Week of December 19 - 23

Dear Parents & Guardians,

We have made it to the last week of December! We are all looking forward to Friday and the beginning of the winter break. The events for the week are listed below:

1. Kwanzaa Banquet Tuesday, December 20^th at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Tickets are $3.00. Please come to celebrate the holiday season with our Afro-Can Club and Oakwood families.

2. Holiday Assembly – Friday, December 23^rd in the morning

3. Three-on-One Basketball Tournament – Friday, December 23^rd in the afternoon.

4. School begins on Monday, January 9, 2012

On behalf of the Oakwood teachers & staff, we wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. We hope that the good will and cheer of the holiday season is with you, your family and friends. We also wish safe travels for anyone who is travelling out of the city!

Happy holidays,

Ellen Austrom

December 16, 2011

Rocky Horror Show!

This is a last minute reminder to our school community that not to miss our drama society production of "Rocky Horror". The show opened last night to rave reviews. We hope that you can catch the show Friday or Saturday night. The show starts at 8 p.m. and there are still tickets available at the door. Our students have been rehearing since September and all of their hard work has paid off in an absolutely fabulous show.

We hope to see you there.

Week of December 5 - 9

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week is another busy week at Oakwood. We look forward to seeing you all on Thursday at Parent-Teacher Interviews. Please share our news for the week with other Oakwood families and encourage them to call the school to have their email addresses added to our school email tree so that they can receive weekly email updates.

1. Tuesday, December 6, 2011 – 2^nd Annual Art Show & Sale from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. in the front foyer of the school. Senior visual arts students have organized this event to raise money for our special holiday student support fund. All art work is priced at $10.00 each. The sale is done on a first come first served basis. So arrive early to pick up your sale number and then wait for the excitement to begin. The students will also have refreshments available for art patrons to enjoy.

2. Thursday, December 8, 2011 – Parent-Teacher Interviews from 1:00 – 3:00 and 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing everyone then.

3. Congratulations to 2011 Oakwood graduate Lucas Hammond, who has been named to the Canadian Senior National Rugby Sevens team! The sevens squad is playing in the IRB sevens tournament in Dubai and South Africa this December. Way to go Lucas!

4. Save the dates: Thursday, Dec. 15, Friday, Dec. 16 and Saturday, Dec 17 for our annual musical. This year students are performing “Rocky Horror Show”

Have a wonderful week.

Week of November 28 - December 2

To Oakwood Parents and Guardians,

December is almost here and the holidays are fast approaching. We still have 4 weeks to go until the holiday. We are pleased to share the following information with our school community.

1. Congratulations to our Senior Boys Basketball Team who won the “Heinbuch Classic” Basketball Tournament that was held this past weekend in Kitchener, Ontario. The team played extremely well wining all four games that they played. Brody Clarke was selected tournament “MVP”, and Tyrell Bellot-Green was selected “First Team All-star”. We are all proud of the efforts of the full team. Many thanks to Mr. Miller and his coaching staff for all of their hard work with the team.

2. Graduating students are now preparing for the University and College application process. Curriculum Leader of Student Support - Ms. Butler is conducting workshops in the computer lab all day on Nov 30, Dec 1, & Dec 2 to assist students with signing on to the OUAC (Ontario University Application Centre) and OCAS ( Ontario College Application Centre). Students are asked to go to the Guidance Office to sign up for one of the sessions. This is the first step in getting ready for the OUAC and OCAS applications deadlines which are in January and February 2012 respectively.

3. Report Card #1 is being sent home with students on Friday, Dec 2^nd. Please contact the school if you do not receive a copy of your student’s Report Card and we would be pleased to re-issue another copy for you.

We look forward to seeing you at Parent-Teacher Interviews on Thursday, Dec. 8^th

Have a great week.

Ellen Austrom

Week of November 21 - 25, 2011

Dear parents and guardians,

Thank you for checking into my blog. I will be posting a quick blog each week to keep you informed about what is happening at school. My goal is to reach out more effectively with our school community and to improve home-school communication, but also to celebrate the amazing things that take place at Oakwood C.I. I hope this is useful for our school community!

1. Grade 8 Information Evening: Wednesday, November 23^rd from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. This is a wonderful evening that showcases the depth and breadth of the curricular and co-curricular programming at Oakwood C.I. We welcome the parents and guardians of Grade 8 students from across the TDSB. Please help us get the information out to our community about why Oakwood is a great secondary school choice for the students in our community.  

2. Report Card #1:  Students will receive their Report Cards on Friday, December 2^nd. You will receive parent-teacher interview information with the Report Card. We look forward to seeing everyone on December 8 for interviews.

3. School Website: The school website is updated on a continual basis. We are working to reduce printed letters, notices and newsletters. Our goal is to use the school website as our primary source of current school information for parents & guardians.

Stay posted.

