St. Patrick's Intermediate May 7 to 11

Catholic Education Week - May 6 to 11

Also: Celebrating 50th Anniversary Events at Holy Cross Elementary,

Georges Vanier Elementary and Frank Ryan Intermediate

The Ottawa Catholic School Board opens its doors during Catholic Education Week to showcase the learning our students experience every day. All Board schools host activities to encourage the community to visit as we are ‘Renewing the Promise.’  

The Catholic Education Week Mass, celebrated by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast will take place Tuesday, May 8th at 7:30 p.m. at Notre Dame Cathedral, 385 Sussex Drive, Ottawa. The Mass will be followed by the presentation of the Director of Education Commendation Awards. These awards are unique as the recipients are nominated by their peers for recognition.  Our Catholic Education Week Mass collection will be directed to Mother Earth Water Walk, www.motherearthwaterwalk.com , a Canadian organization of First Nations people raising awareness and promoting the health of our Great Lakes and the precious fresh water they provide.

Holy Cross Elementary will celebrate their 50th anniversary on Monday, May 7th.  An open house will begin at 6:00 p.m. and the formal ceremony will take place in the gym at 6:30 p.m.  Refreshments will be served in the Learning Commons.

Georges Vanier Elementary, 40 Varley Drive in Kanata, will celebrate their 50th anniversary on Wednesday, May 9th at 4 pm. Take a walk down memory lane at an Open House/Tour of the school at 5:30 pm.  There will be a welcome prayer and school blessing beginning at 6:30 pm.

Frank Ryan Intermediate School is also celebrating their 50th Anniversary. Join them on Friday, May 11 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for special events including a memory walk, photo booth, face painting and refreshments.

Visit ocsb.ca/edweek for a listing of the activities in over 80 OCSB schools during Education Week.  Follow #CathEdWeek.

Mass on Monday, May 7
We begin Catholic Education Week with a mass at St. Pat's Intermediate at 9:10 a.m. on Monday. All are welcome to attend.

Open House May 10

Parents, students, and guardians are reminded of our Open House taking place at St. Pat's Intermediate from 3 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 10. There will be displays, and much more. From 4 to 5:15 p.m. there will be a BBQ where tickets can be purchased for hamburgers, hot dogs, and drinks.  And, from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., there will be a music showcase.  Hope to see you there!

Youth Mental Health Week
Along with it being Catholic Education Week, it is also Youth Mental Health Week.  Below are some resources that may be of interest to parents:

Ottawa Public Health has created a series of videos to give parents more information about mental health. The videos aim to give parents the knowledge and resources they need to talk about mental health with their child or teen. Parents often have questions about the behaviour of children and adolescents. They may worry about whether a behaviour is appropriate for a particular age or developmental level, or a sign that something is might be wrong.  They may wonder why it is occurring and how best to respond.

The  ABCs of Mental Health provides free web-based resources to help answer these questions. The Resources include ideas for promoting the mental health of children and teens, information about how children change as they get older, descriptions of behaviours that might indicate a problem, and practical suggestions for steps to take.

     

The Psychology Foundation of Canada has developed a variety of resources for parents to help them parent their children and develop positive coping skills.  They have a number of one-page fact sheets for parents on various topics such as Help your teen with stress, Manage screen time, Helping kids get enough sleep. For the parents of pre-teens (ages 10- 12 years) they also have various fact sheets on topics such as friends, managing conflict, independence, puberty, etc.  These are available in various languages in addition to English, such as Arabic, Spanish, Tamil, Russian, Hindi, Gujardi and French.

New Transportation Information for SPH
If your son/daughter is going to be going to St. Pat's High School in the fall and is going to be bussed, please be aware that they will be receiving Presto cards as they will travel on OC Transpo (even for grades 7/8), NOT yellow school buses. Also, please be aware that receiving transportation currently at St. Pat's Intermediate does not guarantee that you will receive transportation to St. Pat's High School (because you may live close enough to St. Pat's High School). To see if you will receive a Presto card and transportation, please study the following map (if you live withig the boundaries outlined you will NOT receive transportation):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByrlYMrTjslHdDh5SGFDdDQxRTIzOGF5OE81bU5XX0pMNHNV

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.

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 (not listed above):