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Wednesday, March 10, 2021 - Volume 13, Issue 14
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A Message from Administration
As we approach the midterm for Quad 3, we would encourage you to reach out to classroom teachers and school staff if you have any questions or there is any guidance you need to support students. Please continue to follow the direction of Public Health and stay safe during this time. The season of spring is upon us and as we journey though Lent toward our Easter Season, let’s continue to remain people of hope, informed by our Faith.
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Parent - Student - Teacher Interviews
Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews are taking place tomorrow between 2:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon and 5:00 and 7:00 in the evening. This will be an opportunity for you to speak with your son’s or daughter’s teachers about their progress thus far.
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Due to COVID restrictions, interviews will be conducted virtually. Parents can request a telephone call, email consultation, or a video meeting using Microsoft Teams.
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To book a meeting with teachers please go to the school website and click on Our Staff. All the teachers have an icon in front of their name. If you click on the icon it will take you to their personal page. In the right column you can select a time slot, fill in the important information, and then click the Book button. You will receive an email confirmation of your booking.
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IEP Distribution
IEPs will be mailed on March 18, 2021. You should expect to receive them later that week.
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School Schedule and Calendar
You can then access the calendar by going to ABOUT US > School Year Calendar
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Inclement Weather
While every effort is made to get the word out on our school's social media and website in a timely manner, please check the wcdsb.ca website or stswr.ca to check if buses are running/schools are closed for the day.
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New Store Hours
Tuesday: 10am – 6pm Thursday: 10am – 6pm Saturday: 10am – 6pm
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Spring Break & Quad 3 Final Assessments
As previously communicated March Break has been postponed to the week of April 12-16 for all Ontario schools. As a result of the March Break being moved to April 12-16, we have made some adjustments to the Quad 3 and 4 calendars to support overall student achievement and wellbeing.
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Final Assessment days have been moved to April 8 (Period 1) & April 9 (Period 2). These two days will be fully remote, synchronous assessment days. Following the April break, April 19 and 20 will continue to be Assessment and Evaluation (A&E) days for the purpose of credit recovery, rescue, and reporting. Further information will be provided by classroom teachers.
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Quad 4 will begin on April 21 as a fully remote, synchronous day. Teachers will have the opportunity to virtually meet all students in their course(s), and to share course overviews and expectations. We will follow a remote learning schedule, check the school calendar for specific times.
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Gathered to Become
By Mr. B. Rempel, Chaplain
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Our board pastoral theme for the year is “Gathered to Become.” Becoming means transformation. The symbol for transformation is the butterfly. As the caterpillar transforms slowly into a butterfly, so we are slowly being transformed into the image of Christ. During semester 1, classes were invited to the Atrium to paint two large butterfly murals.
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Butterfly murals painted by St. Benedict students.
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The week of February 22 was butterfly week for our school. Classes once again made their way to the Atrium to create individual butterflies that had emerged from a cocoon. The image of the butterfly reminds us that transformation is an integral part of life. These creative symbols of transformation will remain in the Atrium as reminders that we are all in the process of being transformed.
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Student Picture Day Is Coming Up!
The school will have picture day from Tuesday, March 23 through to the 26th. We will abide by our operational guidelines to ensure a safe process. Students will be called down by class and will need to be in uniform to take their picture. Students in phys ed, classes need to bring a uniform shirt to wear over their phys ed attire.
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Cohorts A & C: March 23 & 24
Cohort B: March 25 & 26
Please contact the school if you have questions.
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WCDSB Conducting Virtual Learning Survey
Beginning on January 4th, 2021, all students attending our regular brick-and-mortar schools at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board pivoted to full virtual learning for a total of five weeks. We would like your feedback on how things went by answering a few questions.
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Your participation is voluntary, and your feedback will be very important for helping us make sure that we are providing the needed supports for students, staff, parents and community members going forward.
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This survey will be open for one week. Please complete this survey by March 18th, 2021.
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Family Winter Participation
Free March Activities
The WCDSB Catholic Parent Involvement Committee (CPIC) & Ministry of Ontario PRO Grants is offering Free March Activities for families. Please click on the link below for more information.
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Board seeks input on the 2021-2022 budget
The purpose of this brief budget survey is to gain feedback from stakeholders with respect to Board priorities. While we cannot accommodate all requests, we do want to know what is important to stakeholders which will help guide our decisions. The ThoughtExchange will be open until March 26th.
