September 13, 2024
Staffing Announcement
We are pleased to welcome two new members of our teaching staff to UTS.
Asmae Khalla started this week as a French Teacher in our Modern Languages department. Asmae comes to UTS after teaching in the French public school board in Ottawa, as well as internationally in Morocco.
We are also excited to announce that Ronell Matthews will be joining our Student Services department as our new Middle School Guidance Counsellor starting September 30.
Ronell has worked in the Guidance department of various TDSB schools over the past 10 years, and we are delighted to have her joining our Guidance team at UTS to support our middle school students.
Both Asmae and Ronell bring a wealth of knowledge and teaching experience to the UTS community. Please welcome Asmae and Ronell, and introduce yourself if you see them!
Curriculum Night
All on-site staff supporting Curriculum Night are invited to pick up dinner at the Buffeteria across the street at 4 p.m. See here for schedule.
Late Start September 18
Thank you for all the work you are doing for Curriculum Night 2024-25. We appreciate you setting up students and their parents/guardians for a successful year.
For teaching staff, this late start will be a Quiet Late Start until 10 a.m. The Quiet Late Start can be used to provide extra time in your morning for family or personal reasons or to conduct professional activities related to teaching and learning.
Operations staff involved in Curriculum Night should check with their supervisors about their responsibilities and schedule. Please note that no students should be in the building until 10 a.m. unless directly supervised by a coach or a co-curricular staff supervisor.
F1 Homerooms
We are bringing back F1 Homerooms/Homeroom Teachers to help define student cohorts. They will be named as follows:
1 - CASD
This will hopefully:
allow for smoother communication about the cohorts e.g., “Are you teaching F1-04 Chen today?”
lay the groundwork for future cohort events, learning experiences and opportunities
attend to the unique developmental needs of our F1s
Staff Yoga
Staff yoga returns to the Jackman Theatre starting September 26!
Please join us every Thursday at lunch time from 12:30 to 1:10 p.m. for restorative yoga with Fiona.
Mats are available but feel free to bring your own.
See you there!
Library Hours
Please note the updated Library hours for the 2024-25 school year:
Monday-Thursday: 8:15 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Friday: 8:15 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Social Work at UTS
Earlier this week students received an email about how to access Social Work at UTS. Please also join us in welcoming MSW student Zena Dia. Zena started with us earlier this week and will be in the Social Work department until April 2025. Please introduce yourself and say hello to Zena when you have the opportunity!
Marleen, Steph and Joelle remain available to support students as needed in rooms #340 and #237. Marleen is at UTS every day, Steph is here Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, and Joelle is here on Mondays/Thursdays.
To book an appointment, students can drop-by either office, email social.work.staff@utschools.ca, email a Social Worker directly, and/or visit their appointment calendar to choose a time that works.
We remind students that like physical health, we all have our mental health to care for and consider.
If you have any questions about social work at UTS, please do not hesitate to connect.
OISE Teacher Candidates
Just a reminder that the new Year 1 teacher candidates will be on site at UTS on Thursdays beginning September 19.
Please let us know if it’s not a good day for a class visit using our observation sign up form.
Dates of observation days are listed at the bottom of the form.
Please feel free to get them involved and helping with anything you might need extra hands for! You will receive a slide deck that introduces them and includes their photos soon from Kim MacKinnon!
CIS Ontario Professional Learning Opportunities
As a member school of CIS Ontario, we get access to professional learning events, student programs and news relevant to our work as educators, educational staff and administrators.
If you are in the database as a member you have a login to the member portal and CISO Connect. If you do not, please fill out this brief membership form.
