November Community Newsletter

Westdale Secondary Community Newsletter – November 2025

Principal’s Message:

The month of October was an active and successful one for our Westdale students. As you will see in our “Shout Outs and Good News” section, our Warriors had much to celebrate! Our staff are engaged in ongoing department improvement planning, aligned with our school and Board improvement plans, to positively change outcomes for every student. As we move into November and the mid-term point in the semester, we encourage parents/guardians to continue to connect with our staff to support student achievement and well-being.

Sincerely,

Brian Goodram

Upcoming Calendar Dates:

Date:	Event(s):	Audience:
Tuesday Nov. 4th	Mid-term point in Semester 1	All
Wednesday Nov. 5th	Take Our Kids to Work Day Grade 8 Experience A Day at Westdale	Grade 9 Class of 2030
Friday Nov. 7th	OSSLT (Grade 11+ students; Library/Learning Commons)	Students who still need to meet the OSSLT graduation requirement
Monday Nov. 10th	OSSLT (Multi-Language Learners) Day 1 OSSLT Assembly (Period 5)	Students in ESL program Grade 10 Students
Tuesday Nov. 11th	OSSLT (Multi-Language Learners) Day 2 Remembrance Day Sr. Assembly = Period 2; Jr. Assembly = Period 3	Students in ESL program All
Thursday Nov. 13th	OSSLT Day 1 (Students with the following P.1 Teachers = Brunetti, Ebel, Rikic-McCarthy, Royer, K. Wilson) Educational Assistant Appreciation Day	All Grade 10 Students   All
Friday Nov. 14th	OSSLT Day 2 (Students with the following P.1 Teachers = Brunetti, Ebel, Rikic-McCarthy, Royer, K. Wilson)	All Grade 10 Students
Monday Nov. 17th	OSSLT Day 1 (Students with the following P.1 Teachers = Bourgoin, Brissett, D.M. Christie, Costanzo, B. Moore)	All Grade 10 Students
Tuesday Nov. 18th	OSSLT Day 2 (Students with the following P.1 Teachers = Bourgoin, Brissett, D.M. Christie, Costanzo, B. Moore)	All Grade 10 Students

Wednesday Nov. 19th	OSSLT Day 1 (Students with the following P.1 Teachers = D.C. Christie, Cronjaeger, Dick, Hansen, Murchie, Outlaw) Grade 8 Night (6-8pm) French Immersion Information Night (7-8pm)	All Grade 10 Students   Class of 2030 Class of 2030
Thursday Nov. 20th	OSSLT Day 2 (Students with the following P.1 Teachers = D.C. Christie, Cronjaeger, Dick, Hansen, Murchie, Outlaw)	All Grade 10 Students
Friday Nov. 21st	PA Day (no school for students)	All
Monday Nov. 24th	Grad Photos (through to December 12th)	Class of 2026
Tuesday Nov. 25th	School Council (6:15-7:15pm; Library/Learning Commons)	Parents/Guardians
Thursday Nov. 27th	School Musical (other dates = Nov. 28; Dec. 4,5)	All

Shout Outs / Good News:

Gage Park Greenhouse Art Show:

The artistic talents of our Westdale students were on display at the Gage Park Greenhouse this past month. This display aligned with the annual Mum Show, with an estimated 10,000 visitors! Thank you to the Art department for arranging this visible platform for our students. Pictured right is a portion of the Westdale exhibit.

Enriching Student Learning:

A shout out to our collective staff for continuing to provide spaces for students to explore their interests and apply their learning, through a variety of extra-curricular clubs. There are well over 30 student clubs running at Westdale! One example of the many clubs is Robotics Team, led by Mr. Wilson. As one student noted, “it is great to be able to apply what we have learned in math and science to real problems”. Here is a photo of the current robot and one of the equations used to efficiently program it. Thank a math teacher if you can understand it : )

Homecoming and Athletics:

Thank you to Ms. Adachi, Mr. Francis, and our Leadership Class for their work in organizing a wonderful Homecoming event for our current and past Westdale students. Like the weather, this was one of the best Homecoming events in recent memory. There was a tonne of spirit and pride shown at the event!

Our athletics teams have been very successful with our Field Hockey Team winning silver at City’s and our Golf Team winning the team City Championship, with David B. advancing to OFSAA. On the pitch, our Novice Boys Soccer team won the City Championship. The Cross-Country team advanced to OFSAA this past weekend in Brampton. This Thursday November 6th, our Football team will compete for the City Championship at 6pm, right here at Westdale. Way to go Warriors!

Trustee Visit to Civics Classes:

Last month, Westdale Trustee Elizabeth Wong visited Mr. Outlaw’s Civics classes to support learning pertaining to levels of government and the role of School Board Trustee. Trustee Wong engaged students through a presentation on her roles and responsibilities, including policy development, resource allocation, and strategic goals that guide operations across the board. This visit coincided with Local Government Week.

Other News:

OSSLT Webinar for Parents and Guardians: What to Expect on the OSSLT:

Parents and Guardians are invited to register for the free live webinar on Monday November 10th at 12pm to learn about the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) that most grade 10 students will be completing this November here at Westdale. Participants will learn about the purpose of the test, the test format, and resources to support students. The session will run for approximately 45 minutes, followed by a live Q&A with EQAO staff. To register, please go to eqao.com and scroll across to find the webinar registration link.

Honour Roll Recognition:

To recognize the academic achievements of our students, the Honour Roll (students who achieved an 80+% average in their courses) will continue to be displayed on the Guidance Hub page. Individual copies of the Honour Roll certificate can be requested by accessing the QR Code link (right). Requests must be made by Friday November 14th and certificates will be made available the week of November 24th. Students are asked to see their Guidance Counsellor should they have any questions or need any support with this process. Congratulations to all our Honour Roll recipients!

School Council:

Our School Council is a great way to stay informed and engage in school improvement. Westdale’s School Council has created an Instagram account to keep parents/guardians informed: @WestdaleSchoolCouncil. At this time, our Council is busy planning for a parent engagement event through a Parent Reaching Out (PRO) grant. Additional information will be provided once details are confirmed. Stay tuned!

“Gift and Give: The Westdale Way!”:

As we approach the holiday break, we are going to be running our holiday hamper / gift card drive in support of our Westdale community. Our theme this year is, Gift and Give: The Westdale Way! Due to the generosity of our school community last year, we were able to provide 52 holiday hampers (pictured right) to families. Thank you! If you would like to contribute to this impactful drive, gift cards can be dropped off directly to the Main Office by families or students between 8am and 3pm. Some common gift cards include: Food Basics, President’s Choice, Wal-Mart, Shoppers and Giant Tiger. To ensure equitable distribution of gift cards, we ask that you please indicate the dollar amount on the gift card. As a school, we are so grateful for the support of our community partners (Tastebuds, the Bulldogs Foundation, Food4Kids) as they allow us to provide a daily breakfast and snack program for our students. If you are interested in supporting the Breakfast/Nutrition program or Gift and Give program as a volunteer, please contact the main office. Thank you to Ms. Venizelos for her ongoing leadership, support, and advocacy of these programs.

Numeracy Support Program:

Westdale is offering a free Numeracy (Math) Support Program. This program focuses on numeracy skills and homework help for students in grades 9 and 10. The program runs from November 4th to mid-January on Tuesdays (2:45-3:45pm) and Thursdays (12:00-1:00pm) in Rm. 2059. As this program is continuous intake, students can begin at any time.