Good Evening Northern Families,

I know many staff, students, and families tuned into the Stronger than Hate presentation yesterday. I hope you were able to get on eventually if you couldn’t get in the Zoom at first. I think the organizers underestimated numbers significantly. A big shout out to Bianca Chisholm and Nkele Martin for an awesome job in front of an audience of 10,000+! Here is content from an email sent to TDSB administrators today from the board. FYI- I will share the link to the recording as soon as it is available (look for it in next week’s bulletin).

21363053745. high-profile, bold initiatives to address and interrupt hate carries inherent challenges and we saw some of those during the presentation yesterday. Within the first few minutes more than 10,000 people logged into the zoom link and it reached capacity – it was then supposed to automatically redirect to Facebook Live, with supposed unlimited capacity, which worked for some and not for others. Our partners at the Foundation have never seen this happen before, nor these kind of numbers before. What this speaks to is a deep desire for this type of content – bringing together voices to tell stories of the past, discuss critically-important issues of today, celebrate student voice, and listen and learn from each other. Deepest apologies to our fellow educators who were not able to join the presentation live – a recording will be available in a few days.

 

We also wanted to address the fact that someone used the chat function to express hurtful and hateful messages. It is disappointing and, frankly, abhorrent that someone chose to use this platform to spread hate, when the entire message was to combat hate. We have screen captures and will work with our partners and their IT department to investigate fully. We see this as a strengthening of our resolve to continue the difficult work of fighting racism in all its ugly forms. It’s never easy to fight for what’s right.

 

With his permission we leave you with the words of Nkele Martin, one of the leaders of the BIPOC student group at Northern SS who was part of the presentation yesterday, and to whom we are grateful and so proud…

 

I would like to personally thank you for supporting me, my voice, my opinions and the opinions of other students and giving us this platform to speak to so many across North America. We are the educators, legislators, and business people of the future and it is so important for students to hear and learn from these amazing events in order to create a better tomorrow. The message sent in today's webinar was a powerful one and gauging from my peers responses, it resonated with them. I hope to see the continuation of education in this form as it engages students and makes them challenge any biases they might have and allows them to move forward in life with an equal view of all those around them. Thank you again for understanding the importance of this message and allowing myself and fellow students to participate in sharing it.

 

Together, we are all stronger than hate!

 

Learning After High School for DHH Students!

YRDSB is pleased to offer a virtual alternative to our annual LAHS event. Please see the attached flyer for more details.

We hope to have all the material accessible and ready to go live on Wednesday March 3rd, 2021 at 7pm. We will communicate with you if anything changes. The link will stay live, therefore families will be able to access the information when convenient for them. There will be an option for families to ask questions after reviewing the presentation. DHH FLYER

2021 Yearbook: Undergraduate Portraits and Yearbook Purchase:

1. Yearbook wants your photo!

Please submit the 2021 Yearbook Undergraduate Portrait form by March 5 at the latest.

If a picture is not submitted we will use last year's photo or a standard fill in icon.

If you have any questions please reach out to the yearbook staff advisor, Leslie Usin Rojas (leslie.usin-rojas@tdsb.on.ca).

2. There is an option to purchase a yearbook for $35.00 this year.

If you are a face-to-face learner and have an account with school cash online.

If you are attending the Virtual School you will need to access school cash online here.

 

Summer Employment Opportunities:

The Summer Employment Opportunities (SEO) Program provides up to 5,000 students with the opportunity to gain valuable work experience through supervised summer employment in the OPS. To be eligible to participate in the program, students must be currently enrolled in a secondary or post-secondary institution, be at least 15 years old, be living in Ontario during the summer and be legally entitled to work in Canada.

Positions for the summer of 2021 will be posted on February 25, 2021 with different closing dates between March 10 and June 1, 2021. The 2021 employment period for students is from May to September. To participate, students must apply online at www.ontario.ca/careers.

As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, the OPS will be monitoring what program adaptations may be necessary for the summer of 2021. We continue to remain flexible in our approach. To the extent possible, proposed changes will be communicated prior to the screening and hiring of students.

