A Message from our Leadership Team...

On behalf of the administration team and school staff, we are looking forward to the school year with students in our building for the first time in quite a while! Things have obviously changed and our new normal will be something that we will all need to navigate together.

The most recent communication being the announcement to delay the start of the school year until Monday, September 14th. We will be starting on the Week 2 Schedule. The communication that was sent earlier this week, can be found with the following link: Letter From Director of Education Loretta Notten

There has been a lot of information shared over the past few months (at the Provincial, Board and school levels). We have included as much of the relevant points in this edition of the Celtic News. We hope that this helps simplify things for you. Please continue to access the WCDSB website and the contained links to address questions or concerns that arise.

The staff of St. David value the connection between the home and school. We ask that parents/guardians discuss the information shared through various means with their chil-dren attending our school. We would appreciate these expectations to be discussed/reinforced in the home.

Please take some time and go through the following information to help relieve some of the stress and apprehension.

Operational Guidelines for the WCDSB https://www.wcdsb.ca/operational-guidelines/

Plan for Re-Opening Schools https://www.wcdsb.ca/plan-for-re-opening-schools/

We want to ensure a safe environment for both staff and students to learn and work together…and to do this, we will all need to work together. We are stronger together. Our focus will always be to follow the direction of Waterloo Region’s Public Health and the Waterloo Catholic DSB.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate the new year. We wish you a safe, successful and enjoyable school year.

Blessings to you and your families, Mr. Hinsperger, Mr. Ambeau, Mrs. Leusink

In this issue...

Start Up Forms Transportation Return to School How to move around

the building Personal Protective

Equipment Lockers Cafeteria Water Bottles Bring Your Own Device Technology Message from Guidance Email from the school Need to update your

contact info.? Parent/Visitor Access Contact Information Catholic School

Involvement Committee Chaplain Message Communication Tools 2 Weeks at a Glance Adapted Schedule School Uniform

It’s back-to-school time, and we know that along with the usual excitement, this September brings with it some apprehension and more than a few questions from parents. Last week we asked the WCDSB community to send us those questions. LINK to the video.

Q & A with the Director of Education

Have you finished the Registration process yet?

The 2020-2021 School Start Up forms are MANDATORY and are accessible through School Cash Online. More information and instructions can be found on our website at www.stdavid.wcdsb.ca.

Please add the $20 Student Fee to your cart

Please complete all required forms for your child

Add your completed forms to your cart. Once you are done, proceed to the checkout. Print a copy of the receipt for your records.

If a form asks for a Teacher’s name, please type n/a

~ The following School Start Up forms are accessible through School Cash Online: (Please visit the SDCSS website for instructions on how to create an account, complete the forms and pay fees)

Required for ALL Students – Pay the Student Activity Fee $20 (and optional $25 yearbook)

Required for ALL Students – Informed Consent Permission Form for Intramurals

** Required for ALL Students – Student Image, Video or Voice Recording incl. Media Use Consent Form** THIS FORM MUST BE COMPLETED if you would like to be included in the Yearbook.

Required for ALL students – Critical Medical Alert Form (to identify dangerous, life threatening conditions)

Required for ALL students – Parent Consent Form for Experiential Learning Trips

Required for ALL students – Responsible Use of Technology & Electronic Data Access Form

Required for ALL students – Concussion Code of Conduct—Parent/Guardian

Required for ALL students – Concussion Code of Conduct—Student/Athlete

Gr. 12 Students ONLY – Post-Secondary Institutions Disclosure of Information Consent Form

Please check our website frequently for important updates.

Communication Tools: Visit our Website at www.stdavid.wcdsb.ca

Follow us on @StDavidCeltics, at stdavidcss and NewsWire Subscribe to our Newswire to receive news releases, updates, activities, opportunities and the schedule for the first 2 days of school (click here to subscribe to our NewsWire). Some of these events, such as fundraising initiatives, may contain a commercial element. You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on the link at the bottom of each email.

Timetable Distribution: Student timetables will be emailed to student school email accounts next week.

