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

St. Patrick Intermediate December 19-23

Grade 7 Career Fair
Our grade 7's took part in a Career Fair on Thursday.  Students had the opportunity to talk to employers in both the public and private sectors and took part in experiential activities.  We are always so pleased at SPI to work with our community partners on such worthwhile events for our young people.

Cardboard Boat Racing
Our Math and Science Club students are working hard preparing for the upcoming Cardboat Boat Race Challenge in January.  Essentially, students build cardboard boats and race them in a swimming pool. Pictured right is a group of our students discussing a particular design.

Populace Project

On Monday, pre-selected classes will be working on sculptures that will be installed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada. Here is a description of this exciting project: "Through beauty of the ceramic arts, the three main cultures present at the time of Confederation will be recognized with a spectacular installation of thousands of individually crafted ceramic sculptures."

Merry Christmas

I would like to take this opportunity to extend a very Merry Christmas and a special holiday season to all of our St. Patrick’s families.  As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we also recognize the additional celebrations of the many faiths that make up our school community.  At this special time of year, we acknowledge the hard work of our students and staff in bringing a comfortable Christmas to many who might otherwise go without.  Our support of the Christmas Hamper program is a practical reminder of the meaning of Advent and Christmas themes. I hope that each one of you is able to find time to relax and recharge during the holidays.

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 and Christmas Break.

Don Murphy

Principal

Upcoming Events

Kindergarten Information Session, January 18, 2017 from 6 – 9 p.m. at the Nepean Sportsplex (1701 Woodroffe Ave. Halls A & B).  Please include this information in your correspondence to parents. FREE registration online, please visit: Eventbrite Please note that Kindergarten Registration Week is scheduled for January 16th to 20th. The registration packages will be sent to your schools when we return from Christmas Break.

St. Patrick Intermediate Dec. 12-16

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. My blog will return the weekend of Dec. 17-18.

Don Murphy

Principal

Upcoming Events

                              CHRISTMAS MASS SCHEDULE
                        Resurrection of Our Lord Parish
                        
 Thursday, December 15
Advent Penitential Service           7:00 p.m.                                      

Saturday, December 24               CHRISTMAS EVE
4:45 p.m.   (Christmas Pageant)
 
Masses      5:00 p.m. (Family Mass)
                 7:30 p.m.
                 10:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 25                 CHRISTMAS DAY
Masses        9:00 am./11:00 a.m.                                                 

                                              
Solemnity of Mary Mother of God)
Saturday, December 31                 NEW YEAR’S EVE 
Mass         5:00 p.m.                                                        

Sunday, January 1                        NEW YEAR’S DAY
Masses      9:00 a.m./11:00 a.m.

St. Patrick Intermediate December 5-9

Advent Liturgy
Our Advent Liturgy will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 14.  We are looking forward to what promises to be a prayerful and reflective occasion while awaiting the birth of Jesus.

School Council Meeting
At our School Council Meeting on Tuesday we had the opportunity to look at plans for the addition to St. Pat's High School, opening Sept. 2018 when our current building closes. Feedback was positive and the facility looks very nice. We look forward to moving into our new home and will make that transition as smooth as possible.

Our next School Council meeting is Wed. Jan. 25th at 7 p.m. in Learning Commons 1.

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 Intermediate Nov. 28 to Dec. 2

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 have also teamed up to collect. 

School Council Meeting on Wednesday

There will be a special 6:30 p.m. School Council meeting this coming Wed. Nov. 30th in Learning Commons 1.  Members from our Board will be present to discuss the latest information regarding our move to St. Pat's High School in September of 2018.

OCSB Choir

The OCSB Children's, Boys' and Chamber Choirs and guests will present their annual Christmas Concert, "Behold the Star" at 7 PM, on December 19. The concert will be held at St. Basil's Church, 940 Rex Ave.  Free parking is available, all are welcome - tickets are $15 at the door.

Monday is a Dress-Down Day

This Monday, November 28th is a Dress-Down Day. We are experimenting with having our dress-down days on Mondays over the traditional day of Friday.

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, Dec. 1:  Opening Doors:  Learning and Earning in the 21st Century (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information, location, and to register) 

Monday, Nov. 28:  Sensory Processing Disorders and Behaviour, 7-9 p.m., Notre Dame High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)

Wednesday, Nov. 30:  St. Patrick Intermediate School Council Meeting, 6:30 p.m., Learning Commons Building 1