St. Patrick's Blog Week of May 12th 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of May 12th 2014

Catholic Education Week

Thank you to all of our St. Patrick’s Community for supporting our Education Week activities this past week.  I was very proud of our student group as they displayed their talents musically, in dance, in rhythm drumming as well as competing in our board swim meet and showing our board eco-team around the school.  It is encouraging to see our students challenging themselves outside of the regular classroom environment.  

We also celebrated as a staff community at our Ottawa Catholic Education Week Mass this past Tuesday evening.  The celebration was extra special as one of our own - Mr. Patrick McKinnon, received the prestigious Director of Education Commendation (see photo).  Well deserved Mr. McKinnon!

St. Patrick’s Open House

The culmination of our Education week was a fantastic Arts Performance in our newly utilized Theatre.  We had the St. Pat’s band, Stage Band and the Glee Club perform.  Our Dance Team, recently back from the board Dance Showcase, performed a couple of numbers as well as our Boys African Dance group.  It was great to see our students demonstrating their talents in a very warm setting.

Community News - Soap Box Derby

On your mark! Get set! Go! Come and join us at the 8th Annual Orléans Soapbox Derby on Saturday, June 7th , 2014 on Orléans Blvd. in Orléans. The races will begin at 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Spectators are welcome! For more information, please contact Julie at (613) 834-4416 or juliebeauchamp-conde@hotmail.com. Looking forward to seeing you there! Please visit our website at www.orleanssoapbox.com !

Have a great week!

Sean Kelly

Principal

St. Patrick's Blog Week of May 5th 2014 - CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of May 5th 2014

Catholic Education Week

Catholic Education Week takes place from May 5th to 9th in all of our Catholic schools in Ontario.  Our Board theme for this occasion is Serving in the Love of Christ.  This week provides us with an opportunity to open our doors to our community and invite them to share in some of the activities that make St. Patrick’s Intermediate a unique learning environment.  There are a number of things planned for the students and staff at the school this week including our traditional International Lunch and Culture show on Tuesday.  We have some Science classes that are contributing to the Clean up the Capital campaign throughout the week, and our grade 8’s will be making an informative trip to St. Pat’s high school in the journey of preparation for next year.  Our parent/guardian community is welcome to join us for the following activities:  

At St. Patrick’s Intermediate:

Wednesday, May 7th: Province-wide Mass being celebrated at our school with Fr. Greg

Thursday, May 8th:

• 2:30 to 4:30 - classroom based displays and information at the school
• 4:30 to 6:00 - join us outside the cafeteria for a BBQ (proceeds to support school teams)
• 6:00 to 7:15 - join us in the new auditorium adjacent to our school for a dance and music presentation

While we are always proud of our approach at St. Pat’s, this week provides us with an opportunity to share our successes with our community.  Please make a point of joining us for some of these activities!

For a detailed listing of all of the Education Week activities in the Board, please click on the following link:

https://bboard.ocsb.ca/bbcswebdav/institution/OCSB%20Corporate/Board%20Departments/Directorate%20and%20Corporate%20Services/Communications/Webmaster%20Files/Other/Catholic%20Education%20Week/CEW%202014%20Activities.pdf

School Council News:

Our School Council has been busy with a number of projects so far this year.  Currently we are looking at funding support decisions around school activities toward the end of the year.  We traditionally count on the support of School Council for our Grade 8 Closing Ceremony.  Please join us for some relaxed discussion about the activities happening at your son/daughter’s school - we meet this Monday, May 5th at 7:00 in the learning commons (enter at front door).

Quebec City Trip:

A number of our French Immersion students took part in a trip to Quebec City this past week.  Accompanied by our Vice-Principal Ms. Burgoyne, Ms. Baril and Mr. Kennedy, the students explored the culture and language of this unique setting.  Students combined learning activities with some informal time to assist in developing their French Language.  A great time was had by all!

Shamrock Basketball Tournament:

Our boys basketball tournament was held this past Friday and Saturday at the school with a number of local schools taking part.  The St. Patrick’s boys did a great job getting to the finals, however, we were unable to triumph over a very tight Henry Munro team.  While the final score was close, the Shamrock boys came away with Silver Medals.  Congratulations to the boys on a great season.  The boys would like to say thank you to Coach McKinnon for a great run, and special thanks to Mr. Card and his family for organizing the tournament over the weekend.

Adobe Computer Celebration:

Ms. Sweeney brought a number of students to our Adobe Software Celebration of student product this past Friday.  Students were able to see the images and videos produced by students from around the region that promoted specific themes.  Ms. Sweeney indicated that our students spoke very eloquently about their work, and the creative process.

