Celebrating Westminster's Diversity

Here at Westminster we are very proud of the many identities, cultures, languages, religions and experiences that make our school so vibrant and unique. Our students and staff are incredibly supportive and understanding of one another and we see it in many different ways throughout the day.

Last year, students in Grades 5-8 were asked to respond to a School Climate survey asking many questions on their thoughts about our school environment, equity, mental health, healthy school and learning etc. As a staff we are looking at this information to help us continuously improve in these areas to make our school the best it can be.

We were happy to see that a large percentage of our students indicated that they felt welcome and safe at our school but we also noted that only about half indicated that they see and talk about their social identities (i.e. language, culture, exceptionalities). Our environment of support and acceptance is important to us but so is celebrating our differences and our diversity.

Recently, our Equity Committee put a display in the front hall celebrating our diversity. Our students were excited to see many of the cultural artifacts and languages of our school family displayed.

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A Message from our new Principal!

We welcome Westminster's new Principal, Mrs Murray. Please see her message below:

My name is Melissa Murray and I am thrilled to be joining the staff of Westminster Public School as Principal in January of 2018.
I am passionate about learning and people. I’ve been an administrator in the North area of the Board for the past three years, and have enjoyed working in the WJ Watson (Keswick), Black River (Sutton) and Sutton Public School communities.
Prior to entering administration, I was a Curriculum Consultant with the Board, supporting our K-12 school libraries, literacy, social studies, and modern learning. Before that, I taught grades 4-8, Special Education and library in both York Region and Toronto.
Along with being a proud educator, I’m an even prouder parent of two children, one in secondary school and one graduating this year from elementary school. My husband and I love our north Richmond Hill community, and especially appreciate how close we are to parks and walking paths t…

January is Tamil Heritage Month

On October 5, 2016, Motion M-24 was passed in the Federal Parliament, officially proclaiming January of every year as Tamil Heritage Month. Tamil Heritage Month aims to celebrate the richness of the Tamil language and its literature, as well as to highlight the vibrant traditions, histories, arts, and cultures of Tamil Canadians. In addition, it seeks to recognize the significant contributions of Tamil Canadians in key areas of social, cultural, economic, and political spheres.
According to the Tamil calendar, January 14, 2017 is the start of the Tamil New Year during the month of “Thai”. On this day Tamils around the diaspora will be celebrating Tamil New Year and Thai Pongal, the Tamil harvest festival.
Thai Pongal is the most important and widely-celebrated festival amongst Tamils around the globe. Thai Pongal is a time to give thanks for the blessings of the previous year and a time to look forward to the New Year. Pongal refers to rice cooked in milk and sweetened with chakkarai…

Character Assembly on "Integrity"

Our Character Assembly this month will be focusing on "Integrity". Throughout the month, our students have been discussing what integrity means to them in the classrooms and with their friends in the school yard. Our students are learning that to have integrity means to be truthful and sincere; to care for the well-being of others by how they treat each other. Displaying integrity is not always easy. It is one of our most difficulty character traits to live by and sometimes it takes years to truly understand what it means.

We look forward to honouring those students who have displayed this trait at our awards assembly on Wednesday, October 28th at 11:15 a.m.

Parents and guardians are welcome to join us. We thank Mr. Clark and Ms. Croteau's grade 2/3s for hosting the assembly this month.

"Integrity is doing the right thing even if it's difficulty; even when no one is watching."

"If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it."

Westminster Public School

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