February 2020

Principal’s Message

Dear Parents and Guardians:

Happy 2020 and an enthusiastic welcome to semester two West Credit families! As you know I was new to the #WCSSfam in September 2019 and over the last few months I have gotten to know the staff and students and have discovered just what an amazing place West Credit is for learning. Every opportunity I get, I tell community members what a unique and special place this is and just how much the staff care about providing students with authentic

learning tasks that will prepare them for the future. I am looking forward to the things that are coming over the next year and cannot wait to continue to share our growth and progress as a community of learners with you.

There are some staff updates that I would like to share with you as we move into semester two:

We welcome back Ms. Primeau who has returned from leave to our Bridge Program for semester 2. We are also welcoming back Ms. Monteiro, who is returning from her leave as a math teacher.

On another note, two of our respected and valued staff members are retiring: Mr. Wendland and Mr. Walkling. These educators are tenured WCSS staff and it is impossible to quantify the impact they have had supporting the achievements of our students over the years.

This year, as a leadership team, Mr. Drmanic, Ms. Vardy and myself made the purposeful decision to carry forward the work our staff has been doing to frame

student learning around overarching learning goals. Creating these broad learning goals helps staff and students focus on what is important and assess learning materials that work toward the achievement of these goals. This work will dove-tail into the co-construction of a WCSS Vision for Student Achievement 2020-2024 that will reflect the Board’s Plan for Student Achievement, our

collective work around Empowering Modern Learners, EngageMath & Equity and help us improve student achievement and well-being.

Our Regional Skilled Trades Program committee has been hard at work delving into the applications of our regional program candidates in order to help more students “Put their hands on the future.” The first round of acceptances will be sent out in February and we are looking forward to finalizing our second official class list by the end of the month.

Inside this issue:

Panther’s Athletics 3

Business Department 4

Co-operative Education 5

Child Care 5

Hospitality 6

Breakfast Club 8

West Credit Secondary

School Newsletter

Continued next page

As always, with our strong focus on school community, we hosted a number of events in the latter part of semester one that brought students, school and board staff, and long-time friends together. Our annual Christmas lunch was hosted on December 19th and we were lucky enough to host our Director of Education, Trustee Crocker and a number of Superintendents of Education. As a community, we enjoyed a full traditional Christmas dinner thanks to our hospitality students as well as a showcase of talent by our music students. We then gathered together the next day as a school community to enjoy a holiday movie buy-out before heading off for the Winter Break.

Outside of the classroom, we have wrapped up our semester one extra-curricular activities and staff are busy planning a variety of activities for semester two. West Credit will be fielding teams for Boys’ Basketball, Girls’ Volleyball, Badminton, and Track and Field. Semester two clubs include the Outdoors Club, the Yearbook Club, the Free to Be Me Club, the Weight Training Club, and the Team Unbreakable Running Club. We look forward to a number of special events in semester two that include the Awards Assembly to recognize high academic achievement, the Principal’s Reception to recognize good character, a school dance, Education Week, Black History Month, Asian Heritage Month, the Day of Pink, numerous field trips, Prom, and Commencement for graduating students. We have so far had an incredible year full of engaging activities that continue to build the skills of all students and look forward to the variety of opportunities that will be available as we move toward the spring.

Before we get to the spring, I want to take a moment to ensure our families know the board’s protocols around school and bus cancellations when there is bad weather:

Information regarding details of cancellations or closures will be available on Twitter @Peelschools, Facebook at www.facebook.com/peelschools, www.peelschools.org and www.stopr.ca or by calling 905-890-1010 or 1-800-668-1146. It is usually also announced on the radio and television stations listed below:

One of the following messages will be announced:

Peel District School Board buses are cancelled - This means that schools remain open for students and staff, but buses are cancelled. Bus cancellations could occur in all or parts of municipalities. Buses will remain cancelled all day. All activities that require busing will also be cancelled. Permits, night school classes, child care and other activities in schools will operate as usual.

All Peel District School Board schools and board offices are closed - This means that all schools and Peel board offices are closed to students and staff. All activities in schools and board offices are also cancelled, including child care, night school and permits.

All evening programs and permits at the Peel District School Board are cancelled - This means that all activities in schools and Peel board offices are cancelled, including continuing education courses and events. The buildings will be closed.

All weekend programs and permits at the Peel District School Board are cancelled - This means that all activities in schools and Peel board offices are cancelled, including continuing education courses and events. The buildings will be closed.

Principal’s Message Continued….

