Week of September 30th , 2013

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of September 30^th , 2013

            For our parents and guardians who have asked about the schedules of the various activities that are offered to students at St. Patrick’s, I have created a link to our school community calendar that will always display at the bottom of the blog entries on this page.  Not sure when the Cross Country running practice is? Not sure which afternoon we are offering homework help?  Scroll down to the bottom of the weekly blog to check our calendar.  We have also added our Twitter feed to the side of the newsletter blog. 

            Fr. Greg Murray will be joining us for our opening/Thanksgiving Mass on Thursday (Oct. 3^rd) morning at approximately 10:00am.  Parents/Guardians are welcome to join us for this occasion.

            Our St. Patrick’s School Council will be holding its first meeting this Wednesday, October 2^nd at 7:00pm in our Learning Commons (2^nd floor in our main building).  We are anxious to invite any parent/guardian who is interested in contributing to the community building within our school family.  As Clif Brown, our council chair, pointed out at our Meet the Teacher evening, there is less emphasis on fundraising, and more focus on raising the awareness of our student experience. 

            We have tentatively scheduled our after school literacy/numeracy class to begin Wednesday, October 16^th.  The course emphasizes skill development in literacy and mathematical skill development.  The course is free of charge, and will run twice a week until the end of November.  Please contact the school if you would like an application form for your son/daughter.

            I would like to thank the students for their support of our dress down day last Friday that raised over $600 for our Terry Fox fundraising efforts.  Students will be encouraged to bring in additional funds to support this very worthy cause.  Students who are able to bring in $25 will earn the opportunity to “pie a staff member” on Friday this week.  A free pie to throw for every $25 donation!

            We continue to encourage our community to sponsor St. Patrick’s Intermediate through our “Adopt a School” partnership with the Chapters/Indigo store on Rideau St. at the Rideau Centre downtown.  You can adopt the school at: http://adoptaschool.indigo.ca/eng/schools/314.  In addition, any donations made at the store until October 5^th go directly to our school to support the purchase of resources for our students. 

             

 Have a great week.

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of September 23^rd , 2013

            It was with heavy hearts that we discussed the Barrhaven bus accident with our students last week.  We prayed for the victims of the tragic accident during Friday morning prayer and hoped for strength for those family members left behind.  We continue to keep these individuals in our prayers and we lowered our flag to half-staff last week as a reminder.

I would like to thank our parents and guardians and other members of our St. Patrick’s community for joining us at our Meet the Teacher evening last week.  We were able to share some of the great things that are going on at the school to this point, and our Teachers were able to discuss their classroom approach with you.  We also raised over $600 for our Terry Fox donation through our silent auction.  Special thanks to Mrs. Corriveau who organized this event.  I would also like to thank the board sponsored translators that were with us to make communicating between our parents and teachers more convenient for some.

            We continue to encourage our community to sponsor St. Patrick’s Intermediate through our “Adopt a School” partnership with the Chapters/Indigo store on Rideau St. at the Rideau Centre downtown.  You can adopt the school at: http://adoptaschool.indigo.ca/eng/schools/314.  In addition, any donations made at the store until October 5^th go directly to our school to support the purchase of resources for our students. We are hoping to have some students involved in a musical presentation at the store on Saturday, October 28th.

            At our Meet the Teacher we spoke of the opportunity of offering after school literacy and numeracy classes for students.  Additional information will be communicated with you once we have established our course timelines.  The sessions would be free to students, although transportation would be the responsibility of the parent/guardian.

            I continue to encourage our parent community to keep up with the goings on at St. Patrick by following us through social media:

School webpage: spe.ocsb.ca

Email: Patrick.intermediate@ocsb.ca

Twitter: @stpatsint

This Blog: stpatsint@blogspot.ca

            Know that our webpage and this blog can be instantly translated into various languages by a push of a button. 

Have a great week.

Sean Kelly

Information from Ottawa Public Health:

Walking to School

Remember when we all walked to school? Right now in Ottawa, only 20% of children use active means to

travel to school.  Decades ago that number was greater than 50%.  Children who walk to school report feeling happier, get better grades, feel more relaxed, and less rushed on the trip to school. Active travel can also help improve their health in many ways. Consider ways to get your child to walk more.