Remote Learning: Those that selected to participate in Full On-line Virtual learning for this Quadmester will be contacted shortly with your scheduling information for St. Isadore (the virtual high school established for Remote Learning for the 2020-2021 school year).

Information that is or will be available on the SDCSS website: Schedule for the first 2 days of school, other ‘Important Dates’ (*School Calendar) and information

* Watch the calendar for special events, PD Days, holidays, field trips, literacy test and exam dates, etc.

Catholic School Advisory Council Application form (previously referred to as ‘School Council’)

Student Handbook (incl. Bell Times, Uniform, Attendance and other Policies and Information)

Staff Directory (incl. Administrator and Guidance Counsellor alpha designations)

School Cash Online – instructions on how to create an account, complete the forms and pay fees

School Uniform – McCarthy’s Information

Bus Eligible Students Only - STSWR – Do Not Ride Form if you are opting out of student transportation

Review Only, no signature required - Review the Violence Threat Risk Assessment Pamphlet

Review Only, no signature required - Review Student Personal Information Collection/Use/Disclosure Notice

Return to School—Self COVID Check

Transportation details for the 2020–2021 school year are now available.

Parents can login and view your child’s transportation details by going to www.stswr.ca and following these 5 easy steps:

1. Click on “Student Login” 2. Enter your child’s Ontario Education Number (OEN) This can be found on your child’s report card Numbers only, no space, no dash 3. Enter your child’s birth date 4. Enter your child’s street number House number only 5. Select the school your child is attending from

the drop down menu

Please note: Any address changes must be done through your school, email erin.kelly@wcdsb.ca.

Visit www.stswr.ca to see bus delays and cancellations, subscribe to receive e-mail notifications for late buses and closures. Follow STSWR on Twitter.

2020-2021 Transportation Information

All students (or guardians on their behalf) will be asked to engage in a daily self-assessment before reporting to school and anyone feeling unwell or identifying a concern based on their self-assessment should not report to school. https://covid-19.ontario.ca/self-assessment/)

Transportation For those that are eligible for bussing and have selected this as their mode for transportation during this COVID scenario, the following is in place. School buses will be confined to 1 student per seat, unless the additional student is a family member. This will lead to 24 students (plus any family members) being the maximum number on a bus. Cohorts have been developed by STSWR and they are based on geographic location to facilitate optimization of routes.

Entry Procedures ~ how to move around the building Upon entering the school students are required to wear a mask and sanitize their hands, while maintaining a social distance. Students are not to congregate in groups and are asked to promptly move

to their morning class upon arrival. When traveling within the school, all signage and directions must be observed and followed. Should a student need to use the washroom, they are to

use the facility within their assigned Village. (new to St. David this year, more information to follow)

All students will be required to wear mask at all times. Students are to sanitize their hands upon entering and

leaving the classroom.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Program Students are encouraged to bring their own personal technology (Chromebook, Laptop, Tablet) to support their virtual and distance learning. Please visit the WCDSB website to learn more about the BYOD Program. https://www.wcdsb.ca/programs-and-services/byod/ https://www.wcdsb.ca/about-us/policies-and-administrative-procedures/responsible-use-of-information-technology-and-electronic-data-aps017/

Celtics who have indicated a need for a device in the WCDSB Return to Learning Survey will be contacted .

Lockers will not be available for students. The expectation is that students will take everything they need for their one face to face class to that room and then take it all with them when they leave.

No Lockers

To avoid people (cohorts) meeting up and for minimizing potential cross contamination, the cafeteria is not to be used as a meeting place or a location to eat/gather. It will be off limits for the general student body.

No Cafeteria

Everyone is required to wear a mask at all times as well as to sanitize their hands upon entering and leaving the classroom for the protection of all.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Expectations

The school drinking fountains will not be in operation. Water bottle filling stations will be operational and students can refill personal water bottles

Water Bottles

Technology Please check the WCDSB student email account for schedule as that is where your key information will be sent.

Click Here for useful links for students including instructions on how to login to your WCDSB email account.

