St. Patrick's Blog Week of March 9th, 2015

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of March 9th, 2015

Grade 6 Parent Information Session

This Wednesday, March 11th, the St. Patrick’s staff and student population will be hosting a parent information session for parents and guardians of students in grade 6.  Families are encouraged to join us at 6:30pm on Wednesday for a presentation around our programming for grade 7 students, school facilities, student support, activities at St. Pat’s, as well as a presentation from grade 7 students.  Representatives from our school council will also be on hand to answer questions.

Cake Auction

Our school-based Me to We student group has organized a cake auction to take place during the morning of Wednesday March 11th.  Homebase classes are each providing a cake or collection of cupcakes for the auction.  In addition, homebases will collect funds from among the students and will use those funds to bid on the cake of their choice.  This initiative helps support the Me to We fundraising campaign that has been taking place since September of this year.  Thank you in advance for your support.

Updated Health and Physical Education Curriculum

Ontario is releasing updated Health and Physical Education curriculum to give students accurate information that will help keep them safe and healthy. The province is also providing parents with resources to help them understand and participate in what will be taught to their children.  Starting September 2015, the updated curriculum will reflect health, safety and well-being realities faced by today's students. Updates to the curriculum include healthy relationships, consent, mental health, online safety and an appropriate presence on the internet.  This information is supported by our “Samaritans on the Digital Road” initiative that is current part of our Religious Education curriculum.  The ministry’s updated curriculum has also been revised to be more reflective of Ontario's growing and diverse population.

• The Catholic education community of Ontario will work together to produce resources that support our Catholic teachers and ensure that the curriculum delivered in our classrooms is consistent with our Catholic teachings, and appropriate within the context of a Catholic classroom. The Institute for Catholic Education (ICE) in Toronto will coordinate this work.
• ICE’s membership includes the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario, the Ontario Catholic Supervisory Officers’ Association, the Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education, and the Ontario Catholic School Business Officials’ Association.
• As a Catholic school community, we will continue to offer a holistic curriculum that is shaped by a Catholic worldview and is guided by the teachings of the Church.
• Links to Revised Curriculum, Parent Guide and Quick Facts - http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/health.html

Thinkfast Activity

On March 13th, our St. Pat’s youth group will be participating in our Thinkfast activity.  Thinkfast is an initiative that was started by Development and Peace (the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada). It seeks to educate youth about the complex issues of development, social justice and poverty.

The day will begin at 8:00am with a meeting of the participants. We will start with a prayer, introduce the day and then send students to their regular classes. At lunch we will again gather for soup and fellowship. After school we will gather in the chapel for a prayer service, refreshments, a presentation social justice and then our ‘supper’ of the vegetable soup. After supper we will have fun time in the gym or cafeteria, play some games and then reconvene for a movie about social justice – the group will be watching the movie Living on a Dollar a Day. We will be breaking our fast at 8:00pm and having a light meal (provided at no cost) together while sharing what we learned during the day. Supervision will be provided throughout the event by Mr. Kozak, our chaplain, and a volunteer from Development and Peace.

Coming Up:

March 14th to 22nd: March Break!  

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly