Principal's Message

Hello Garth Webb Families!

We hope you are all enjoying the Family Day weekend. Please take some time to review the posts on this page as there is lots of new information for students and their families.

Take care,

Pam Jenkins

Emergency Earthquake Relief Drive

The GWSS Youth in Action Club and the MSA are hosting an item drive to support those affected by the recent earthquake in Syria & Turkiye. We will be collecting a variety of items including clothing (hats, scarves, sweaters, boots, socks), equipment (sleeping bags, thermoses, flashlights), and non perishable food (baby food, formula, canned, and dried items).

UPDATE - Priority items:  arctic tents, sleeping bags, and blankets. 

Donations can be dropped off at the main office until Friday, February 24, 2023.

We have had tremendous support from our community so far. Let's keep the momentum going for this final week of collections. 

Thank you Chargers!

Save the Dates - Grad & Prom

Grade 12 Graduation will be on Monday, June 12, 2023 at 4:30 pm at the Meeting House (2700 Bristol Cir, Oakville, ON L6H 6E1). Students will be given 2 tickets each for guests to attend.

We expect to have the graduation packages ready for purchase on School Cash Online in the coming week.

Grade 12 Prom will be on Thursday, May 25, 2023 at the Oakville Conference Centre (2515 Wyecroft Rd, Oakville, ON L6L 6P8).

Put these dates into your calendars and more details will be coming soon.

Order Your Yearbook Today

Don't forget to order your copy of the 2022-2023 yearbook before it's too late. Yearbooks are available to order on School Cash Online only. We do not order extra copies so you must order online before the deadline to be able to get a copy of the yearbook.

If you don't see the fee available on School Cash Online it is most likely because you have already purchased the yearbook for this year. Please check in your purchase history to confirm. 

Don't miss out on ordering this keepsake!

Semi Formal: Important Message

We are so excited for this year’s semi-formal on Thursday, February 23. Prior to the event we wanted to share a few pieces of information so that we can have a smooth and seamless evening.

• The event is at the Burlington Convention Centre (1120 Burloak Dr, Burlington, ON L7L 6P8)

• The event starts at 6 pm and dinner will be served at 7 pm, doors will open at 5:45 pm

• The event will end at 10 pm

• Table seating will be on a first come, first serve basis (tables of 10)

• Students must bring their student ID and ticket with them

• Coat check will be available at the venue

• No re entry will be allowed should you decide to leave the venue

• As this is a school sanctioned event, all GW rules and expectations apply

• The address for the Burlington Convention Center is 1120 Burloak Dr (North of the QEW)

• Ticket pick up will occur at lunch on the stage in the cafeteria, please bring your Student ID to pick up your ticket

Click here to view the buffet dinner menu.

If you do not yet have your ticket, please pick it up in the cafeteria at lunch on Tuesday, February 21. We are looking forward to seeing you at the 2023 Semi Formal on February 23 at the Burlington Convention Centre!

Fashion Forward - Donate at GWSS

Donated formal wear available for HDSB students at Fashion Forward event:

Variety of formal wear available for students to browse at drop-in sessions in March and April; clothing donations accepted until March 3. 

The Halton District School Board will host open houses in March and April for students to select, at no cost, donated formal wear for upcoming prom or graduation celebrations.

Called Fashion Forward, students will have the opportunity to view and try on formal wear in a friendly and welcoming environment. Students may select from a variety of new and gently-used attire that has been donated for proms, graduations, and other special events. There are many different styles, colours, and sizes of formal dresses available as well as suits, shirts, ties, and shoes. 

The dates to browse for formal wear are:

• Saturday, March 25 - 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. at New Street Education Centre (3250 New Street, Burlington)

*An opportunity is available for gender diverse youth who would prefer a more private shopping experience between the hours of 10-11 a.m. on this day

• Monday, April 17 - 2:30 - 6:30 p.m. at Elsie MacGill Secondary School (1410 Bronte St. S, Milton)

• Thursday, April 20 - 2:30 - 6:30 p.m. at Elsie MacGill Secondary School (1410 Bronte St. S, Milton)

Students are required to bring student identification to the open house they attend.

DECA Provincial Championships

On February 13 and 14, 43 students from the Garth Webb DECA Business Club traveled to downtown Toronto to compete in the DECA Ontario Provincial Championships and all represented our school with professionalism and enthusiasm. A special congratulations to the following students who placed in the top 10 in their respective competitions:

• Samantha Halim

• Summar Alsamman

• Diya Kalia

• Olivia Goodstadt

• Sarthak Dua

• Athrav Seruwam

• Linda Long

• Faris Abuain

Congratulations to all students who participated in DECA this year from Mr. Chau, Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Wilks, and Ms. Grbic!

Jr. Girls Volleyball

Congratulations to our Jr. Girls Volleyball team for making it to the Halton Finals this past week. They battled hard in their Championship match, but unfortunately lost to OT in 3 sets. 

Congratulations to all of the players on an amazing season overall and a big thank you to coaches Mr. Boesveld, Ms. Kinsella, and Ms. Ponce.

