That was a very busy week!
On top of all the learning taking place around the school we auctioned cakes and hosted a huge craft show to support our sister school in the Dominican Republic, we competed in many inter-school sports including our undefeated Senior Girls Basketball team, we showed our spirit throughout the week, including a very successful (and conveniently warm) movie night! Thank you for the many ways you support our efforts to provide your young person with opportunities to connect to our school community.

This week:

Tuesday: Academic Awards Ceremony for students in grades 10,11,12 based on academic performance last year. Invitations for students were recently distributed in homeroom.  

Wednesday: Take Your Kids to Work Day. Grade 9 students are expected to spend the day learning about potential career ideas shadowing a caring adult. 

Wednesday: Early Dismissal @1:30 for all students to accommodate 7/8 Parent-Teacher Interviews

Wednesday:  7/8 Parent Teacher Interviews - Parent-teacher interviews for students in grades 7 & 8 will take place on Wednesday, November 6th from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. An interview appointment can be made until Tuesday, November 5th at midnight by accessing the You Can Book Me link below. Once the booking system closes, parents seeking communication with teachers will contact teachers as you normally would (voicemail). 

You Can Book Me - 7/8 Interview Booking Link

Sunday, October 27

As we enter a very festive week at All Saints we hope all our students and staff will participate in the many activities our Student Council and staff have planned for our community.

7-8 Progress Reports Distributed: On Wednesday we will communicate current academic performance through a formal Progress Report. The report will provide parents with anecdotal comments and an indicator (checkmark) of the current assessment of student learning. Students will see they are either Progressing Well, Progressing with Difficulty or Progressing Very Well in each academic discipline.

7-8 Parent-Teacher Interviews: Following the distribution of Progress Reports you will receive an email from our school account connecting you to our online interview booking platform. This service offers you the opportunity to book a schedule that hopefully works around your afternoon/evening on November 6. Please note the window for booking closes the night before (November 5) at 11:59pm. If you forget to book before then you will either (1) contact the subject teacher as you would normally do, or (2), hope there is an opening in the subject teachers schedule that evening. Please note teachers will prepare feedback for the 10-minute session provided interviews are books in advance.

Spirit Week: Our awesome Student Council has organized a second Spirit Week, capitalizing on the participation and feedback from our first earlier this year.
Monday: Sweater Day - Sold Out Movie Event Monday evening at All Saints!
Tuesday: Western Day
Wednesday: Grey Day
Thursday: Costume Day (no masks, culturally appropriate)
Friday: PJ Day

Cake Auction: Our annual Cake Auction in support of our Christmas Hampers and Todos Los Santos, our school in the Dominican Republic, will take place on Thursday, October 31st! 

Craft Fair: Our annual Craft Fair will be hosted at All Saints on Saturday, November 2 (10:00am-3:00pm). Our vendors are sold out again with many ideas and gifts for the upcoming Christmas Holidays. We hope to see many families from our community come out to support this fundraiser for our Christmas Hamper collection as well as support for our student Domincan Experience.

Student Vote: 

Last week more than 1.1 million students across Canada, including students in grades 10-12 at All Saints, participated in Student Vote 2019. Student Vote is a mock vote held alongside real elections to raise awareness among young people about the importance of getting out to the polls. When students across the country cast their ballot this past week, they elected a Liberal minority government with the NDP making up the official opposition. The full breakdown of the results can be found HERE. Using the online results platform, the results can be viewed nation-wide, by province/territory, by riding, and for each individual school.

At All Saints, it was a tight race between the NDP and the Conservatives, with 28.7 percent of students supporting the NDP and 27.7 percent voting Conservative. Before casting their vote, students learned about the electoral process, researched party platforms, and participated in a political spectrum survey tailored to young people. The goals of the Student Vote were to get students engaged in the voting process, have them exercise their democratic right to vote, and help them understand the value of democracy and how lucky we are to have it. Some grade 10 Civics, grade 12 Law, and grade 12 Business students also played key roles in the mock election, taking on the job of deputy returning officer, poll clerk or candidate representative. 

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you and your family were able to celebrate family and gratitude over the weekend. We are truly blessed to live in a place where we can feel safe and know there is a community that we are part of.

Last week All Saints students and staff ventured into the surrounding community to clean the capital. A special thanks to Ms. Lessard for organizing this opportunity for our students to give back to the community that supports them.

We also gathered the high school (9-12) students who are new to our community for an event where they were able to share their first impressions of All Saints as well learning about opportunities to connect to the All Saints community outside of the classroom through sports and extra-curricular activities supported by our great teachers!

This week our 9-12 students will have the opportunity to participate in the Student Vote 2019. With thanks to our dedicated teachers (Mrs. MacKinnon and Mrs. Kirtz) our students will cast private ballots for the candidates and parties participating in the national election.

Action Item:
Please remember we have our first early dismissal (1:30pm) date this week as our 9-12 Parent-Teacher interviews take place on Thursday afternoon and evening. Please make sure to book your 10-minute interview timeslot online using the following links:

High School Parent Teacher Interviews: Teachers Last Names A - M

High School Parent Teacher Interviews: Teachers Last Names N - Z

As the first month of the school year comes to a close we find ourselves fully immersed in the school year. With all our "firsts" done we now look to support all our students as they experience the full course load of academic courses.
A special thanks to the parents who were able to participate in our first School Council meeting last week. I look forward to working with you for many years to come and sharing in the abundance of talent and willingness to make All Saints a great place to learn. 

