St. Patrick’s Blog Week of November 25th, 2013

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of November 25th, 2013

Thank you to all of our students and staff who were involved in our Bullying Awareness activities this past week.  Students engaged our community in activities that included sitting with someone new at lunch, identifying positive decisions with our kindness chain, and signing an “anti-bullying” pledge.  We will continue our efforts to provide information and awareness to our students around this important topic.  

I wanted to highlight an important initiative that is happening among a class of English students at St. Patrick’s and a group of seniors at Billings Lodge in our community.  These students have made the trip to the lodge a number of times this term, and they take the opportunity to share stories with an individual senior at the home, while creating a “project” on what was learned.  This is a great way to partner with the community, and a very positive way of engaging individual perspectives from another generation.  Thank you to Mrs. Sweeney and Mrs. Kilbride for organizing this activity.

We are very happy to announce that our current weight room and fitness area near the gym will be undergoing a makeover in the coming weeks.  The board agreed to remove a wall and redo the area with new ventilation and a new floor to make it more accessible for students.  We are looking forward to additional room for physical fitness equipment and an area for aerobics.  We appreciate the board’s planning and efforts around keeping our learning areas up to date.

We will be having a dress down day this Friday for students who wish to donate $2 to our Christmas Hamper program.  Students who donate can dress in appropriate clothing other than their uniform, and will have a choice of either attending a dance or watching a movie Friday afternoon.  Snacks will be available for purchase, and proceeds will again go to support our Christmas Hamper initiative.  

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the people of the Philippines following the tragic events in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.  In addition to the information I shared from the Catholic Diocese of Ottawa, St. Patrick’s will run their fundraiser this week to help support relief efforts.  Students will be selling lollipops with all of the proceeds being given to a charity supporting Filipino need.
Congratulations to our Boy's Volleyball Team who beat out All Saints in straight sets this past week to win the 7&8 City Championship. Good job Coach McKinnon!

Have a great week!

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick’s Blog Week of November 18th, 2013

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of November 18th, 2013

This is Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week across Canada.  St. Patrick’s has a number of activities organized to bring awareness to this issue.  Please see our events below.  

All Week Activities

·    Morning Announcements will include special prayers read by our youth group

·    Kindness Chain will take place each lunch hour

·    Caught You Caring coupons handed out

Monday, November 18th

·    Monday Morning Assembly    

-Define bullying, what it is and what it is not

-Remind the students about OCSB Connect

-Go through the agenda for the week and the Pledge

Tuesday, November 19th

·    Choices Group will have a police constable in to speak to the students about cyber-bullying

·    School-wide 67’s game to promote school unity and friendships

Wednesday, November 20th

·    ELL students speaking with high school students

·    Ambassadors to promote “Sit with someone new” at lunch

Thursday, November 21st

·    Homeroom teachers to complete Bullying Activities and Pledge provided to them

·    Visit to Wabano (Aboriginal Wellness Centre) by students

Friday, November 22nd

·    Add Grade 7 names to Anti-Bullying bulletin board

More info at:

Many of our students will be attending the Ottawa 67’s hockey game on Tuesday.  A reminder that students attending should be in uniform, and there will be no cafeteria service at the school for those not attending (please pack a lunch from home on this day).  

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the people of the Philippines following the tragic events in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.  In addition to the information I shared from the Catholic Diocese of Ottawa, St. Patrick’s will be running a fundraiser to help support relief efforts.  Students will be selling lollipops with all of the proceeds being given to a charity supporting Filipino need.

Have a great week!

Sean Kelly

Archbishop's message regarding the disaster in the Philippines

Please review the following message from Archbishop Prendergast regarding the disaster in the Philippines:

ARCHDIOCESE OF OTTAWA

1247 Kilborn Place, Ottawa ON K1H 6K9

Tel 613-738-5025      Fax 613-738-0130

www.CatholicOttawa.ca

                                                                             

           

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                                                                                                    

Ottawa, November 13, 2013                                                                                                                                                              

ARCHBISHOP PRENDERGAST INVITES CATHOLICS TO GIVE AND TO PRAY FOR THE PHILIPPINES IN THE AFTERMATH OF TYPHOON HAIYAN

The Most Reverend Terrence Prendergast, SJ, Archbishop of Ottawa, has asked Catholic parishes to conduct a special collection at all Masses in the Archdiocese of Ottawa this weekend, November 16 and 17 – or the next weekend, November 23 and 24 – to respond to the worst natural disaster to hit the Philippines in its history. Last Friday, Typhoon Haiyan forced 600,000 people from their homes, and approximately 9.5 million people are in need of aid across nine provinces.

“This is a difficult time for Filipinos, including many from our Catholic community in Ottawa who have relatives and friends in the devastated region,” explained Archbishop Prendergast who presided at a special Mass, with the Filipino community, on Monday, November 11 at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Vanier.

“Many have not been able to contact their loved ones in the Philippines to find out if they are alright since the typhoon struck and left more than 10,000 dead and hundreds of thousands badly affected,” he added. “This is why we are taking up a special collection as soon as possible, and we are asking the faithful to give generously.”

The Government of Canada has announced that it will match donations to the Typhoon Haiyan Relief Fund made by Canadians to Canadian-registered charities between November 9 and December 9. Contributions made through the Archdiocese of Ottawa for this relief effort will be eligible for the matching programme.

Online donations are being accepted on the diocesan website www.CatholicOttawa.ca.

The Archdiocese of Ottawa is home to more than 394,500 Roman Catholics and serves more than 100 parishes.

