From the Withrow Public School Staff, Teachers

and Students

Friday March 31, 2017

Withrow Bulletin

Special Dates

Tuesday April 4—Chess Tourna-

ment at Westwood

Wednesday April 5—Spring Concert

Friday April 7—Magic Flute Perfor-

mance from Shoestring Opera

Friday April 7 —Silent Auction

Wednesday April 12– Day of Pink

Friday April 14—Good Friday—no

school

Monday April 17—Easter Monday -

no school

Friday April - Withrow Track and

Field Day

Thursday April 27—Jump Rope for

Heart

Inside this issue:

Playground 1

Parking Lot/ Field 2

Chess/ Jump Rope 2

Silent Auction 3

Spring Concert 4

Staffing 5

Kids Health/

Chopp55 5

After presenting all the possible playground options to the students at an assembly before the

March Break, students had a chance to view all the possible playground options.

The students discussed in their classes the possible playground options. They were to decide what

playground option they would prefer to play in when they were going to be in the junior grades.

As a result, all students in grades 1-6 had a chance to vote for their favourite playground equip-

ment and the model provided by Henderson was the students top choice. This was option 3. All

votes were recorded and displayed outside the library.

The other playground option 6 provided by PlayPower came a close second.

We will meet with the Home and School about securing the necessary money before we can move

forward.

We will then take this decision back to the Board and develop a plan of when they can begin work

on building the new structure. It will be located in the “tree island” just west of the field.

The New Withrow Playground

Parking lot Safety Our parking lot is for staff working in the building.

We have two schools a daycare and numerous TDSB em-ployees using the parking lot. We have been leaving both gates to the parking lot opened to be more convenient for people accessing the building from different streets. Unfortunately, members of the community are using it as a quick drive through or shortcut placing children and adults in danger and increasing the risk of damage to cars and bikes parked in the lot. As a result, to ensure safety for all, we will only have the parking lot opened on one side. The parking lot is for staff to use during the hours of 6 am to 6 pm. Community members can use the parking lot out-side of those times and on weekends. However, if your car is still in the parking lot during school hours, your car will be tagged and towed.

The Field

This month parts of the

field will still be closed.

The reason for this is

because during the

spring, closing the field

allows the grass to ger-

minate and grow. What

we attempt to prevent is called the Spring Stomp.

It has been brought to my attention that some community

members are opening up the fences to go in and play games

or have their dogs run off leash on the new grass.

Please remind all members in the community to stay off the

grass during this time.

If we can remind everyone that they should stay off the grass

at this point to ensure germination so that will help us to have

grass all summer.

The field will open sometime in May.

Annual TDSB Chess Tournament

April 4, 2017 – Westwood MS

Twenty of Withrow’s chess players will participate in the

Annual TDSB Chess Tournament Qualifier at Westwood

MS on Tuesday April 4, 2017.

Ten students will represent the Primary Division and ten the

Junior Division.

We would like to thank our parent volunteers for transport-

ing our players to this exciting tournament.

Best of luck to our chess teams.

Withrow is pleased to be holding our third an-

nual Heart & Stroke Foundation Jump Rope for Heart event on Thursday, April 27th. Jump

Rope for Heart encourages kids to get active by skipping rope while they collect pledges for

heart disease and stroke research. They also

learn the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and giving back to their community. Our

school's fundraising goal is $7500. Please sup-port your child's fundraising efforts by using

the collection envelope or by registering online

on the Withrow page at www.jumpropeforheart.ca. At this time,

Withrow participants will not receive individual prizes for fundraising. However, students will

receive a free skipping rope if they register online. All money raised will support the Heart

& Stroke Foundation in their mission to pro-

mote children's health and fund vital heart and stroke research. Thank you for your support!

Silent

Auction

is on

April 7

@ 7 pm

Canvas

Sneak

Peak

.

We are on the web! Check us out: http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/withrow/Home.aspx

Follow us on twitter @TDSB_Withrow

Withrow Avenue PS

25 Bain Avenue

Toronto, Ontario

Phone: 416-393-9440

E-mail: Withrow@tdsb.on.ca

Staffing and Classroom Allocation

As we work on building a staffing model and classrooms for next year, we consult the parents and staff in creating the best

possible model for all students.

We have begun with staffing allocation and the creation of classrooms for next year. We were given 1.5 teachers more for

next year. This extra allocation must be used in Kindergarten. This means we will have an additional kindergarten class.

We had an opportunity to consult parents at the School Council meeting last night. At the meeting we discussed the param-

eters we must adhere to in creating classrooms set by the Ministry. Because of the maximum class size of 20 in the primary

division, some grades can only have combination classes. We also discussed having combination classes in the junior

grades to reduce the class size and also have multiple places to place students who have challenging behaviours when being

placed together. As we continue to work on our model, we will most likely have a variety of straight and combination clas-

ses.

Once we have completed the model, we will share it with the community by the end of April.

Please do not email the school about Teacher preferences as we cannot honour that request nor do we know who is teaching

what until June.

Again this year we will have a parent consultation form in regards to next year’s placements. Please only use that form.

The link will go out sometime in May

Into Kids Health Toronto Public Health has come out with a program to help promote healthy kids. The program is called 10-5-2-1-0

Remember these numbers.

Why are these numbers important?

10—Your child needs 10 hours of sleep per day or more

5—Your child needs 5 or more fruit and vegetables a day

2—Limit your child’s screen time to 2 hours or less a day

1— Your child requires 1 hour or more of physical activity a day

0— Your child does not required any sugar sweetened drinks including soft drinks and fruit drinks

If you want more information, please go to the www.healthcanada.gc.ca/foodguide or go to www.toronto.ca/health

Chopp55

We want to Congratulate our Chopp55

Team for winning the last competition

and moving forward to the finals on

April 26th! Good Luck.