, and email.

These emails can be found on our

web page – the address is usually,

First Name_Last Name@sd42.ca.

Learning and assessment is ongoing and students are

getting excellent learning opportunities. Staff, students,

and parents are all part of the community that makes

schooling an enriching experience. As such, I encourage

you to be in touch with the teachers on a regular basis

so that everyone remains informed.

If you have any further questions, please do not

hesitate to contact me at the school.

Thanks,

Mr. Frend

Garibaldi Secondary School 24789 Dewdney Trunk Road

Maple Ridge, BC V4R 1X2

ph: 604 463 6287 GSS Homepage: http://gss.sd42.ca

Fax: 604 463 0896

November 25, 2011

GOWNS FOR GRAD!

Consignment Grad dress shopping at

"Grad Central”. Times are tough but grad

shopping doesn’t have to be! If you want

a “Worn-Once”, amazing grad dress at an

incredible cost, come to THSS to shop for

this special day! Any graduate from any

school can come to THSS office before

school, during lunch, or after school to see what is

available. Dresses are labeled according to school / grad

class and are continually being dropped off, so come

often! Some dresses are available for “hardship situa-

tions”. Likewise, if you have a dress to sell, bring it to

THSS to add to Grad Central Consignment. You name

the price! Contact THSS at 604-463-2001 for more

information.

GSS Library: http://schools.sd42.ca/gsslibrary

www.gss.principalsoffice.com

GREAT ENTERTAINMENT - PSYCHO SESSION

Come on out and enjoy our Christmas

celebration, going psycho together. This

fun-filled evening of Theatre Sports, comedy,

song and dance will be held on Thursday,

December 8th at 7:00 pm. Tickets at the door

will be $6 or, with a donation to the food

bank, only $5.

LEGALLY BLONDE!!

We are delighted to announce this will be our major the-

atrical performance this year. This promises to be an-

other outstanding and memorable Garibaldi

production, scheduled for evening performances

from February 21 - 25. Tickets are now avail-

able from Little Cricket Gift Gallery

located at #102, 22347 Lougheed

Highway, Maple Ridge, or the

Garibaldi office.

GSS PHOTO CLUB NEWS

This year has already been busy for the photo club! We

currently have over 25 members and we have already had

a show in the community. Journeys was a collection of

photos on display in the local 240th Street Starbucks.

Look for more GSS Photo Club shows there and at other

community venues throughout the school year. Other

great news - we have been hosting photo scavenger hunts

for our members. These scavenger hunts challenge

members to get out in the world and "find" specific

pictures and creatively capture them. Congratulations to

all who wowed us in the first challenge and won them-

selves prizes. This fall, we have been working on portrait

shooting, focusing on composition, narrative and working

with models. We also learned how to use reflectors in

bright outdoor light. Thanks to member Bodhi Nolan for

bringing those in! Our walking trip to Cliff Park was also

a success and we had a chance to work with light and

shadow. Sadly, we say goodbye to Miss McGreevy, our

student teacher who has been working with us this fall.

We hope to see her back soon as an employed teacher

here! We may be doing something special for the

holidays, so stay tuned by checking us out on Facebook

and liking our page! Search: GSS Photo Club.

Photo by Valeriya Yarkayeva, Photo Club Member

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

Sat, Dec 3 Scrapbooking fundraiser in the café from

10:00 - 10:00

Wed, Dec 7 PAC at 7:00 pm

Thur, Dec 8 Psycho session at 7:00 pm in the theatre

Dec 13 & 14 Music concerts at 7:00 pm in the café

Dec 19 - 30 Christmas Vacation (school closed)

Mon, Jan 2 New Year’s Day Stat

Tues, Jan 3 School reopens

Fri, Jan 20 Pro-D Day (school closed)

Tues, Jan 24 Grade 9 immunizations

Fri, Jan 27 Collaboration day - first block at 9:40 am

STUDENT ACCIDENT INSURANCE

Optional student medical and accident

related insurance is available for interested

families. Brochures and registration forms

are available in the main office.