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Understanding that the Board priorities are intended to support Graduation rates, Well-Being and Faith Formation. Please identify what you feel is the MOST important area for investment within the budget in order to achieve our priorities?
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Understanding that the Board priorities are intended to support Graduation rates, Well-Being and Faith Formation. Where do you think the Board could obtain savings or efficiencies?
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Key Dates for Quad 3 & 4
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Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
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Daylight Saving Time Begins
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IEP Distribution & BENN Newsletter Release
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Quad 3 Period 1 Evaluation Day
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Quad 3 Period 2 Evaluation Day
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Quad 4: April 21 to June 25, 2021
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Quad 4 begins virtually for all students
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Quad 3 Report Card Distribution Date & BENN Newsletter Release
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Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
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Turn Around Date for Careers/Civics
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Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
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Assessment and Evaluation/Credit Recovery
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Quad 4 Report Card Distribution Date (Mailed)
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Mental Health & Wellness
WCDSB Mental Health and Well Being Web page
Have you had a moment to check out the Board’s updated Mental Health and Well being web page? This is a “one stop shop” where you can find links to targeted resources to promote well being during COVID, including examples of meditations/calming strategies to share with students, resources specific to various roles (i.e. leadership, educators, students, families), links to services in our community, and general mental health information.
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Please talk with Guidance, Vice Principals and/or our Principal if you feel you need School Social Work support.
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The Counselling Collaborative of Waterloo Region (https://counsellingwr.ca) is a partnership of 6 local counselling agencies working together to make counselling services more accessible to individuals with a limited income. Fees may be fully or partially subsidized depending on individual circumstances and the service requested. Visit their website or call (519) 804-1097 to book a phone/video appt.
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Langs Youth Wellness Hub
The Langs Youth Wellness Hub (is a safe, welcoming, inclusive space for youth to access services and programming in Cambridge. The YWH is home to many partners including Carizon Family and Community Services, Cambridge Career Connections, Family and Children’s Services, Lutherwood and Waterloo Region Suicide Prevention Council. Youth have the opportunity to engage in STEAM and art programs to enhance life skills, technical abilities and self- expression. You can also use the computers for employment, homework, or gaming. Wi-Fi and tablets are also available. Play cards or games with friends in the lounge area or use the PlayStation4 with a friend. Counselling and mental health services are available. Due to COVID-19 protocols many of our programs and services are being provided virtually. For the most up to date information, contact Darcy Edwards, Youth Wellness Hub Coordinator darcye@langs.org 519-653-1470 x 357 IG: @langsyouth or text 519.807.1855.
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The Business & Education Partnership of Waterloo Region is excited to present
Explore Your Future 2021 for grade 7-12 students and their parents/guardians in Waterloo Region!
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Interactive sessions will run every other week from 6:30 - 7:30 PM. Thanks to our sponsors and partners, this learning experience is FREE to attend.
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March 10: Entrepreneurs - Careers Starting and Leading Companies
Want to lead? Learn how people like you use their talents to create, build and lead companies across a range of industries.
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March 24: Helping Professionals - Careers Making a Difference for Others
Want to help others? Learn how people like you use their skills to support and heal people and communities.
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1 ticket gets you access to all 4 sessions!
Click on the image above to register.
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Frequently Asked Question
Is there a cohort-specific schedule?
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COVID Test/Screening and Outbreak Protocol
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. COVID-19 School Screening
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Once at the school, all students will be required to wear mask at all times. Students are to sanitize their hands upon entering and leaving the classroom.
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What to do when my child isn't feeling well?
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Message from Guidance
Complete the form and your hours will automatically be submitted and updated in the system. As a reminder, there were changes made regarding graduation requirements involving community service requirements for the 2020-2021 school year:
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- graduates for 2020-2021 have a reduced requirement for 20 hours rather than the usual 40
- this is in recognition that gathering CSH is a challenge for students during the ongoing pandemic
- these hours can be generated in typical ways, also at the principal’s discretion students can use hours:
- earned during the school day
- earned by performing household or community-based tasks - no max hours for duties performed at home, but this is at the principal’s discretion
- 10 hours paid employment at principal’s discretion
- flexibility and principal’s discretion can be applied to international students
- co-op experience, either paid or unpaid, could also be considered at the principal’s discretion
Please be sure to submit your hours ASAP.