Senior Community Project:

Some of Ms. Sweeney’s classes have been participating in a joint project with 2 different partners.  The students have worked with seniors at the local Billings Lodge to produce a media project that includes videos, as well as a giant art mural that will be shared by the Lodge and St. Patrick’s Intermediate.  Our students have also been sharing their thoughts and ideas regarding working with seniors with a school in Oaxaca Mexico.  A great deal of effort went into the project, and likewise, a great deal of learning came out.  Thank you to the students for their dedication to this activity, and a special thanks to Ms. Sweeney for her continued creative vision.

See the video culmination here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2H8qNaL-BE

Again, please join us for our Catholic Education Week activities at the school this week, and we look forward to sharing stories and pictures from the events shortly.

Have a great week!

Sean Kelly

Principal

St. Patrick's Blog Week of April 22nd 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of April 22nd 2014

Easter Celebration

Our Holy Week observance at St. Patrick’s culminated in a very moving Holy Thursday presentation on the theme of Jesus’s last supper with his disciples.  Students presented each of the dinner participants with thoughts from their own perspective on this very meaningful event.  We witnessed the worry of Jesus, the misguided approach of Judas, and the conflict exhibited by Peter.  A big thank you to the students who gave of their time preparing and presenting, as well as Mr. Kozak and Mr. Leury who put in a great deal of time setting up the presentation.  The event was extra special in that we were able to access the theatre in what we are calling “building 3” that is owned by the Federal Government.  Through a partnership, the custodians of the government buildings have been very accommodating in allowing us to borrow the theatre space as well as the second gym in the area.  The theatre setting provides a very professional setting for our dramatic productions, and we look forward to using it more in the future.  Parents and Guardians will have a chance to see the space during Education Week activities (May 5th to 9th).

Me to We day

A group of approximately 50 students traded the classroom for the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata on April 9th to celebrate the National Me to We Day - a celebration of the charity work that students engage in both locally and internationally at St. Patrick’s School.  Many schools in the greater Ottawa region joined a large group from St. Pat’s to hear a number of guest speakers thank students for their participation, but also to encouarge them to find further challenges where help is needed.  We heard from Martin Luther King III as he encouraged us to take a stand as his father had.  Craig and Marc Kielburger, the co-founders of We Day celebrated the youth movement and challenged us to continue working hard.  We listened to Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan and National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo – National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations who both provided inspirational messages of participation and further work.  Our students left feeling exhausted but further enagaged, and brought back the idea for our “We are Silent” day which we observed on April 16th where students were silent in between classes and at lunch to honour different issues such as poverty, rights of women, etc.  We are proud of the work our students do!

Grad Photos

Grade 8 students brought home information sheets regarding our “graduation” photos that will be taking place this week.  All students will have their picture taken for our grad composite picture - there is no initial fee for students to have their picture taken.  Additional information will be made available for parents/guardians to purchase pictures later in the spring.  Please review the sheet for clothing expectation information for students on the day they will be having their pictures taken.

Grade 8 Trip to St. Brigid’s

On May 28th, 29th and 30th, all grade 8 students will be travelling to St. Brigid’s for our annual school trip.  The format for the St. Brigid’s camp experience has changed somewhat - we are making this activity our year end celebration as a group of grade 8 students.  Information sheets will be going home this week outlining further information for parents/guardians.  The camp is subsidized by the Catholic Education Foundation of Ottawa, which allows us to provide the 3 day experience at a greatly reduced price of $75 per student which includes activities, accommodation and all meals.  If you have further questions about the camp please contact Mr. Walman at the school.

Shamrock Boys’ Basketball team goes to finals

Our St. Pat’s boys played in a hard fought final basketball game on Thursday, April 17th against a tough Notre Dame team.  The boys worked hard against a much bigger Notre Dame group, however, weren’t able to come out on top.  Congratulations on a great season boys, and I know you’ll be back challenging next season!  Special thanks to Coaches McKinnon and Card - great work!

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick's Blog Week of April 7th 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of April 7th, 2014

Lenten Journey

We continue to discuss the themes of this holy season of Lent with our students as we journey toward Holy Week.  We challenge students to use this time for reflection and an examination of their approach to spiritual renewal.  The rich Gospel stories from the last few weeks have provided Jesus’ ministry as a strong example of what we should be striving toward as a community.

Father Greg has been in to the school offering students an opportunity for confession ahead of our Easter season.  We thank him for his time.

