Good Evening Northern Families,
We made it – and were even given an extra day by Mother Nature! Time to catch our breath, and catch up with friends and family. Whether you are celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or any other special day(s) I hope you reconnect with those you care for. This will be a relatively short bulletin to avoid any significant interruption of the break.
On behalf of the staff- thank you to all our Northern families and School Council who put on coffee, tea, and delicious baked goods for us on Wednesday morning. What a great way to start the day!
Please see Trustee Rachel Chernos Lin’s latest NEWSLETTER.
Exams are rapidly approaching, recharge over the break, but be ready to hit the books again in January! In order to help you prepare, Northern is pleased to co-present Exam Stress: Learning How to Manage It to Perform at Your Best. This is a webinar for students and parents/caregivers that focuses on understanding exam stress and developing strategies to cope with it to help students perform at their best. The even will run Wednesday January 11 7-8 pm and Thursday January 12 1-2. Thank You to Dayna Morris our school psychologist for her hard work making this happen. Please see this FLYER for additional details (webinar links coming after the break).
When we return from the break there are a couple items to keep in mind for the week of January 9th. Wednesday is a late start at 9:55am and Thursday is an early close at 11:35am. Thursday we will be welcoming potential grade 8 students in the afternoon, and families in the evening.
In the meantime, I wish all of our Northern Family a safe, health, and happy holidays!
Mental Health Webinar Series:
Attached please find a Promo Poster to advertise three upcoming webinars that are offered to the school community by the Pine River Institute's Centre for Family Initiatives.
When parents/caregivers/teachers click the registration link (at the bottom of the page), they can select which webinars they wish to attend.
Yearbook
To any students who believe the name that may appear in the yearbook under their student portrait is not their preferred name, please fill out this name change request form: https://forms.gle/7ghn4kGUPzPQeLPf8
The deadline to fill out this form is January 12th, 2023. If you have any questions/concerns, contact editors Lola.Cejovic@student.tdsb.on.ca, Sara.Khorvash@student.tdsb.on.ca, and Cassandra.Cohen@student.tdsb.on.ca.
Remote Night School Credit Recovery – Semester 2:
TDSB Students ONLY The Toronto District School Board is offering current TDSB students the opportunity to recover one or two credits at night school. Remote Night School Credit Recovery courses are open to current TDSB high school students who have taken the course in the past two years but have not earned the credit. Students may enroll in two credit recovery courses, one running on Tuesday and the other on Thursday. Visit our program page for more information and to register.
Key Dates
- Registration Opens – December 1, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.
- Courses with low enrolment cancelled – February 3, 2023
Registration Closes - February 10, 2023 at 10:00 a.m
TUTORING!!!! Please remember that Monday- Thursday from 3:30-4:30pm we are offering tutoring opportunities in rooms 111, 119, and on certain evenings 120. Take advantage of the opportunity if you are struggling to get additional support from Northern Teachers!
School Council Update:
1) From all of us at Northern SS Council: We wish you and yours a safe, happy and healthy holiday break. We look forward to seeing and hearing from you in 2023 ????❄️⛄
2) Thank-a-teacher: - as we approach the holidays, we encourage parents and caregivers to write a quick email to teachers, staff, coaches or administrators to recognize the efforts they've put forth to keep student success a priority this year. We all could use a little boost in the shorter days of the year, and we appreciate their efforts to make this term as meaningful as possible!
Northern Secondary School Foundation:
Season’s Greetings to all Northern families. Wishing you good health and happiness in 2023.
Thank you for your continued support of the Foundation scholarships and grants to extra-curricular teams and clubs.
It’s not too late to make a tax-refundable donation to the Foundation at www.nssf.ca/donate to help up continue our work in 2023.
Guidance Updates:
- SAVE THE DATE: Exam Prep Workshops: Tues, Jan 10th @ 3:20pm & Fri, Jan 13th at lunch in room 111.
Students: Guidance and Special Education are hosting exam prep workshops Tues, Jan 10th at 3:20pm in room 111 and Fri, Jan 13th at lunch in room 111.
Please mark your calendars!
- Post- Secondary Updates:
- OUAC (Ontario Universities) applications are due January 12, 2023.
- OCAS (Ontario Colleges) applications are due February 1, 2023 for equal consideration.
- Check out our NSS Guide to Applying to Post-Secondary for info about post-secondary application dates, process and links.
- Please note: the TDSB Volunteer Policy States that an eligible volunteer activity constitutes:
- An event or activity designed to be of benefit to the community.
- A volunteer activity – not for pay or credit.
- An event or activity to support a not-for-profit initiative.
For more information please visit the TDSB Community Involvement policy.
- Please note: NSS in-person Semester 2 Timetable changes are not being considered unless a student is eligible to drop a course (straight drop), needs to add a course for a post-secondary pre-requisite or if a student fails a course. Not all courses are available.
- Semester 2 Remote and In-Person Full Credit Night School & Remote Credit Recovery Night School REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN and will close February 10, 2023 at 10am.
For more information on course listings and dates for TDSB Con Ed Night School click here.
- eLearning Day School Registration: OPEN - December 14th @ 10 am
For more information on eLearning Day School courses and registration dates, click here.
- PRIOR LEARNING ASSESSMENT AND RECOGNITION (PLAR) 2022/2023 Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition
The 2022/2023 PLAR Challenge process will kick off with a Virtual PLAR Information Session for Families on January 18, 2023 from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. PLAR Information Session Flyer PLAR Information Session Registration PLAR website
- Students, looking for Volunteer or Youth Employment Opportunities? Check your Student Guidance Google classroom: Gr. 9 code: 4ixv2jl; Gr. 10 code: kmv6fcz; Gr. 11 code: twdxca6; Gr. 12 code: hfg74ws
- Looking for Scholarship Application Support?
Seeking Scholarships has published their November scholarship report, which contains information and tips about funding post-secondary, along with an updated list of scholarships and deadlines. Northern students and parents can access this resource here: https://seekingscholarships.com/the-scholarship-report-2/ using the password scholar1.
Please note: This resource is copyrighted and only available to Northern families - please do not share outside of the Northern community.
Lumenus Community Services:
Lumenus 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 supports to enhance the mental health services that they may need and wish to access. 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. If anyone 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 or drop by his office at Room 312A.
Have a safe, happy, and relaxing holiday!
Adam Marshall
Principal
Follow me @PrincipalNSS