Ottawa Public Health Newsletters - Body Image and Mental Health

Healthy Bodies

Research shows healthy eating and being active can improve health regardless of weight changes. Weight is not always a good measure of health. Children look to adults as they develop their views about weight and body image.  Parents can play a vital role in helping children feel good with their body, and to value and like themselves for who they are.

What parents can do:

• Help children know people come in many shapes and sizes. 

• Become aware of the messages and comments you send about your own body and other people’s bodies. 

• Teach your child not to tease others about weight.
• Talk about how the media promotes an unrealistic body shape and size. 

• Praise your child for their talents and skills, and focus on health rather than on appearance.

For more information contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744 or visit www.ottawa.ca/health.

Ottawa Public Health launches “Have That Talk” mental health video campaign

Ottawa Public Health is pleased to launch the “have THAT talk” campaign.  This includes a mental health video series created to give parents more information about mental health. The series covers where to get help and how to talk to children and youth about mental health. The program was launched on Bell Let’s Talk Day.

Mental health problems affect 1 in 5 Canadians. Also, 75% of all of these problems start before the age of 24 years. Parents can watch these videos at www.haveTHATtalk.com to learn how they can talk about stress, coping, depression and when and where to get help. Please share these videos through Facebook, Twitter, or email. By talking openly about mental health, parents can help their children and youth become healthy and resilient adults.

For more information contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744 or visit www.ottawa.ca/health and www.haveTHATtalk.com.

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of February 24th, 2014

It has been an exciting few weeks for Canada at the Olympics in Sochi this winter.  We have been celebrating the successes at the games as a school, and the themes around pride and teamwork have been central messages during this time.  We congratulate all of the competitors, especially the Ladies and Men’s Hockey Teams.  Go Canada Go!

In our own Olympic style, our grade 7 & 8 boys Basketball team participated in the Ashbury tournament this past weekend and won first place.  A “Gold Medal” achievement!

Thank you to our parent/guardian community for participating in our parent/teacher interviews this past week.  There was a great opportunity to discuss student progress and next steps as we move through the next few months of the school year.  A special thank you to the Community Facilitators who provided interpreter services for many of our parents.  I would also like to thank our large group of student ambassadors who assisted with greeting our students and parents and managed our used uniform booth as well.

This past Wednesday was an exceptional day for our Canal Skate.  Buses brought our students and staff to the largest skating rink in the world for a delightful afternoon of good exercise.  For some of our new Canadian students, skating on the canal was a first.  Congratulations to those who exercised some courage!  I also noticed some long lines at the Beavertail kiosk!

Our grade 8 students received their Course Contracts from the high school in a session at St. Patrick’s high this past Tuesday.  Some excellent information was provided to assist students with course selection for grade 9.  We would ask parents/guardians to review these Course Contracts with students and return to the school this week.  It is vital that we receive the contracts by the end of this week as decisions around course delivery made at the high school reflect our students’ choices.

Our student council leaders have arranged for a dress-down day this Wednesday that coincides with “Wear Pink” day to highlight Anti-Bullying approaches.  Students can choose to wear pink or to dress down from their uniform for $2.  In addition, the student council has arranged for a dance that afternoon.

Coming up on March 4th is our Parent night for students transitioning from grade 6 to 7.  I am hoping that there are already some grade 6 parents following our blog - please join us that evening for some information, and an opportunity to ask questions.

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick's Intermediate Eco School Team Activities

The St. Patrick’s Intermediate Eco Team meets regularly to discuss environmental issues and opportunities for progress in our school.  So far, our students have tracked the use of energy, appropriate use of recycle bins, and environmental practices such as closing window blinds and clearing radiators from obstruction. 

Students will be presenting at an upcoming Monday Morning Assembly to talk about their findings in the walkabouts and areas for improvement.

 The Team will be doing a sweater day in March where we will turn the heat down 5 degrees, a litterless lunch week (Earth Week in April), spring cleaning in the capital, an eco-trivia quiz forhomebases, and some awareness activities at lunch during Earth Week as well.

 The team also submits lesson plans related to the environment to Ontario Eco Schools as part of the certification process.

 The Eco Team will also be involved in planning, towards the end of this year, a school-grounds greening project.  The goal is to have a plan in place so that over the next 2-3 years we can do some planting/greening of our grounds.

