All Saints Blog Week of May 1st, 2017

Catholic Education Week

The first week of May is Education week across our province.  We are excited at All Saints, to be offering a number of special activities during the next few days.  Please see a link to our school activities here.

Parent School Climate Information Survey

Every two years the Ministry of Education requires that schools conduct a School Climate Survey where we ask students, staff, and families to provide their input on the environment in our school. In Catholic schools, our Catholic teaching on the dignity of the human person is the starting point for all issues of diversity.  Catholic schools strive to create an environment where all members of the school community feel safe, welcomed, included and valued.

We need your voice.

As parents and guardians, we value your voice and ask for your input as we continue to build positive school climates. We encourage you to take 10 minutes to complete our survey and ask that each family complete only one survey for each of the schools the children in your family attend. Each survey is linked to the school your child attends.

Please click this link for the parent survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PARallsaints724777

This survey link is also available on the homepage of our school website.

All students in Grades 4-12 will complete a similar survey at school. The student survey measures safety, bullying, equity, inclusivity and student well-being.  Our school staff will also complete a survey.

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.  

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact the school. We look forward to hearing your feedback regarding our school’s climate.

This survey will be available for completion until May 5, 2017.

Pedal Play Bike Safety and Fun

The second annual Kanata North Pedal Play Mobile Bike Rodeo will take place on June 4th, 2017.  This is a great event for both parents and students and is a great forum to learn safe cycling routes and practices here in our community. Feedback from the close to 100 parents and children that participated in last year’s event was overwhelmingly positive.

About Pedal Play:

Pedal Play is a free event for participants of all ages; primary school children, teens and adults. Participants will cycle through Kanata north, using both road ways and pathways, stopping at several activity stations along the way, to learn safe cycling practices, and how bicycles are regulated under the Highway Traffic Act. The 5-7 km route is planned to demonstrate safe routes throughout the community, connecting schools and community centres. Participants will learn their hand signals, how to share multiuse paths, how to change their gears when climbing, how to safely navigate roundabouts, and busy crossovers. They will also learn how to confirm their helmet fit and how to do a basic bike maintenance check.

Pedal Play is being sponsored by the Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association, with support and assistance from Councillor Wilkinson’s advisory committee - Transportation Action Committee Kanata North (TACK), Safer Roads Ottawa, and EnviroCentre’s Sustain Kanata North project.  For more information visit https://pedalplaymobilebikerodeo.com/

The Ottawa Catholic School Board: Keep you Connected

Check out the many different activities happening across our school board.  Read the Board’s “Keeping you Connected” newsletter here: http://bit.ly/KYCapr2017

There is a great deal of information on the CSPA website regarding information for parents and upcoming sessions.  You can visit the website here.

Communications:

Check out our blog – allsaintschs.blogspot.ca and our twitter @AllSaintsCHS (Mr. Kelly’s - @seankellyottawa) as well as our website ash.ocsb.ca for all that is happening at All Saints!

Coming Up:

May 1st to 5th: Education Week

The Inner Circle for Parents

Dear parents and guardians of the All Saints Community,

Together with our school council, we are pleased to invite you to an information evening that will be held on Thurs. May 4th, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. (Education Week).

We are excited to tell you about a pilot project that we offered this year to 15, grade 9 students. Well-being is a critical component in leading a healthy, balanced life. Through a series of four workshops, we aimed to provide students with tools and strategies that will help students develop within the four domains of well-being: Physical, Cognitive, Emotional and Social. Each workshop was designed to enhance well-being and resilience and was led by a trained professional. We invite you to join us, to actively participate in a synopsis of this pilot. The following is a breakdown of the sessions. All sessions will be offered in room 246.

Session #1 - Mental States of Being (15 minutes)

Leader: Graham Mastersmith - Graham will speak about the Medicine Wheel teachings as they have been taught to him by an Algonquin Elder, Traditional Knowledge Keeper.

Session #2 - Building Community (15 minutes)

Leaders: Deanna Tremblay - Deanna will speak to building community and the practical applications of “Restorative Questions”.

Session #3 - Mindfulness (30 minutes)

Leader: Jane Wharton ( trained in Dot B Mindfulness) - Jane will provide practical coping strategies for stress and anxiety.

Session #4 - The Mindfulness Room (15 minutes)

Leader: Claire Wilson (trained yoga instructor) - Claire will demonstrate how she uses the mindfulness room to help restore our students and provide them with a place to actively learn how to “be present” and how to “be calm”.

Interested parents/guardians can register at the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-inner-circle-for-parents-tickets-33989116362

Hoop Dancing with Juno performer Rhonda Doxtator

All Saints students were blessed to have a full day of Hoop Dancing workshops with Rhonda Doxtator recently.  Rhonda is of the Oneida nation of Southern Ontario and specializes in hoop dancing and medicine pouch creating & beading. With 30 years of pow wow dancing experience, her “passion lies within the cultural arts of dancing and singing and regalia making". Rhonda spends much of her time travelling to various native communities to teach dance and regalia making to the youth.  As a mother of two, Rhonda feels it is important to share knowledge and promote cultural awareness for the betterment of future generations.”

 (www.masconline.ca/en/artists/directory/rhonda-doxtator.aspx)

During her workshop, she shared with us the sacred and joy filled medicine of dance as well as her upcoming performance for the Juno Award ceremonies! With an eloquent combination of passion and humour, Rhonda had every student using hoops and dancing to the contagious beats of

“A Tribe Called Red.”

A special thanks goes out to the

City of Ottawa, MASC as well as the All Saints Parent Council, who generously donated funds for school arts & culture programming and to deepen the experience of Aboriginal programming for our students.