Photo by Bodhi Nolan, Photo Club Member

GRAD INFORMATION

Grad Parent Contact List – if you would like to receive

grad news via email please email kgould@sd42.ca to be

put on the list.

Graduation Day - June 08, 2012 12:30 - Students arrive at Planet Ice

1:00 - Group photo – outside

2:00 - Grad ceremonies start

5:30 - Curling rink opens for dinner

6:00 - Dinner, dance to follow

11:30 - 12:30 - Students arrive at Greg Moore Youth

Centre for Dry Grad

Dry Grad - is held after the dinner and dance on the day

of grad. This event is a safe, alcohol-free event. Dry Grad

is held at the Greg Moore Youth Centre. The night

includes games, a casino, a hypnotist, food and prizes.

Dry Grad is organized by the grad parents. We will need

to have about 30 volunteers at this event. The cost of Dry

Grad is covered by students paying $75 each, in addition

to some fundraising activities.

Dry Grad Tickets - The cost for grads to attend Dry

Grad is $75. This amount should be paid to Ms. Henry in

the school office. Students who have paid this fee by

December 10 will be entered into an early bird draw for a

cash prize to be awarded before Christmas. Guest tickets

will be available at a later date; all guests must be

preapproved by the administration.

Scholarships - grade 12 students are reminded to check

the school website and the daily gazette for scholarships

currently available.

The School District 42 Scholarship booklet will be

available in January for all grade 12’s interested in

applying for locally-available scholarships and bursaries.

We will conduct workshops in Grad Transitions so

students may learn how to prepare their scholarship

packages for these awards.

The next classes for this will be offered on December 6

and 7. The final session will be in January. We will then

be meeting with students individually to go over their

binders.

Grad Transitions - Grade 12’s have been meeting with

Ms. Beyer and Mrs. Gould on the first and third week of

the month to complete their Grad Transitions. All grade

11 and 12 students should be keeping an activity log of

150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per

week. These will be due May 1.

FUNDRAISING

Canadian Tire Money – grads will be collecting

Canadian Tire Money throughout the year, to assist

with the purchase of dry grad gifts. A collection

container is available in the counseling office. Grads

will also be going to Canadian Tire on Dec 3 and 4 to

solicit donations of Canadian Tire money. There are

three shifts through the day, so student and parent

volunteers are needed for each shift. Sign up is

available through Terry Stanley at tstanley@shaw.ca.

Student volunteers are still needed for this event.

Gingerbread House Raffle - In December, grads will

be selling tickets for a Gingerbread house. Tickets will

be available at lunchtime, at Psycho Session and at the

band’s Dessert concerts on Tuesday December 13 &

Wednesday December 14 . The winner will be drawn

at the Dec 14th concert.

Bottle Drive - January 7, 2012 from 9 AM – 3 PM, so

please collect your bottles over Christmas and New

Years. Contact a grad or drop them off at the school on

the 7th. Parent and student volunteers are needed for

this event.

GRAD EVENTS Dec 3 & 4 Canadian Tire – Canadian Tire money do-

nations at Canadian Tire

Jan 4 Scholarship booklet available on district

website: www.sd42.ca

Jan 7 Bottle Drive

Jan 10-11 Workshops in study – How to Prepare

Scholarship Packages

Feb Banquet Ticket orders available with re-

port card

April Banquet tickets available for pick-up

March 29 Scholarship packages due to counseling by

10AM

April Extra banquet tickets available for sale

April District Dogwood Scholarship presenta-

tions

May 12 Grad car wash / Basket pickup

June 6 3:30 PM – Grad rehearsal at Planet Ice

7:00 PM – Banquet set-up, parent volun-

teers needed

June 8 School Leaving Ceremonies, Dinner /

Dance, Dry Grad