Student Log In: Username: LAST 5 digits of the student number + first 3 letters of their last name Password: Birthdate (MMDDYYYY or DDMMYYYY) (the students may be prompted to change their password)

Checking Google and D2L Students are expected to engage and participate in instruction and learning every day. In doing so, students will need to login daily into their Google Class or D2L accounts to participate in and complete a variety of learning tasks (synchronous and asynchronous) assigned by the classroom teacher.

All information relevant to cohorts and student schedules will be available onWednesday Sept 9th . We apologize that this is a little late, but in addition to all the challenges that come with preparing for this unique new reality, as a board we are also transitioning to a new Student Information System – a decision made long before COVID has become a reality.

Therefore – all students may log into their WCDSB student email cloud account, where you will find 2 emails with cohort and schedule information which will be available to you.

Due to planning and logistics required with cohorts, student timetable changes will only be made in rare instances to support student pathway. Elective changes cannot be made at this time. Students must remain in assigned classes and cohorts. Guidance appointments will be virtual.

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING COURSE CHANGE REQUESTS: We are aware that the start of the new school year can increase student (and parent) anxiety and stress, especially during these unprecedented times as we reopen schools.

Please be aware that our guiding principle this year is student and staff safety based on Public Health’s direction. Guidance teachers are here to support and work with students to ensure a positive start to the school year. One of the biggest requests by students is to have their courses changed. Course changes will be significantly limited this year due to class/cohort sizes being capped and to minimize student exposure to multiple classes. There will be limited course changes in quadmester one courses.

To help manage and streamline timetable changes, please submit a course change request form.

Please be aware that “Essential Changes” will be given priority…..What is an essential change?

ESSENTIAL CHANGES: 1. In grade 9, 10 or 11 and do not have 8 courses on their timetable 2. Failed a course last year and no longer have the prerequisite for a course on their timetable 3. In grade 12 or year 5 and do not have enough courses on their schedule to reach 30 credits/graduate by the end of this year. 4. Level changes (example moving from academic to applied)

CLICK HERE for the Course Change Request Form.

Message from Guidance

Receiving email from the school

How do I mark a junked email as safe? Note: some email applications may have a slightly different process to mark emails as ‘Safe’.

Step 1: Open your e mail application and click the Junk or Spam Email folder Step 2: Find the email you wish to mark as safe (always receive in Inbox) and right-click on it. Step 3: Select Junk and then click Not Junk

The email will be marked as "not junk" and returned to your Inbox. Future email like this will not be sent to your Junk Folder.

**If you do not find our emails in your spam/junk folder and are still not receiving email from the school, please email Erin Kelly at erin.kelly@wcdsb.ca

Need to update your contact information? To update your contact information (address, phone number, email address, etc.)

please email Erin Kelly at erin.kelly@wcdsb.ca

Parent/Visitor Access Parents are valued members of school communities but given the many increased steps that are being taken to minimize contacts in our school buildings, parents should refrain from entering the school unless they have prior approval to do so. All parents/visitors must have approval from the Administrator prior to entering the site.

Visitors granted access are required to wear a face covering to enter the school and sanitize hands upon entry. If a visitor does not have access to a face covering, one will be provided by the Administrator/Office staff. Where possible visitors are asked to call the main office to notify them of their arrival and wait outside away from the entrance, or in their vehicle until the office is ready to receive them.

All visitors must sign in. Please ensure appropriate entry and exit protocols are followed. All visitors who enter a school building must have completed the self-assessment checklist before entering the school building.

Parents and guardians are asked to ensure that any child in their care completes the self-assessment checklist before sending them to school. Coronavirus (COVID-19) self-assessment

CSAC, CPIC and SEAC meetings will continue to occur but in many cases those meetings will be virtual for the time being, unless otherwise stated. Details can be found at Catholic School Advisory Council Information.

The purpose of a parent involvement committee is to support, encourage and enhance parent engagement at the Board level in order to improve student achievement and well-being.

