Fern Ave. Public School Blog

To help minimize the amount of waste produced by our school please make every effort to pack a waste free lunch for your child.  To be "Waste Free" consider the following:  Reusable Lunch Bag  Reusable Containers  Thermoses  Reusable Cutlery  Reusable Napkins

We are very pleased to have hired a new aquatic instructor at the end of January, welcome Alex Cianfarani! The students have been enjoying being in the pool on a regular schedule.  Unfortunately, on Friday we suddenly had a mechanical malfunction with the pool filters and have had to close the pool. On Monday, we are expecting the pool specialists to come and hopefully fix this issue so we can have our students swim again. As of now, there will be no swim on Monday due to this issue.  We will keep you posted through your teachers when we can commence swim again! Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

On Thursday, March 9th, 2023 School Council is bringing back the Dance-a-Thon!  This is our first chance since 2019! We have many families that haven't done this before, but it is a great chance for students to get out of their chairs and dance, dance, dance. It’s also an opportunity for the kids to contribute to the raising of much needed funds for the school.  Each class will dance for a period during the day in this fun fundraiser. This year, we want to raise funds to enhance our Arts programming, with the hope to be able to send kids to performances, and to bring performances into the school.  Everyone gets to dance, regardless of whether they raise funds, but this is a fun way to do it, and we'll have a bake sale for a Dance-A-Thon treat. Watch your email and your kid’s backpack for more details, coming soon.  We will also be looking for parent volunteers, so keep an eye out for the sign-up link.  Get ready to dance, dance, dance!

  Click here to access the Fern Avenue and Ferncliff Daycare Monthly Menu.   Scroll through the four week schedule to see the menus for the lunch program, Kindersnack and Ferncliff AM and PM snacks.

Click here for the February Hearts and Minds Newsletter.

Please be advised of the change in date for our grade 8 graduation ceremony at PCI.  It will be held on June 22nd from 5-6 pm in the PCI auditorium.

Grade 8 graduation photo re-take will be on Friday, March 3rd in the auditorium.  Brightpics photographers will be returning to Fern. Please remind your "graduate" to be prepared for this day.

Did you know 1 in 5 kids are affected by bullying? Pink Shirt Day is on Wednesday, February 22nd , and we are asking staff and students to wear pink on this day. By wearing pink, you are being an upstander! An upstander is someone who stands up when they see something wrong.  Together we can use our voices and take a stand against bullying. Be a buddy not a bully!

Our next school council meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 21st from 6:30 - 8:30 pm via ZOOM .  The ZOOM link and agenda will be sent out that morning. We look forward to seeing you all then.

Our highly anticipated dodgeball house league will be starting in a week, and our junior students are feeling the excitement! Over 90 junior students from grades 4-6 have signed up for what is promising to be a great event. There will be six teams who will play on scheduled days from Monday to Thursday during lunch periods, 12:15-1:00pm, in our school gym. The house league tournament will start on February 21st and will go until the end of March.  This will be a great opportunity for our students to exercise, practice their skills of throwing, catching, and dodging, and most importantly to have fun and socialize with friends and other students! The big prize is a picture with the gold Fern Cup!  Sarantos Katsihtis  Physical education teacher

If families have any used games they would like to donate to the school, we would appreciate the gesture. Board games, card games and puzzles are all welcome. We would like to distribute games during indoor lunch recess times. Thank you in advance.

A friendly reminder ...as students are dropped off in the mornings and picked up in the afternoons by bus, please do not park in the bus loading zone.  Thank you for your help in this matter.

We are asking your cooperation in ensuring that students bring their own utensils and water bottles to school.  With the discontinuation of all plastics, we have limited supplies to provide for students. Bringing reusable cutlery and a water bottle encourages our students to be stewards of the earth and do their part in protecting our environment.  We thank you for your assistance in this.

As we continue to promote diversity and inclusion, Fern PS will once again be celebrating Pink Shirt Day. Why do we celebrate Pink Shirt Day? Many of you may already know the story, but if you don't here's how one pink shirt helped to make the world a little kinder. In 2007, a teenager in Nova Scotia was bullied at school for wearing a pink shirt. To support him, his fellow students took a stand and came to school the next day, all wearing pink shirts. And so, with one simple gesture, an entire movement of kindness was started. That was 16 years ago, and it just goes to show you, one student can make a difference!  On Wednesday, February 22nd our staff and students are encouraged to wear pink. As always, participation in any of these initiatives is invitational, not mandatory. Our student leadership team will be reminding our students that moments of kindness, empathy, understanding and supportive hands can make a world of difference!

Our next school council meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 21st from 6:30 pm -8:30 pm via ZOOM .  The ZOOM link will be sent out that morning. We look forward to seeing you all then.

In keeping with TDSB's reporting procedures, on Tuesday, Feb. 14th you will receive the Term 1 report card for your child in grades 1-8, and the Kindergarten Communication of Learning for your child in kindergarten.  Report cards provide an important opportunity to celebrate your child's growth in learning and focus on the next steps. Please speak to your child's homeroom teacher if you have any questions about the report card or how to support your child's learning at home.  Parent/Guardian/Teacher interviews will be held on the evening of Feb. 16th and the morning of Feb. 17th. More details to come from your child's teacher.

On Tuesday, February 14th , staff and students are invited to dress in red, white or pink to celebrate Valentine's Day.  As always, participation in these initiatives are voluntary and not mandatory.  Our student leadership team will be selling Candy Canes on this day during recess and lunch recess for $2.00. All proceeds will go to the Grade 8 Graduation trip to Montreal.  If you wish, students are welcome to exchange Valentine Cards this year. Should your child choose to participate, we kindly ask that a card be brought for each member of the class cohort.

Mountview Alternative School Open House is February 9th, 12:45-1:45. Click here for the flyer with more information.

During the month of February, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) proudly recognizes African Heritage (Black History) Month. It is an occasion to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of peoples of African descent to Canada and the world. The chosen theme for 2022-2023 is Black Joy. The first Black Canadian woman elected to Parliament was the Honourable Jean Augustine, who introduced a motion to the House of Commons to recognize February as Black History Month. In December 1995, Canadians officially recognized February as Black History Month across our nation. At the TDSB, a motion to recognize African Heritage (Black History) Month was carried in January 2002 and reaffirmed again in January 2004.  This year, the contributions of numerous inspiring Black individuals will be highlighted. As we move forward toward December 2023, which marks 28 years since the Honourable Jean Augustine introduced a motion to recognize February as Black History Month across the nation...

TDSB’s Chinese Heritage Month is proudly recognized in February each year. During this month, several learning resources and educational opportunities will be provided to our students and staff to further enhance their knowledge of Chinese Heritage.  In addition to Lunar New Year - The Year of the Rabbit, this year, the Chinese Heritage Committee selected a second theme: Honouring a Legacy of Conviction and Fortitude to mark the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 (known as the Chinese Exclusion Act). This Act restricted all people of Chinese descent from immigrating into Canada for 24 years, with only 15 Chinese immigrants being allowed entry into Canada from 1923 to 1946. Parliament officially repealed the act on May 14, 1947 and in 2006, the Government of Canada issued an official apology to Chinese Canadians.  The discriminatory impact of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, the progress made afterward despite the Act, and excerpts of the Government ...

The photographers from Bright Pics will be returning to Fern PS on March 3rd in the morning to take photo re-takes of our grade 8 students.

Our next school council meeting will be taking place on Feb. 8th from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm  via ZOOM. The link will be sent out that morning.   Please join us!