Ellen Austrom

Drama Fundraising Event October 28th

Our Arts department is currently working on our annual musical production which is "Rocky Horror Picture Show". The show is going to be absolutely outstanding! Rehearsals are well underway and it is a delight to see how well the numbers are progressing.

This Friday - October 28th - the Arts department is hosting a fundraising event to support the production costs of the musical. We hope that you will come out to support this event. The show will be 7:30 - 10:00 p.m. The theme of the show is a "Halloween Spectacular". We are asking for a minimum $10.00 donation. See you there!

Sharing Student Progress with Parents or Guardians

The school year is well under way. At this time teachers will be sharing information with students and their parents or guardians by sending home copies of "MarkBook" printouts with students. Over the next week please ask your student to see the MarkBook print outs. You can expect a print out for each class that they are taking. The MarkBook printouts will show how your student is currently doing in class as well as how many assignments may be missing or incomplete. This information is shared at this time so that you can have aninformed conversation with your student and encourage them to get in any missed work as soon as possible. Our goal is to assist students with completing their work and keeping them on track so that they don't fall behind in the curriculum at the beginning of the school year. Your assistance is very much appreciated. please do not hesitate to call the school if you have any questions.

Welcome Back

Welcome Back!

The school office has reopened for the 2011-2012 school year. We are delighted to be in our new office space on the main floor of the school. We are still unpacking, setting up the office and reconnecting our communication systems. We would like students, parents and community members to know that we are experiencing some difficulties with restoring all of our telecommunication and computer systems. We apologise if you have been unable to reach us or if we have not returned your call - we just haven't received your message. We ask for your patience as we get everything functioning for the first day of school.

We mailed letters home to all new and returning students this week. Please check that you have received the letter as it contains important information for the first day of school. I have summarized key information from the letter for you below:

Timetable Unresolved Issues
Monday, August 29     9:00 - 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday, August 30     9:00 - 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Opening Day Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Grade 9 students
* 9:00 a.m. Arrive at OCI and collect timetable in front foyer
* 9: 15 a.m Welcome Assembly in the Auditorium
* 9:45 - 10:30 a.m. Homeroom
* 10:30 a.m. Dismissal

Grade 10 students
* 10:45 a.m. Arrive at OCI and collect timetable in front foyer
* 11:00 - 11:15 a.m. Welcome Assembly in the auditorium
* 11:15 - 12:00 Homeroom
* 12:00 Dismissal

Grade 11 and 12 students
* 11:00 - 11:15 Arrive at OCI for timetable distribution in Homeroom classes. Homeroom lists in alphabetical order will be posted at the school entrances
* 11:15 - 12:00 p.m. Homeroom
*12:00 Dismissal

Note: The first day of school for all students in the Developmentally Delayed Program is Wednesday, September 7, 2011.

We look forward to the first day of school when we get to reconnect with our returning students as well as welcome our new incoming Grade 9's. It is going to be an amazing year!

Enjoy the last week of the summer holidays.

Ellen Austrom

Congratualtions to Kevin Blake

We are pleased to announce that graduating student, Kevin Blake has won a full athletic scholarship to attend Elon University in North Carolina! Kevin is an outstanding basketball player who has represented Oakwood CI at the city, regional and provincial levels. He has been a key player on a winning team and has demonstrated excellence both on and off the court. We are so proud of his efforts and wish him all the best next year.

Have a great summer vacation!

July has finally arrived and the weather is glorious. This is a special message to the school community to wish all of our students and their families a wonderful summer vacation. I hope that everyone has time to relax and enjoy the break from school routines.

Over the summer our construction projects are "full steam ahead" in order to get everything ready for September.  On August 22nd the Main Office will reopen in our new office space on the first floor. The Guidance Office will reopen on August 29th. During the summer construction, we anticipate a disruption in phone service.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support of Oakwood CI. We deeply appreciate your commitment and support for our students and school events throughout the school year.

Spring Concert at St. Matthew's

Please join us on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. for our Spring Music Concert at St. Matthew's. Our students are been working hard all year and especially over the past few weeks in preparation for the concert. We are so proud of the Oakwood music department and hope that you will join us on Friday to celebrate another successful year.

Hoops4Hope

This Friday, May 4th we will be hosting Dr. Spence and his Hoops4Hope team who will be playing basketball against Oakwood CI basketball players. The game will be a fundraising event with all proceeds going towards the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, which supports breakfast programs in TDSB schools. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase the talented athletes we have at Oakwood and to show the Director of Education the Oakwood spirit!

Oakwood Spring Athletics

Oakwood CI is always a busy place.  Our spring athletic teams have started up even though the weather does not feel much like spring yet. This spring we have the following teams -
Rugby: Bantam, Junior and SSenior teams
Soccer: Girl's Tier 1 and Girl's Tier 2
Baseball: Boy's
Frisbee: Co-Ed
Many thanks to our dedicated teachers who are coaching the teams!