Mr. Nihmey - Presentation on Mental Wellness

Chris Nihmey, a graduate from St. Patrick’s Intermediate as well as one of our regular guest teachers, brought his message about mental wellness to our grade 7 & 8 students this past week.  Mr. Nihmey spoke of his own struggles with a bipolar condition, as well as the need for understanding and compassion for those suffering from mental struggles.  Chis has written a book chronicling his challenges entitled: Two Sides To the Story.  Our students were encouraged to have a discussion with their families about the topic, and certainly to see anyone in our student services department if they have further questions.
You can get additional information at Chris' website: http://chrisnihmey.com/

Lockdown Drill

St. Patrick’s practiced a lockdown drill this past Friday afternoon at the school.  The call was made in between periods 5 and 6, creating some challenges for students who were not yet in class.  Our students and staff reacted very well to the drill during this unstructured time.  Students who were not near their regular classrooms knew to report to the nearest class or safe area.  Staff ensured that students quickly moved from the hallways and had a place to locate themselves during the drill.  The process took less than half an hour, and students were released from secure schools as soon as we had visited every area of the school.  Our School Resource Officer Stephanie Lemieux and Constable Kevin, who assisted with the drill, had great things to say about our student and staff reaction.

School Council Meeting

The St. Patrick’s School Council met this week and discussed school budget issues, a volunteer survey to be sent out in September of next year, as well as the issue of family engagement within our community.  We are already beginning to plan our Grade 8 Closing Ceremony, and our school council is a huge supporter of this event.  More information to follow soon.

Top Marks Uniform Fittings

A reminder to all of our community that students and parents currently at St. Patrick’s, or those coming in September can place uniform orders in person with our Top Marks company this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (April 8th, 9th and 10th) at the school from 3:30 to 7:30PM.  Students can be measured for uniforms to make sure everything fits!  Call the school if you have any questions.

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick's Blog Week of March 24th, 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of March 24th, 2014

Student Prayer Cards / Lenten Observance

“By Our Works, We Show our Faith” has been the spiritual theme of the Ottawa Catholic School Board for the past two years. This phrase is based on a scripture passage in the letter of James 2: 16-18. The passage reminds us that faith without works is empty and work for the good of all enriches our faith.  As a token of the learning and prayer of this journey as a community, students at every grade level are receiving a prayer card appropriate to their grade level. The prayers are in French and English.  Prayer Cards are being provided to every student in the Ottawa Catholic School Board from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Archbishop Prendergast has been consulted and fully supports this initiative. It is our hope that the faith of students, staff 

and families will continue to deepen through emphasis on prayer.

We continue to observe the Catholic season of Lent at this time of year.  We are working to bring the liturgical themes of sacrifice, repentance, forgiveness and hope to our students, and have them work to apply them to their academic and social approaches at school.  This is a very rich time of year to explore our spirituality, and we are very able to participate with our students who may not share our Catholic background.  The themes are universal and we will continue to encourage this discussion through to our celebration of Easter.

A number of our students participated in our ThinkFast activity on Friday this past week.  The experience provides some contemplative time for individuals to reflect upon their level of preparation during Lent.  The proceeds of our students’ fundraising goes to the Catholic Development and Peace organization.

Black History Celebration

While we celebrated Black History Month in February, I emphasized this past week that we should always be looking at celebrating the contributions of contemporary Black Canadians, as well as those in our past.  Our grade 8’s were able to make this a focus this past week with a dramatic presentation by artist Leslie McCurdy.  Ms. McCurdy presented “Things My Fore-Sisters Saw”, a dramatic play that highlighted the lives of 4 significant contributors to our history.  The students were able to understand the contributions of these figures, and were able to ask questions of Ms. McCurdy (who was related to some of these pioneers!) following the show.  

We also had African dance instructors from the University of Ottawa at the school to share their expertise with our physical education classes last Friday.  They were accompanied by a Jamaican percussionist who drove the beat as students danced.  Our students were very engaged, and some even had a chance to lead the percussion demonstration.

St. Patrick’s Staff Awards

We continue to be very proud of the work our staff does to ensure an excellent educational experience for our students.  We are especially proud of the awards that have been received as of late.  Ms. Paniccia, Mr. Card and Ms. Pelisek in our Student Services department were all honoured recently by Rabbi Bulka with Ottawa’s Kindness Week Committee.  These individuals typify the caring and kind approach that we provide to all our students.  We found out this week that Mr. Patrick McKinnon, our Curriculum Leader for Physical Education and Health is to receive the Director of Education Commendation during Education Week in May.  Only a certain number of staff are chosen from across the board and the award is very well deserved.

In addition, Ms. Joan Sweeney has been picked as a finalist in for the Capital Educator’s Award.  This is a prestigious award that celebrates the work of educators at all levels (public schools, colleges, universities) from across the city.  Nominees attend the Edugala celebration in the spring as a celebration of their accomplishments.  We are very proud of all our staff!

