Tuesday, 5 May 2015
Student Comic Creation
Check out some of our student artwork around comic creation. These are the winning entries:
Monday, 4 May 2015
School Climate Survey "Tell Them From Me"
Please take a moment to read about an important opportunity to survey students and parents/guardians about school life:
Student Survey
The Ottawa Catholic School Board will be implementing an anonymous online school climate survey for students called Tell Them From Me (TTFM), which will allow us to obtain the student voice on the climate in our schools. The advantage of this survey is that it enables us to receive immediate feedback from the students.
The surveys will help in-school teams determine school needs, make decisions on improving the climate of our school, as well as help to determine whether programs are effective at improving the school climate. Over the month of May, all students in grades 7 and 8 will be given an opportunity to participate. The survey will be completed at our school and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete for most students.
The student survey measures safety , bullying, equity and inclusivity and student well being . Anonymity and confidentiality are maintained by providing each student with a random username and password which ensure that a student and his/her response can never be linked. Ensuring anonymity is important as we want the students to feel comfortable providing honest feedback regarding the climate at their school. While all students in these grades will be encouraged to complete the survey, they have the right to choose not to if they wish.
Parent Survey
In addition, throughout the month of May, we will be inviting parents to take the parent version of the school climate survey, as it is important to understand parent perspectives of school climate to better meet the needs of all of our students. The completion of these surveys is highly encouraged as it will allow us to obtain a
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the school administration. We look forward to hearing you and your child’s feedback regarding our school climate.
Parent Survey
Sunday, 3 May 2015
St. Patrick's Blog Week of May 4th, 2015
St. Patrick's Blog
Week of May 4th, 2015
Catholic Education Week
May 4th to 8th is Catholic Education Week across our province. There is a great deal going on across the board, as well as at our school. We have published a pamphlet that highlights the activities taking place at St. Patrick’s Intermediate this week. As part of our celebrations, we are honoured to have Archbishop Prendergast saying mass at the school on Thursday, May 7th at 10:00 am. This Thursday we will also be having an open house (2:30 to 6:30) with a BBQ at 4:00 and a Music and Dance Showcase at 5:50. Our parents and guardians are welcome to join us. Please see our brochure for other details on our activities.
Board Events:
Catholic Education Week Mass – Celebrated by Archbishop Terrance Prendergast & Director of Education Awards & Stephen H. Richardson Memorial Award
· Tuesday, May 5 | 7:30 p.m. | Notre Dame Cathedral |
“Step Up by Stepping Back” Dance Showcases
· Tuesday, May 5 | 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. | St. Paul High School
· Wednesday, May 6 | 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Notre Dame High School |
· Thursday, May 7 | 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Sacred Heart High School |
Choral Celebration – Friday, May 8 | 12 noon – 2:00 p.m. Massed Choir of 600 students from 17 schools sing together about 1:15 p.m. | Notre Dame High School |
School Accommodation Review Update
A reminder that the next public consultation meeting regarding the St. Patrick’s Intermediate School Accommodation Review will be May 11th at 7:00pm in the cafeteria at St. Patrick’s High School. The board has prepared an update document that will serve as additional information regarding the process. You can access the document here. We will be discussing the accommodation review further at our School Council meeting this Monday, May 4th at 7:00pm in our Learning Commons area. Please join us for information on a range of topics.
St. Patrick’s French Excursion to Quebec City
We welcome our students and staff back from their Quebec City trip this past week. The group was involved in a French language and cultural experience that included a visit to Sainte Anne de Beaupre Basilica, a guided sightseeing tour of the city, and an exploration of the history surrounding the Plains of Abraham. There was also a little time for shopping and, I hear, some great meals! Thank you to our parent community for supporting this activity.
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Parent / Guardian Survey for the Board
Our Board, in collaboration with the Ottawa Catholic Schools’ Parent Association (CSPA) are conducting a survey of school families, to find out what information families would like to receive from OCSB schools and how you wish to receive it. Good communication between home and school allows parents/guardians & school staff to work together to help our children succeed. With many communication tools now in use, we believe it is important to understand how families currently view communication. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Your opinions are important to us.
The survey is available both online and in printed form (from your school); in English, French, Arabic, Spanish and Simplified Chinese. Participation is voluntary and completely anonymous. We plan to use the survey results to work together with school councils and our school board to put in place communications plans and strategies taking into account parent preferences. Please access the surveys in different langauges at the following link:
School Exchange - Oaxaca, Mexico
Students and staff at St. Patrick’s Intermediate will be hosting visiting students and teachers from a school in Oaxaca, Mexico beginning this Friday, May 8th. The Mexican students are dancers who will be participating in next weekend’s Tulip Festival as well as participating in cultural activities with their billeted families. I look forward to providing you with additional details in next week’s Blog.
