St. Patrick's Blog January 30 to February 3

Cardboard Boat Races
On Thursday students had the opportunity to race cardboard boats in a swimming pool. The boats successfully made it across the entire length of the pool and students had a challenging and fun experience overall. Way to go SPI!

PD Day
A reminder also that Monday, Jan. 30 is a Professional Development Day in all OCSB schools. There will be no school for students on this day.

Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Cees Artz and can be reached at chair@StPatsInt-council.ca

Our Trustee is Mark Mullan and can be reached at mark.mullan@ocsb.ca

Have a great week.

Don Murphy

Principal

Upcoming Events

St. Patrick's Blog Jan. 23 - 27

Bake Sale for CHEO
Our ME to WE students, under the leadership of teacher Catherine Carnegie, held a bake sale a few weeks ago for CHEO. Below is a photo of the group with the cheque to be presented. We are very proud of our students who take time out of their busy schedules in order to support organizations in our community.

Hot Chocolate Fundraiser

Ms. Gauthier and Ms. Lemieux, two uOttawa teaching candidates doing their practicum here at SPI, are in charge of our Environment Club. This past Wednesday they, with their students, sold hot chocolate in the cafeteria. The catch, though, was that students had to bring in their own mug in order to raise environmental awareness. The sale was a great success, especially given the fact that it wasn't very cold outside on the day the hot chocolate was sold!

Reminder re: After-School Activities
Please remember that once an after-school activity is complete, for example Homework Club, sports, Art Club, etc., students are no longer supervised and must, for safety reasons, leave the school building either to walk home, catch the OC Transpo bus, or wait on a ride. Your co-operation in reminding your son/daughter of this is greatly appreciated.

Dress-Down Day for Charity
A reminder that this coming Friday (Jan. 27) is a dress-down day for charity.

PD Day
A reminder also that Monday, Jan. 30 is a Professional Development Day in all OCSB schools. There will be no school for students on this day.

Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Cees Artz and can be reached at chair@StPatsInt-council.ca

Our Trustee is Mark Mullan and can be reached at mark.mullan@ocsb.ca

Have a great week.

Don Murphy

Principal

Upcoming Events

Monday, Jan. 23:  Strong not Tough - The Healthy Family Step Plan to Manage Anxiety and Prevent Depression, 6:45-8:45 p.m., St. Mark High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)

Wednesday, Jan. 25:  St. Patrick Intermediate School Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Learning Commons Building 1

St. Patrick's Blog January 16 to 20

Important Immunization Notice

Some parents/guardians will have received a notice from Ottawa Public Health (OPH) advising them that their immunization records are incomplete. If you have received such a notice, please be advised that your child will be suspended from school beginning on Feb. 8 and will be unable to return until OPH advises the school that he/she may be readmitted. If you have any questions please contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744.

Post-Christmas Activities

With Christmas now behind us, our administration and student services department have already begun the transition schedule for our new grade 6’s coming to the school, as well as preparing the details for our grade 8’s to move to St. Patrick’s High School.  We put a great deal of effort into this process to ensure that our students are in a comfortable position as they move to new schools. Keep track of our key dates on the calendar that populates at the bottom of the blog page.

My Classroom Visits
What makes me extremely happy in this role is getting into classrooms to see all the exciting things that students and teachers are doing here at SPI. Pictured below are some of the boats that students are making in Ms. Sweeney's class. I spent some time here and saw much creativity in action.

Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Cees Artz and can be reached at chair@StPatsInt-council.ca

Our Trustee is Mark Mullan and can be reached at mark.mullan@ocsb.ca

Have a great week.

Don Murphy

Principal

Upcoming Events

Thursday, Jan. 19:  Educating Boys - Strategies for Parents to Engage Boys in School, 6:45-8:30 p.m., St. Joseph High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)

Monday, Jan. 23:  Strong not Tough - The Healthy Family Step Plan to Manage Anxiety and Prevent Depression, 6:45-8:45 p.m., St. Mark High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)


Wednesday, Jan. 25:  St. Patrick Intermediate School Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Learning Commons Building 1

St. Patrick's Blog Week of January 9 to 13

I would like to take this opportunity to extend a Happy New Year to all of you in our St. Patrick’s community.  I hope that the Christmas holidays provided you with an opportunity to relax and spend some time with family and friends.  All of us at St. Patrick's look forward to working with our stakeholders in 2017.

St. Patrick’s Christmas Hampers

We recognize that our strength as a school community can be seen when we work together with good intentions in mind.  This quality was at the forefront of our Christmas Hamper initiative this December.  All of our grade 7 and 8 classes, as well as staff and members of our School Council, came together to contribute Christmas packages for those in our community who might not otherwise have food and gifts during the holidays.  The amount of goods contributed was overwhelming.  A big thank you to all who participated in any way they could.

Drawings for New SPH Addition

Here is a link to the architectural drawings for the new addition at SPH, which we will move into in September, 2018.  Please be aware that there have already been a few minor alterations to these as the drawings may be subject to change. Nonetheless, in the spirit of transparency, here is what is available thus far:  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2qLoRyeW91KVmdxTHd4TEhDd28/view

Guys' Read Club Outing
Just prior to the Christmas Break, our Guys' Read Club experienced a lunch outing at Kelsey's and then were presented with a book from Chapters.  This club began a few years ago to promote reading for boys, as research shows that boys read much less than girls at the intermediate grade levels.  Our Guys' Read Club has proven to be extremely popular and successful, so much so that our girls would like to form a similar club, something we are seriously looking at for the near future.  It is becoming very clear that our students at St. Pat's Intermediate love to read!

Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Cees Artz and can be reached at chair@StPatsInt-council.ca

Our Trustee is Mark Mullan and can be reached at mark.mullan@ocsb.ca

Have a great first-week back.

Don Murphy

Principal

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, Jan. 25:  St. Patrick Intermediate School Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Learning Commons Building 1