The last day to drop a course and have it not show up on your transcript is Oct. 26th. Talk to Berardo if this applies to you!

Award-winning author Catherynne M. Valente will be visiting SOLE—virtually, of course—on Oct. 7th during the 2:15-3:30 online class. All SOLE students and staff are invited! Just log into your regular Google Classroom for the link to the talk. You won’t want to miss it!

Catherynne M. Valente is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of forty books of fantasy and science fiction. She lives on a small island off the coast of Maine with her partner, one medium-sized dog, one very enormous cat, a baby son slightly less enormous than the cat (for now), a red accordion, an uncompleted master’s degree, a roomful of yarn, a spinning wheel with ulterior motives, a cupboard of jam and pickles, a bookshelf full of folktales, an industrial torch, an Oxford English Dictionary, and a DSL connection.

September 30th is Orange Shirt Day, which recognizes the victims and survivors of the residential school system, and the legacy of racism, colonialism, and genocide against the Indigenous peoples of the land that we currently call Canada. You can read more about the story of Phyllis (Jack) Webstad, a survivor of the St. Joseph Mission Residential School (1891-1981) and the inspiration behind Orange Shirt Day, here.

We encourage everyone to wear an orange shirt on September 30th to mourn the victims, fight for justice for the survivors, and to reaffirm that every child matters.

Please join us for the first official Fantastic Friday tomorrow.

To be marked present:

1. Make sure your Out of School Component is completed. Ask your teacher if you’re not sure what it is!
2. At 11 am, log into Google Meet with your TDSB student account and look for the meeting called solefriday.

See you there!

These are coming up soon! The last days to change courses are:

Grade 12 courses:  Friday, September 25. 
Grade 10/11 courses:  Thursday, October 1.

Please make an appointment with Berardo through Google Classroom if you need to swap!

When you return to school (beginning tomorrow!) you will have to go through a health screening before you enter the building. To speed things up, get the Health Screening App and beat the lineups! You can access it online or download the Now Mobile app from the Google Play or Apple App store for free.

Here are detailed, step-by-step instructions to get you set up!

As you probably know, there’s been a lot of confusion and delays with school re-openings. While we make sure that everything is in place to keep you as safe as possible, here’s what we can tell you so far!

This Thursday, Sept. 17th, will be the first day of school. It will be an orientation day for you to pick up your timetable, get familiar with the new safety and screening protocols, meet your teachers and classmates, and answer any questions that you have. Please meet us at 10:30 am outside the front of the school. Dress for the weather, wear your mask, and be prepared to be here for a couple of hours.

Regular classes will start on Monday, Sept. 21. When you pick up your timetable, you’ll be assigned your cohort and you’ll know whether you’re in school that day or whether you’ll be starting online. On school days, please arrive at the school between 8:40 am and 8:55 am so that you can be in class by 9 am.

Please take the time before Thursday to check your TDSB email account (firstname.lastname@student.tdsb.on.ca). Make sure you know your password. If you’ve forgotten it, click here to reset it. If you have trouble signing into your account, let us know on Thursday so that we can help you get set up before your first class.

Here’s how SOLE’s schedule will work. It’s similar to the model used by the rest of the TDSB, but it’s a little bit easier to understand and offers you more flexibility. We’re here to answer any questions you might have:

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

This year, we’re doing our best to provide more flexibility and personalization for students, while still keeping everyone as safe and physically distanced as possible.

We’re offering:

• An easy-to-follow schedule from Monday to Thursday
• Fantastic Fridays featuring Wellness Workshops and Alternative Learning opportunities
• Smaller class sizes
• Late start (9 am)
• Grab & go snack program

To apply, check out our Admissions page and choose an appointment for in-person registration by clicking the button below:

Please congratulate Lesley Gage on her promotion to Principal of York Mills CI, effective immediately.  Her appointment was approved by Trustees at the TDSB board meeting last night.

For the last 2 years, Lesley has been an integral part of our leadership team.  She has contributed enormously to our school’s equity and inclusion efforts.   Her passion in promoting student leadership and student voice is much appreciated by our students and parents community.    In spite of learning of her promotion last week, Lesley continues to support our school by tediously recreating the master timetable to align all courses with the quadmester model.   Her dedication to support staff and students is exceedingly laudable.  It is with mixed feelings that we bid farewell to such a valuable member of our admin team.   Her promotion is definitely our loss and their gain at York Mills CI.   Together, we wish Principal Gage a successful and rewarding leadership role at her new school.

We would also like to welcome newly appointed Vice-Principal Jonathan Jones to our admin team.  Jonathan has extensive experience in Special Education and Alternative schools.  In addition, he is relentless in promoting equity, student engagement and student leadership.  We look forward to working collaboratively with Jonathan to continue to serve our school community.

Here’s a letter from our Superintendent and our Trustee, confirming her appointment.

School is just around the corner. Classes will start September 15, but in the meantime, you can complete your registration and course selection for SOLE on September 9 and 10. Please sign up for an appointment by clicking the button below.

Registration will happen on the 1st floor of Monarch Park CI at Exit 2. Our guidance and admin team will be available to answer your questions and make sure you’re good to go for September!

• A completed, signed and dated Application Form
• A copy of your recent Credit Counselling Summary, if possible
• Birth certificate or passport
• Health card
• 2 pieces of ID confirming address

Please check our Admissions page to make sure you’re eligible to join our school community.

We’ll have more information on school start-up and timetable coming soon, so keep watching this spot!