CSAC & School Events Calendar

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Christmas Concert Schedule

Just in case you missed it, the school's Christmas concert starts at 6:30 pm sharp, in the gym, on Wednesday, December 18th. Here is the schedule:

 
  1. Kindergartens
  2. Grade 1 & 1/ 2
  3. Grade 6
  4. Grade 2/ 3 and 3/ 4
  5. Grade 5
  6. Grade 6
  7. Grade 4
  8. Grade 7 and Grade 8  In the Library after the primary and junior presentation

Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Important Reminder: CSAC Budget Meeting Nov 26 at 6:30pm

Your St. Agnes CSAC will hold it's 2013/2014 school year Budget Meeting on Tuesday, November 26th in the school's library. The meeting will start at 6:30pm sharp and finish by 8:30pm.

This is an important General Meeting, wherein all parents/guardians of St. Agnes students can voice their opinion and vote on your CSAC's spending for this school year. CSAC's revenue is generously provided by the school's parent/guardian community, the Ministry of Education and the Catholic School Board. Please plan to attend to ensure your thoughts are included in CSAC's planned spending for the improvement of education and parent/guardian engagement at St. Agnes.

The Agenda for tonight's meeting is posted in the "Key Documents" section of our CSAC blog. Click here for a link to that Agenda.

Free coffee provided.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Important CSAC Budget Meeting: November 26

Your St. Agnes Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC) next meets on Tuesday, November 26th in the school's library. This is an important, budget focused, CSAC meeting and your opportunity to vote on all of CSAC's expenditures towards education and parent engagement improvement projects this school year.

The meeting starts at 6:30 PM, sharp, and will conclude by 8:30 PM. Free coffee & tea available.

As always, we encourage all St. Agnes school parents and or guardians to attend this and every meeting of your CSAC. See you then!

Calendar Updates For November 2013

Our online CSAC & school events calendar has been updated for the month of November 2013.

The virtue for the month of November is Peacemaking.

Of special note perhaps are:

Intermediate boys and girls volleyball multiple tournament dates
Picture retake day: 13th
School lockdown practice: 21st
CSAC pizza lunches: 8th & 29th (volunteers always needed)
Parent/Teacher interviews (book yours soon): 14th & 15th
CSAC Budget meeting: 26th
Report cards go home: 11th & 12th.

Our great online calendar (available 24/7 from your smartphone, tablet or desktop) is routinely updated for you, so check-in often!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

CSAC Pizza Lunches. Woo Hoo!!

Mrs. Rina Tucciarone, St. Agnes parent and CSAC Member, has once again volunteered to organize the CSAC Pizza Lunches for this school year. We all owe a big thanks to Rina for all her time and effort on this project. Although Rina has got these Lunches down to a science, they still don't run themselves, we always need volunteers for about an hour on each Lunch date. To pitch-in, please contact the school, or just come on out, on any of the following CSAC Pizza Lunch dates:
 
Friday, October 25
Friday, November 8 & 28
Friday, December 6 & 13
Friday, January 10 & 24
Friday, February 7, 21 & 28
Friday, March 21 & 28
Friday, April 4 & 25
Friday, May 9 & 23
Friday June 13 & 20
 
Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer. Please contact the school for more information on the Pizza Lunches.

CSAC Student Halloween Dance (Thursday, October 31st)

Your St. Agnes CSAC is very happy to once again provide our students with a fantastic Halloween Dance with some super prizes for some awesome contests, like the Mummy Wrap (5 members per team, 1$ per member); candy guess jar and best costume.

Watch out for those Pledge Forms and Treat Forms coming home in backpacks this week!

Prizes include a new iPod Touch (for the greatest amount of pledges), a $50 Keg gift certificate and Cineplex movie tickets. Wow!

If you're able to help out at the Dance, please let the school know ASAP. Thanks so much.

What will Mr. Shea dress up as this year? Sumo Wrestler? Done that.

Silly Question: Need Tips for Homework Challenges?

Your St. Agnes CSAC site has amazing, multilingual, tips for multiple subjects and grades provided by our School Board as well as the Ministry of Education and People for Education. Check them out in the "Information Links" section of our site (bottom left corner of the home page).

And to continue to help our entire parent community, our entire CSAC site is now available in as many as 70 different languages. Just use the site's "Translate" tool (top right corner of the home page).