St. Patrick’s Blog Week of November 11th, 2013

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of November 11th, 2013

The St. Patrick’s Intermediate School Council met last week.  We reviewed a number of the great activities happening at the school, and discussed some direction around council funding to support student initiatives at St. Pat’s.  The discussion minutes will be available on the website shortly.  Please check out the “Catholic School Council” tab on our website for more information.

It was very encouraging seeing all of our parents and guardians at our interview evening last week.  A number of good conversations occurred toward some next steps with our students.  A special thank you to Catherine Kilbride (our school’s English as a Second Language Teacher) and Veronica Sanchez (our school’s Multicultural Liaison Officer) for their assistance in inviting translators for the evening to assist with families where English is not the first language at home.  We were able to assist with families in languages such as Arabic, Tagalog, Korean, Spanish, and others.  

A special thank you to our students and staff who assisted with our Mirror of Hope kiosk at our Christian Community Day professional development day on Friday.  We were able to sell several handmade baskets on Friday, with the proceeds going directly to the women of Nairobi who have been affected by HIV and who create these baskets as their livelihood.

St. Patrick’s is hosting a number of student teachers at this school this term.  These individuals will be working with us until the beginning of December.  This remains an important partnership with various universities in the province, and provides young teachers with an opportunity to strengthen their craft in the field.  

Monday November 11th, is Remembrance Day and at St. Patrick’s we mark the occasion with a very moving ceremony that involves a great number of students and staff.  The ceremony at the school begins at 8:30 and all of our parent/guardian community is welcomed to join us.  

Bullying Awareness and Prevention week occurs from November 17th to 23rd this month.  We will discuss some St. Patrick’s initiatives next week, however, I wanted to let you know about a classroom project that is taking place in all of our Catholic schools.  Our students and teachers continue to explore the Ottawa Catholic Board theme: “By our works, we show our faith” by participating in a week-long initiative focused on teaching our students how to be discerning digital citizens while on the Internet.  This project is our response to the recent School Climate Survey where it was reported that our students would benefit from explicit, directed learning focused on ‘Digital Citizenship’.

‘Samaritans on the Digital Road’ is an online resource for teachers of the Ottawa Catholic School Board to inspire and inform our students.  During the week of Nov. 11 -15, all students in our schools will learn how to be caring, responsible online citizens.

Students will learn the meaning of being a ‘citizen’ and transfer those skills to the online world as a ‘digital citizen’. Students will also learn how to contribute to social good and how to navigate through challenges found ‘on the road’ of the Internet. All of the lessons are taught through the lens of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The teachers who created this resource work directly with children at each grade, ensuring that learning is age-appropriate and relevant.

We encourage you to start conversations at the supper table, in the car or wherever your family meets by asking your child about his/her learning as  ‘Samaritans on the Digital Road’ fills our classrooms with experiential, thought-provoking activities.

You can access more information on Bullying Awareness and Prevention week at the Ministry website: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/safeschools/prevention.html

St. Patrick’s Blog Week of November 4th, 2013

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of November 4th, 2013

There were several activities taking place at St. Patrick’s last week.  All of our grade 7 students participated in an excursion to the Baxter Conservation Centre where they focused on ecological learning.  Many students returned tired but enthused by the activity.  We also had a full assembly that focused on “The Right to Play”; a Canadian movement that encourages a proper approach to sports here in Canada, while promoting the “right to play” in other countries including China and countries in Africa.  Several groups of students also had the opportunity to participate in a discussion on Cyber-bullying and internet safety with our School Resource Officer Constable Lemieux and a colleague of hers.  Students learned of the importance of privacy and posting carefully when sharing personal information on the internet.

Students enthusiastically participated in our Halloween activities on the 31st.  Many students “dressed-up” in costume and paid $2 to support our Christmas basket fund for the coming Christmas season.  We had a best costume at the grade 7 and grade 8 level.  Homebases also participated in a pumpkin decorating contest that had students creating some scary and very creative displays!

There is a school council meeting this Tuesday, November 5th at 7:00 in the learning commons (second floor of building one).  We had a great turn out at our first meeting and we are looking forward to having any other parents join us this week.  Remember that there is little fundraising or other time consuming involvement required.  However, we are anxious to share what is happening at the school, and provide you with updates on our priorities at St. Patrick’s Intermediate.

Our staff is participating in the Ottawa Catholic School Board “Jeans Day” to support our United Way initiative this Tuesday.  It is an opportunity for teachers and support staff to support the United Way and dress “comfortably” on November 5th.

Our progress reports went home last Thursday (October 31st).  Teachers collaborated on a report of learning skills to date, and provided some indication as to how students are progressing to date.  Our parent-teacher interviews are this Thursday, November 7th from 2:00 to 4:00 and 5:00 to 7:30 pm.  This will give you an opportunity to discuss your son/daughter’s progress in specific subject areas to this point in the year.  We would strongly encourage you to fill out the interview sheet that went home with the progress reports to indicate a time that is convenient for you to come in.  We are working to have language interpreters come to our interview night.  Please let us know if you would like the service of someone to assist with a translation of your meeting.

Our Board’s Christian Community Day is this Friday, November 8th.  It is a professional development day for staff and there is no school for students.  Each year on this day our Board staff meets as a full group to examine our priorities for the year and to celebrate mass together.  This year some of our students will be at the gathering to publicize one of our charity initiatives “Mirror of Hope”.  This organization is a Community Based Organization dedicated to working with orphans and vulnerable children, youth, families, and the community of the Kibera slum of Nairobi in order to transform and develop their capacity to contribute positively and earnestly towards their own development. They are dedicated to working with the most vulnerable children, youth and women. They reach out to all regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. Mirror of Hope is based in Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Parish in Kibera.