Candidates must have a child registered at St. David.

Applications will be accepted until September 30, 2020 Visit https://www.wcdsb.ca/our-schools/catholic-parent-involvement-committee/ or email cpic@wcdsb.ca for more information

Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC), Application

CPIC (Catholic Parent Involvement Committee)

If you need to contact your son's or daughter's Guidance Counsellor, Student Success and Special Education teachers or Administrator, please feel free to contact them via email below:

Student Success/Spec Ed.: Community & Active Living Students = Maureen O'GRADY A—Duah = Larry SCANLON Duar—Kowt = Garry KRAEHLING Koy—Resc = Shannon PENNEY Rest—Z = Steve BEDIC

Administrators: A to I - Kevin HINSPERGER J to S - Michael AMBEAU T to Z (& International) - Glenda LEUSINK

Contact Information

Guidance Counsellors: Last Name A to E - Kristen DIETRICH Last Name F to O - Jennifer NAGY Last Name P to Z - Karen KUENEMAN and International Students ESL Monitors: Anne MASOJC and Heather PIETROBON

Phone: 519-885-1340

Attendance Phone Number: 519-885-4352

Website: http://st.david.wcdsb.ca

If you need to contact your son's or daughter's teacher, please feel free to contact them via email below: To email a staff member please use the following

method: firstname.lastname@wcdsb.ca

Follow us on…. Twitter – @StDavidCeltics and Instagram at stdavidcss and sign up for Newswire

To receive news releases and updates via Newswire, click here

NOTE: You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on the link at the bottom of each email.

St. David Communication Tools

A message from our Chaplain

"Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation; continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. (Caroline Adams)

To journey, what does that mean? Could it be a passage or progress from one stage to another? That fits with the new and returning students at St. David. After graduating (and an extra ordinary graduation at that) from elementary school this past June 220 grade nine students have begun their high school journey, and approximately 700 have resumed the journey on the road to graduation. This is one common journey they all share.

There is another definition of journey, one that is more commonly known. That is to travel from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time. I have spent many years aiming towards a goal of working at St. David! And I reached that goal.

After 13 years as chaplain of St. Mary’s High School (from which I graduated in 1979) I am overwhelming happy and feel blessed to be party of the St. David community. To me, this is a journey of coming home. I attended grades 7-10 at St. David back when it was a Senior school. (I was the youngest of 7 children, and 5 of us walked these halls). My three children, a daughter in law and a son in law also graduated from St. David. And next year my granddaughter will start her high school career here!

How can I think of this journey in any other way than coming home? Welcome home returning students and staff. And a huge and blessed welcome to our new and youngest Celtics. May we all be witnesses to each other’s many; some uneventful, many stressful, lots of happy and unhappy moments, but always full of memories. After all, it is not always the destination that we remember it is the journey.

As we continue on our journey through high school we may encounter many side trips that take us in a new direction; academic or applied studies, arts to sciences, athletics or arts, faith etc, and many roads that we resist. As students discern which road to take that has meaning to them, we need to be reminded that we are all on the path... exactly where we are meant to be right now... And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of pow-er, of dignity, and of love."

Regardless of which journey we are travelling at St. David; we are guided by the same map towards the same goal. Our map is our faith and our goal is to serve our God. We are blessed here at St. David to offer a spiritual dimension to the academic year. This dimension includes myself as the school’s full time chaplain, morning prayer, spiritual and pastoral counselling and when the Covid19 pandemic settles down we can look forward to liturgical celebrations, retreats for students off-site, social action groups, charitable works and a faith communi-ty of staff and students.

God bless, Miss Annabel

2 Weeks at a Glance

School Uniform (McCarthy)

Buying a school uniform for the back-to-school season is safe and easy. All families, especially families of incoming grade nines, please register with McCarthy Uniforms at www.mccarthyuniforms.ca so you can access:

Flexible payment options and new promotions Online appointment booking portal for in-person fittings Uniform fit and instructional videos

Adapted Schedule

Note: Due to delayed start, we begin on Week 2