All Saints Blog Week of September 11th, 2017

All Saints’ First Week of School!

It had been a great opening week at All Saints.  We began the week by welcoming our grade 7 students to our opening day assembly and them ushering them to their first period class.  Our grade 8-12 students all found classes and reacquainted themselves with the school.  A special thank you to our student council reps who injected a great deal of spirit into our opening assemblies.  They reviewed some upcoming activities, and encouraged students to get involved.  

Finally on Friday we were able to process all of our students and staff through our school photos.  We use the pictures for student identification cards and our yearbook, and we hope families took the opportunity to order packages as well.

Grade Level Assemblies

Our administration, Student services staff and student council had the opportunity to meet with all students by grade this week.  It was an important chance to share direction and expectations with our students.  I explained the significance of student voice and responsibility associated with our intention of involving students in decisions.  We spoke of the evolving process of learning as well.

Our Vice-Principals reviewed dress code, bus safety and expectations, attendance procedures, lunch hour guidelines and the many opportunities available across all grade levels at All Saints.  Our Student Services Counsellors explained the extensive support options for students who may be looking for information or who may require guidance during the year.  

This Week

On Thursday, September 14th, we will be running our Grade 9 Amazing Race.  This is an orientation session for our new “high school” students, allowing them to explore the new opportunities outside the senior elementary panel.  Students will rotate through information sessions and activities,  allowing them to become more comfortable with the resources in high school.

On Friday of this week we will run our Celebrating 7 orientation program for our grade 7 students.  This is a further opportunity to make our newest students feel comfortable at All Saints, while providing them with the resources to be successful in their first year.

Purchasing Options for Student Technology

As we continue the implementation of Deep Learning across the Board, and increasingly seek out opportunities to leverage digital to support learning, access to enough devices in each classroom is sometimes an issue. Our Board has been investing in technology for many years and will continue to do so, but the demand is rapidly increasing as students are starting to do more and more of their schoolwork online using the collaborative tools available.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is a strategy that has been successfully implemented in many of our schools to help support student access to technology. Many families are seeking advice as they consider purchasing a device for their child to use both at home and at school over the next few years. As a result, we have been working with Staples Canada to provide OCSB families with access to an online portal where they can find information and pricing on a few models of Chromebooks that have been specifically recommended by our Learning Technologies Department. These recommended devices are the same durable machines we are using in classrooms, with full keyboards, cameras and touchscreens that also flip over to act as a tablet and were not previously available from Staples.

Please see the parent letter outlining the program here.

All Saints Catholic School Council

The first general meeting of the All Saints School Council will take place on Monday, September 25th at 7:00pm in the school learning commons (library).  We hope to see many new parents at our meeting at the end of the month.  If you are interested in running for a position on the council, you may review the information required in the following forms and send the information required in an email to All Saints High School (AllSaints.High@ocsb.ca)

School Council Parent Nomination Form

School Council Parent Self-Nomination Form

Reminders:

A verification sheet was sent home with each student last Tuesday - it needs to be carefully checked over and signed by parents and returned immediately.  This is vital for collecting parent/guardian contact information.

Parents are asked to create an on-line payment account for each of their children at All Saints.  The option to use credit cards is now available at https://ocsb.schoolcashonline.com/   You will get a receipt for all payments made.  The student fee ($30 per student with a maximum of $60 per family) is due on the first day and may be paid online. If you have two or more students you just choose one child at a time and choose the option for (first, second, third...child).  

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:

September 21st: 4:30 to 6:30 - Meet the Staff BBQ (details to follow)

Monday, September 25th: All Saints School Council meeting (7:00 Learning Commons)