St Patrick Intermediate Students and Seniors Recycling Art Project

St Patrick Intermediate Students and Seniors Recycling Art Project

Students from Mrs Sweeney's Grade Eight English class (8-8) are beginning a collaborative recycling project in April with residents of Billings Estate Seniors Lodge.  This event kicks off Earth Week while also providing an image boost to the school Environment Club headed by teacher Ellyse Rupert.

Seniors and students will be recycling previously discarded masonite boards along with old magazines to create two unique pieces of Art that will hang in each location.

The project titled, "Handing Over Control" will be overseen by local Ottawa artist, Nicole Belanger, who specializes in the creation of large mural pieces.  

"We are so grateful for both MASC grants and private monies donated by local businessman Ian J. Davidson, owner of Condo Management Group here in Ottawa," states teacher Joan Sweeney.  "It is really a collaborative work that could not have taken place without everyone's help.  Janet Cooper, the coordinator at Billings Lodge, Sean Kelly, our principal, Sophie Reussner-Pazur at MASC, and last but not least the students of English class 8-8.  Everyone was so supportive and open, that is what makes a project like this possible."

The result will be two highly epoxied and beautiful art pieces that will be produced by both the Seniors and students of St. Patrick Intermediate.  Not only is it a beautiful way to recycle and raise awareness about Earth week and the school Environment Club, but realizes the deeper benefits of connecting generations to work side by side and create meaningful works of art that will beautify each community.

St. Patrick's Blog Week of February 17th, 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of February 17th, 2014

I am hoping that everyone enjoyed a restful (yet chilly) Family day weekend.  Hopefully you were able to find activities to keep you warm in our capital city.  

We are very proud to have had three students from St. Pat’s chosen from over 800 applicants province-wide to participate in the First Nation, Métis and Inuit Student Winter Learning and Leadership Program in Parry Sound.  The students travelled to the camp last Monday and took part in leadership activities throughout the week.  We are looking forward to hearing their stories upon their return.  

This week will be a busy one at St. Patrick’s Intermediate.  Following the long weekend, our grade 8 students will travel to the high school to begin the course selection process for next year.  Our regular assembly at the beginning of the week will be held on Wednesday to accommodate our trip to the high school on Tuesday.  On Wednesday afternoon, our students have the opportunity to participate in a trip to the canal for skating activities.  Please ensure permission forms are returned to the school on Tuesday.  A regular academic program will be available to those who choose not to skate or walk on the canal.

On Thursday, we have an accelerated schedule to accommodate our Parent/Teacher interviews in the afternoon and evening.  Interview request sheets went out last week with your son/daughter’s report card.  We would ask you to fill the sheet in and return it with your son/daughter so we can properly schedule interview times.  Meeting times with teachers are available from 2:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon and from 5:00 to 7:30 in the evening.  Community Facilitators are available to our families for translation purposes that evening if they are required.  The St. Patrick’s High School Band will be travelling to our Intermediate school Thursday morning for a concert delivered to our grade 8 students.  

We have members from the school board coming for a student success visit on Friday afternoon this week.  A student success visit allows members of the school administration and those from the board to visit classrooms to participate in the learning activities taking place.  It provides us with an opportunity to ensure that our learning goals are properly matched with strategies in the classroom.  We appreciate the feedback we get from the members of the school board and are looking forward to sharing results as a full staff.

I am looking forward to speaking with many members of our parent/guardian community on Thursday at our interviews.  Please drop by the main office and say hello!

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick's Blog Week of February 10th, 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of February 10th, 2014

This past week saw two St. Patrick’s student teams compete in the Ottawa Catholic Board’s Math Olympics activity.  Our two teams tied for 13th place in the hotly contested activity, beating out 14 other schools for Math domination!  Students worked on Math riddles, mind-benders, time-shifters and hands-on activities. Congratulations to our student teams, and our Math department, which is fairing very well across the board.

We are putting the finishing touches on our new aerobic/weight room at the school this month.  The space will provide students with another setting to work on physical education at the school.  Some before/after pictures of the room:

BEFORE

                      AFTER!

Our Me to We fundraiser that is supporting the building of schools across a number of countries within Africa came to a close this week.  Students have been contributing change to the initiative for the past few weeks.  Our last activity was a cake auction that brought in additional funds to the charity.  Some examples of our cakes below!

Our Term One report cards are distributed on Thursday this week.  Parents/Guardians have an opportunity to see an evaluation of student learning from the beginning of the year to this point.  Parent/Teacher interviews are on Thursday, February 20th from 2:00 to 4:00 and 5:00 to 7:30 pm.  I have provided some additional information on report card format below from the Ministry of Education document: Reporting Student Learning which is a companion to the assessment and evaluation document: Growing Success.