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Academics
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University of Waterloo Math Contests
Math contests are a fun way to help students build their problem solving skills. The University of Waterloo has several math contests for our students through their Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing.
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It is strongly recommended that grade 12 students interested in applying to a mathematics related program at the University of Waterloo, participate in the Euclid Contest. Contest details are at: https://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/euclid.html. The deadline to register is March 18, 2021.
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All contests will be written from home under the supervision of an adult. To register for any of the contests, go to: https://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/registration.html. If you do not have an account with the CEMC, register as a "New Individual." Note: it may take up to 5 days to create a new account.
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If you have any questions, please contact your student's math teacher.
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Are you considering Coop for next year?
Students who are choosing coop for next year are reminded to complete the Google Coop application found in myBlueprint.
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Every Wednesday, join Mrs. Borba (Literacy) or Mr. Chaves (Numeracy) ONLINE from 1:45-3:00pm!
or simply CLICK on the Teams Links!!
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Can't WAIT to see you SAINTS online!
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Your school library is an important resource for success in high school. Currently the school library is accessible to teachers and their classes from 8am to 10am. Students may access the library individually at 10am, using the Clemens Mill Library front doors. Clemens Mill library is open for light browsing of our books, DVDs and other materials and hold pickups.
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All visitors are asked to complete the COVID-19 Screening Questionnaire before entering our physical spaces, wear a face mask, and limit their visit to 60 minutes or less.
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Did you know…
Your school library has a selection of print math resources to help students strengthen their math skills. You can find the Solaro Study Guides for math, Grades 9 to 12 at Clemens Mill library. These resources are workbooks that offer practice questions with answer keys and detailed solutions, as well as good explanations of mathematic concepts. These guides also offer tips for studying and on writing tests. You can find them by searching “Solaro mathematics” in the Idea Exchange library catalogue.
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The school library also has website offering many online resources which can be accessed from the St. Bennie’s website under the Library tab.
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We are planning to update the library website and would like St. Bennie’s students’ input. We are asking St. Bennie’s students to please take a few minutes to complete our short survey to help us better plan a website that meets your needs! This survey is voluntary and is completely anonymous.
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If you need help finding a good book or resources for assignments please contact your school library, Ms. Pilon at ppilon@ideaexchange.org.
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Debate Club is back! No it's not.... Yes it is!
Come join the new Debate Club and learn how to objectively debate about some of the greatest issues of our time. Students will have the opportunity to debate an issue that they have a passion for, be a judge or moderator or simply an audience member to a riveting debate between their peers. No experience needed, just a passion for public speaking, world issues and speaking your mind.
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Yearbook needs YOU!
We are looking for students to help us create the St Benedict 2020/21 yearbook! We hope to have representation from as many different grades and students as possible. We have a very short turnaround time to meet our publisher's deadlines, so we may not be able to include everyone who applies, but we encourage as many people as possible to fill out an application. If you are selected, your full commitment to the project will be absolutely necessary.
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DECA Provincials Results
Miss Grebinski, Mr. Szpiech, and Mrs. Ratz would like to congratulate all our DECA students who participated in the DECA Ontario Provincial Competition. The Ontario competition, which usually takes place over 2 days in downtown Toronto, was an entirely virtual event this year. In total, 32 St. Benedict students participated in the provincial competition which involved solving a business problem through an oral role play or preparing and presenting a business proposal.
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Special congratulations to the following students for their high achievement in the competition:
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Aiman Ahmed, who placed in the top 6 of the Innovation Plan competition and qualified for the International DECA competition in April
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Rachel Anderson and Sari Nahhab, who placed in the top 20 for their oral case presentation in the Business Law and Ethics Team event
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Tolu Akinyemi, who placed in the top 20 for her oral case presentation in the Personal Financial Literacy event
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Lucija Dodig, Sarah Lee, and Cassie Wilkie for their top 20 finish in the Community Awareness Project
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Adam Romero and Colin Vrugteman, who finished in the top 20 of the Sports and Entertainment Operations Research event
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Thank you to all DECA students for their involvement and learning throughout this DECA year. The DECA teachers would also like to thank our student executive, in particular, for their leadership and help this year: Andreas Diogenous, Lucija Dodig, Sarah Lee, Erica Miranda, Elora Schindler, Avery Stokes, Isbah Syed, and Colin Vrugteman. It was our pleasure to work with you this year.