St. Patrick’s Charity work

We received a very nice letter from Rolly Fox (Terry Fox’s father) this week, congratulating the school on our continued participation in the Terry Fox Run.  I have included part of his letter below:

Terry would be so proud to witness Canadians like the wonderful community at St. Patrick’s Intermediate School who bring great honour to the work of The Terry Fox Foundation.  I wish I could meet every one of you, to shake your hand and personally thank you for the difference you make in the lives of so many.  Terry made me a proud father - you make me a very proud Canadian.

The staff and students at St. Pat’s also lent their hand in fundraising for the We Create Change initiative which builds schools in challenged areas of countries in Africa.  We were able to contribute over 100 bricks to the on-going work of this great organization.

Top Marks Uniform Company Opportunity

Top Marks, our school uniform supplier, is looking for energetic people to join their team. They require assistance in staffing their fitting sessions in April/May/June, exchange dates in August and customer service dates during September/October. Fitting team members are primarily responsible for assisting parents/students in determining sizing, placing orders and answering general questions. New fitters will attend paid training in advance of the first fitting session, and will receive on-the-job guidance and support from experienced fitters.

Ideal candidates will have flexible work schedules (evenings required), have a desire to work children, and be comfortable working in a fast paced environment. Being bilingual is definitely an asset. Also having a car would also be most helpful.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the Top Marks team, or would like additional information (including scheduling), please contact  Lisa at info@topmarks.ca

At the School . . .

• We have some student teachers beginning with us this week.  We are certain that they will quickly warm to the culture of St. Pat’s and will provide a fresh perspective for our students and staff to learn from
• Friday, March 28th will be a dress-down “Sweater Day”.  Students will be encouraged to wear warmer clothes in school that day as we will be dialing down the heat ever so slightly to bring awareness of eco-issues in our community.  The money raised will be directly applied to school “greening” initiatives.
• In the coming weeks we will be practicing both fire and lockdown drills with the students and staff.  This is an effort to be well prepared should anything arise at the school that would require emergency action.  The response from our students in the past has been excellent and we expect continued support.

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly

The Importance of Dental Screening

The Importance of Dental Screening

Ottawa Public Health supports children’s oral health in many ways such as screening children at school,
Community Health Resource Centres and Public Health Dental Clinics. Dental screenings help identify oral
health problems such as a dental abscess, infection and large visible cavities. Cavities can affect a child’s daily life both at home and at school. In fact, kids miss over 2 million days of school every year because of oral health problems.

Cavities can affect your overall health by causing:

• Pain and infection
• Loss of sleep
• Poor concentration
• Problems speaking and learning
• Difficulty chewing
• Digestive problems
• Low self-esteem
• Bad breath

For more information about dental screenings and other dental health services call Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744, e-mail DentalHealth@ottawa.ca or visit www.ottawa.ca/dental.

St. Patrick's Blog Week of March 3rd, 2014

St. Patrick's Blog

Week of March 3rd, 2014

Our students participated in a dance last week that proved very popular amongst the group.  On the same day we encouraged students to wear pink to support anti-bullying initiatives and awareness.  While only a one day observance, we would like our student community to continue the efforts they demonstrate around positive behaviour toward one another.

This coming week marks the beginning of the Lenten season in the Catholic Spiritual Calendar.  We will encourage students to reflect upon this important time through “Shrove Tuesday” to the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.  We will have a liturgy for all students in the afternoon on Ash Wednesday where we will be marked by the ashes as a demonstration of our penance and as a reminder that we belong to God.  As the marking of ashes is Sacramental and not a formal Sacrament in the Catholic Religion, all individuals, irregardless of faith, may participate in the activity.  We would invite any parents/guardians to join us at 1:00 on Wednesday for our Liturgy if you are available.

Hopefully we have some parents/guardians from our elementary schools already following us on this Blog.  If so, we would like to remind you of our Grade 6 Parent Information Evening this Tuesday at 6:30 in our Cafeteria.  We will provide some important information regarding your son/daughter’s transition to St. Patrick’s Intermediate School, introduce you to some of the members of our staff community, and allow some time for students and parents to ask questions.  

There are a great deal of activities going on this early spring at the school for students.  I would encourage you to scroll down to the bottom of our Blog page to review the St. Pat’s Calendar of Events.  A reminder to all of our school community that Friday, March 7th is a professional development day and schools are closed for classes.  We wish all of the St. Patrick’s community a very safe and restful March Break (from March 10th to 14th).  Classes resume again at St. Pat’s on Monday, March 17th - St. Patrick’s Day!

Have a great week;

Sean Kelly