School Cash Online
We are actively encouraging our parent and guardian community to sign up for our School Cash online program. This web-based software allows parents to go online and pay for school excursions, sports wear, student fees etc. Our St. Patrick’s Intermediate school yearbook will be available for purchase online this week, and student fees for our year end trips for grade 7 and 8 students can also be taken care of online. Please visit https://ocsb.schoolcashonline.com to register. If you have any questions about the process or are having technical issues, please call 1-866-961-1803 or email parenthelp@schoolcashonline.com for the Parent Help Desk
Have a great week;
Sean Kelly
Monday, 27 April 2015
Last chance for Grade 8 Leaving Photos
This is to inform you that our team will be offering a last chance studio day for Grade 8 "Leaving" photos on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at the Walter Baker Sports Centre in Barrhaven.
If you have any students who had missed earlier opportunities and have been inquiring about a final chance for Graduation photos, please have them contact our customer care team at 1-888-416-EDGE (3343) for appointments and information.
Please feel free to contact me directly should you have any questions or concerns and thank you for your time,
Aaron.
Aaron Johnson
Territory Manager – Ottawa & Eastern Ontario| Edge Imaging School Photography
[Cell] 613.325.9585 | [Customer Care] 1.888.707.3343
[Fax] 1.866.707.8681 www.edgeimaging.ca
Sunday, 26 April 2015
St. Patrick's Blog Week of April 27th, 2015
St. Patrick's Blog
Week of April 27th, 2015
School Site Accommodation
A reminder that there will be a second accommodation proposal meeting on May 11th at 7:00pm, reviewing the options around the site consideration for St. Patrick’s Intermediate School. This meeting will be held in the auditorium at St. Patrick High School. A further reminder that this meeting, as well as the past meeting on April 13th are the formal opportunities to get information and ask questions of the board. If you have any questions outside this meeting or would like to clarify any issues, please contact the school.
School Council Meeting and Parent Presentation: Kids and Drugs
A large group of parents was treated to an excellent presentation on Kids and Drugs this past week at St. Patrick’s. We had a community police officer, a representative from Rideauwood Addictions Services, as well as a member from the Parole and Probation present on recognizing warning signs and how to react around drug issues. Our presenters answered many questions from the audience, and parents left indicating that they had some great strategies to work with when discussing with their children.
Our School Council met last week as well and discussed the disbursement of some of our PRO grant monies (parents reaching out). Our next meeting will be on Monday, May 4th at 7:00 pm.
Grade 8 Year End Celebration excursion to La Ronde
Information forms and parent permission are due on Tuesday, April 28th for the Grade 8 year end excursion to La Ronde amusement park (website) on June 18th, 2015. This trip is an end-of-year celebration for the grade 8 students at St. Patrick’s Intermediate and will proceed rain or shine. 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. The subsidized cost of the trip (including park entrance and transportation) is $45 - this is a great savings off the regular park admission of $61.99 (not including transportation). As part of the registration process, we would encourage parents and guardians to forward payment for the trip by using our School Cash Online system. More information is available below.
School Cash Online
We are actively encouraging our parent and guardian community to sign up for our School Cash online program. This web-based software allows parents to go online and pay for school excursions, sports wear, student fees etc. Our St. Patrick’s Intermediate school yearbook will be available for purchase online this week, and student fees for our year end trips for grade 7 and 8 students can also be taken care of online. Please visit https://ocsb.schoolcashonline.com to register. If you have any questions about the process or are having technical issues, please call 1-866-961-1803 or email parenthelp@schoolcashonline.com for the Parent Help Desk
Have a great week;
Sean Kelly
Sunday, 19 April 2015
St. Patrick's Blog Week of April 20th, 2015
St. Patrick's Blog
Week of April 20th, 2015
School Site Accommodation Presentation
This past Monday, April 13th, our wider family of schools` parent community met with staff from the School Board to discuss the options around the St. Patrick`s School site accommodation proposal. The St. Patrick`s Intermediate School Council had collated a number of questions regarding the current proposal and these were addressed by Fred Chrystal, Superintendent of Planning and Facilities, Ken Kary , Manager of Planning, Design and Construction, Cindy MacMillan, Planning Officer and Tom D`Amico, Superintendent of St. Patrick`s family of schools. The board group outlined the options of in light of the federal government looking at the possible sale of buildings and land adjacent to St. Pat`s Intermediate. A special thank you to our council chair Cees Arts, and vice-chair Sherisse Al Sabeh for arranging a proactive parent meeting ahead of time and presenting the collated information. There will be a second accommodation proposal meeting on May 11th, again in the auditorium at St. Patrick High School.
