St. Patrick's Blog Week of February 1-5

Professional Development Day on Monday
This coming Monday, February 1, is a Professional Development Day, meaning that there is no school for students at St. Patrick Intermediate.  Please note that this PD Day is for Intermediate and High Schools ONLY.  Elementary schools, K-6, do NOT have a PD Day as they had theirs on Friday, Jan. 22.

Cardboard Boat Races
On Wednesday, our school participated in the annual Cardboard Boat Races. Although we did not place, our team did really well as they made it completely across the pool, holding extra people.  All of the participants had a really fun experience.  Check out this video: https://youtu.be/hGuBEVB6GXA 



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


Coming Up
Mon. Feb. 8:  CSPA Presents Strong Not Tough:  The Healthy Family Step Plan to Manage Anxiety and Prevent Depression, 7-9 p.m., St. Matthew High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register). 

Thurs. Feb. 18:  Learning French at OCSB, 6:45-8:45 p.m., St. Paul Catholic High School.

Sat. Feb. 27:  Ottawa Parents' Information Forum on FSL, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Immaculata High School.

Mon. Feb. 29 (Lester B. Pearson High School) or Tues. March 1 (St. Joseph High School):  Understanding EQAO Assessments, both locations 6:45 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register).

St. Patrick's Blog Week of January 25-29

IEP Information Night 
If you missed our IEP Information Night on Monday and would like to have a look at the slides presented, please access this link:  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hB1szf8vts-IZ_vi7VaqQ4IawxgpLHlGvARwNmakXrs/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Professional Development Day
A reminder that Monday, February 1 is a professional development day for intermediate and secondary schools, meaning that there is no school for students at St. Patrick's Intermediate and St. Patrick's High School.

Dress-Down Day for Charity
A reminder that this coming Friday, Jan 29 is a dress-down day for charity.  For a $2.00 donation, students can have a break from wearing their uniform in order to wear other appropriate clothing of their own. 

School Council Meeting
Our School Council meets this coming Tuesday, January 26 at 7 p.m. in Learning Commons 1.  We look forward to seeing and hearing from those in our St. Patrick community.

Have a great week.

Don Murphy
Principal



Coming Up
Sat. Jan. 23:  CSPA Presents Fostering Self-Esteem, 9:45-11:30 a.m., Frank Ryan Catholic Intermediate School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register).

Mon. Feb. 8:  CSPA Presents Strong Not Tough:  The Healthy Family Step Plan to Manage Anxiety and Prevent Depression, 7-9 p.m., St. Matthew High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register). 

Thurs. Feb. 18:  Learning French at OCSB, 6:45-8:45 p.m., St. Paul Catholic High School.

Sat. Feb. 27:  Ottawa Parents' Information Forum on FSL, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Immaculata High School.

Mon. Feb. 29 (Lester B. Pearson High School) or Tues. March 1 (St. Joseph High School):  Understanding EQAO Assessments, both locations 6:45 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register).

St. Patrick's Blog Week of January 18-22

IEP Information Night
Do you ever wonder if your child should be on an IEP (Individual Education Plan)?  Is your child on an IEP and you'd like more information on IEP's in general?  Then this night is for you!  On Monday, January 18 at 7 p.m. at St. Pat's Intermediate, the Student Services/Resource staff will be putting on a presentation dealing with IEP's.  All are welcome to attend.

Reading Buddies at St. Gemma School
Our Reading Buddies program has turned out to be a real success.  Every second Tuesday, students from our school walk over to St. Gemma to read with, primarily, the grade 2 class. Students at both schools have expressed that they really enjoy this endeavour because, amongst other things, they learn from each other.   

New Professional Activity Day (no school for students)

A new PD is being added to the school calendars of all school boards in the province. This is part of the settlement negotiated between the Provincial Government and the four teachers’ federations in the fall of 2015. The Board of Trustees of the Ottawa Catholic School Board have approved Friday, April 15, 2016 as the designated additional PD day in all OCSB schools. Visit http://ocsb.ca/calendar to view the newly updated 2015-16 school year calendar.

Automatic Attendance Starts Monday
Effective Monday, our attendance will be automated, meaning that should a student be absent and we have not been informed of this, parents will be notified of the absence at approximately 9 a.m. by an automated voice attendant. Again, this call will NOT go out if parents have approved the absence ahead of time.

Have a great week.

Don Murphy
Principal

Coming Up

Mon. Jan. 18:  IEP Information Evening, 7 p.m., St. Pat's Intermediate Cafeteria

Sat. Jan. 23:  CSPA presents Fostering Positive Self-Esteem, 9:45-11:30 a.m., Frank Ryan Catholic Intermediate School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)

Tues. Jan. 26:  School Council Meeting at 7 p.m. in Learning Commons 1, St. Pat's Intermediate

Mon. Feb. 8:  CSPA presents Strong not Tough:  The Healthy Family Step Plan to Manage Anxiety and Prevent Depression,   7 p.m.-9 p.m., St. Matthew High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register) 

Thurs. Feb. 18:  Learning French at OCSB, 6:45 p.m. -8:45 p.m., St. Paul Catholic High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)

St. Patrick's Blog Week of January 11-15

IEP Information Night
Do you ever wonder if your child should be on an IEP (Individual Education Plan)?  Is your child on an IEP and you'd like more information on IEP's in general?  Then this night is for you!  On Monday, January 18 at 7 p.m. at St. Pat's Intermediate, the Student Services/Resource staff will be putting on a presentation dealing with IEP's.  All are welcome to attend.

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.

A number of activities have started up following Christmas, and many teams and clubs are getting together.  We review the schedule with students each week at our Monday Morning Assemblies.  I would encourage you to discuss with your son/daughter the different opportunities for co-curricular experiences that are going on, while challenging them to engage themselves.

Have a great week.

Don Murphy

Principal

Coming Up

Wed. Jan. 13:  Staying Connected with Your Child, 6:45-8:45 p.m., Mother Teresa High School

Mon. Jan. 18:  IEP Information Evening, 7 p.m., St. Pat's Intermediate Cafeteria

Sat. Jan. 23:  CSPA presents Fostering Positive Self-Esteem, 9:45-11:30 a.m., Frank Ryan Catholic Intermediate School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)

Tues. Jan. 26:  School Council Meeting at 7 p.m. in Learning Commons 1, St. Pat's Intermediate

Mon. Feb. 8:  CSPA presents Strong not Tough:  The Healthy Family Step Plan to Manage Anxiety and Prevent Depression,   7 p.m.-9 p.m., St. Matthew High School (see spe.ocsb.ca for more information and to register)