Please forward this message to anyone you think might appreciate some help with homework challenges.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

CSAC Meeting, Wednesday October 23

Your St. Agnes Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC) meets tonight (Wednesday, October 23) at 6:30 pm in the school's library. The meeting will wrap-up by 8:30pm.

All parents and guardians of St. Agnes students are welcome and encouraged to attend this and every CSAC meeting. For your convenience, a copy of the meeting's Agenda is posted to our site's Key Documents area (top right corner of the home page) and here.

Your CSAC's meeting schedule for the entire year will be posted to our site's calendar shortly.

The new roster of CSAC Members for this school year is also posted to the home page of our site for your information.

We look forward to seeing you tonight.

Friday, May 24, 2013

CSAC Spring Fair (May 25): A Few Important Notes

We're all really looking forward to our CSAC's Spring Fair, on Saturday, May 25th. The Fair runs from 11am to 3pm, on the school grounds.

We wanted to pass on just a few reminders, to help ensure you have a great day:

1.  The BBQ (operated by M&M Meat Shops) runs from 12pm to 2pm only. Don't worry if you haven't got your order in yet - there should be plenty for everyone.

2.  The Parking for this event will be on Maxome Avenue and in the Brebeuf parking lot. If parking at Brebeuf, entrance to the St. Agnes property is through the fence at the south end of the St. Agnes gym. There will be no access to the court at St. Agnes.

3.  What's On? Dunk Tank (4 teachers going in), Bouncy castle, Inflatable Baseball game, Inflatable Shooting Range, Tin Can Ally, Angry Birds Game, Obstacle Course, BBQ, Refreshments, Raffle, Tombola, Gone Fishing, and now we can announce that BMX Pro’s Revolution will be there to demonstrate their skills and let kids have a go!  We are also delighted to announce that Lytton Park Tennis Camp will also be helping us have fun!

4.  Safety. And finally, every effort is being made to make this a fun and safe event but please remember your children are your responsibility.  Please keep an eye on them at all times.

See you on Saturday!

 

Your St. Agnes CSAC

Friday, May 17, 2013

CSAC Meeting Reminder: Tuesday, May 21, 6:30pm

Your St. Agnes Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC) next meets on Tuesday, May 21st, in the school's library. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM, sharp, and will finish by 8:30 PM.

A copy of the full Agenda is now posted to our blog (in the Key Documents area). Click here for a direct link to it.

As always, all St. Agnes school parents are encouraged to attend this and every CSAC meeting. We hope to see you there.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Giant St. Agnes CSAC Spring Fair: Saturday, May 25th

Your St. Agnes CSAC is very excited to promote our school's upcoming Spring Fair, on Saturday, May 25th, from 11am to 3pm. Be sure to mark your calendar now and come have some great family fun on the 25th . . . bring all your friends and neighbours too!

Below is the flyer for the Fair, listing all the amazing activities planned for the 25th. It will be impressive and not to be missed. Information to follow, shortly, on advance ticket sales for this great day.

As you would expect, a team of fantastic parent community volunteers is required to pull off such an amazing production. Here's a list of the fun activities that require volunteers:

1. General set up team (to assist in getting everything ready), from 9am: 8 more people needed.
2. Dedicated inflatable set up team, from 9am: 3 strong people needed.
3. Dunk tank.You must be able to swim and we'll love you for this!: 2 additional sporting volunteers to go in.
4. Dunk tank: 2 volunteers to run
5. Bouncy castle: 2 volunteers to run
6. Inflatable baseball game: 1 volunteer to run
7. Inflatable shooting game: 1 volunteer to run
8. Generator: 1 person to collect generator from Home Depot at 8am on May 25, refill with gas and return

9. Duck game: 1 volunteer to run
10. Obstacle course (if we get it): 2 volunteers to run
11. Sack race and Space hopper race: 2 volunteers to run
12. Tin Can Alley: 1 volunteer to run
13. Little Tykes car rally: 1 volunteer to run
14. Popcorn or candy floss: People need to help pre-make it and 1 person needed to sell on the day.
15. Helium balloons: 1 volunteer needed to collect helium canister. 1 volunteer needed to blow up and sell balloons.
16. Plant stall: 2 volunteers to help look after this stall from donation of plants. To transport to school and then sell.
17. Raffle: 1 more person needed to sell tickets and assist Mr Shea in distributing prizes on day.