School Council Meeting and Parent Presentation: Kids and Drugs
We invite all of our parent community to join us on Tuesday, April 21st at 6:00 pm for a school council meeting in our Learning Commons space. This will be followed at 7:00 pm by an information session on Kids and Drugs. The presentation will be delivered by the Ottawa Police Service and is sponsored by the Catholic School Parents' Association (CSPA). The session is for parents, guardians, friends and family members who are concerned about preventing their children from using alcohol & other drugs. Kids and Drugs is built on known protective factors for substance abuse prevention and strives to improve interactions between kids & parents through improved communication, support, decision making and discipline. Please click on the link below that will bring you to an information poster highlighting the event. Click on “register now” to be included.
Grade 8 Year End Celebration excursion to La Ronde
Information forms and parent permission will go home this week for the Grade 8 year end excursion to La Ronde amusement park (website) on June 18th, 2015. This trip is an end-of-year celebration for the grade 8 students at St. Patrick’s Intermediate and will proceed rain or shine. 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. The subsidized cost of the trip (including park entrance and transportation) is $45 - this is a great savings off the regular park admission of $61.99 (not including transportation). We would ask families to return the permission form and money no later than Tuesday, April 28th, 2015 as we will need to see if we have enough numbers to proceed. As part of the registration process, we would encourage parents and guardians to forward payment for the trip by using our School Cash Online system. More information is available below.
School Cash Online
We are actively encouraging our parent and guardian community to sign up for our School Cash online program. This web-based software allows parents to go online and pay for school excursions, sports wear, student fees etc. Our St. Patrick’s Intermediate school yearbook will be available for purchase online this week, and student fees for our year end trips for grade 7 and 8 students can also be taken care of online. Please visit https://ocsb.schoolcashonline.com to register. If you have any questions about the process or are having technical issues, please call 1-866-961-1803 or email parenthelp@schoolcashonline.com for the Parent Help Desk
Have a great week;
Sean Kelly
Sunday, 12 April 2015
St. Patrick's Blog Week of April 13th, 2015
St. Patrick's Blog
Week of April 13th, 2015
Easter Mass
The student and staff community at St. Patrick’s celebrated Easter Mass this past Thursday at the school. Father Greg was again gracious with his time in joining us to bring meaning to this very important liturgical point in our faith. We appreciate the help of Mrs. Parker’s 7-04 class in organizing our presentation, assisting with Fr. Greg and proclaiming our readings and intentions. Thanks to Ms. Reilly and our Glee Club who performed the music.
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Director’s Forum
Thank you to our parent and guardian community who came out to support the board’s Director’s Forum this past week. The evening began with student presentations around the theme of technology and using this medium to support learning in the classroom. The keynote speaker was Joe Mazza, an experienced educator and communications expert who led an engaging and interactive presentation on improving school and home communication in the digital age. A special thank you to our Resource Teacher Mr. Card who accompanied four of our own students to the event and put together a presentation on software learning in the classroom.
School Cash Online
We are actively encouraging our parent and guardian community to sign up for our School Cash online program. This web-based software allows parents to go online and pay for school excursions, sports wear, student fees etc. Our St. Patrick’s Intermediate school yearbook will be available for purchase online this week, and student fees for our year end trips for grade 7 and 8 students can also be taken care of online. Please visit https://ocsb.schoolcashonline.com to register. If you have any questions about the process or are having technical issues, please call 1-866-961-1803 or email parenthelp@schoolcashonline.com for the Parent Help Desk
Proposal for Accommodation Consultation
The St. Patrick’s School Council met this past week to discuss the current proposal by our school board for the accommodation review of the current St. Patrick’s Intermediate school site. We were joined by some school staff, as well as representatives from our elementary school councils as we formulated some questions to be presented at the first consultation meeting with board personnel this coming week. A special thank you to our own school council for putting a great deal of effort into summarizing the situation and presenting it succinctly to our community. Our chairpersons Cees Artz and Sherisse Al Sabeh arranged a great presentation and collated all feedback.
An overview of the proposal can be accessed below, and the first public consultation meeting seeking input on the options available will be April 13th at the St. Pat’s High School Cafeteria (2525 Alta Vista Drive) where board staff will provide information regarding this issue, and receive comments from the community. This feedback will be used as accommodation options are developed. A second public meeting (same location) will be held on May 11th, 2015. I would encourage you to attend the public meetings with your questions, and a reminder that members of the St. Patrick’s Intermediate School Council are always available to address questions you may have. Their contact information is available at the St. Pat’s website (http://spe.ocsb.ca/).
Parent Presentation: Kids and Drugs
We invite all of our parent community to join us on Tuesday, April 21st @ 7:00pm for an information session on Kids and Drugs. The presentation will be delivered by the Ottawa Police Service and is sponsored by the Catholic School Parents' Association (CSPA). The session is for parents, guardians, friends and family members who are concerned about preventing their children from using alcohol & other drugs. Kids and Drugs is built on known protective factors for substance abuse prevention and strives to improve interactions between kids & parents through improved communication, support, decision making and discipline. Please click on the link below to bring you to an information poster highlighting the event. Click on “register now” to be included. Child care is provided for our parent community.
Have a great week;
Sean Kelly
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