A Brand New Year

9/28/2022

Sarah Bruce, Principal

From tackling the high ropes course at Kilcoo to paddling river rapids at the Madawaska Kanu Centre, Greenwood students bonded with their peers over new challenges and adventures while on their OE trips earlier this month. Classes are well underway and students are doing a phenomenal job engaging in all that the 2022-23 school year has to offer.

Community is at the heart of Greenwood, and I am so very glad that we can again host the in-person events and activities that are so vital to building and strengthening bonds. On that note, I am very eager to welcome you to Curriculum Night tomorrow evening. This is our first opportunity to host an in-person curriculum night in a few years; we hope you are able to join us at the school to meet your child’s teachers, meet fellow parents and guardians and learn more about the year’s programming.

On most Mondays this year, students and staff will attend an all-school assembly during community time. Assemblies cover a variety of topics, from in-school reminders and announcements to world issues and events. On September 26, our assembly was one of many learning opportunities for our community to better understand the journey to Truth and Reconciliation leading up to this Friday’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation honours the children who never returned home from, and survivors of, residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital component of the reconciliation process.

Orange Shirt Day was started by Phyllis Webstad, a residential school survivor. When Phyllis was six years old, she was sent to the Mission School near Williams Lake, BC. Her first memory from the Mission School was that of having her own clothes taken away – including a brand-new orange shirt bought for her by her grandmother. In Monday’s assembly, students and staff learned more about Orange Shirt Day and the importance of actively engaging with the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. This is an ongoing journey, and each of us plays a part in this journey.

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Greenwood College School

443 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, ON M4S 2L8
Tel: 416 482 9811

We acknowledge with gratitude the Ancestral lands upon which our main campus is situated. These lands are the Ancestral territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinabek and the Wendake. The shared responsibility of this land is honoured in the Dish with One Spoon Treaty and we strive to care for the land, the waters, and all creatures in the spirit of peace. We are responsible for respecting and supporting the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. When away from this campus we vow to be respectful to the land by protecting and honouring it. We will create relationships with the people and the land we may visit by understanding the territories we enter and the nations who inhabit them.