THIS WEEK:
Monday: All our students are invited to wear an orange shirt on Monday in remembrance of the thousands of indigenous youth who were systematically separated from their homes and communities and placed into residential schools. We wear an orange shirt because it symbolizes the struggle of one indigenous youth (Phyllis Webstad) who was not allowed to wear her favourite shirt upon entering the residential school. Click HERE to access more information about the meaning behind the action of wearing the orange shirt. 
- We will offer a viewing of The Secret Path at lunch in our chapel for any student who would like to see the amazing story of Chanie Wenjack as told through the words and music of the late Gord Downie.

Tuesday: our Grade 12's will participate in "Inspiration Day", a half-day program where our graduating students are provided with the opportunity to define their class legacy, hear strategies for mindfulness during a pressure-packed year, listen to All Saints Alumni who will offer feedback on having successfully walked through their graduating year and build community as a larger group.

Friday: our Grade 7's and 8's will (hopefully!!!) participate in the Terry Fox Run on Friday. Same plan as last week, hopefully more accommodating weather!

ACTION ITEMS:

Please remember to check your closets and storage trunks for used linens. We have partnered with Shepherds of Good Hope to provide them with as many bed linens as possible. The service is in dire need of bedding to serve the growing homeless and working-poor population in Ottawa. Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity to give. Students are asked to drop off any donations in the chapel. 

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY:

Saturday Learning Club - Click HERE to access information about a free program designed to support students learning English as well as students who can use extra support in gaining literacy skills.

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner! Many thanks for your support and presence in attending our Meet the Staff event last week. It was great to see so many parents actively involved in supporting our students.

On Thursday night I spoke about the importance of having every student connect to our school. By participating in an extra-curricular activity, your child will learn the responsibilities of commitment, manage time, and learn new social skills. The learning that takes place on the field or in a club transfer to the classroom and hopefully academic performance. Please continue to encourage your young person to try out for a team and/or join a club.

In addition to all the learning activities happening in our classrooms this week also has:
HS Leadership Camp
7/8 Girls and Boys Volleyball
HS Girls Basketball
7/8 Girls and Boys Soccer Tournament
7/8 Ultimate Tournament
HS Co-ed Touch Football
7/8 Girls and Boys Flag Rugby
Sr. Boys Volleyball Tournament

This week we'll see the last of the opening activities for the new school year.

Catholic School Council
Please consider joining us for our first Catholic School Council meeting on Monday evening at 7:00pm in our Learning Commons. The council is a community of adults connected to All Saints either by a student, or, in some cases community members who like to be involved. The first meeting includes elections for the upcoming school year as well as information about the start up of our school year.

Opening Liturgies
We will gather as a community this week for our opening liturgies to celebrate the start of the new school year. All students and staff will gather on Wednesday morning in one of two liturgies organized by our Chaplaincy Leader, Paul Kozak. The Ottawa Catholic School Board theme for this year is "Love kindness and mercy". Throughout the year we will create learning opportunities for our students to understand the that love is indeed a verb and that we are called to action in being kind and showing mercy to others. 

September 15

This week we will gather as a staff to provide parents with a brief opportunity to meet the teachers they hear about at home. We will open our doors for you to join us on Thursday evening for our annual Meet the Staff Event. 

It's hard to believe that we are already halfway through September! I am amazed to see and hear about all the amazing opportunities our educators create for your young people both in and outside of the classroom.

Last week we met with our Grade 12 students to share important information and timelines for applying to post-secondary programs, we welcomed our Grade 9's to high school with a series of presentations and group-building exercises in our Amazing Race, we invited Grade 7&8 classes into our chapel to meet our Chaplain and communicate the opportunities for faith development outside of the classroom and we began running practices for many fall teams.

Important Action Items for this week:

Student Council Spirit Week:
- Monday - Beach Day: think Hawaiian shirts and ukeleles!
- Tuesday - Sports Day: think of that vintage jersey hidden somewhere in the basement!
- Wednesday - Disney Day: Who is your favourite character????
- Thursday - Twin Day: Same hair, same clothes, same shoes...
                                                      - Friday - Grade Colour Day -

Meet the Staff Event:
Will will host a BBQ ($6.00=Burger, Chips and a Drink) starting at 4:30. A quick formal address at 5:00 and then meeting the teachers from 5:15-6:30. Click HERE to access a detailed timeline for the event.
Please ask your child to provide you with a list of teachers to visit for this event.



Looking Ahead:

School Council Meeting #1: Monday, September 23 

Week 1 - September 3

And so it begins...
I am happy to share with you that the first day of the 2019-2020 school year is now complete. With the year started, there is so much opportunity for your young person to grow and learn at All Saints. I hope your dinner tables were filled with conversations about the year to come.
I am blessed to be the Principal of All Saints and am proud of the teachers and support staff who choose to work with the young people in your community.
The start-up procedures for the school year likely include course information coming home to you for review as well as other technical pieces that require your active parent participation. Please be sure to ask your young person if there is any paperwork you should be reviewing.

A few action items for you:
- School Cash Online - Please create an account with All Saints. Paying online helps our community and saves finding cash or cheques at the last minute. 
- School Photo Day - Friday, September 6
- Meet the Staff Evening - Thursday, September 19 @4:30-6:30

New Date for School Council
- The first meeting of our School Council will take place on September 23 at 7:00pm in the Learning Commons. The date was changed to allow parents to attend the Meet the Staff event the week earlier.

Back to School Supply Drive
The DREX Team is collecting school supplies to bring to the Dominican Republic in February. There will be a collection box in the main office where students can drop off items.
Thanks for considering helping scholars in the Dominican Republic when our students visit this year.