Busy Season

Staff and students are presently immersed in the "busy season", with summatives about to be completed followed by our in-class examinations. Our admin team has been fortunate to get into our classrooms to observe and participate in some of the summative activities with our students. In particular, I would like to thank Mrs. Goodwin-Barnes for graciously allowing me to participate as an "Iron Chef" Judge for our Grade 10 Foods Class. The students were outstanding as they fully engaged in "Battle Orange." A very enjoyable experience as students not only prepared very delicious dishes but were also very enthusiastic and creative in their presentations. Each team donned "spirit wear" and team "cheers" were really well done! Indeed a very, relevant and meaningful "quality assessment task" for our students. Our Grade 9 math students recently wrote their EQAO tests and we will be reviewing the results with our Numeracy Team in the very near future.We wish all of our students the best of luck during the upcoming formal examination period and hope for a great outcome in overall student achievement for all of our students! With the ongoing support,coaching and mentoring by our staff our students should have some terrific results forthcoming. Please be reminded that the exam schedule runs from Thursday January 20th to Tuesday January 25th. Should there be a snow day...January 26th will be the make-up day. On Friday January 28th there will be an opportunity for exam take-up for our students between 8:30 and 10:30 am. Our professional learning day will take place on Monday January 31st and Semester 2 begins on Tuesday February 1st. Report cards will be distributed on Thursday February 3rd. Best of luck everyone as we get into our final assessment & evaluation period. We will look forward to reviewing all of our students' results during our Promotion Meetings to be held on January 27th!

Great Week! - January 3-7th

It is hard to believe we are a full week back at school! Right from the "get-go", students and staff were immersed in summatives; clubs and teams were back in full swing and our Parent Engagement Group was back in action with Tuesday's at 10 & 7. Highlights of the week for me were visiting classes to see some of the summative activities that are happening in such a rich, authentic and relevant manner and also observing some of our teams as they returned to competition. In particular, congratulations to our Senior Girls' Volleyball Team for a very exciting, upset win over Loyola and to Rookie Coach Norgaard for such an impressive result! I enjoyed a great session with our parent group who were provided with tips for "de-stressing" and "pre-stressing" both for themselves and their young people, who are venturing into an intense summative and exam period. Our student council hosted a "Red & White Day" in support of our World Junior Hockey Team followed by a Wednesday night viewing of the Gold Medal on the "Big Screen" in our building. Although, our Juniors fell short, it was great to see the Canadian Pride in our building encouraged by our student council, students and staff! On another note, we had the privilege of hosting Oakville's Mayor Burton in Mr. Bowering's Careers Class. What a great opportunity for our students to have the Mayor share with them his views on how to be "successful and happy in life." His message was well received by those in attendance. Thanks to Mr. Bowering and his class for inviting me to attend! Next week we have another busy week as we look toward our Grade 8 Parent Info Night on Thursday January 13th (6:30-8:30 pm) and Grade 9 EQAO Math Testing on Friday January 14th & 17th. While continuing with our summative period we also have a special evening session planned called "Cocoa and Cram" for our Grade 9 students who are completing summatives and preparing for exams for the first time. Thanks to our Link Crew Student Leaders, Ms. Klokoff and Mrs. Forde for organizing this in our library on Wednesday January 12th from 6:30-8:30pm. We encourage all of our Grade 9's to come out and get some study tips and mentoring from our sophomore/senior students. Our admin team will also be hosting two "Just Do It" sessions on Tuesday January 11th and Wednesday January 12th from 3-4pm in The Ridge Room for students who need extra support in completing their summative work. As you all can see, we are all right back at it in support of the success of all of our students and I would like to extend my thanks to all of our staff who are working diligently in encouraging and motivating our students to achieve "best ever" results! Your hard work and dedication is greatly appreciated.