Curb the trend and try this:

• Walk and wheel to school.  Walk if the distance is less than 2 kilometres.  Wheel if the distance is less than 7 kilometres.

• Be a healthy role model as children watch & learn.  Research shows that active parents have active children.

• Active kids are ready to learn. When more time is spent being active, school marks actually go up!

• Wear the gear. Be safe, be seen. Walking and wheeling can be enjoyed safely when you follow the

rules of the road and wear the right gear.

For more information contact Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744 or visit www.ottawa.ca/health.

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of September 16th, 2013

            We are certainly settling into routines now that we have completed 2 weeks of school at St. Patrick’s.  I know that many of our students are feeling less anxious as they are getting used to expectations, navigating the layout of the school, while hopefully making new friends in the process.

I wanted our parents and guardians to be aware of our “Caught you Caring” program at St. Patrick’s.  Each week we identify students who are caught caring for others, maintaining our environment and welcoming those around them.  These students fill out a yellow ballot which is then placed in a draw for a complimentary lunch in our cafeteria.  Students can win multiple times, so we encourage you to keep “Standing Up” for the St. Patrick’s community.

            I wanted to highlight our literacy / numeracy programs that will be beginning after school in October.  These sessions are free of charge and provide a strong support for small groups of individuals in the areas of math and literacy skills.  More information regarding registration and the schedule will be provided following a board wide meeting this week.

            We have scheduled the diagnostic ONAP (Ontario Numeracy Assessment Package) assessment for our grade 7 and 8 students this week.  ONAP enables teachers to identify students' prior knowledge of the previous year's expectations for all five math strands. It provides 100% alignment to the Ontario Mathematics Curriculum, addressing all overall and specific expectations.  This assessment allows us to effectively provide learning opportunities to students while measuring growth in the area of mathematics.  Grade 7 students will write the test during periods 2 and 3 on Wednesday, September 18^th, while our grade 8 students will write the following day during periods 2 and 3.  Please ensure that your son/daughter has an extra pencil and an eraser that day.  No other special preparation or study is required.

            We are excited about our Meet the Teacher evening this Thursday, September 19^th from 6:00 to 8:00pm.  We will begin in our cafeteria area with an introductory presentation, and then teachers will have a chance to introduce themselves to you in their classrooms.  Remember to bring some funds on Thursday to support our live auction to benefit the Terry Fox foundation!

            Our photo day is on Friday, September 20^th this week.  No need to send money in ahead of time.  Students will be provided with proofs from their picture session, and any purchases can be made after the fact.

Have a great week.

Sean Kelly

St. Patrick’s Blog

Week of September 9th, 2013

               I would like to thank our students and staff for making our first week at St. Patrick’s Intermediate run very efficiently!  We offered our students a number of orientation activities, beginning with grade level assemblies on the second day of school, as well as a full morning “Boot Camp” later in the week.  Our Boot Camp highlighted expectations around student Respect and Responsibility, Community Resources, Technology and Learning and basic Routines and Procedures.  Our students responded well to the sessions, and it is encouraging to have everyone beginning at the same level of understanding. 

               We have had the pleasure of welcoming a number of new students to both grades 7 & 8 who have registered over the past week.  We have individuals moving to St. Pat’s from various regions around Ottawa, from different provinces, as well as countries as far away as the continent of Africa.  We hope we are helping to make this transition successful.

               In addition to our teaching and educational assistant staff, there are a number of other support personnel that contribute to the success of our St. Pat’s Community. 