18. Clean up team: everyone needed to help clear up.
19. Ticket sales: 1 more volunteer to help on the day.


Please contact the event's manager, Rebecca Mullen, and let Rebecca know which item(s) you're able to help out with . Thanks very much.

OK, here's that fantastic flyer for the Spring Fair on May 25th.


See you all there!!!
 

Monday, April 22, 2013

CSAC Pizza Lunch: Volunteers Needed Please

The next CSAC pizza lunch is on Friday, April 26th.

Volunteers (from 11:15am until noon) are always needed and much appreciated. Please contact the school if you are able to help out at any of our pizza lunches. Thanks.



Sunday, April 21, 2013

April 22nd CSAC Budget Meeting Reminder & Agenda

Your Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC) next meets at 6:30 PM, on Monday, April 22nd. This is an important, budget focused, CSAC meeting and your opportunity to vote on CSAC's expenditures towards education and parent engagement improvement at St. Agnes this school year.

The meeting starts at 6:30 PM, sharp, and will conclude by 8:30 PM. The Meeting's Agenda is posted on our blog (under the Key Documents area - or just click here for a copy)

As always, we encourage all St. Agnes school parents to attend this and every meeting of your CSAC. See you then!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Talking to Your Kids About Money

The following article appeared in the April 17, 2013 Business section of the Toronto Star. It's provided here too since the topic of financial literacy education for kids was identified as being of interest to our parent community.

Financial Literacy: A day dedicated to teaching your kids about money

By Morgan Campbell

A new poll from BMO Financial group finds that 96 per cent of Canadian adults surveyed believe it’s important for parents to talk to their children about managing money.
But that same poll finds that only 18 per cent of respondents have actually had those conversations with their kids.

To turn parents’ good intentions into action BMO teamed with the non-profit Canadian Foundation for Economic Education to make Wednesday “ Talk With Our Kids About Money Day.”
“Between what we think and how we behave there is indeed a distance and a disconnect,” says BMO Nesbitt Burns chairman Jacques Menard. “Parents spend more time talking to their kids about school and about their hobbies…than they talk about money.”

More than 400 schools across Canada will take part in the program, and BMO estimates at least 50,000 Canadian children will talk to a parent or teacher about financial literacy.
To jumpstart the initiative experts from BMO and CFEE offered a few tips on teaching your kids to think about money.

Inclusion is Key

If you’re having a garage sale this spring, invite your kids to set up their own table and sell their old trinkets. Allow them to keep the proceeds, but make sure you talk to them about what to do with the money.
“There’s something that might have just passed as an average day in the family,” says Alyson Schafer, a parenting expert and contributor to the initiative. “(But it’s also) a financial literacy lesson for their kids.”

Birthday Budget I

If you’re planning a birthday party for your child, set a budget and include him or her in discussions about how to apportion the money. This way, your children will realize money is a finite resource while also learning to prioritize. If the budget doesn’t allow for a giant cake and helium balloons, your son or daughter will have to figure out quickly which one is more important.
The Bucket List

Teach them to visualize different types of savings goals by having them draw three buckets into which their money will flow. Bucket number one is for short-term goals, Number two is for longer-term objectives, and the third is for RESPs.
Birthday Budget II

Instead of buying your child a toy or video game as a birthday gift, why not buy stock? Serge Pepin, BMO Asset Management’s VP of investment strategy, suggests buying a few shares of a company like McDonald’s or Disney. The objective is to use a company your children recognize to help familiarize them with investing and the stock market.
But Keep It Simple

Pepin says it isn’t necessary to introduce kids to much besides savings and stocks. Flooding young people with information with information about hedge funds and derivatives won’t necessarily make them more financially literate. Pepin says it will probably do the opposite, confusing them and turning them off of the topic.
“You don’t want to create a scary or confusing environment for kids,” he says. “Create a fun and interactive environment and invite in some simple concepts.”

-30-

CSAC Budget Meeting (Date Change)

Please note that your Catholic School Advisory Council's (CSAC) next meeting date has been changed. It will now be on Monday, April 22nd (previously scheduled for Tuesday, April 23rd).

The meeting, in the school's library, starts at 6:30 PM, sharp, and will finish by 8:30 PM.

