Ventura Park PS BLOG

Hi Ventura Park families!

The Eco Club needs your help! Every year, millions of used and dried up markers end up in our landfills. Unfortunately, these markers do not decompose and end up polluting our earth. This is why Eco Club’s new initiative is to help do our part in taking care of our planet by properly disposing of these markers. We have teamed up with Crayola, who will help us by accepting our used markers and re-purposing them. 

If you have any used markers (colouring, permanent, white board, etc.), please do not hesitate to bring them in and drop them off inside the marker box outside of Room 111.

Thank you for all your support!

The Eco Club

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Today we held 3 amazing assemblies for our Primary, Junior and Intermediate students.
Topics that were discussed included Respect, Cellphone Use, Routines including Bus Lines, and Entry Bells, we also discussed Washroom Use, Dress Code, Snow Safety, and our Healthy Snack Program.
We encourage parents to continue these discussions at home and we would like to thank all of our VPPS students for their dedication and commitment to our school.

As we enter another month of winter, this is a good time to be thinking about our health, well-being and the importance of self-care. We know that, like all of us, our students can focus better when they feel better. Our schools play an important role in health and mental health promotion and education, and fostering well-being and mental health is one of our priorities as a school board.

There is a lot of work taking place in our schools and board to create healthy schools and promote mental health and well-being, including: 

• Providing training and resources for educators on strategies to support mentally healthy classrooms for all students, including holding a mental health conference. 
• Hiring identity specific mental health workers and developing partnerships with community partners to serve the diverse needs of our students. 
• Developing a Student Suicide Intervention Protocol to help keep students safe in the event of suicidal thoughts or actions.
• Educating students about the risks of substance use and misuse, including vaping and cannabis. 
• Providing strategies and supports for students in preparing for exams and managing stress​.  

This commitment is also reflected in Board policy like the Healthy Schools and Workplaces policy and procedures. Setting policy, which governs the operation of the Board, is one of the roles of trustees, and we greatly value the input provided by students, staff members, family and community members. I encourage you to look at the policies under review and share your feedback.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2020. At the Board meeting in December, trustees unanimously approved the addition of new permanent Indigenous Trustee and Indigenous Student Trustee positions. We are committed to Indigenous Education in our Board and it is important that these voices are represented at the table. We hope to fill the positions as soon as possible and will share more information as it becomes available. 

A message from the Chair of the Board of Trustees is also available on the Board website at www.yrdsb.ca. 

David Sherman
Trustee, Markham/Vaughan
Markham Ward 1/Vaughan Ward 5

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT 2019

The deadline to order pizza and sub lunches is TOMORROW, Friday January 24th at noon.

                                  CLICK HERE TO PLACE YOUR TERM 2 ORDER 

See flyer below for information on how to register your child for this lunch program starting in February.

VPPS students are organizing a ‘Change Can Change’ Fundraiser. All proceeds will be going to The SickKids Foundation.
If our goal of $3,000 is reached, Mr. Johnson & Mr. Borsuk have joined Mr. Farrell and they will both be shaving their heads also. Mme MacKeracher will also be dying her hair purple.

THIS FRIDAY is the last day to Order Pizza and Sub Lunches for Term 2!!

The last delivery of Pizza and Sub Lunches for Term 1 will be next week.

The Volunteer Sign up sheet for Term 2 Pizza lunch distribution is now open.

VPPS is looking for volunteers to help with our Pizza Lunch Program.  If you’re available to volunteer 1 hour on Thursdays from 12-1 pm, please follow the link to sign up:

https://volunteersignup.org/M47BB

This isn’t a weekly commitment. You can sign up for the days that suit you.

Thank you for volunteering!!