St. Patrick's Blog Week of May 20th 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of May 20th 2014

Student Activities this Week

Congratulations to Mr. Kennedy and our Chess team after they captured GOLD at the Board tournament this past week.  A number of our special education students were involved with the Board’s Swim Meet this past Wednesday.  The students enjoyed a great time with great competition engaging students from across the Board.  Our dedicated readers were involved in a trip to the “Festival of Trees” author presentation last Friday.  The activity took place at the Nepean Sportsplex and the students were involved in a number of literacy activities.

School Improvement Plan for Student Success

A number of St. Pat’s staff were involved in the Board sponsored school improvement plan this past Thursday.  Representatives from intermediate and secondary schools across the board come together to review best practices and innovative approaches at different schools as we set our goals for the coming academic year.  Schools are charged with developing goals in the areas of Numeracy and Literacy, as well as Pathways for students and Community, Culture and Caring.  These goals set the learning for students for the upcoming year, as well as the professional development plans for staff.  The SIP is shared with our School Council every year at one of our meetings.  If you have any questions about our goals, please contact us at the school.

Student Success Visit to St. Patrick’s Intermediate

Individuals from the school board will be visiting St. Patrick’s next Monday, May 26th as they take part in classroom walk-throughs and discussion around school initiatives.  While board representatives used to concentrate on staff descriptions of the learning that is going on, they now concentrate on what students have to say.  We have been encouraging our students to reflect upon their learning so that they can engage in meaningful dialogue with our visitors as they tour classrooms next week.

“We Remember” wall of memory

St. Patrick’s is establishing a Remembrance Wall which will depict family members from among our school community who have passed away.  The Wall will be a prayerful space where we will celebrate the lives of those in our families who have died through pictures and words.  We have encouraged students to bring ideas for the wall, as well as the names and pictures of departed loved ones to our student services department, or to see our Chaplain Mr. Kozak.  Thank you go Mr. Kozak, Ms. Paniccia and Ms. Sweeney for the hard work that went into the creation of our “We Remember” Wall.  

St. Patrick’s School Council Funding Support

A special thank you to the St. Patrick’s School Council who have been financially supporting a number of initiatives over the past few weeks and heading to the end of the year.  Our School Council has purchased a number of Chrome laptops for the classroom, and will be contributing to the purchase of exercise bikes for our new aerobic/weight room that was completed this year.  The Council also provides financial support to our year-end activities including the Grade 8 Closing Ceremonies and our “Stand Up” Award Winners’ trip to the YMCA camp.  We appreciate the Council’s ongoing support of our student and staff initiatives!

Have a great week!

Sean Kelly

Principal