News from the Principal's Office

Hello Fern Families. 

On behalf of the Fern staff we would like to thank you for your ongoing support and understanding as we continue to work together to ensure the Health and Safety of all our Fern Community. We are thankful and grateful for all the learning that is happening both inside of school and in Virtual school for all our students , due to the extraordinary efforts of our teachers, ECE's and education workers. Their tireless efforts support positive and equitable outcomes for all our students. I am thankful to have you, as a supportive community who is passionate about using your voice to advocate for our children and in support of our public education. 

Current Enrolment: Our enrolment is 700 students of which we have 75 enrolled in Virtual School. Our overall enrolment currently is 623 in- school students. We will be funded based on this enrolment for our school budget. 

School Budget: We have not received our school budget for this year yet. We should receive our budget by end of October at which time we can share this with you. Our school budget will be adjusted to our revised enrolment as mentioned above. I do not foresee a big loss of budget as we have a very stable student enrolment. 

Reorganization: This school year began with a shortage of teachers for Virtual School and Bricks and Mortar schools, we know that this has been a frustrating experience for some of our students and families. At this time, we continue to fill staff absences as they arise. We know our school Board is still hiring many new teachers and education workers to help with this issue. 

French Immersion and Extended French Teachers: As you are very aware, there continues to be a shortage of French language Teachers and we have been finding it difficult to fill our Gr 3 French Immersion vacancy. We have taken all actions afforded us through our Board to ensure we have a French speaking teacher in our Gr 3 classroom. Unfortunately, we have not been able to procure a permanent French Teacher as many new hires are choosing the Virtual School so the pool is very small and limited. Our Board is continuing to recruit from out of Province - but this is longer term solution. We are very fortunate that Mr. Ibrahim, French Speaking Teacher, has accepted our Gr 3 FI classroom and we will continue to support him as he gets to know our students in room 215. 

Cancellation of November Elementary Opportunity to Switch: While the original plan of our Board was to allow switching at multiple times throughout the year, the plan to be responsive to changing situations- some of which no one could have predicted, as such the November switching date has been cancelled. 

IT Devices: The Board distributed approximately 60,000 devices to students last Spring during emergency remote learning. Students are allowed to keep them for their use this school year as long as they are still a TDSB student. Fern had all its Chrome books taken for this purpose and we have currently purchased 120 new chrome books through our school budget.. We did receive 15 chrome books from our Board as part of the replenishment of devices taken from our school and hope to see more . 

Photo Day: On Friday, Oct 23rd , we will have students photos taken individually and outdoors only.

Halloween Parade: We are awaiting on our Superintendent direction as to what we are allowed to do with regards to Halloween. We will let you know as we know more. 

Important Dates: 

Oct 22nd - Parent Council Meeting 6:30-8:30 - ZOOM meet Details and link have been sent out via school messenger 
Oct. 23rd - Photo Day / JK - Gr 8 all individual photos only/ outdoors 
Oct. 24-25 - Parents as Partners Virtual Conference / Registration now open 
Nov. 17th - Report cards going home 
Nov. 20th - PA Day 
Dec. 21st - January 1st - Winter Break 

Yours in partnership, 
R. Sardella 
Principal/ Directrice

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