St. Patrick's Blog Week of June 15th, 2015

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of June 15th, 2015

School Administration Changes

Following the Board meeting on June 9th, a number of school administrator changes were announced.  Following the naming of Denise Andre to Director, Tom D’Amico to Associate Director, and former principal Cindy Owens to a new Superintendent portfolio, other school administrators were switched to accommodate the change.  This movement has affected St. Patrick’s Intermediate - effective September 1st, Mr. Sean Kelly will be moving to All Saints High School, and Don Murphy, currently Vice-Principal at Immaculata High School will be taking over as Principal at St. Pat’s.  

As I wrap up my last couple of weeks at St. Pat’s, I can tell you that leaving behind our 7&8 school will be a challenge.  I have enjoyed an extremely gratifying few years at St. Pat’s and am bringing many memories with me.  I would be remiss if I did not thank our current and former school councils for their support, the incredible cooperation I have received from staff, and the lessons I have taken away from my interactions with students.  I will miss you Shamrocks!

School Trips this week

YMCA Trip: A number of our students including Stand Up Award winners will be travelling to the YMCA camp in Dunrobin for activities and leadership skill training on Wednesday, June 17th.  This is an on-going tradition at St. Patrick’s where students work in small groups to accomplish various activities and tasks.

Grade 7 Calypso Trip: Our grade 7 students will be travelling to Calypso water park on Friday as part of our year end celebrations.  Students will be organized into groups based on a swim test at the park.  A reminder to parents and guardians that students will return from the water park at 5:15 to the school.  Students must be picked up at this time.

Grade 8 La Ronde Trip: This trip is an end-of-year celebration for the grade 8 students at St. Patrick’s Intermediate and will proceed rain or shine this coming Thursday.  Students participating in the field trip will travel by bus to the amusement park.  They will depart from the school at 8:00 am and return at 8:00 pm.  Students must arrange to be picked up from school at 8:00pm by a parent or guardian.

2015-16 Student Transportation Information

Route information will be available to parents as of August 24, 2015.  Student Transportation Information can be found using the “Stop Finder” located on the http://www.ottawaschoolbus.ca/ website which will link to the “BusPlanner - Parent Portal”. Parents are asked to enter the student’s last name, birthdate, school and grade in order to access route and stop information.

Routing Changes – New Walk Zones and Bell Times

New walk zones and bell times will be in effect in September 2015. All final walk zone maps as well as a list of new bell times are posted on our website at http://www.ottawaschoolbus.ca/policies/transformation.

Bus pick up and drop off times are subject to change due to new bell times. Many routes will have new route numbers, new drivers and/or new Operators.  

Transportation Information During the Fall

We would ask parents to advise St. Patrick’s school directly of any changes to student home or caregiver address.  OSTA will require a minimum of three business days to implement a change to transportation services,