Updated: October 28, 2008

Message from Administration, June 2008

As we end our second year, we continue to build our community and traditions. Our guiding values—commitment, excellence and respect—have become part of the everyday life of our school.

One of our Villages is named after June Callwood, who said,
"The only way to make the world safer for yourself is to treat others well."

Again this year we reached out to our local and global community in fundraising to build a school in Africa through Free the Children. We raised funds to purchase and send mosquito nets to help prevent malaria through Spread the Net. In addition, our entire school supported Share the Joy, which assists Peel families in need with food and other necessities during the holiday season.

The staff at Stephen Lewis Secondary School is committed to working with our students and community to support and realize each student’s academic and career goals. This will be encouraged and supported in a respectful, inclusive and safe learning environment. Stephen Lewis Secondary School is committed to excellence, with a focus on social justice, personal growth and individual success.

We believe that open two-way communication between the school and home is vital to the success and growth of our students. In order to facilitate this type of communication, please take a moment to review the contents of the Student Agenda, which your son/daughter will receive when he/she registers in August. In these resources, you will find important dates regarding report cards, examinations and parent information nights, as well as the policies and procedures for the upcoming school year. The information should assist you in supporting your son/daughter’s success at secondary school.

We wish all our students a successful year and stress to them the old adage that a rewarding journey begins with the first step.

If You Need to Reach Your Child
Stephen Lewis is a large school and at certain times (such as lunch time or when students are outdoors for physical education) it may be difficult to track them down. We cannot page students during school hours unless it is an emergency. If you must reach your child, please call the school and press 0 for student reception. As much as possible, please make arrangements with your child before they leave for school.

Student Absences
All students must sign in and out at student reception if arriving late or leaving early. A parent phone call or note is necessary. If a student is unable to attend school, the parent should contact the school by telephone on the morning of the absence to explain the reason for the absence. If no telephone contact has been made, the absent student is expected to bring a note legitimizing each absence to student reception, prior to the start of school, the day after that absence. If a parental note or call is not received by the day following the absence, the absence will be considered “unauthorized.” Every evening our SynreVoice call-home program will phone the homes of all students with unauthorized absences.

Final Evaluations and Reports
Our school year is divided into two semesters, with a formal set of final evaluations at the end of each semester. It takes approximately three weeks, from the time evaluations are written, until the computer reports are issued. The dates for end of semester evaluations are attached to enable families to plan ahead for holidays or other events. Family holidays should not be planned during any final evaluations or exams. A progress report for all students will be issued after the first month of each semester. A mid-semester report card will be issued in early November and April.

SAC Fundraising
This year, Stephen Lewis Secondary School has worked to raise funds for local and global charities. Students, staff and parents supported the Terry Fox Run, the Spread the Joy campaign and the Spread the Net campaign. Our fundraising efforts ended with a bang with our April charity week, which was a great success. Our students and staff came together to raise funds for Free the Children, a Canadian-based organization that works to develop education, healthcare, alternative income projects and improved water and sanitation conditions in a number of countries around the world.

Our goal was to raise $8,500 in order to build a school in Sierra Leone which is located in west Africa. This nation is one of the poorest in the world and experienced 11 years of civil unrest. It is estimated that 10,000 children fought as child soldiers in this civil war. It was amazing to see our students, staff, parents and community members generously commit their time and their money to this wonderful cause. After many bake sales, sponge tosses, hair shaving sessions, a basketball game and community car wash and barbeque, our school was able to exceed our goal and we raised $10, 200, seeing through on our dream to build a school in Sierra Leone. The Free the Children representative who came to accept our donation was amazed that we were able to raise so much money in such a short period of time. Thank you to all of the students, staff and parents who supported us during charity week, and through out the year. In total, or school has raised close to $20,000 for various charities. We couldn't have accomplished our fundraising goals without you!

The Diversity Garden

The "Diversity" garden has been designed by staff and students at Stephen Lewis Secondary School. The garden represents diversity in all facets: diversity of cultures; both plant and human; diversity of eco-systems; diversity of the environment. The Diversity Garden will be an outdoor classroom that has a diverse variety of plant types, along with a naturalised area. Much of the material has been donated. The Region of Peel has donated compost, The City of Mississauga has donated mulch and the Credit Valley Conservation Authority has donated plant materials. Particular mention should be made to the generous support of the TD Friends of the Environment. For the second year in a row this organization has granted us $2000 towards our purchases of garden materials. Through their support this year we were able to purchase materials to plant a windscreen on the north and west sides of the garden.

What has started as a small group project has grown. As students see the garden taking shape they are becoming involved and interested in much more than just creating this one garden. They are beginning to understand the environmental impact we have on our community and the planet. The Diversity Club members work on the garden after school while different classes pitch in to help with digging and planting. Ms Harris' ESL students, Mr. Sawicki's Science students, Mr. Ellis’s Green Team, and Ms Durst's Technology students have all contributed to creating this wonderful space.

The garden is taking shape. The process of creating a wind break to protect the garden from the north winter wind continues. We have installed a series of trellises and begun to plant perennials. We would like to plant a variety of drought resistant perennials along with a variety of bird loving shrubs and trees.

Grade 8 Parents Night 2008 Handouts

• Ms Wood's Presentation (.pdf)
• Guide for Parents and Students (.pdf)
• High Skills Major: Landscaping (.pdf)

Peel Public Health Department

The Peel Public Health Department has a new website page offering information about drugs.

This section of the Peel Public Health website will help you learn about alcohol and drug use. You'll find out information on specific drugs and their social, physical, psychological and emotional impact on someone; plus tips for parents; and of course some websites and phone numbers if you are looking for more information.

School Photos

Our photographer is Edge Imaging. Photo packages will be sent home in late September.

School Connects Autodialer

As another way of maintaining contact between the home and school, and working to ensure students are successful, Stephen Lewis Secondary School has purchased a call-home program from SynreVoice Technologies in Markham.

Weekday evenings, this automated program, School Connects, will extract attendance data from our student information system and call the homes of students who have unauthorized absences for all or part of the day. The program produces a report each morning, listing which calls were made and whether a human or answering machine picked up the call. Historical data will be kept.

In addition, this program will be used as needed to broadcast information on topics such as upcoming school events, report card distribution, etc.