Daily Announcements – Monday Sept 30th (Day 5)

What’s coming up?

• TODAY – Monday Sept 30th– Orange Shirt Day
• Tuesday October 1nd- International Walk to School Day
• Thursday October 3rd- Cross Country Meet at Ashbridge’s Bay.  Please feel free to come and cheer our Team on!  See picture below for approximate race time(s) schedule!
• Tuesday October 8th- Picture Day
• Friday October 11th– PA Day – NO SCHOOL!
• Monday October 14th– Thanksgiving – NO SCHOOL!

Highlights from this today’s announcements:

• Good morning!  Please stand for the Land Acknowledgement and our National Anthem.
• We acknowledge we are hosted on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Anishinaabe , the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Wendat.  We also recognize the enduring presence of all First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples.
• O Canada
• Please be seated.  Make sure you are listening to anything that is relevant to you.
• Today is Monday Sept 30th and it is Day 5 in our schedule.  Our character theme for September is Respect and here is something to think about.  “Have a big enough heart to love unconditionally, and a broad enough mind to embrace the differences that makes each of us unique.” – D. B Harrop
• Announcement for Orange Shirt Day from Parent Council: As you know we begin each morning by acknowledging the traditional land upon which Gledhill sits.  But do you know why?  Orange Shirt Day is a great day to think about it!  Indigenous peoples have lived on the land we now call Canada for thousands of years, with their own unique cultures, identities, traditions and languages.  Making land acknowledgement statements is a way to show thanks and respect to the land and the people, and helps to make sure that our school is a safe and welcoming space for everyone.  It is important for us to be aware of the history of the places we call home.  Today this area is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island- now known as North America- and we are grateful to have the opportunity to learn here.
• We acknowledge we are hosted on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Anishinaabe , the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Wendat.  We also recognize the enduring presence of all First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples.
• Orange Shirt Day Announcement: Today is Orange Shirt Day.  This is a day where we remember that Canada’s Indigenous children were taken away from their families and forced to go to residential schools where they were not allowed to speak their language, practice their culture and beliefs, and were forced to wear uniforms.  Phyllis Webstad, a First Nation’s child who was from Williams’ Lake British Columbia, was sent to residential school.  Her grandmother had bought her a new outfit hat included an orange shirt for the first day of school. Phyllis wore her orange shirt with pride, but it was taken away from her by the officials of the school and she never saw it again.  Phyllis said “the colour orange has always reminded me of that, and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared, and how I felt I was worth nothing”, reflects Webstad decades later about her experiences at the residential school.  “All of us little children were crying and no one cared.” Orange Shirt Day is important for everyone to recognize so we can fulfill our obligations to Truth and Reconciliation to Canada’s First Nations’ people and the terrible experiences in residential schools.  Thank you to everyone who is wearing an orange shirt today.
• Great job at the Terry Fox Walk on Friday Gledhill!  We will let you know our total raised by Friday.  Any last minute pledges, please send them to the office this week.  Thank you!
• Any staff interested in a few calming and meditative moments are invited to come to a yoga session at lunch in the music room today at 11:45AM.

Note: These announcements are typed up daily and posted by a parent volunteer on the Gledhill School Council’s Communications Committee. Edits or omissions are made occasionally to protect the privacy of student identities.  Some days part of the announcements are read by the students in French.  For the purposes of these posts, announcements will be in English.