Ongoing and Effective Communication

In classrooms across the province, teachers and students engage in a variety of assessment practices to help improve student learning. These practices include “assessment for learning” and “assessment as learning”, which involve, for example, sharing clear learning goals and success criteria, providing descriptive feedback, and providing opportunities for students to develop their skills of peer- and self-assessment.

The Elementary Progress Report Card supports assessment for learning and assessment as learning. It also provides an opportunity to:

1.    establish a positive relationship between teachers, parents, and students;

2.    involve parents as partners in a conversation about learning and assessment, and what they can do to support their child’s learning;

3.    identify concerns about student progress early in the school year and develop strategies to improve student learning.

In their comments on the Elementary Progress Report Card, teachers provide descriptive feedback that indicates to parents whether their children are “on track” and progressing appropriately. In the case of students who are experiencing difficulties, the descriptive feedback acts as a “red flag”, indicating the need for additional supports or interventions.

Teachers also engage in “assessment of learning” (or evaluation) – that is, gathering evidence and making judgements about how well students have achieved the curriculum expectations and developed the learning skills and work habits. They communicate those judgements to students and parents primarily through the Elementary and Secondary Provincial Report Cards. In addition to the letter grades or percentage marks teachers assign and record on the Provincial Report Cards to represent a summary of their judgements about the student’s achievement, they give descriptive feedback in comments, indicating what students have learned and need to learn as well as providing guidance to help students improve their learning.

Comments Relating to the Development of Learning Skills and Work Habits

Growing Success emphasizes the importance of six learning skills and work habits – responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration, initiative, and self-regulation. Teachers report students’ development of these skills as “excellent”, “good”, “satisfactory”, or “needs improvement”. The comment relating to the development of learning skills and work habits should work together with this evaluation to convey a clear and consistent message about the students’ development of the skills and habits. In preparation for writing report card comments that focus on the student’s strengths and next steps for improvement with respect to the skills and habits, teachers may wish to consider how they will support the development of the learning skills and work habits and how evidence of this development will be collected for each student.

We encourage you to have a discussion with your son/daughter regarding their report card, and hope to see you at our interview evening on February 20th.

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick's Blog Week of February 3rd, 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of February 3rd, 2014

We are hoping our student community enjoyed the extra holiday this past Friday as staff worked at the school on professional development tasks.  A number of activities involving our students took place this past week.  Our student services department lead by Mrs. Paniccia worked with grade 7 students on goal setting with the “My Blueprint” computer program.  This program allows students to set goals and revisit them in the future, while planning course selection and high school pathways in grade 8.  In the spring, our grade 8 students will use the program to pick courses for grade 9.  

On Wednesday this past week, a large number of student volunteers from our youth group travelled to the Shepherds of Good Hope and St. Patrick’s Home to assist with our community.  At Shepherds, students prepared sandwiches for the clients beforehand and received a tour of the facility. Participants were then able to ask questions before working in a storage area to separate donations to the agency.  At St. Patrick’s Home, our students visited with the seniors and shared stories before several groups entertained in the large chapel with songs and dance.  The seniors were very thankful for the company and our show!

On Thursday last week, a group of students participated in the Board’s cardboard boat race.  This is an opportunity for students to collaborate on plans and organization as they construct a boat made of cardboard that must transport them across a pool.  The students had a great time and worked on a number of skills that required creativity and cooperation!

February is Black History month and we currently have some students working on some awareness projects for the next few weeks.  We will share some of these initiatives with you as we put them in place at the school.

Our school community continues to raise money for our Me to We project as we support the building of schools across a number of countries in Africa.  We have devised a number of classroom “rewards” for the groups that raise the most money during our collection period.  We bring the activity to a close this week with a cake auction that will see sweet delectables being bought by each of our homebases!

We would be happy to see as many parents and guardians as possible at our School Council meeting this Tuesday evening at 7:00 in our Learning Commons space in the main building.  We will be updating the group on school activities while working on a parent/guardian volunteer survey that we will share with our parent community in the next few months.  Joining our School Council allows parents and guardians of our students to share in the celebration of our school while helping to shape some direction going forward.

We encourage all of our school community to check important dates on our school calendar, available on our website or at the bottom of this blog page.

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly