Grand Erie Families,
Happy new year! As we return from the winter break, I hope you’re feeling recharged and ready for an exciting start to 2025. January is a time for fresh beginnings, renewed focus, and setting goals for the months ahead.
We’re here to support every learner’s journey, beginning with attendance. The Grand Erie Attendance Strategy will increase parent and caregiver awareness and engagement in supporting and promoting attendance, as well as support robust, inclusive and collaborative strategies to address complex barriers to student attendance.
I want to highlight School Mental Health Ontario for the resource library they continue to build for students and parents and caregivers. Together, we can support the mental health of every student.
As we continue to build a culture of learning, well-being and belonging and soar to new heights, 2025 will be an exciting time for Grand Erie. I’m looking forward to many highlights, including launching the Centre for Excellence: Teaching, Learning and Belonging, opening the new elementary school in Caledonia and breaking ground on the major renovation and addition at Elgin Avenue, continuing to raise the bar for EQAO and graduation results, and launching new websites for all schools.
So many schools, classes and individuals have made some amazing contributions and celebrated several accomplishments across this district, from food drives to holiday concerts. I'd like to recognize two Walter Gretzky Elementary School students Azaan Asad, Grade 5 student, who earned a bronze award and Dhruva Sandesh, Grade 6 student, who received an honourable mention at the 2024 Canada Jay Mathematical Competition's Southwestern Region of Ontario. A former Greenbrier Public School and North Park Collegiate and Vocational School student, Hailey DeDominicis, is reaching new heights as a screenwriter on the Netflix film Our Little Secret, and to Diane Henrique, Grade 1 teacher, penned her first children's book, Grade One is No Fun.
As temperatures dip below freezing and to prepare you for our return in January, we are reminding families of its operational plans for dealing with hazardous winter weather.
Each year, LearnStyle provides an opportunity for two students graduating from a Grand Erie District School Board secondary school to apply for a $1,000 grant to assist with the acquisition of technology or software to support learning beyond secondary school. Students with SEA technology equipment assigned to them to access the curriculum are eligible to apply.
Course selection for high school has started. The involvement of parents and caregivers is a vital part of the formula for success as young people navigate their next steps. Watch how you can get involved and prepare for the upcoming Future Grade 9 Student and Parent/Caregiver Information Night.
Over the break, I found myself wandering the aisles and searching for that reflection book that would jump off the shelf as I began to look forward to a new year. My 2025 booklist includes PRICELESS Facts about Money by Mellody Hobson, The Knowing: The Enduring Legacy of Residential Schools by Tanya Talaga, Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings from Our Dogs and Cats by Eckhart Tolle, Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.
Here's to an inspiring 2025. Happy new year, Grand Erie!
Dr. JoAnna Roberto, Ph.D
Director of Education and Secretary of the Board
Grand Erie District School Board
