Principal’s Message

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer break and is as excited as I am to come back. I’m very happy to be the new Principal at Roden and look forward to getting to know the Roden-Equinox community. Please never hesitate to connect with me if you have any questions, concerns or ideas on how we can make Roden an even more fantastic place for our students. The best way to get me is by email (ryan.naidoo@tdsb.on.ca), and I will make every effort to respond within 2 business days.

Class Assignments

We know that folks would love to know their child’s class assignment and who their teacher will be. We’ve posted the class lists on the main doors. Please stop in to take a look when you have a chance. All class assignments are tentative, as there is always a possibility of a reorganization at the end of September if there are unanticipated changes to student numbers. We also know that there are questions about how combined classes (often called split classes) work, and its my hope that we can have this information and more posted on our website by the end of the week.

Invitation to Student Orientation

Our first day of school is on Wednesday, Sept 7^th. We’d like to invite you to an orientation/meet the teacher on Tuesday, Sept 9^th. This event will be held between 9 and 9:30 for grades 1-8, and at 1pm for kindergarten. We hope to see you there! Don’t worry if you can’t make it, teachers plan to reach out later on Tuesday and make sure that everyone has the information needed for the first day. Here’s a map of where classes will meet, and we’ll use the same spots to meet at 9am on the first day of school.

COVID-19 Procedures

I know that many people are wondering about the COVID-19 procedures for this year. Here are the key things to know:

• Screening – Students and staff should continue to do a daily self-assessment before entering school or Board buildings and stay home if they are sick. We are awaiting an updated screening tool from the Ministry and will share as soon as it is available.
• Masks – Masking is a now a personal choice, and we must respect the choices of others if we are to have a positive school environment. The TDSB will continue to provide medical masks for staff and students who request them.
• Cohorting and Lunches – we are no longer cohorting classes and have moved to having 1 lunch for the school. Students will be eating in their classrooms unless they are participating in hot lunch, in which case they will eat in the gym (this should start in October). We anticipate this being a safe, successful way of doing lunch, but we do need to mention that this lunch procedure could be changed at a later date if we find that there are safety/supervision issues.

Thank you, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to Ryan Naidoo (ryan.naidoo@tdsb.on.ca) or Vu (vu.lam@tdsb.on.ca) if you have any questions, comments or ideas.

Welcome to our new Kindergarten families! Our staff has put together a website for parents, and we invite you to take a look at it when you have a chance. The menu is on the top right of the page and it has a number of cool resources on it. The School Council has also put together a handbook for kindergarten parents to help answer some of your questions.

We have a Kindergarten Orientation happening on Tuesday, September 6th at 1pm. Please join us if you can! School will start on Wednesday, September 7th at 9am, and the school day ends at 3pm.

How do you determine class placements and can we ask for a change?

Class placement is an in-depth process where staff consider students’ social/emotional and academic needs, as well as peer dynamics. There are also provincial requirements on class size that must be honoured. The cap in Kindergarten is 29 with an Teacher and Early Childhood Educator (15 if there is only a teacher), and 20 in grade 1-3. There are class size exemptions, but these only happen for 10% of classes in the school board. Gr 4-8 classes do not have a cap.

The many factors that go into class placement means that the process takes weeks of planning and we really do believe that the results are the best for all students. We do not make changes to class assignment, the only exceptions being if 1) There is a school reorganization due to a change in student enrolment, or 2) extraordinary circumstances where everything possible has been already tried to create a positive experience for the student.

Why do we have combined grade (also called split classes)?

It is very common to have combined grades in our schools. We are often required to have these to meet the class size caps, but there are also some real advantages to having the combined grades as well.  Here is a snippet from the Combined Grades Fact Sheet put out by TDSB on what the research says:

Dr. Joel Gajadharsingh (Professor Emeritus, University of Saskatchewan) has been a leader in North American research in combined grades.  In 1991, the Canadian Education Association summarized his extensive findings and concluded the following:

1. Children in combined classes get an education that is just as good or better as in single grade classes.

2. Children in classes where there is more than one level learn to become more independent, responsible learners and develop a greater degree of social responsibility. They also develop better study habits and a more positive attitude towards school.

3. 85% of teachers considered the achievements of students in multi-grades to be equal or superior to the achievement of students in single grades in language arts, mathematics, sciences and social studies.

The TDSB also has a Combined Grades for Parents document that goes over some of the key benefits of combined grades, as well as what the learning could look like in the classroom.

Click here for Roden School Council website.