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