Dear Summit Heights Parents,

The following items apply to our school today (Mon. April 16, 2018) due to the inclement weather:

Hebrew School
Please note, the Monday after-school Hebrew classes are cancelled today.  Please arrange to have your child picked-up at 3:10 pm.  If you have arranged to have your child picked up by another adult (that is not on our contact list for your child), please send an email to Mr. Mah and indicate who is picking up your child today.

End of Day Routine (for today)
At the end of the day, students in Ms. Da Silva, Ms. Bates, Ms. Kipka, Mr. Craze, Ms. Kipka, Ms. Schmitz and Ms. Shapiro’s class will use the door between Ms. Schmitz and Ms. Shapiro’s class (near the entrance to the bus loop).

Students in all other classes will use our front doors to exit the building at the end of the day.

Please note, no classes are being held in our portables today.

Students who normally walk home on their own (e.g., some grade 6 students) may do so at the end of the day.

Signing out early/leaving school early
Due to the inclement weather, we are not allowing grade 6 students to sign themselves out today (during school hours or at lunch) even with permission from a parent.  If you want your grade 6 child to leave school early today, we require you (or another trusted adult, with your written permission) to pick up your child and sign-out at the office.

Thank you,

B. Mah
Principal.

Dear Summit Heights Parents,

The School Play is this Wednesday!
This Wednesday marks the culmination of months of script writing, set and wardrobe creation, rehearsals and practices and hours upon hours of hard work, as our school musical is set to hit the stage!  As you likely know, this year’s play is an original piece of work, co-written by our students and staff!  We are all very excited to see the work in action as our students are ready to act, sing and dance this Wednesday night!  The play is set to start at 6:00pm at the Yorkwoods Public Library theatre, located at 1785 Finch Avenue , North York.  As previously communicated, the play is asking for a “pay what you can” for the play’s program.  Please also note, tickets have already been issued for this event, please ensure you have your ticket when you arrive.

To all the actors, “break a leg” (that’s theatre-speak for good luck!)!  A huge thanks to Ms. Brock, Ms. Greco, Ms. Shapiro for leading this year’s play.  Likewise, thanks to Ms. Bozin, Ms. Mercer, Ms. Da Silva, Mr. Brock, Mr. Chen, Ms. Eisen & Ms. Bates for helping out during the evening, behind the scenes!

Sibling Photo Day (for the yearbook)
Edge Imaging will be at our school on Friday, April  20th to take photos of all SHPS siblings for our school yearbook.  All students who have a sibling at SHPS will be asked to pose for a photo.  Families with students who fall under this category are under no obligation to purchase a photo or package of photos/materials from Edge Image, however if you would like to order such materials, please fill out the flyer that was sent home earlier.  Likewise, any parents who want their child to take an individual photo with Edge Image are welcome to, and can indicate such by returning the complete flyer.

Summit Heights Open House
Our Spring Open house is set for Thursday, May 3rd, 2018 @ 6:00pm.  Parents and families are invited to visit their child(ren)’s classroom and take part in an interactive session of getting to know what our students are learning at Summit Heights.  Each classroom will have selected a focus to present/have available for your visit!  We hope to see you on May 3rd!

Open meeting to discuss school model
On April 10, Mr. Anton and I presented the school model at the School Advisory Council (SAC or “Parent Council”) meeting.  During the next few days a number of parents, who were unable to attend the SAC meeting, requested meetings to better understand the model and the decision making process.  We invite any and all parents to attend a meeting on Thursday, May 3rd at 5:30pm in the school gym, during which time members of the staffing committee and I will again present the school model and the reasons on why this model was chosen.

Thank you for visiting,

B. Mah,
Principal

Dear Summit Heights Parents,

Happy April!  Its hard to believe there are just a few months of classes left for this school year!  While that is the case, we have a lot of learning and school events still to come.

Two weeks ago, we had the Ontario Planetarium visit our school.  Each class had the opportunity to visit a mobile planetarium that was set-up in our gym for two days.  Students and staff crawled into the inflatable dome and took part in some fantastic science-based lessons, exploring the solar system and beyond!  A huge thanks to Mr. Eschle for organizing this event and SAC who graciously funded the entire visit from the Ontario Planetarium.

Students from Mr. Anton’s grade 6 class and Ms. Wright’s grade 5 class organized and ran the Fairness Assembly  on Friday March 23.  The students presented information and skits on Fairness, while classroom teachers awarded students from their classes that exemplified the Character Education of Fairness.  Congratulations to the presenters and all of the students recognized!

The school staff have had a number of professional learning opportunities in the last few weeks.  While the learning and work continues, our staff have attended interactive workshops on the TDSB Equity foundation (looking at “Implicit Bias” and how that affects our teaching and interactions at school).  Teaching staff also began the first of three sessions on Collaborative Inquiry (fostering student questioning, followed by the deep learning when answering the various questions), these sessions are lead by Mr. Cloyce Weaver who works at the Ministry of Education.  Our support staff (such as ECEs, SNA, Lunchroom supervisors) have had professional development on Autism Spectrum Disorder and how to better support students with that exceptionality.   Most recently, all of our teaching staff attended training on Gender Based Violence Prevention, which focused on the better understanding and thus better teaching practice, on gender related issues.   Just like our students, our staff continue to learn, grow and reflect throughout their journey at our school.

Last Friday, and continuing this week and next, expert dancer Diana Viselli and Ms. Mariah are at our school teaching all of our students Bollywood-inspired Dance!  Students will get to participate in interactive, high-energy dance in a safe and caring environment, while also being exposed to culturally-rich movement and dance.  Special thanks to Ms. Eisen for organizing this event, and SAC for their generosity in funding this amazing opportunity for our students.

A reminder that the next SAC (School Advisory Council, or “Parent Council”) meeting is this Tuesday evening in our library.  The school doors will be open at 6:45pm, while the meeting starts at 7pm and will end no later than 9:00pm. We hope to see you there!

This Wednesday is Pink Shirt Day!  This date is the International Day of Pink, and schools across the TDSB are encouraging staff and students to wear a pink shirt (and any other pink item of clothing) to show support for diversity and to put a stop to discrimination, gender-based bullying, homophobia and transphobia.  The International Day of Pink began when a student in a Nova Scotia high school was bullied because this student wore a pink shirt to school.  As a supportive response, hundreds of students showed up to school in pink shirts to stand up to the bullying!  Please support this very important stance by encouraging your child to wear a pink shirt on Wednesday April 11th, 2018.

Parents, thanks for stopping by and keeping up to date with the events at our school.  Together, we can support your child to be the best that they can be.

Until next time,

Mr. B. Mah,
Principal