This meeting is a particularly important budget focused meeting. It is your opportunity to provide input (including vote) on CSAC's spending on education support and parent engagement improvements for our school in this school year.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Gators Ice Hockey, a Fantastic Success

At a time when the families and staff of Toronto’s largest School Board (TDSB) continue to struggle with the challenges of cancelled extra-curricular school activities, stemming from that Board’s difficult and on-going contract talks, we can’t help but reflect on how fortunate we are at St. Agnes, to have parents and staff so fantastically supportive of extra-curricular activities. There are many recent examples of these, our boys and girls basketball, teams, indoor soccer team, co-ed ice hockey team and our participation in the upcoming TCDSB Music Festival are just a few examples that come to mind.  Let’s remember to thank our school staff when we get a chance, for exposing our kids to all of their great developmental experiences.

As you’ll know from reading recent posts to our CSAC Blog, we’ve been following the volunteer efforts of school parents and staff and the success of our revitalized (after a 23 year absence) St. Agnes Gators co-ed ice hockey team.  Our Gators recently competed in the second and final TCDSB tournament of the year at York University. We tied for 1st with two other teams but the tie-break guideline prevented us from moving on to the finals. We can all be extremely proud of the team’s results and how everyone involved proudly represented St. Agnes school spirit and sportsmanship throughout this year’s tournaments.
This hockey team was just another great St. Agnes experience for our students. Brendan Dwyer volunteered to write a letter on behalf of the team, relaying his great experience playing for the Gators:

For the first time in twenty three years St.Agnes had a hockey team. If it weren't for Mrs. Cooke we would not have been on the ice. My experience playing with friends or grades higher than us was fun, although it was hard to keep up with the good guys. So we had three practices and we did scrimmages to see how we should make up lines. When it came down to the tournament that was the best part. When we woke up at 6:00 in the morning I was excited to play. But we did not win a game on our first day, we tied and lost games. So then we waited up to the next tournament day. This was better, we won three times, tied once and lost two. One game we won 7-0! It was fun at the tournament.
 
A special thanks to Mr.Cooke, Mrs.Cooke, Mr.Shea, Mr.Ennis and my Dad for making the team and coaching. I can’t wait until next year because we will make it to the playoffs!

 
St. Agnes Gators 2013
 
Well said Brendan. Our students always do us proud!
 

Monday, March 18, 2013

Gators Ice Hockey - Round 2

Our awesome co-ed ice hockey team embarks on its second TCDSB tournament, tomorrow, March 19, at York University. The tournament scheduled is as follows:

7:30am - 7:55am vs. Immaculate Heart
10:05am - 10:30am vs. St. Denis
11:10am - 11:35am vs. St. Cecilia
1:15pm - 1:40pm vs. St. Kevin
2:20pm - 2:45pm vs St. Clare
 
We wish our players all the best and thank, again, our fantastic parent volunteers who have made this all possible.
 
Go Gators Go!!!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Spring 2013 CSAC Newsletter

Your CSAC's Spring 2013 Newsletter has been uploaded to the Key Documents area of our blog (see the upper right corner of the home page). You can view and/or print the Newsletter at your convenience.

Topics of note in this important Newsletter include:

  • A re-cap of recent CSAC events at St. Agnes (Halloween Dance-a-Thon, Santa's hellicopter visit, Pancake Tuesday);
  • Your CSAC's funding of the Scientist in the School program;
  • Your CSAC's Capital Fund Project update and appeal;
  • Your CSAC's Spring Fair (May 25) - volunteers needed, please;
  • Fall 2013 Gala (October 25)

The Spring Fair and the Fall Gala are great sponsorship (branding) opportunities for your business. More details on this opportunity are in the Newsletter.

Your CSAC's Fall Gala promises to be wonderful night of dinner and dancing with good company. There will also be an opportunity to bid on some amazing auction items. Your help is needed to secure these items. More information to come in a special flyer on this very special event. Stay tuned!

As always, if you ever have any questions or comments for your CSAC, please don't hesitate to email us, using the "Click here to email your St. Agnes CSAC" link, found at the bottom of our blog's home page.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

CSAC Capital Fund Project Update

Recently, your CSAC began circulating an important update letter (dated February 20, 2013) on its Capital Fund Project for the 2012/2013 school year. In case you haven't yet received your copy, this letter has also been posted to the Key Documents area of our blog (upper right corner of the home page).

Some key messages from that letter include:

  • 10 iPads have already been purchased from the funds received under last year's Capital Fund Project for use in the classrooms;
  • To date, of our 2012/2013 goal of $20,000, $3,725 has been donated by 16 families. These funds will be immediately allocated to the purchase of new computers for the classrooms, as per Mr. Shea's request;
  • All additional donations are requested using the form provided (attached to the letter on our blog). No donation is too small;
  • Any donation of $25 or more will receive a tax receipt, if requested on your donation form.