From Your Student Services Dept

Course Selections

THANK YOU! For taking the time to complete your course selections for the 2023-2024 school year.  We have had many conversations with students and families over the past 6 weeks and we encourage you to continue to reach out should you have further questions.

Community Service Hours

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been adaptations made to the community involvement hours including increased flexibility with regards to what activities would fulfill the requirement.  For a detailed summary, please review the document below:

Community Involvement Hours During Adaptive Learning and/or School Closure

Students aged 14 years and older can count up to a maximum of 10 hours from paid employment towards their earned hours at the discretion of the principal. Students counting paid employment towards their graduation requirement will be required to complete a reflection exercise indicating how their work contributed to the service for others. 

Paid Employment Reflection form 

Resources

Community Service Hours Submission Form

Community Service Recording Sheet

For volunteer opportunities please visit the following sites:

Volunteer Halton

Spark Ontario

Virtual Volunteer

If you are unsure how to complete this graduation requirement, please contact your guidance counsellor and we will be happy to brainstorm ideas and create a plan with you.

Scholarships and Awards

Community Awards (Rotary, Halton Learning Foundation, Maycourt, CFUW, Lion's club, Chinese Canadian Association).

It's that time of year when applications open for the various community awards.  All information can be found on the online awards hub.  Please take a look at the site and direct any questions you may have to your guidance counsellor.  Students are encouraged to create an account and review the various award criteria.   Please note that most application deadlines are in the Spring.

Awards Hub

Volunteer Club

Volunteer club dedicates to provide more volunteering opportunities to our students. Our goal is to make the information more accessible for everyone. We post opportunities weekly with all of the information included in our google classroom! If you want to learn more about our club and wish to find more opportunities, please join our google classroom through code: dtpah5l.

 You can also find us on instagram (@gwss.volunteer), LinkedIn (GWSS Volunteer Club), and Twitter (@gwss_volunteer)! If you have any question, feel free to email us at gwssvolunteerclub@gmail.com.

Opportunity for This Week:

Community Closet: aims to combat fast-fashion and encourage our community to reuse. We hold monthly pop-ups where visitors can choose to either donate their old gently-used clothes, toys, and books, or take something from the donation collection for themselves. Basically, it’s like a small-scale thrift store, except everything is free. 

At our pop-ups, students are able to earn volunteer hours by helping us promote our event and collecting/organizing donations. We are hoping to get a lot of new volunteers to attend our upcoming pop-up. 

Our next pop-up will be on February 26th from 12-2pm at One Elephant Clinic on 1911 Ironoak Way. Once all steps are fully completed, all students who have participated will have earned five volunteer hours. More information is available on our instagram@communityclosetoakville.

2023-2024 Student Trustee Elections

We are very pleased to inform you that we have twenty three (23) candidates running for the HDSB Student Trustees 2023-2024 Elections.

All Grade 7 to 12 HDSB students are eligible to vote for two (2) Student Trustees to serve for the 2023-2024 school year. 

It is crucial that you take some time to review each candidate's poster and their response to the question, How are you a leader in your daily life? which was generated after reviewing question submissions from students in the HDSB. To access this information, please visit the HDSB Student Trustees website: https://studentsenate.hdsb.ca/home.

We hope that all eligible students will use their voices and make an informed vote on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

HDSB Hackathon

HDSB Hackathon, is a new student-organized hackathon-style event, which provides students across the HDSB with the opportunity to demonstrate, elevate, and celebrate their technological prowess. 

In a hackathon, students develop technology-based projects (software or hardware) adhering to a central theme over a weekend. Students will use their own equipment to develop software and hardware projects and prototypes and will be able to compete individually or in teams of up to four students. Students have the opportunity to win exciting awards and prizes while showcasing their technological prowess!

The event will take place virtually on March 3-5. March 3 will be the virtual kickoff, March 4 will be a day to work, and March 5 will be the deadline to submit your team’s project. Further information will be provided to registrants.

If you are interested in participating, please complete the Google Form attached in the linktree no later than March 1: https://linktr.ee/hdsbhackathon2023.

If you have any questions, contact student organizers Girik Setya (1setyagir@hdsb.ca) or Manasva Katyal (1katyalman@hdsb.ca), or staff-lead Stephanie Briggs (briggsst@hdsb.ca), Instructional Program Leader for the HDSB.

Gary Allan Learning Centres Adult Languages Program

The HDSB’s Gary Allan Learning Centres Adult Languages Program is expanding to Halton Hills! Did you know that the #HDSB offers English & French language classes for newcomers to Halton? The Adult Languages Program is offered at @garyallanschool locations across Halton, and online. Previously offered in Burlington, Oakville & Milton, we are now expanding to Halton Hills!

Learn more & register today: http://bit.ly/3DBSftT

Online COVID-19 Screening Tool

 It is recommended that students continue to complete the Government of Ontario’s online COVID-19 school screening tool prior to attending school each day. Please be sure to read all questions carefully as they do change on occasion. Please carefully follow the instructions that you get at the end of the screening telling you whether to stay home or attend school. Thank you to our families for doing the daily self assessment to help keep everyone safe. For information on COVID-19 health and safety procedures for the 2022-2023 school year, please click here: COVID-19 information page.