November has been a busy month. I have just completed feeder school visits with our Student Success Lead, Mrs. Besselink, and based on the reports by grade 8 teachers and the enthusiasm demonstrated, I predict the class of 2021 is going to be fantastic. Our annual Day of the Arts at Holy Cross, where feeder schools are introduced to our Arts program, November 28 and 29, were very well received by our elementary partner schools. Les Miserable is a wonderful accomplishment, in the long and illustrious tradition of our Art Department, which can’t seem to do anything that isn’t excel-lent. I hope you have a chance to see it. We also had two athletic championships to celebrate—Sr. Girls’ Basketball, over LaSalle, and Field Hockey, over Frontenac. Both great victories. The field hockey team, featured above, qualified for the playoffs at the all Ontario championships in Kitchener but lost a hard fought game in the quarterfinals. The Senior Girls’ team, led by Coach Dixon, won the consolation gold medal at OFSSA in Scar-borough, losing only one game in the tournament.
Our Boys’ volleyball program is taking off, our cross country team went to EOSSAA, both football teams were one step away from the finals, ultimate Frisbee won silver — all of our athletic programs speak to the quality of our coaching and the efforts and talents of our student-athletes. Winter sports are now up and running so pay attention to the electronic message boards or sign up for direct feeds to your portable device for more information.
Parents should be aware that second semester timetables for many stu-dents will have to be updated and potentially adjusted due to increased enrollment and the creation of new classes. While potentially disruptive, this situation is good news. It allows us to balance classes, decrease the student to teacher ratio and generally improve the classroom experience for all those involved. I delivered this information to School Council on November 11th and at that time your parent representatives on council expressed concerns on behalf of the community about this state of affairs. The work of balancing classes will begin following a review of grade 12 enrollment for semester 2, in December. Please know that our guiding principle is minimizing the disruption to student timetables. Teachers may change, the periods in which courses are offered may change, but courses that students are enrolled in now will not change, unless by request. If you have any concerns, please contact us.
As the season of Advent will be upon us by the time this newsletter reaches you, let me take this opportunity to wish you and your family blessings during this very special time of the year. May your December be full of hope and happiness.