The items purchased through your CSAC's Capital Fund Project cannot be secured from the Board through the normal budget process but we believe they are important for our school and our children.

Please check the Key Documents section of our blog for the full, printable, version of the letter and donation form.

Thank you for your continued generous support.

St. Agnes Hockey Team Update


We're excited to advise that our school's next ice hockey tournament (the first in 23 years) is this Monday, March 4th, at the Canlan Ice Complex at York University.
 
There are 34 teams entered in the tournament, divided into 6 pools. Games are 25 minutes long and we have 5 games scheduled that day, starting at:

7:15 AM vs. Nativity
9:50 AM vs. St. Brendan
10:55 AM vs. St. Fidelis
1 PM vs. Holy Cross
2 PM vs. All Saints

After this first tournament, the teams will be regrouped into 5 divisions based on the outcome of the first round robin. The next tournament date is either March 19th or 25th (location TBA). More info to follow, ASAP.

We hope to be able to share a short essay or two, right here on our blog, from our players on their experience in these tournaments.

Stay tuned and Go Gators Go!!!! 

Friday, February 15, 2013

CSAC Meeting Reminder: Feb 19 at 6:30 PM

Your St. Agnes Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC) next meets on Tuesday, February 19th, in the school's library. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM, sharp, and will finish by 8:30 PM.

Note that this meeting will include a discussion with Mr. John Shain, the Board's Superintendent of Education for our school's area, regarding a French Immersion program for St. Agnes. A copy of the full Agenda will be posted to our blog on/before Monday, Feb 18 (in the Key Documents area).

As always, all St. Agnes school parents are encouraged to attend this and every meeting of your CSAC. See you then!

Monday, February 4, 2013

After 23 Years . . . Hockey is Back!

Just in case you hadn't heard, St. Agnes ice hockey is back . . . after 23 years!

That's right, our co-ed group of grade 6-8 players took to the ice last week for the first of their three practices in preparation for the TCDSB tournaments on March 1, 4, 19 and 25 (location detail to follow and added to our blog's live calendar). Twenty-eight school teams have already been registered for these tournaments. We can't wait to show our stuff too!

As an added bonus, we hope to have some of the players provide (for posting to our blog) a short (maybe 75 words) essay on their experience at each of these games and practices. Our players and journalists will shine!

These big projects don't just happen, of course. They take initiative, time and financial resources and for that we owe big thanks to the all of the following:

Silvia Cooke - Team Manager
Mike Dwyer - Head Coach
Blake Ennis - Assistant Coach
David Cooke - Assistant Coach/Trainer
John Shea - School Representative/Teacher Volunteer

Our hockey team's sponsors are:

Fisher Sports (Thornhill Arena)
RBC Financial
R.S. Kane Funeral Home
Play it Again Sports (Bayview & Cummer)
Motion Specialties
Metro (Bayview & York Mills)
ValuMart on Bayview
Source for Sports - Just Hockey
Longo's (Bayview)
Hair Domination (Leslie & Cummer)
Pickle Barrel (Leslie & Cummer)

So, please look for more information to come (including a student/player essays) here on your St. Agnes CSAC blog and check the blog's live calendar for practice and tournament dates & times. Hopefully, we can fill some stands with our proud St. Agnes parents and student supporters.

Go Gators Go!!!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Calendar Updates

Our online CSAC & school events calendar has been updated for the month of February 2013. It's routinely updated for you, so check-in often!

The virtue for the month of February is Love.

Of special note perhaps are CSAC Pizza Lunches on Friday February 1st, 8th and 22nd; parent/teacher interviews on Feb 14 & 15; practices for the school's new co-ed hockey team (grade 6-8, more hockey team detail on the calendar - much much more on an upcoming blog post), as well as games and tournaments for the school's new boys and girls basketball teams. Gooooo St. Agnes Gooooooooo!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Next CSAC Meeting: Tuesday, January 22nd

Your Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC) next meets on Tuesday, January 22nd, in the school's library.

The meeting starts at 6:30 PM, sharp, and will finish by 8:30 PM. As always, all St. Agnes school parents are encouraged to attend this and every meeting of your CSAC. See you then!