Page 2 West Credit Secondary School Newsletter

BREAKFAST TELEVISION

CBC99.1

CFNY FM102.1/AM640

CFRB – (Bell Media)

CHFI FM98.1

CHIN FM100.7/AM1540

CITY NEWS

CITYPULSE

CJBC (FR) AM860

CTV

EZ ROCK FM97.3

FM Q107

FM Z103.5

FM93.1

GLOBAL NEWS

NEWS AM680

NEWSTALK1010 AM

VIRGIN RADIOFM99.9

What if my child does not go to school due to a bus cancellation or inclement weather? If your child will be absent as a result of a bus cancellation or you choose to keep your child home due to inclement weather, parents/guardians must report the absence using one of the following methods:

For secondary students: call the school office directly

For elementary K-8 students: report it through SafeArrival by calling 1-855-209-6155 or visiting go.schoolmessenger.ca

And one final note, I hope that parents will be able to mark their calendars to ensure they come out to the next School Council meeting at 6:00 p.m. on February 19th.

On behalf of Mr. Drmanic, Ms. Vardy, and myself, I wish everyone in the West Credit Secondary School community an amazing 2020 and huge success in the coming semester.

Kimberley Jones, Principal

Principal’s Message Continued….

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Panthers Athletics Since our last update the Panther Athletic Department has added more medals to its resume. In early December, Mr. Dzis, Mr. Warr and Mr. Angeja led the boys volleyball team to a gold medal performance. It was an exciting tournament and a very positive season for the team. One week later our girls basketball team concluded their season with a silver medal performance. Thanks to Ms. Bouwmeester, Ms. Priestly and Ms. Bjelovuk for their collective effort in coaching the girls team this year. Also, our special events basketball and bowling teams had outstanding performances on their respective tournament days and we congratulate them and their coaches as well.

The beginning of semester 2 initiates a very busy season in the gyms at West Credit. Mr. Grozdanovski, Ms. Bharti and Mr. Nunes have been working hard preparing the boys junior and senior basketball teams for league play. The boys’ basketball teams begin their quest for gold in early February and we wish them well in what will be a very competitive, exciting season. The girls’ volleyball team will begin try-outs the first week of semester two. This

is always a highly anticipated season due the success and fun the girls have enjoyed in the past. West Credit will host the final girls’ volleyball tournament in March. Also, in addition to our snow tubing trip in early February the annual ski/snowboard trip will take place on March 11 at Glen Eden. If you would like more information, please contact the P.E. office.

Good luck to all our participants.

Mr. Ward, Head of Physical Education

Page 4 West Credit Secondary School Newsletter

Co-operative Education Where did this semester go! We celebrated some great success stories this semester. The students were working in many different industries such as auto service (auto service technician OYAP), foods (cook assistant and baking OYAP), general carpentry (OYAP), grocery clerk, restaurant services, retail, teaching assistants, computer technician, arena attendant and animal attendant. The following students are registered in the baker OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program) Alex Lin, Leanne Hoang and Harpreet Kaur. Rayan Hoda is participating in the auto service technician OYAP program and Tyler Drouillard is participating in the general carpentry OYAP program. All the students enrolled in our program are successfully learning good employability skills and an appropriate work ethic. These students are proudly representing West Credit Secondary School proudly in the “world of work” and we are making great partnerships between local employers and the school.

We would like to thank all our employers for all their patience and support they give to all our students; Children’s Place – EMTC, Subway – Square 1, Candu Millwork, No Frills, Springfield Public School, East Side Mario’s, French Corner Patisserie, Barks N Rec, Lazar Famous Deli and Bakery, Dixie Public School, Kindree Public School, Sherwood Mills P.S., Shoppers Drug Mart, Toys R Us, Dogtopia, ACC Centre, Nissan Infinite, Whole foods – Square 1, Edenrose Public School, Oakridge Public School, Acro Business Solutions and Queensway Cawthra Carwash. It has been a pleasure to see all of the successes that took place this semester, we want to wish all of our students the best of luck next semester and we look forward to semester two so we can start all over again.

