Upper School College Blog – Friday, October 1, 2021

On By Havergal Upper School

Latest News

Parent/Teacher Conferences

The first Upper School Parent/Teacher Conferences of the school year will take place virtually via Zoom on:

Thursday, October 21     6:00pm – 8:00pm 

Friday, October 22        8:00am – 12:00 pm & 12:30 – 3:00pm 

The online conference booking system used by Havergal College is called pickAtime. To access or create a pickAtime account please CLICK HERE.  Please make sure to select the “Upper School” option in the drop down menu when making your selection.

  • pickAtime sign-up will open on Tuesday, October 12, at 6:00pm 
  • pickAtime sign-up will close on Tuesday, October 19, at 6:00pm
  • If you need to make any changes after this time, please contact the teacher directly to coordinate. 
  • pickAtime does not permit the scheduling of back-to-back appointments. However, if you are the parent of two or more students that have the same teacher or if you are the parent of three or more Upper School students please contact Ms. Ladak (sladak@havergal.on.ca) by Friday October 15 before noon and she will help you to book the appointments.
  • If you wish to meet with your student’s Guidance Counsellor, please email them individually by Friday, October 15 to book an appointment. 

In order to have the best possible experience at the upcoming event, it is strongly recommended that your Zoom application be updated to the latest version. The following information and links have been provided by our IT department for your use:

For assistance with pickAtime, please contact the Service Desk at servicedesk@havergal.on.ca and they will assist you. Their hours of operation are from Monday – Friday 7:30 am to 5 pm.

Gentle Reminders re: SchoolPass & Morning Arrival Time

  • When entering an absence, early dismissal, or late arrival in the SchoolPass app, it is important to use the ‘Notes’ field to provide a reason. This information is critical for our school records and it allows us to know how the school can best support your child.
  • If your child is absent, their wellness screening must be completed for each day they are absent, regardless of the reason for absence. This is important so we have up-to-date wellness information for our community.
  • Please leave a little extra time to get to school so your child is able to scan in before heading to class.

Finally, we wanted to let you know that we experienced a system error this morning with SchoolPass. You may have received an automated email from SchoolPass. Please disregard this email.  Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Truth and Reconciliation Week & Orange Shirt Day

There is a branch of psychological research that has confirmed the benefits of “autonomy support.” When you unpack this term simply it means that humans fundamentally need to experience a sense of agency and ownership of their work. The role of schools, says Alfie Kohn, author of 14 books about schools including The Schools Our Children Deserve,  is to “give students chances to make meaningful decisions.” This past week of Truth and Reconciliation activities was a showcase for the meaningful decisions the students at Havergal are capable of making. Over 30 students from grades 7-12 worked together in teams to design two separate Prayers, five days of lunch activities and the advising curriculum for all of the Upper School students. Their work helped to educate students about the importance of learning about the truth of the Indigenous experience as well as how to move towards reconciliation. Thank you to Neve ‘24 and her mother, Kathleen Padulo, for speaking at Prayers this past week. 

Terry Fox Run

Wellbeing Prefects, Erin Howard and Hillary Shaba, have been planning the Upper School Terry Fox Run and advisory period. Students will take a short run/walk on HC property and spend the advisory period reflecting on how cancer continues to play a big part in the lives of so many people. Middle School will run Oct 5 and Senior School Oct 6.

Food services reminder

Please submit your child’s food order by 12 pm every Wednesday for the following week using the online Upper School School Lunch Ordering Form. Use the same link each week and direct any questions to chartwellsfood

Library Resources

The Havergal Upper School library is in full swing to support our students’ reading and research needs. Upper School students are able to work in the library space before and after school, at lunch and during spare periods. In addition to monitoring the wearing of masks and ensuring students are physically distanced, our safety protocols include cleaning tables/chairs and library spaces regularly throughout the day. Our library program strives to meet the different needs and interests of our students and to develop lifelong, independent, and information literate learners who love to read! Students are able to browse and borrow print books. In addition, your Havergal library offers many fantastic digital resources. Our library website is accessible once you have logged into the Havergal Community Portal.  The Library Websites link on the side menu takes you to a page where you can choose to visit either the Junior or Upper School Library Website. Please contact Ms. Genevieve Shepherd, Head of Library (gshepherd@havergal.on.ca) if you have any questions.

Community Partnerships

Students in Grades 9 – 12 will have a chance to learn about our Community Partnerships at Club and Community Partnership Fest during House time on Tuesday, October 5. Sign-up for Partnerships will open later that day at 5 pm. Please note, we are working with our partners to identify how best to operate this year given COVID-19 safety protocols. For descriptions of our partnerships click here. For any questions, please contact Anastasia Wowk (awowk@havergal.on.ca).

Toronto Public Health Update re: Cancellation of In-School Immunization Clinics

Further to the US Blog update on Sept 17, Toronto Public Health has asked that we send this information along to parents regarding the cancellation of in-school immunization clinics for grades 7-12 students for: 

  • Meningococcal-ACYW to prevent meningitis
  • Human papillomavirus (HPV) to prevent cancers
  • Hepatitis-B

People & Program Evening Feedback

Thank you for using the google form to provide your feedback on the People & Program evening. If you have missed any teacher presentations, please use Veracross to access the recordings located on each class page.

Reminder from the Green & Gold Shop

If you have been notified that your order is ready for pick-up, your child is welcome to visit the Green & Gold Shop before or after school, or during lunch to collect their items.

Upcoming Dates

October 8 PD Day, no school for students

October 11 School Closed – Thanksgiving Day

October 12-19 Sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences 

October 21, 22 Parent/Teacher ConferencesOctober 22 No school for students due to Parent/Teacher Conferences

Leave a comment