Paul Kozak (Chaplaincy Leader)

Lorraine Cook (Library Tech)

Student Services

Milena Paniccia (Guidance, Destination/Employability)

Chris Card (Resource)

Karen Pelisek (Resource, Student Success)

Chris Jackson (Resource, Inclusion Coordinator)

Michele Becker (Lifeskills)

Kate Hamilton (Literacy Learning Partner)

Shawn Mcdonald (Board Social Worker)

                                   

Office Administrators

Marcia Clarke (Staff considerations)

Barbara Foley (Student considerations)

                       

Custodial Staff

Marcel Massey

Sue Masson

Pang Tang

George Martin

Cafeteria

Debbie Parkes

Please do not hesitate to contact any of the above individuals if you have questions.  In addition to the support personnel at the school, we have a strong liaison with individuals at the board level.  Our Family of Schools Trustee and Superintendent are listed below:

Mark Mullan (Chairperson of the Ottawa Catholic School Board) (613-841-4836)

Thomas D’Amico, Superintendent of Human Resources (613-224-4455, ext. 2402)

In addition to the contact information above, we would encourage students, parents and guardians to get additional school news through the following media (links on the blog sidebar):

School webpage: spe.ocsb.ca

Email: Patrick.intermediate@ocsb.ca

Twitter: @stpatsint

This Blog: stpatsint@blogspot.ca

               We are looking forward to hosting our Meet the Teacher evening on September 19^th, from 6:00 to 8:00.  We will begin the evening with a presentation in the cafeteria, followed by an opportunity to converse with your son/daughter’s teachers.  Please bring some funds to support our silent auction that evening in support of our Terry Fox Run!

               Top Marks will be in the school on September 10^th and September 24^th from 11:00am to 1:00pm to exchange uniforms at the school.  Please come to the main office on either day.

               I would like to direct you to the news portion of our website which contains an overview of our Student Intramural challenge as well as additional information regarding the role of our Multicultural Liaison Officer. 

Have a great week.

Sean Kelly

Welcome to the 2013-2014 School Year!

     A very warm welcome back to school to our returning staff and grade 8 students, and a special welcome to new students who are joining us, as well as the new staff at St. Patrick's School.  Our staff group went through a large transition at the end of last year, with a number of Teachers as well as our Office Administrator Ms. Nixon departing for new experiences at different schools.  We wish all of these individuals the best as they find new challenges at their chosen schools.  We are very excited about the enthusiastic group of new staff who have chosen to join the St. Patrick's community.  We know that they will contribute to the great things happening both in the classroom and in the co-curricular life of the school.
     Our first day of school is Tuesday, September 3rd (remember our new 8:00am start time!) and we are anxious to welcome our students back.  Our custodians have done an excellent job getting our facilities looking great, and we would like to thank them for their hard work over the summer months.  A reminder that on Tuesday our grade 8 students will be meeting in the gym after the warning bell at 7:55am, and our grade 7 students will be meeting in the cafeteria.  In each location, Teachers will call out each of the student names in their homeroom and will accompany them to their homebase class.  I have been reassuring our new students that they only have to find the front door on the first day - our friendly staff will make sure they get to class from there!
     Ms. Burgoyne, our new Vice-Principal and I will be facilitating grade level assemblies for students on Wednesday, and all of our grade 7&8 students will participate in Introductory activities on Thursday (grade 7's) and Friday (grade 8's).  The activities will help students get familiar with regular routines, highlight the faith component of our school, and allow students to get to know the support available for them outside of the classroom.
     Shortly I will be sharing information regarding the St. Patrick's School Improvement Plan, as well as highlighting the St. Patrick's School Council.  I will leave you with the prayer we will be sharing with students upon their arrival to school on Tuesday.  I hope all of our school community enjoys an exceptional year.
Sean Kelly

A Student's Prayer

Dear Lord, on this first day of school I am nervous.

But I know being nervous is a sign to look to You for help.

Help me to be the best student I can be.

Help me to work hard, to the best of my ability,

especially when I don't feel like working at all.

Help me to be honest when I'm tempted to take a shortcut

Help me to listen to my teachers and my coaches.

Help me to play fair and to play safely.

Help me to be kind to everyone at school

Help me to treat others as I would like them to treat me.

Help me to be a good friend to others.

Help me to help others who need my help.

Help me to use all the gifts and talents you have given me.

Help me to love and respect my parents and guardians.

Help me to trust in you, Lord, and in your love for me.

And even when I am nervous, allow me to seek help from the good people around me.

St. Patrick Pray for us