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To all DECA students, please join the Teams meeting on Thursday, March 18 at 11:15 am for a final wrap-up to our DECA season.
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Programmers show Problem-solving Prowess in UW Competition
This year we had 15 of our computer programming students participate in the University of Waterloo's Canadian Computing Competition in February. Students were challenged with five programming problems in either a junior-level or senior-level contest, and had three hours to complete as many of them as they could.
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For our grade 11 students, this was a test of skill after having just taken the grade 11 programming course (ICS 3U or C, taught in Python), while our grade 12 students had the advantage of having also taken the grade 12 Java course (ICS 4U or C).
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The programs increase in difficulty as you go through the competition. A perfect run scores 15 points, and part marks are given. Students can choose to program in any one of several languages, including Python and Java which they learn at Bennie's.
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Most students completed two or three of the problems. Special congratulations goes to Syed Murtaza Shah who score a perfect score of 75 points, solving all five problems in the junior level competition!
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A congratulations to all of our competitors: Andrew Babos, Daniel Dombrovsky, Cole Frost-Woodcock, Spiros Goros, Lalit Mada, Nicholas Melcher, Irtiza Mohammed, Musab Mufti, Syed Shahzain, Sydney Standing, Ekin Thoprakan, Issay Tieu, Mohammed Ibrahim Ullah, and Colin Vrugteman. For those students returning to Bennie's in September, we hope to take this competition and use it as a learning experience to prepare for next year! To our students who will be graduating this year we wish them all the best in their future academic pursuits!
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Next week is
Spirit Week!!!
Semi-Formal is always a much awaited dance here at St. Benedict and an experience that students will miss this year. As COVID turned everything upside down, this Spirit Week will bring all aspects of past dances together in different forms throughout the week. Our Spirit Week is running from Monday, March 15 to Friday, March 19. On Tuesday and Thursday students are encouraged to wear neon shirts with uniform bottoms to throwback to our Neon Night dances. All tops must be bright colours, no blacks, greys, or whites allowed, students will be asked to change. We ask that students wear clothing in good taste to create a positive learning environment. More information about modest clothing can be found on the school website. Monday and Friday are spirit wear days, and Wednesday is cohort B’s Civvies Day & St. Patrick’s day… Green is encouraged!
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Make sure to keep up to date with the SAC Instagram account for more Saints fun, as we have events running virtually too! This Friday, students may request clean songs to be added to a playlist shared with students and some may be played before the morning announcements. There will be a week-long recipe book compilation project for students to submit their favourite recipes from around the world to be featured in our Bennies recipe book. On Thursday, students are encouraged to post pictures from past semis with the hashtag #VirtualBenniesSemi2021 to be featured on the SAC Instagram story. Even though we cannot have a semi-formal dance this year we hope to strengthen our school community through this Spirit Week.
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Thursday, March 11 8:00am: Period 1 Cohort B Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 2 All students Distance learning 2:00pm: Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
Friday, March 12 8:00am: Period 1 Cohort B Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 2 All students Distance learning
Sunday, March 14 Daylight Saving Time begins
Monday, March 15 8:00am: Period 1 Cohort B Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 2 All students Distance learning
Tuesday, March 16 8:00am: Period 1 Cohort B Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 2 All students Distance learning
Wednesday, March 17 Civvies Day - Cohort B 8:00am: Period 1 Cohort B Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 2 All students Distance learning 2:00pm: Debate Club
Thursday, March 18 8:00am: Period 2 Cohort A Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 1 All students Distance learning
Friday, March 19 8:00am: Period 2 Cohort A Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 1 All students Distance learning
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Monday, March 22 8:00am: Period 2 Cohort A Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 1 All students Distance learning
Tuesday, March 23 Picture Day - Cohort A & C 8:00am: Period 2 Cohort A Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 1 All students Distance learning
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Wednesday, March 24 BENN Newsletter release 8:00am: Period 2 Cohort A Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 1 All students Distance learning 2:00pm: Debate Club
Thursday, March 25 Picture Day - Cohort B 8:00am: Period 2 Cohort B Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 1 All students Distance learning
Friday, March 26 8:00am: Period 2 Cohort B Face to Face 12:25pm: Period 1 All students Distance learning
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Be sure to check out the calendar on the school website for updates and changes!
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