St. Patrick's Blog
Week of March 24th, 2014
Student Prayer Cards / Lenten Observance
“By Our Works, We Show our Faith” has been the spiritual theme of the Ottawa Catholic School Board for the past two years. This phrase is based on a scripture passage in the letter of James 2: 16-18. The passage reminds us that faith without works is empty and work for the good of all enriches our faith. As a token of the learning and prayer of this journey as a community, students at every grade level are receiving a prayer card appropriate to their grade level. The prayers are in French and English. Prayer Cards are being provided to every student in the Ottawa Catholic School Board from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Archbishop Prendergast has been consulted and fully supports this initiative. It is our hope that the faith of students, staff
and families will continue to deepen through emphasis on prayer.
We continue to observe the Catholic season of Lent at this time of year. We are working to bring the liturgical themes of sacrifice, repentance, forgiveness and hope to our students, and have them work to apply them to their academic and social approaches at school. This is a very rich time of year to explore our spirituality, and we are very able to participate with our students who may not share our Catholic background. The themes are universal and we will continue to encourage this discussion through to our celebration of Easter.
A number of our students participated in our ThinkFast activity on Friday this past week. The experience provides some contemplative time for individuals to reflect upon their level of preparation during Lent. The proceeds of our students’ fundraising goes to the Catholic Development and Peace organization.
Black History Celebration
While we celebrated Black History Month in February, I emphasized this past week that we should always be looking at celebrating the contributions of contemporary Black Canadians, as well as those in our past. Our grade 8’s were able to make this a focus this past week with a dramatic presentation by artist Leslie McCurdy. Ms. McCurdy presented “Things My Fore-Sisters Saw”, a dramatic play that highlighted the lives of 4 significant contributors to our history. The students were able to understand the contributions of these figures, and were able to ask questions of Ms. McCurdy (who was related to some of these pioneers!) following the show.
We also had African dance instructors from the University of Ottawa at the school to share their expertise with our physical education classes last Friday. They were accompanied by a Jamaican percussionist who drove the beat as students danced. Our students were very engaged, and some even had a chance to lead the percussion demonstration.
St. Patrick’s Staff Awards
We continue to be very proud of the work our staff does to ensure an excellent educational experience for our students. We are especially proud of the awards that have been received as of late. Ms. Paniccia, Mr. Card and Ms. Pelisek in our Student Services department were all honoured recently by Rabbi Bulka with Ottawa’s Kindness Week Committee. These individuals typify the caring and kind approach that we provide to all our students. We found out this week that Mr. Patrick McKinnon, our Curriculum Leader for Physical Education and Health is to receive the Director of Education Commendation during Education Week in May. Only a certain number of staff are chosen from across the board and the award is very well deserved.
In addition, Ms. Joan Sweeney has been picked as a finalist in for the Capital Educator’s Award. This is a prestigious award that celebrates the work of educators at all levels (public schools, colleges, universities) from across the city. Nominees attend the Edugala celebration in the spring as a celebration of their accomplishments. We are very proud of all our staff!
St. Patrick’s Charity work
We received a very nice letter from Rolly Fox (Terry Fox’s father) this week, congratulating the school on our continued participation in the Terry Fox Run. I have included part of his letter below:
Terry would be so proud to witness Canadians like the wonderful community at St. Patrick’s Intermediate School who bring great honour to the work of The Terry Fox Foundation. I wish I could meet every one of you, to shake your hand and personally thank you for the difference you make in the lives of so many. Terry made me a proud father - you make me a very proud Canadian.
The staff and students at St. Pat’s also lent their hand in fundraising for the We Create Change initiative which builds schools in challenged areas of countries in Africa. We were able to contribute over 100 bricks to the on-going work of this great organization.
Top Marks Uniform Company Opportunity
Top Marks, our school uniform supplier, is looking for energetic people to join their team. They require assistance in staffing their fitting sessions in April/May/June, exchange dates in August and customer service dates during September/October. Fitting team members are primarily responsible for assisting parents/students in determining sizing, placing orders and answering general questions. New fitters will attend paid training in advance of the first fitting session, and will receive on-the-job guidance and support from experienced fitters.
Ideal candidates will have flexible work schedules (evenings required), have a desire to work children, and be comfortable working in a fast paced environment. Being bilingual is definitely an asset. Also having a car would also be most helpful.
If you are interested in becoming a part of the Top Marks team, or would like additional information (including scheduling), please contact Lisa at info@topmarks.ca
At the School . . .
- We have some student teachers beginning with us this week. We are certain that they will quickly warm to the culture of St. Pat’s and will provide a fresh perspective for our students and staff to learn from
- Friday, March 28th will be a dress-down “Sweater Day”. Students will be encouraged to wear warmer clothes in school that day as we will be dialing down the heat ever so slightly to bring awareness of eco-issues in our community. The money raised will be directly applied to school “greening” initiatives.
- In the coming weeks we will be practicing both fire and lockdown drills with the students and staff. This is an effort to be well prepared should anything arise at the school that would require emergency action. The response from our students in the past has been excellent and we expect continued support.
Have a great week;
Sean Kelly