To support our goal of reaching our target audience, I would appreciate if you would promote these opportunities to your students by:

• Posting the attached promotional posters in your school
• Sharing information about the program and how to apply via school communications (ex. newsletters, morning announcements); sample announcements are attached
• Following us on our social media channels and sharing our posts. We are on Facebook and Twitter with the account name of @ServiceOntario. You can also follow the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services on LinkedIn.

If you require additional information, contact us at SEO@ontario.ca.

2021 Fryer, Hypatia and Galois Math Contests hosted by uWaterloo

The NSS Math Department is excited to be running the 2021 Fryer (gr. 9), Hypatia (gr. 10), and Galois (gr. 11) Math Contests hosted by the University of Waterloo Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing. These contests are open to all students in Grades 9-11. The contests will be held online on Thursday, April 8^th.

Interested in testing out your mathematical problem-solving ability? Sign up by Monday, March 15^th using this form! [Note: Signing up is confirmation that the student is writing the contest, and they will be required to pay the $10 contest fee using the School Cash Online system.]

Please note that these contests are paper-based. Participants will be required to pick up their contest packages in-person prior to the contest date or have access to a printer.

More information about the contests can be found here.

Want to stay up-to-date on this year's Math Contests? Join the 2020-2021 Math Contest Google Classroom using class code: j5mmrwq

Please direct any contest questions to stephanie.kendall@tdsb.on.ca

 

 

2021 Euclid Math Contests hosted by uWaterloo

The NSS Math Department is excited to be running the 2021 Euclid Math Contest hosted by the University of Waterloo Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing. The Euclid contest is designed for secondary students in their final year of studies as well as motivated students in lower grades. The contest will be held online on Wednesday, April 7^th.

Interested in testing out your mathematical problem-solving ability? Sign up by Wednesday, March 17^th using this form! [Note: Signing up is confirmation that the student is writing the contest, and they will be required to pay the $16 contest fee using the School Cash Online system.]

Please note that the Euclid contest is paper-based. Participants will be required to pick up their contest packages in-person prior to the contest date or have access to a printer.

More information about the contest can be found here.

 

United Way General Members Meeting

Hey Northern! The United Way Committee will be hosting our first General Members Meeting via Zoom on Monday, March 1st at 4:00 pm. We will be running a "Make The Month" simulation to help students gain a deeper understanding of what it's like living in poverty in Canada. Everyone is welcome and it is a great opportunity for students to get involved within the committee. DM @nssunitedway on Instagram to get the link to the meeting! Looking forw+8KIL/*0ard to seeing you all there!

 

Ask A Buddy Event:

The buddies will be running an “Ask a buddy” event every 2 weeks starting on Tuesday, March 2nd at 4:00 pm. To join, just go to Google Meet (https://meet.google.com/) and type in the meeting nickname, which is askabuddy, all one word and all lower case. More information will be available on the buddies instagram in the coming week. Stay tuned! It will be fun!

 

Guidance:

 

Quad 3 Marks Maintain Date: March 31st to start the process - MMD: April 5th

 

Withdrawal (drop) from a quad 3 course: To meet the Marks Maintain Date deadline of April 5th, please reach out to your Guidance Counsellor NO LATER than March 31st to allow processing of your request.

 

eLearning Quad 4 Registration OPENS March 23, 2021 at 9 am.

If you are considering signing up for a Quad 4 eLearning course, we recommend that you access the eLearning site on March 23rd at 9 am.

You can access more information on the TDSB Elearning site.

Please speak to your Guidance Counsellor if you have any questions.

 

TDSB Summer School Registration 2021: Con-Ed Summer School & e-Summer School Program.

1. TDSB Con-Ed Summer School registration information will be released mid-March. You can access more information here.
2. e-Summer School Program registration information will be released mid-March. You can access more information about e-Summer School Program here.

 

School Council:

 

1) A big thank you to all the donors who generously supported our fundraising campaign this year! We nearly reached our goal of $10,000, and we look forward to using those funds to support our students this year and next.

 

2) A Word from Wellness - Our Wellness focus for February is hope. Click here for an article by Amanda Gorman about how to find hope and resolve for the year ahead and on our webpage for further resources on hope to support your family. As well, you can find the slides and resources there for our Feb 18 presentation, “Supporting the Mental Health and Well-Being of Our Teens During the Pandemic”.

 

3) Thank you to all who attended our presentation last night on an exciting new course offered at Northern next year:

“Deconstructing Anti-Black Racism in the Canadian and North American Context”

A huge thank you to the creators Remy Basu, Kiersten Wynter, Tyler Robinson and Tiffany Barrett who delivered an engaging, informative and very well received session.

 

 

From the Gifted Advisory Council:

 

GAC presents THIS WEEK: “ADHD Highlights: What You Need to Know About ADHD” - Tuesday March 2 at 7:00 p.m.

GAC is excited to invite all parents, students, and educators to hear a presentation by Heidi Bernhardt, founder of CADDAC, the Center for ADHD Awareness, Canada.

Her presentation will start by debunking the myths of ADHD and explaining what ADHD actually is. She’ll look at how ADHD impacts an adolescent’s functioning in the home and school environment and the increased risks to kids with ADHD as they move into adolescence.

She’ll also look at what a comprehensive assessment of ADHD looks like and how ADHD is diagnosed and treated. She’ll discuss ways to support adolescents with ADHD at home, and ways to advocate for resources in Ontario schools. Additional links to resources will be provided during the presentation and access given to the Power Point following the presentation. We encourage you to try to attend the live virtual presentation in person, to hear the additional detail and Q & A of Heidi’s very considerable knowledge and experience. Please send an email to northerngifted@gmail.com to obtain the meeting link. We hope that you can join us!

 

Mental Health Counselling Support at Northern Secondary; FLYER

50. Community Services provides a registered psychotherapist , Dale Callender, on-site, full time at Northern, to work in partnership with the existing school support services. The service uses an early intervention model and supports students by allowing them easy and immediate access to mental health and counselling services provided through the In-School service. Dale Callender works in collaboration with TDSB staff in order to customize a program to enhance the mental health services and supports that are available to students on-site at the school. This program allows Northern priority access to Lumenus’ mental health service program, and offers students a seamless referral process to other community programs as dictated by their individual needs. Dale Callender is available currently via virtual sessions and/or phone calls to provide psychotherapy counselling support to students, parents/caregivers. If you would like to consult and /or set up a time to talk with Dale, you can contact him via his email at dalecallender@lumenus.ca

 

 

 

Historical:

 

Essential Reading: There have been changes that are designed to minimize the risk of COVID transmission in our daily screening process. The Updated Screening tool and the Back to School Confirmation Form are very helpful in determining if a student is required to stay home from school or if they have met the requirements for return. Your Vice Principal can also assist with this decision. There are several significant changes to the daily screening tool which are reflected in the Now Mobile app that most students use before arriving at school for face to face classes.

Summary of Screening Updates:

Question 1: If your child has any of the listed symptoms (see screening tool link above)

• If your child has any of the listed symptoms, they must stay home from school, self-isolate and get tested. They can return to school once they have a negative test result and after it has been 24 hours since their symptoms started improving.
• Now, any siblings must also stay home from school until the symptomatic sibling receives a negative test result.
• If your child does NOT get tested, your child (and any siblings) must stay home and self-isolate for 10 days. The symptomatic child can return to school after 10 days if their symptoms have/are improved.
• If your child has symptoms and also had close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, your child must self-isolate for 14 days from the last exposure to the person who was positive. All siblings must also self-isolate for the same period of time, regardless of a negative test result.
• At the onset of symptoms please notify the school at (Northern@tdsb.on.ca and your child's Vice Principal:
• Eric Halling - Vice Principal (alpha A-G) --> eric.halling@tdsb.on.ca
• Jessica Pearson - Vice Principal (alpha H-O) --> jessica.pearson@tdsb.on.ca
• Rani Vohra - Vice Principal (alpha P-Z) --> rani-vohra@tdsb.on.ca

Both the symptomatic student and the siblings must return to school with a completed Back to School Confirmation Form

Still want to read more about COVID management at schools? Click here for the TPH webpage that helps guide our practice: TPH COVID Guidance for Schools

Have a great weekend!

Adam

Follow Me @PrincipalNSS