St. Patrick's Intermediate Blog Nov. 27 to Dec. 1

St. Pat's High School Drops By

It's always great when St. Pat's High School comes to SPI to promote all the wonderful things happening across the street.  On Monday, some members of the choir sang for us and encouraged students to get involved in music.  The arts are so important to the school curriculum that it's great of be a part of promotional visits such as this.  Thanks again for singing for us, SPH!

Brett Ullman Talk

Monday afternoon students had the opportunity to hear speaker Brett Ullman talk about dating. Brett travels around North America giving talks on relevant topics to teens. He is based in Toronto and was once a teacher for a number of years with the Toronto District School Board. Brett talked about the pros and cons of dating and stressed the importance of not feeling pressured by anyone to date.

Grey Cup 2017
To kick off Grey Cup festivities, on Wednesday, some of our students went to TD Place for the opening celebration. Students had a great time hearing speeches about believing in oneself and they listened to some great music and saw some varied dance displays. All this to say...a good time was had by all!

Christmas Hamper Program

Once again this year, homebases will be assigned a family to collect food and other essential items. In addition to helping families in need, Christmas hampers are a great educational tool to teach our students about poverty and social justice.  Every year we have more families requiring assistance than we have homebases; therefore, groups of staffmembers and our School Council have also teamed up to collect. 

Bullying Awareness Week
We had a very successful Bullying Awareness Week at SPI.  A number of activities occurred throughout the week, such as anti-bullying prayers each day, wearing pink in support of anti-bullying behaviour, and handing out cards to friends signifying the importance of healthy relationships.  I spoke to a number of students to solicit their thoughts on bullying and really feel that the message that bullying is wrong and needs to be reported is getting through.


Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Stephanie Anderton 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, November 30:  CSPA Presents Advocating for Your Child with Special Needs, 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. at Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (please see spe.ocsb.ca for more details and to register). 

Tuesday, December 5:  School Council Meeting in Learning Commons 1 at 

7 p.m.

St. Patrick's Intermediate Blog November 20 to 24

Shepherd's of Good Hope

A group of our Social Justice students made sandwiches today for the Shepherd's of Good Hope. The Shepherd's of Good Hope does such important work for the underprivileged in our city that we are honoured to be able to help them out in any way we can. 

WE Day

We Day occurred on Wednesday at the Canadian Tire Centre.  A group of our students involved in community outreach attended the exciting event.  Essentially, WE is a movement that brings people together and gives them the tools to make the world a better place.  I spoke to a number of students after this event and they all had a very positive experience.

Minister's Student Advisory Council (MSAC)

The Ministry of Education is accepting applications for MSAC. Each year, 60 students are chosen to serve on the Council and to share their ideas with the Minister. We have had several OCSB students chosen for MSAC in past years. This experience has been invaluable to them. Students are encouraged to consider this leadership opportunity.

CSPA

There is a great deal of information on the CSPA website regarding information for parents and upcoming sessions. You can visit the website here.

PD Day on Friday

Don't forget that this Friday, November 24 is a PD Day in all OCSB schools, meaning that there are

Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Stephanie Anderton 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, November 30:  CSPA Presents Advocating for Your Child with Special Needs, 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. at Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (please see spe.ocsb.ca for more details and to register). 

Tuesday, December 5:  School Council Meeting in Learning Commons 1 at 
7 p.m.

St. Patrick's Intermediate Blog November 13 to 17

Rideauwood Presentation

Our representative, Emily, from Rideauwood dropped by to speak at our Monday Morning Assembly this week. She explained the drug counselling services that Rideauwood offers to students and went over some of the harmful effects that can result from using illicit substances. Our Board has had a long and successful partnership with Rideauwood and we are always happy when they drop by to explain their services to students.

School Council Meeting

Our School Council Meeting was held this past Wednesday. School Council is a very important component to any school and parents/guardians are always welcome to attend these meetings. Our next meeting is Tuesday, December 5 at 7 p.m. in Learning Commons 1.

Volleyball Excitement

Congratulations to our boys' volleyball team as they defeated St. Matthew on Tuesday and now advance to the finals against Frank Ryan on Tuesday.

The girls' volleyball team fought hard but unfortunately lost to St. Peter so their season is over. The girls really did well this season and we are proud that they made it to the semi-finals

Way to go, Shamrocks!

Remembrance Day Service

Special thanks go out to Colonel Mark Larsen who spoke to us at our Remembrance Day service on Friday. Students learned all about the sacrifices many men and women made for us so that we may enjoy the freedom that we have today. 'Lest we forget.

Parent-Teacher Interviews
We had a successful parent-teacher interview session on Thursday. Many parents/guardians came out to meet teachers to discuss the progress of their son and/or daughter. It's always great to see our entire SPI community come together for an evening of discussion.

Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Stephanie Anderton 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, November 30:  CSPA Presents Advocating for Your Child with Special Needs, 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. at Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (please see spe.ocsb.ca for more details and to register). 

Tuesday, December 5:  School Council Meeting in Learning Commons 1 at 
7 p.m.

St. Patrick's Intermediate Blog November 6 to November 10

Remembrance Day

On Friday we will have our Remembrance Day assembly. It will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will last approximately 1.5 hours. All are welcome to attend this important tribute acknowledging those who have done so much for us.

Girls' and Boys' Volleyball
Congratulations to both our girls' and boys' volleyball teams who made it to the quarter-finals. On Monday, the boys take on Notre Dame here at SPI and the girls take on St. Mark at St. Mark. Good luck, Shamrocks!

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Parent-Teacher Interviews take place on Thursday, November 17 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and then from 5 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Interview request sheets went home on Thursday. Use of the sheet is the appropriate format permitted to request an interview with a teacher. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Early Dismissal on Thursday
Please note that we dismiss at 1:10 p.m. on Thursday, November 17 in order to accommodate parent-teacher interviews.

School Council Meeting on Wednesday
Please remember that we have a School Council meeting on Wednesday, November 8 at 7 p.m. in Learning Commons 1. All are welcome to attend.

Fall Back
Don't forget on Saturday night to set your clocks back one hour as we enter Standard Time. At least it'll be a little lighter in the morning for our students for the bus-ride in!

Important Contact Information

Our School Council chair is Stephanie Anderton 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, November 6: CSPA Presents Special Education and Your Child, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Notre Dame High School (please see spe.ocsb.ca for more details and to register).

Wednesday, November 8:  School Council meeting at 7 p.m. in Learning Commons 1.

Thursday, November 30:  CSPA Presents Advocating for Your Child with Special Needs, 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. at Thomas D'Arcy McGee Catholic School (please see spe.ocsb.ca for more details and to register).