february 2015 issue st. …...―it won’t happen to my child‖ is what many parents feel about...

320 64th Ave NW Calgary, AB T2K 0L8 Phone: 500-2049 Fax: 500-2249

Dear Parents / Guardians,

It’s hard to believe that January is already over and we are halfway through the school year! Our preparations for the Lenten season will begin with our Shrove Tuesday pancake breakfast on February 17th. We will be preparing breakfast for our 415 students and our staff. This year the Stampede Batter Boys will be helping cook the pancakes. We are very grateful for them to come out and assist, especially when Shrove Tuesday falls right after a long weekend. Our Ash Wednesday liturgy will be on Wednesday, February 18th at 2:00pm. There were many highlights in the month, including students participating in the ―Earn A Bike‖ with the organization Two Wheel View. Students were able to learn how to build and maintain a bike, how to ride safely and at graduation received a bike, helmet and lock. The best news is that we will be running the program again in February! Your child may be bringing home an application form, so please bring it back as soon as possible. Check out the organization at http://www.twowheelview.org/ . Our Grade nine students are beginning the process of registration for High School. Please keep this process alive in discussion with your child and feel free to contact the school with any questions that arise.

All students have now had a presentation to refresh expectations on our BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy. Technology is an important tool, and we try our best to have students use it appropriately and responsibly.

At the next School Council meeting, we will be voting on revised bylaws for this important body. School Council works with the administration to enhance and improve the experience of students at school. Please watch for notification of this important meeting! This month, students from each class will be meeting with administration to give student feedback as well.

Please feel free to contact school administration at any time with comments, concerns or questions. Mr. Michael Gallant Mr. Bruce Mac Donald Principal Vice Principal

www.cssd.ab.ca/sthelena

February 2015 Issue

St. Helena Newsletter Did you Know?

Our website trans-

lates information

into several

languages!

Welcome to February at St. Helena School!

A Lenten Prayer

Dear God,

I know what You re-

ceive is in my heart.

Let me be

inspired by Your words

and by the actions of

Your son, Jesus.

Guide me to make

sacrifices this Lent in

the spirit of self-denial

and with greater

attention to You and

those around me.

Help me to believe

that You will grant me

this because of the

sacrifice Jesus made for

me.

Amen.

http://www.twowheelview.org/

D2L

D2L is an online application used in Junior and Senior High classes in the Calgary Catholic

School District. Teachers use D2L to post News items, course content, and assignments.

Using the students’ username and password, parents may also access D2L to view detailed

information about coursework.

Junior High teachers use the D2L Grades Tools in order to securely calculate, manage and

share assessment with students and parents. This will allow students and parents to review

grades continually from home at any time throughout the year.

Please ask your child to show you the following:

The website address: https://dl.cssd.ab.ca/ (We encourage you to ―Add it to your favour-

ites‖ on your home computer).

Your child’s username and password – they are required to update you whenever

they make a change to their password.

Student Username: ______________________________

Student Password: _______________________________

The My Courses section

—————————

It is the expectation of the school/ staff that students log into D2L every evening and review each course they are enrolled in for the latest news/updates from teachers.

A Valentine’s

Prayer

I said a Valentine’s

prayer for you

And asked the Lord

above

To fill your heart

and bless your soul

With the precious

gift of love.

I asked Him for

sincere love

The kind that’s

meant to stay

Just like the

generous love

You give to those

you touch each day.

I prayed for love

from family

And from every

cherished friend

Then I asked the

Lord to give you

His love that knows

no end.

St. Helena Newsletter www.cssd.ab.ca/sthelena

https://dl.cssd.ab.ca/

It is very important that you phone the school if your child(ren) is going to be late for

school or away for an illness or medical appointment. If a student is late they must come

to the office through the front door and check in. School bell rings at 8:35 am and

attendance is taken at 8:40 am. If phoning in an absence before school hours please leave

a message on the answering machine. The office number is 403-500-2049.

“What did you learn at school today?” What does your child learn at school and how are they assessed? Understanding the Assessment of your child can help your child's learning and success. Please follow this link to a parent resource from Alberta Education if you would like to find out more about what your child learns and how they are assessed at school: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mychildslearning/

Student Lates/Absences

Inside Story Headline

Community Resources

―It won’t happen to my child‖ is what many parents feel about drug use. Yet all too often, today’s kids are experimenting with drugs. Here are some facts on drug use you should know: 12 is the average age for first use of alcohol Alcohol addiction in children can happen within only 6-18 months. Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in Canada. AADAC is now called Youth Addiction Services (403) 297-4664 Resources through Youth Addiction Services are free of charge and can be accessed on the AHS website: www.albertahealthservices.ca- Health Information; Diseases & Conditions,

Located at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, the Family & Community Resource Centre is one of the essential components of the Alberta Health Services and helps to promote Family Centered Care in child health services. The Family & Community Resource Centre provides a comfortable and supportive environment where families, service providers, and community members can find reliable child health information, receive support, access child health education, and connect with community resources. The Education Calendar is an online listing of the education activities provided by the Community Education Service (CES) and its community partners. To see what education activities are being offered, go to:

https://fcrc.albertahealthservices.ca/ces/newsletter/2014-11-newsletter.pdf

Coaches’ Corner

“Home of the Hawks”

Basketball

Congratulations to both the senior girls and boys teams for their excellent play at the Notre Dame feeder tournament. This was a great opportunity for the players to show their skills in Basketball. Our senior girls team finished in first place at the St. Rose Tournament.