Thursday, March 31st is the EQAO OSSLT Grade 10 test

This is a quick reminder to all Oakwood students and parents / guardians. The Grade 10 EQAO OSSLT - Literacy Test - will be held on Thursday, March 31st. The test will be administered in the morning. All students writing the test are to be present in the school by 8:30 a.m. so that they have time to get to the classroom that they have been assigned to write the test in.

All classes are cancelled in the morning. Regular classes resume after lunch.

Good luck to all of our students who are writing the OSSLT. We know you will do your best as always.

Community Meeting Tuesday, March 29th

Over the past few days Oakwood CI has been front and centre in the media. The TDSB is considering a proposal to add a Secondary Africentric Program to Oakwood CI. The proposed model would be to have a "school within a school" located at Oakwood. There has been much discussion generated at school and in the broader school community since the proposal was shared with students, staff, parents / guardians and our broader Oakwood community. This evening, Tuesday, March 29th,  there will be a community meeting held at Oakwood CI in the school auditorium at 7:00 p.m. We invite all interested individuals to attend.

Honour Roll Breakfast

On Tuesday, March 1st we hosted our Honour Roll Breakfast for students who earned an 80% or better average on Report Card 2. We had 240 students on our second term Honour Roll! This is 32% of our student population. This is a remarkable group of students who are striving to do their best each and every day at school and we are delighted to honour their efforts. Keep up the great work!

Oakwood Senior Boys AAAA Basketball Team is at OFSSA today

Today our Senior Boys AAAA Basketball team is at OFSSA defending the title they won last year. The OFSSA tournament runs from Sunday - Wednesday in London, Ontario. We are sending the spirit and pride of Oakwood to OFSSA and wish them the best of luck as they strive to win the championship again this year.

Fundraising for Hodgkin's Lymphoma Research

The Oakwood CI Music Council has been working very hard to raise money to support cancer research - specifically Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This particular cancer is near and dear to the hearts of our students as a much loved staff member is currently on leave from school for treatment.  Under the leadership of 2 senior students a variety of fundraising activities have taken place over the last few weeks. Today at lunch time a number of students and staff members had their head's shaved to celebrate how much money we have raised to date. Eight students had their head's shaved completely and one student had a large pony tail chopped off. Three teachers and our Vice-Principal, Mr. McIntosh also had their head's shaved for the good cause! Hairdressers from  Robert Ashley Hair Salon, Toronto and Eikonic Hair Salon, Brampton volunteered their time to shave the students and staff members. We are so proud of the Oakwood spirit which was very evident today!

Tomorrow, Tuesday March 8th, the senior visual arts students are hosting their fundraiser for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The students have organized a juried art show and sale. The artworks are all 8 x 10" and are for sale for $10.00 each. The artwork will be sold on a first come first served basis. Both students and staff have contributed art work for the show and sale. We invite our community to come out to support our students and their efforts to make a difference for cancer research. Our Art Show and Sale begins at 7 p.m. in the front foyer of the school.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Oakwood Collegiate survived a school closure yesterday due to power outage in the community. This was a very unusual event for staff and students. Most of our students heard about the school closure through the media or phone calls and text messages from their friends.  We did greet about 75 students at the door with the news that school was closed for the day. It was fun to see the looks on everyone's face as they absorbed the news. Today we are back at on track with business as usual.

Tomorrow - Thursday, February 24th our senior boys' Basketball Team is competing in the finals of the OFSSA qualifiers at 2 p.m. at The University of Toronto. We wish them continued success. This is a remarkable group of athletes who shine on the court.

Friday, February 25th we are hosting a segment of the Sears Drama Festival at Oakwood. Students from Oakwood CI, Lawrence Park CI and North Toronto CI will be performing at 7 p.m. in the Oakwood auditorium. The students will be performing before an adjudication panel who will determine which group of talented students moves forward in the Sears Drama Festival. We hope you can join us! to see the fine performances.

This week represents the best part of being a Principal - sharing the great things that our students are doing!

Welcome to the OCI Principal's Blog

Welcome to my new blog. I am very excited to be embarking on a new way to share information and stories about Oakwood CI! There is so much to share and celebrate about the wonderful work of our staff and students.

For example:
Today our Senior Boy's  Basketball team is competing in the OFSSA semi-final qualifying round at Northern Secondary school. This is an awesome group of athletes and we wish them luck today.

Tomorrow is our TDSB system Professional Development Day. Our staff are participating a wide variety of workshops in their subject areas to stay current with educational trends and innovations. At Oakwood CI we are hosting Dr. Dixon who is an expert in student engagement and Differentiated Instruction. We will be focusing on how to engage reluctant students through Differentiated Instruction in the classroom. Many of our teachers will be participating in this professional learning workshop.

I wish everyone a wonderful Family Day!