Fern Ave. Public School Blog

This coming week students and parents will enter Fern PS at their specific times to pick up student items. Thank you Ms. McGovern for all your hard work in scheduling this event. So many memories as we packed it all up! We miss seeing your smiling faces in person. We miss the June special events and celebrations of learning. Without the celebratory tone of finishing the year it was very somber. It's been a challenging year with all the different challenges, strikes, a pandemic and online remote learning, but our students, families and staff rose to the occasion and I am very proud of you all!

Who would have guessed that the 2019-2020 school year would experience such things as school closure, being taught remotely and the main way we would be interacting is through virtual platforms and messaging apps? With the end of school being "virtually" around the corner, we have been thinking about how to celebrate the accomplishments and hard work of our Gr.8 Graduates. We will be hosting a virtual graduation ceremony on June 24th at 9am . This is a pre-recorded ceremony that will be shared with the Grade 8 students by their teachers and we will also share this with all the parents/families. We will be highlighting our Valedictorian, Principal Award, Citizenship Award, Athletic Award, Music Award, Visual Arts Award and Drama Award. We will be also highlighting our students achievements in academics and learning skills. We will be mailing out student graduation certificates and any awards. Unfortunately, we will not be able to have a parade as we had hoped, due to t

Fern’s parent-run Equity and Inclusion Committee stands in solidarity with Black and Indigenous community members and those fighting for Black and Indigenous lives across Turtle Island and in our communities. We mourn for George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and for Regis Korchinski-Pacquet, the 29-year old Black woman who died in police presence in our own riding of Parkdale-High Park. We commit to moving our sadness and anger into action. We stand in solidarity with those rising up against anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism and the legacies of slavery and colonialism. We support the Movement for Black Lives week of action happening now. As we enter Indigenous History Month, we stand with Indigenous students and the Indigenous community and support efforts to end anti-indigenous and anti-Black racism and strengthen equity and justice for Indigenous and Black communities. When school resumes, the work of our parent-run Equity and Inclusion Committee will continue, in

Thank you to the many people that have completed this form. I neglected to put a date to be completed by, so I am re-sending. I would like to compose a schedule by this Wednesday afternoon. So, if you plan on collecting items from Fern Ave. P.S., please complete this form by Wednesday, June 3rd at noon , so I may develop a schedule. I will send a detailed email on Thursday morning with the schedule starting Monday, June 8th. Due to TDSB protocol, we are not allowed to start the process prior to June 8th. If you are planning to come to the school, please double click the link and provide the information. (If you have already done this, you do not need to do again) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYg_z8jDY2FNaTjeS3Zr6BG_6aAJy4oWo349vwepjSXqNtyQ/viewform?usp=sf_link Thanks kindly, Tricia McGovern Vice-Principal

To the parents and caregivers of the Fern community, Please take a moment to read through the 2nd version of the attached newsletter, Hearts & Minds, which is being shared by the TDSB’s Psychological Services department. If you missed Issue One, they can be found on the TDSB Psychological Services website, along with some information about the Psychology department. https://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Professional-Support-Services/Psychological-Services Hearts Minds June 1 2020-2.pdf Tricia McGovern Vice-Principal

Regarding the information from last week, please complete the embedded Google Form so we can develop a schedule for access to the school. Ideally, a parent/guardian comes in for Kindergarten to Grade 6; the grade 7 or 8 student comes in to gain access to their locker. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYg_z8jDY2FNaTjeS3Zr6BG_6aAJy4oWo349vwepjSXqNtyQ/viewform?usp=sf_link Please also review the Guidelines for Students and Parents for Belonging Retrieval . Thank you, Tricia McGovern Vice-Principal