We would like to thank all our basketball coaches for their hard work and dedication this season: Sr Girls: Mrs. Drummond and Mr. Elford Sr Boys: Mr. Lee Pan Jr Girls: Mrs. Graf, Mrs. Paulence and Ms. Nelson Jr. Boys: Mrs. Ostapiuk and Ms. Nelson

Stay tuned for upcoming dates for badminton.

February 2015 Issue www.cssd.ab.ca/sthelena

Straight Talk About Drugs

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mychildslearning/

http://www.albertahealthservices.ca-


St. Helena School prides itself on being a ―Catholic Community of Caring‖ School. This means that our students and staff make extra efforts to demonstrate that they ―care‖, both within our school community and out-side of it. Update: Pink Shirt Day (February 25) …What is Pink Shirt Day? The last Wednesday of February is celebrated as Anti-Bullying Day in Canada or more commonly known as "Pink Shirt Day". What started as a small protest in a small rural high school in Nova Scotia against a bullying incident has now grown to be an annual event and has spread across the globe as a day to raise awareness and stand against bullying in schools, workplaces, homes and over the internet. On this day, students wear pink shirts to symbolize a stand against bullying. The original event was organized by two high school seniors from Nova Scotia. After a freshman student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school, the two students went out that night and bought 50 pink shirts for all their male friends to wear the next day at school. Overnight, word quickly spread of what the two boys were up to and other students jumped in on the idea to show their support. So as the bullied boy walked into the school foyer the next morning he was welcomed by a line of students proudly wearing their pink shirts and then helped out as even more pink shirts were given to other students to wear that day. On that day - it was the students who decided that bullying would not be tolerated at their school and they together stood up in support for a kid who was not able to stand up for himself. St. Helena Kindness Campaign: St. Helena is changing our approach for Pink Shirt Day to move from an anti-bullying approach to promoting kindness among us each and every day. This also is in line with our District’s Spiritual Theme: Love Kindness. If you wish to support and join our Kindness Among Us “SHOW IT” Campaign and order a t-shirt please complete the form below. The shirt will include our school logo as well as our campaign message.

Payment is due when placing an order. Deadline to place an order is Thursday, February 5th /2015.

Kindness Grams From February 6 —11 the We Create Change Group at St. Helena will be selling Kindness Grams for $2.00 at lunch. The kindness grams will consist of a kind note, button and a heart sucker. This is one simple way to spread joy through the school. All proceeds will go to Free the Children to help buy goats to support families in developing countries. Please support the cause and send your friends a kindness gram. Please stay posted for future updates and projects as they become organized. Together, we can create a caring atmosphere and foster the Catholic Community of Caring within our school and community. Sincerely, St. Helena Community of Caring


St. Helena Newsletter

Catholic Community of Caring (CCC) Corner

On Wednesday, February 18th the staff and students of St. Helena School will be celebrating a prayer service in the gym at 2:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend. There will be no classes for students on Thursday, February 12 and Friday, February 13 as teachers will be taking part in Teachers’ Convention.

Monday, February 16th is Family Day. District schools and administrations buildings will be closed. There will be no school for students that day. This is a day to celebrate and recognize the importance of spending time with family. With the generous financial donation from the Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation, we will be able to kick this student-led recycling initiative off when we return to school in January! Funds collected through the recycling program will support our school (purchase of needed materials i.e. Library books, Chromebooks, etc), as well as have a global impact (contributing a portion to various charities, and to Free the Children initiatives like this year's pillar: the Year of Empowerment - purchasing goats to empower women farmers). For more than 20 years, CEPF has been making a positive impact on the lives of students by playing a key role in creating relevant partnerships between the business community and educators to create and deliver strong educational initiatives. We are pleased to have become a part of their ―Citizenship Community of Practice‖.



ASH WEDNESDAY

Teachers’ Convention

Family Day

We Create Environmental Change

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELLOR AVAILABILITY: Tuesday Thursday Friday (until 11:30 a.m.) I am also happy to meet with parents. For parents requiring support, please feel free to call or make an appointment to come see me. ___________________________________________________________ PRESENTATIONS RAP Program Presentation In January, we were fortunate to have Dan O. from Careers the Next Generation come and speak to grade 9 students about the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) and the opportunities that are available to them in high school through the RAP program. Dan provided information on the skilled trades and also highlighted the importance of beginning career planning. He suggested that students ask themselves three important questions: Who am I? Where am I going? How am I going to get there? For more information go to the following links: www.nextgen.org www.tradesecrets.gov.ab.ca KEY Dates: February 17, 2015: Bishop Carroll Applications must be submitted to Ms. Kresowaty. Ms. Kresowaty will deliv-er the applications to Bishop Carroll. Special program applications (St. Mary’s IB) are also due on this date. February 26, 2015: Registration forms for all students must be submitted to Ms. Kresowaty. *All parents are required to sign registration forms. March 4, 2015: Students applying to special programs will be informed of their status. March 4-25, 2015: Ms. Kresowaty will be meeting with all students to input courses in Power School during school hours. Course verification sheets will be sent home. __________________________________________________________________________ The Education Calendar is an online listing of the education activities provided by the Community Education Service (CES) and its community partners. To see what education activities are being offered in February go to: https://fcrc.albertahealthservices.ca/ces/newsletter/2015-02-newsletter.pdf