Marilyn Damery Career and Guidance Teacher

Alex Lin Whole Foods Baker (OYAP)

Fatima Aateq Children's Place

Salesperson

Parent Council Happy New Year to our West Credit Family!! On behalf of School Council I hope that it has been a wonderful start to 2020 for our students, families and school staff. School Council has been active this year and involved in several events. Once again, WCSS staff and students hosted the Great Start event on November 6, 2019 where School Council members from across the board shared a wonderful meal and had the opportunity to network, collaborate and share ideas. It was another amazing opportunity to champion the WCSS hospitality program. We have also had School Council members attend Grade 8 Information Evenings and the Regional Skilled Trade Information Night. We are looking forward to sharing new ideas and suggestions, as we all work together to support the success of our children. I would like to invite all parents and guardians to please join us at our next School Council Meet-ing. The meeting will be held in the school library on Wednesday February 19, 2020 at 6:30 pm. Kathleen Raum Cook, Parent Council

Hospitality

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Wow, where did that semester go?!!! Our Hospitality Students were kept very busy in November and December before plunging into practical exams in January. In November we hosted 200 members of the Parent Councils for Peel at a large buffet dinner. The classes prepared salads, chicken, rice, seasonal vegetables, and a variety of fruit pies for the event. A number of staff and students volunteered to stay after school to help. A BIG THANK YOU to you all! (Your community service hours are in the mail). The same day the very popular Try-a-Trade took place where 120 middle school students visited and made their own pizzas which they baked and ate for lunch! Events like this cannot happen without our many hands to make it work … more than 50 students signed up to help host the Shop Class rotations, and act as Ambassadors to guide our guests around the building. Thank you to all the helpers. Later in December, we roasted and carved 12 x 12 Kg turkeys, made vindaloo, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, gravy, and Christmas cookies for 250 staff and students for the Christmas Dinner! Almost everything was made from scratch. The turkey bones were all roasted and boiled to make the stock which in turn made our gravy. Coming up next semester Grade 12 SHSM students will be writing their Peel Food Handlers’ Certification, going to a SPCE Conference, and other field trips are in the works. If you are a Vocational Level 2 or Applied student interested in hearing more about the SHSM Hospitality Program and how you can sign up to get free Certifications in Food Handlers’, Smart Serve, WHMIS, First Aid/CPR, and more, please feel free to contact your Guidance Counsellor or speak with Mr. Horn. We thank Mr. Massara, who will be leaving Hospitality next semester to teach in other WCSS Tech Departments and we would like to welcome Mr. Volpe who will be joining our team next semester! We would like to thank the Staff, Students and Administration Team at West Credit for their continued support of our lunch servery and catering services, we cannot provide our program without you!! Sincerely, Ms. Burnside, Ms. Fasulo-Cascioli, Mr. Horn, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Massara

Spirit Wear Available for all West Credit Staff and Families! Hoodie $27.00 Long Sleeve T $ 17.00 T-shirt $ 12.00 Personalize for extra $7.00 Color options: Navy blue or black Bring your completed order form to Mrs. Thomas or Mrs. Buttar in Room 271 (Math/Science office). You can pay by cash, cheque or preferably peel cashless system.

Ms. Thomas, Science Teacher/ SAC Representative

WCSS Spirit Wear Sale

Page 6 West Credit Secondary School Newsletter

West Credit Child Care Centre

It was another fantastic start to the school year at the West Credit Child Care Centre! We welcomed 14 wonderful preschool children in early September and continued to grow this semester with 19 children in total!

We are continuing to accept new registrations; we offer morning sessions 8:30-10:45am and afternoon sessions 12-2:15pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We extend a warm welcome back to our Peel Inclusion Resource Consultant (PIRS), Christa Tyler! Christa provides our Child Care program with amazing tools and resources and works with families and their children by providing easy access to special needs programs before they start school.

This semester we explored our outdoor environment, with our nature walks! Visiting our furry friends from our school’s doggie daycare is one of the highlights of our walk. Painting pinecones, leaves, sticks and rocks is one of our favorite things to do! We created collages with loose materials, practiced our lines, swirls and curves as we learn our name. We practiced some new yoga moves with our cosmic yoga! The children loved bringing something special from home to share at Show and Tell. We decorated Halloween cookies and had a costume parade in the school! We all worked together on our Remembrance Day field of poppies mural, which was displayed outside our door. The children watched a short play at our school’s Drama class! Our annual Holiday Party welcomed families, friends and our special guests, Santa and his elves! Stay tuned next semester as the excitement continues. Spaces for both the morning and afternoon sessions remain available. Please share our registration information with your neighbors, colleagues and friends.

Stay connected with us on Instagram: @westcreditchildcare. Come in for a tour and learn more about our amazing program! 905-858-3087x209.

Ms. Gladys Palacios, Ms. Poonam Kasliwal, Mrs. Barbara Shein—Child Care Staff