Month: September 2025

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur, or the “Day of Atonement”, is the holiest day on the Jewish Calendar. For devout Jews in Canada and around the world, Yom Kippur is the most important Holiday, beyond Hanukkah or even the Passover. Many Jews will spend the entire day in fasting, praying and other observances.

source: Brittanica

In 2025 Yom Kippur begins at sundown on October 1, and ends at nightfall on October 2. (This is according to the Gregorian Calendar, while the Jewish Calendar is at year 5786.)

Find out more:

What is Yom Kippur? (Chabad.org)

My Jewish Learning

History.com

National Geographic

CBC Kids

Check out these books at YOUR School Library:

National Day for Truth & Reconciliation

The School Library, and Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School, are closed on Tuesday, September 30, in observance of Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. “The day honours the children who never returned home 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.” (canada.ca). As always, we urge you to consider how “Truth & Reconciliation” can be pursued throughout the year beyond September 30.

Find out more:

Orange Shirt Day

Wear an orange shirt to school on Friday, September 26

September 30th is Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada. Our school will be closed that day as the nation takes time to face the truth of our history and considers a path forward of reconciliation. As a school community, we continue to learn more about Truth and Reconciliation. At Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, we encourage all students and staff to wear an orange shirt in school on Friday, September 26, as well as on September 30th.

source: Province of British Columbia

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was established as the Canadian government’s formal recognition of the importance of Orange Shirt Day, observed on September 30 over most of the last decade, as part of the overall effort of raising awareness and provoking discussion about the impact of Residential Schools in Canada, and finding the path toward reconciliation.

Shanah Tovah!

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year feast and celebration. It is the first of the “High Holy Days” of Judaism, and is followed closely by Yom Kippur.

source: CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Jewish Calendar is a lunar calendar, therefor the dates of Rosh Hashanah and other Jewish holidays will vary according to the Gregorian Calendar (the standard calendar used in most of the world for politics, business and daily life.)  In 2025 Rosh Hashanah begins at Sundown on September 22 and ends at nightfall of September 24. According to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5786.

Shanah Tovah!

Find out more:

Rosh Hashanah 101

Chabad.org

History.com

International Day of Peace

Peace Day is observed every September 21. The International Day of Peace is a celebration of those who have worked for peace in our, and who continue to seek a peaceful future. However, the day is also a stark reminder of how far we have fallen short of the quest for lasting peace for humanity. Our world continues to be ravaged by war, including, in our current day, some of the most horrific acts of inhumanity imaginable. Learn more about the International Day of Peace and join in the movement.

Learn more:

UN.org/Peaceday

Actions for a Peaceful World

Hear Us

Act Now for a Peaceful World

InternationalDayofPeace.org

School Libraries and Intellectual Freedom

School Libraries should be bastions of intellectual freedom. Tragically, the School Library has always been a battleground in the struggles between those that would protect our rights and freedoms and those that would impose their beliefs on others.

This has become all too evident in the U.S. in recent years, and sadly we in Canada are not immune. Provincial Ministries of Education, School Boards, and individual schools and school libraries have been sucked into the current climate of extreme political polarization. Attacks on the freedom to read are on the rise, and include recent decisions made by the government of Alberta. The following are quotes from the response of Canadian School Libraries:

“Individual parents have the right to decide on their child’s reading, but they do not have the right to impose it on everyone.

The selection and availability of school library and learning resource materials should be made by trained professionals, not politicians and bureaucrats.

Not every book in a school library is meant for every student. Schools need to have a wide range of age and developmentally appropriate resources that cover the needs of the student population.

School library collections, with a richness and diversity that allows students to see themselves and experience lives other than their own, are developed within the lens of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the rights and freedoms it affords to all Canadians, including children.”


Find out more about Canadian School Libraries

Surrey Schools ONE

Students.
Parents.
Teachers.

Check this out: A portal to a world of online resources. Go where google alone can’t get you.

Created by Teacher-Librarians, Surrey Schools One is your first stop before linking to recommended online resources, many of which are subscription based but free to you as a member of the Surrey Schools community. Whether you are a student, a teacher, or an educator in the Surrey School District, you will find quick and easy access to essential resources with Surrey Schools One.

SurreySchoolsOne

Have you checked out our latest “genrefication” updates?

Come down to your School Library to see the reorganization of our fiction collection. We have moved Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, and Adventure onto their own shelves. You can still find other genres, such as Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Classic, Adult Literacy, and more, on the “General Fiction” shelves.

We have also created a Biography section. Learn more about the lives of all sorts of people, some famous, some not-so-famous, some heroes, some villains… We have biographies (and autobiographies) of activists, athletes, singers, writers, leaders, scientists, actors, thinkers, musicians, artists, and more.

Click here to see our School Library Map

Join the Library Team!

The School Library is open for the 2025-2026 school year. However, we need student volunteers so that we can offer borrowing options to students at lunch. If you are interested in joining us, come down to the School Library to learn more!

Could this be YOU?

Please also fill out our online application form let us know that you are interested.

Find out more about the Library Team