Counsellor’s Corner — Ms. Kresowaty

http://www.nextgen.org

http://www.tradesecrets.gov.ab.ca


Please check out Ms. Kresowaty’s D2L page for updated information on the High School registration process. The information booklet for high school registration was sent home on January 22, 2015 and was requested to be re-turned to school for January 26, 2015 as it is being used during Health class. This resource is also available on the inter-net in the Student Resources Centre (www.cssd.ab.ca). High School Open Houses are up and running. Please refer to the following schedule for open house dates. ***Please note that students applying for a recognized program (e.g., IB/AP) outside of their designated boundary must meet specific criteria for the program. Bishop Carroll Discover Bishop Carroll High School: Excellence in Self-Directed Learning Open House: Tuesday, February 3, 2015, 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. For more information call 403-500-2056 or visit www.cssd.ab.ca/bishopcarroll St. Mary’s High School Open House: February 4, 2015 7:00-9:00 p.m. This is for Gr.9 students who live within St. Mary’s boundaries or for students wishing to pursue an IB program. Notre Dame High School Open House: February 10, 2015 6:30-8:00 p.m. *Notre Dame High School has asked us to communicate that parking will be crazy so please arrive early. Presentation in the gymnasium will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. Please be on time. Bishop McNally Open House: February 19, 2015 6-8:00 p.m. For students within Bishop McNally’s boundaries.

Alberta Education is conducting the annual Accountability Pillar Surveys from January to the end of February 2015. As an annual check-up on the education system, the Accountability Pillar provides an opportunity for Alberta Education and school authorities to ensure that we’re equipping students for success. The Accountability Pillar uses a set of 16 indicators consisting of surveys of students, parents and teachers on various aspects of quality; student outcomes such as dropout and high school completion rates; and provincial assessments of student learning. Parents of grades 4, 7 and 10 students will receive a survey mailed to their homes directly from Alberta Education. In addition to English and French, the survey will be available in Mandarin/Cantonese, Punjabi, Arabic, Blackfoot, Cree, Korean, Spanish and Tagalog. Parents wishing to have surveys in a language other than English or French can contact their principal. In February, students in grades 4, 7 and 10 and all teachers will be completing their surveys online through their schools. We strong-ly encourage your participation as the results help us identify our school and jurisdiction’s strengths and weaknesses. Survey results will be available to school districts by the start of May 2015, and will be reported publicly by jurisdictions as part of the Annual Education Results Report.


High School Registration


Alberta Education Accountability Pillar Survey

https://owa.cssd.ab.ca/owa/redir.aspx?C=tqCTkMSV5kqJT3eXyCPOujZdfWJdoM8IX2HsbRPhwQDXDMHp2WG--gDLZCs0-Rw0hR-upanIA5A.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cssd.ab.ca%2fbishopcarroll



TO: All parents and caregivers RE: Driving behaviours in the area of the school As you know, the safety of our children is of paramount importance to police, schools and parents/caregivers. In order to ensure our students remain safe around roadways, including to and from classes, we have been carrying out traffic education activities within the school. While at the school, I’ve noticed a variety of traffic offences being committed, particularly around drop-off and pick-up times. The purpose of this letter is to highlight the dangers of these types of offences, in order to change driving and parking behaviours around the school. When meeting with students, it is clear that they observe many of these behaviours. Because our kids learn from what they see, it is important they observe the adults around them setting good ex-amples. Our goal is to work with all stakeholders to address these issues through education, warnings, and enforcement if necessary. Some of the primary offences we have seen that cause safety concerns are jaywalking (adults and students), parking in a bus zone and parking less than 1.5 metres from the edge of a driveway. Other behaviours we have seen include failing to obey a stop sign before entering intersection, mak-ing a U-turn unsafely, failing to yield for pedestrian in crosswalk and a variety of illegal parking of-fences. This can all contribute to an unsafe environment for our kids. Your commitment to traffic safety is greatly appreciated and will help us ensure no one at this school has to experience the catastrophic effects that can come from collisions caused by these infractions. If you have any questions, wish to discuss this matter, or witness unacceptable driving behavior, please do not hesitate to contact me at (403) 428-6800. Regards, Pete BARKER Community Resource Officer District 8 Zone 3 / (403) 428 6800 / [email protected]

CPS Traffic Letter

february 2015 issue st. …...―it won’t happen to my child‖ is what many parents feel about...

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