Fern Ave. Public School Blog

On Wednesday, April 9, 2008, Fern Ave. Public School is proud to host a cyber-bullying information evening. Mark Godfrey from Microsoft will present to both parents and students very important information regarding the ever changing issues surrounding cyber-bullying. We invite all parents and students to attend this evening, beginning at 7 pm in the auditorium . Hope to see everyone there. Submitted by Adam Somers , Guidance

We are now beginning our Project Love campaign for this year. Project Love is a program that encourages literacy and global education in Canadian schools. The students at Fern will be assembling Project Love kits containing basic educational supplies such as an exercise book, a pencil, an eraser and a ruler in a Ziploc bag. The kits will be shipped to Tanzania through CODE, a Canadian charitable organization that has been promoting literacy and education in the developing world for over forty years. Feel free to learn more about CODE by visiting their website at www.codecan.org . Teachers are now collecting money that will be used to purchase the materials for the kits. The cost for each kit is $2.50, which also includes shipping to Tanzania. Last year, through your generous support of this great cause, Fern contributed 775 student kits which were sent to students in Ethiopia! This year, our goal is even higher! Staff and students at Fern are very enthusiastic about this program and v

March 31, 2008 Dear Parents/Guardian of Fern PS, Indian Rd PS and Garden PS: There will one class of 23 students in SK French Immersion at Fern PS for September 2008 for the Fern PS, Indian Rd PS and Garden PS catchment. Currently, there are 18 confirmed placements for the class. We are offering you an opportunity to apply to fill the remaining spaces. Process to determine selection of late applicants for available spaces for September 2008 is as follows: Application forms will be made available to parents: hard copies and /or website download All completed forms will be returned to the office of each respective school by Wednesday, April 2, 2008 by 4 p.m. All late applications date stamped by April 2, 2008 will be forwarded to Fern PS by Thursday, April 3, 2008. A lottery of late applications date stamped April 2, 2008 will take place at Fern PS on Friday, April 4, 2008. A waitlist will be formed in order of lottery number. The waitlist will be held at Fern PS. The applicants selected

Thanks to the many parents who came out for our busy March 27 parent council meeting, as well as Vice-Principal Lisa Walters (Principal Craig Tsuji had a prior engagement). The parent council arranged for a notice of the meeting to go home with students in order to make sure everyone was aware of the meeting and its subject matter. I received considerable positive feedback for this and therefore we will continue with this process. French Immersion Class at Fern As many of you already know, Fern will be starting an SK French Immersion program beginning this September. Many Fern parents are excited about this and are pleased that Fern has been chosen as the location for this program; however, many parents were also concerned about the lack of the notice given to Fern parents who had not previously applied for French immersion (because the program was based out of Howard). I cannot go into all the details here, however at the March 27 meeting parents were given the opportunity to address

Just before 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, a male student from Fern Avenue P.S. was walking south towards Fern Avenue (to school) when he was confronted by a white male walking towards him between Wright Avenue and Fern Avenue northbound. Student was body checked/elbowed in the chest, suspect then smiled at the student (according to student, the smile was a deliberate one as if action was intentional). Suspect kept walking north on Roncesvalles. Description of Suspect: Suspect wearing black sunglasses Black jacket Blue jeans Dark hair Goatee under the chin, and maybe unshaven Husky build approx. 5’8” Please note that although the Police were notified and a report made, this individual is still at large. The school will go over street-proofing procedures and we ask parents/guardians/caregivers to do the same. Thank you for your understanding and support. Posted by Craig Tsuji , principal

There will be a Fern PS Parent Council Meeting at 7pm on March 27, 2008 Draft Agenda Includes: · Discussion of SK French Immersion Program coming to Fern PS September 2008 · Update on the Save the Fern Pool Campaign · Homework Survey Results · Principal’s Report · Ward 7 Reports · Committee Reports from: Treasurer Science and Technology Fundraising (fun fair etc) Arts Greening We look forward to seeing you there. If you have any additional agenda items that you would like added, please email Parent Council Chair John Richmond at smarty_panz@yahoo.com .