St Vincent de Paul CS 116 Fermanagh Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6R 1M2 - Telephone: 416-393-5227

Principal: Krystyna Schneider Trustee: Barbara Poplawski

Principal’s Message:

Contact Parent Connect at stvdp227@yahoo.ca

How timely that the virtue for this month is FORGIVENESS, not only because we are in the season of Lent but also because it is an important cornerstone of our faith and one that Jesus modeled for us in his life and death. We are reminded that forgiveness is a gift to ourselves as we let go of the burden of resentment when we for-give another person. It is also a gift to our children when we teach and model it to them. If we were unable to forgive, our anger and resentment will eat us alive. Being able to forgive definitely makes our mind and hearts lighter. Ash Wednesday begins the forty days of preparation for cele-brating the resurrection. The period we call Lent means spring, and we celebrate it in memory of the forty days Jesus spent alone praying in the desert. It is easy to get distracted from God by many things- arguments or the idea that life isn’t fair, or wanting something so much that we forget what’s really important. Let us put God right before our eyes and stare in His direction. Our prayer, fasting and acts of charity to others will help us to see Him more clearly and to hear His voice in our hearts. Each of us can think about how we talk and listen, how we think and act, and how we treat one an-other. Lent is a time for quiet. February has definitely been a very busy month and the students haven’t had time to feel the winter blahs. Our students have participated in intermediate basket-ball, skating in High Park, a workshop and presenta-tion of The Great Mountain, Junior W5H, Intermediate W5H, Chess, Junior volleyball practices, the Northern Spirit Games, Rocks and Rings indoor curling, an in-termediate dance and a Shakesperience event for our intermediate classes. Thank you to all our dedicated teachers for making these events possible. Attention! The TCDSB annual Music Festival has ar-rived. On March 21, at 1:00 pm, our grade 1, 2, & 3/4 classes will be performing at St. Patrick’s Secondary School and on March 29 at 10:00 am our grade 6, 7, and 8 instrumental students will also be performing at St. Patrick’s Secondary School. On April 14, at 1:00 pm the grade 4, 5, &6 students will perform at Don Bosco Sec-ondary School. Everyone is welcome to come and see them perform. Finally a big thank you to all the parents who have given so generously to the parent appeal. The money raised will directly go back into activities for all of our students at St. Vincent de Paul School. Have a blessed Lenten Season. K.Schneider For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; Matthew - 6:14-15

IMPORTANT SCHOOL CALENDAR DATES TO REMEMBER

March Break: March 12-16. 2012 Easter: Friday, April 6, 2012 Monday, April 9, 2012

Masses: Fri Mar 30 @ 9:30-10:30 am Thurs Apr19 @ 9:30-10:30 am Thurs May 31 @1-2:00 pm

Confessions: Tues April 3, 9-10:45 Thurs June 14, 9-10:45

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 French Pub-

lic Speaking

3

4 5 French Speak-

ing Finals

Kindergartens

to Library

6 7 CSAC Mtg

7 pm

Marlies

Ricoh

8 Junior W5h City

Tournament

9 10

11 12

13

MID WINTER

14

BREAK

15 16 17

18 19 20 Ms. Green pm

Artist Class

Mar 20& 21st

21 St. Patrick SS- Music Festival Gr. 1-3/4 1:00 PM

22

Girls Jr

Volleyball

23 24

25 26 27 Ms. Green pm

Artist Class

28 Ms. Green pm

Artist Class

29 TCDSB Music

Festival-10:00 a.m.

Instrumental Gr. 6,

7 & 8 strings

30 CIVVIES

DAY

MASS 9:30 am

31

March 2012

Su Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 Radio Maria

3 Confessions

Girls Chess Tour-

nament @ OLOL

4 Boys Chess

Tournament

@ OLOL

5 HOLY

THURSDAY

6 GOOD

FRIDAY No school

7

8 9 EASTER

MONDAY

No School

10 Chess

Finals @ OLOL

JK Registration

Interviews

11 CSAC Mtg

7 pm

12

Gr 4-6

Don Bosco

Music Festival

1:00 pm

13 Intermedi-

ate W5H

Preliminary-

Tournament

14

15 16

17 Cross Country

Divisionals

18 Welcome to

Kindergarten

Night 6:30 pm

19 MASS 9:30 am

Safe

Schools Mtg

3:30 pm

20 W5H Inter-

mediate

Divisionals DANCE-A-

THON ALL DAY

21

22 23 LI Class Roy

Thompson Hall

Cross Country

Regionals

24 Kortwright

Centre Grs 1-3

25

26 Great Lakes

Reach out

Program

Grs 1-3,

7-8

27 Little Red

Theatre

JK-Gr 5 9:30

CIVVIES DAY

28

29 30

April 2012

Announcement for Thursday, February 9, 2012. Today the Junior W5H team placed first in the divisional meet. Shane, Bela, Miles G, Miles E, Kyle, Siobhan and Jack each showed exceptional teamwork towards winning this goal. Also on February 23, 2012, the team placed third in the regionals meet winning bronze medals. We congratulate the other teams who participated in this event with thanks to the oppositional coaches. Thank you to Mr. Green who made this event possible by helping read the questions. We thank our amazing coaches, Ms. Mahabir and Ms. Martin. We couldn’t have done it without them!

Twelve years ago was the last time a penant was hung up in the gym for a championship in basketball. On Febru-ary 87, 2012 history repeated itself when the intermediate girls basketball team came home victorious. The girls displayed exceptional basketball skills and at the end of the day were undefeated. However, they could not have done it without the positive attitude and great sportsmanship of the boys. Thanks Mrs. Rajca for coaching. It was an experience the girls will never forget.

Our CSAC Parent Appeal is winding down after a fantastic campaign. So far, we have raised over $4,000. Thanks to everyone who donated money. If you would still like to contribute, it’s not too late. You can donate cash or cheques payable to St. Vincent de Paul CS. All the money raised will go towards arts, science, field trips and class-room materials that directly benefit our children. We’ll have an update in next month’s newsletter regarding our final count.

The Toronto Catholic Parent Involvement Committee will be hosting mini summit meetings on Tuesday, April 24th. CSACs and parents are encouraged to attend. The evening will consist of open dialogue and a learning component on how, as parents, we can continue to find ways to increase our children's academic success and well-being. Stay tuned for more information. Want to learn more about Toronto CPIC? Consider attending a meeting. All meetings are open to the public and listed at http://www.tcdsb.org/parents/cpic.htm The next CPIC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 8, 2012 at the Catholic Education Centre at 80 Sheppard Ave., East at 7:00 PM. If you have any questions about the mini summits or CPIC in general, please contact your Ward Representative at

http://www.tcdsb.org/parents/cpicmembers.htm or speak with your child’s CSAC representatives

Save the Date!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Ward Mini Summit Meetings!

On Friday February 24th grades 1 to 5 took part in the Rocks & Rings learn to curl program. Students were introduced

to the Olympic sport of curling in the school gym where they participated in various games, relays and team-building activities. We had a blast earning our certificates! We thank Capital One and The Dominion Insurance Company for subsidizing the program!

Hurry Hard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mrs. Eckert’s Grade 1 class