Gift of Giving

We are all delighted to begin our holiday break and this past week has been particularly festive and spirited! Our STUDCO Team put on a full week of holiday spirit building activities and in the previous week our Business Entrepeneurship class under Mr. Tarantino's leadership had some serious "business...in the street." All activities generated over $500.00 for the Chum City's Children Wish Campaign. Our "Ridge Cares" Parent Team spent a morning wrapping "gift packages" for 17 students in our school, who will be very surprised to receive such a well considered "act of kindness" from many members of our parents, caregivers and school community. Today we celebrated with a fantastic schoolwide assembly hosted by STUDCO and COMMCO. Of course, we could hardly wait for the reveal of our annual student holiday video - written, produced and directed by the very talented members of Ms. Olmsted's COMMCO class, with terrific performances by STUDCO members and additional IRHS students and one very, cute IRHS "dog!" This year's video was one of the most professional holiday videos I have ever seen...a terrific storyline, with Santa getting particularly silly with the elves and making some great visits to local businesses in the Oakville area... all in the "quest" for a new sleigh. Great job by all of our students involved in this, and exceptional work by Mac Calistan and Sam Lehner, who were integral leaders of this video production. The assembly was full of fun and audience participation by both students and staff, very interactive with some surprises, for sure!
Thanks everyone for supporting this student led event. We were very pleased with the outcome. So, as we begin to wind down our day today, on behalf of our admin team (Kate, Peter and I) and staff we wish all the members of our "Ridge Family" the very best for a wonderful and restful holiday season. We also wish you the very best for a happy and successful 2013! Take care everyone...we will see you on January 7th!

Holiday Luncheon

Today we all had the privilege of attending our annual holiday luncheon, which is brought to us by our Social Committee Chair - April Valera, and our wonderful Parent Engagement Team (PET) of Volunteers!

In honour of our amazing staff, this luncheon is an opportunity to say thank-you for all of their hard work and  committment to our students. It is always great to take the time to share some excellent food together and share in some casual conversation in such a festive setting!

Special thanks to April and to our PET for the organization and preparation of the luncheon which once again featured the finest of nibblies, treats and refreshments, as is the tradition.

We also appreciate the good  help provided by  our custodial crew; David, Lee and Tony, who ensured that the set-up of our staff room was in good order for this pre-holiday event.

As I reflect on this very special tradition at 'The Ridge," it makes me appreciate all that is wonderful about  our school. It is a privilege to work with our staff and our parent/caregiver community, each and every day in serving the needs of all of our students, who are amongst the finest in Halton and Ontario.

Have a wonderful evening everyone and just think...it is only 8 "school day" sleeps until our holiday break!

Sounds of the Season!

This past Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending, "Sounds of the Season." This annual, holiday event served as a showcase for all of our "musical and artistic talent" at "The Ridge." Well over 160 students were involved in the evening performance, which highlighted both traditional, holiday music and more modern renditions of song.

Master musicians' and conductors', Kevin McConvey and Michael Fraser led 10 groups over the night of music, which also featured a special routine performed by our Modern Dance Team. Hundreds of friends and family members attended the event and were treated to a vast array of musical numbers, which were performed magnificently by our students.

I would like to recognize the following groups for their participation in "Sounds of the Season 2012."

Congratulations to our: Grade 10 Instrumental Class; Grade 9/10 Vocal Class; Jazz Band; Chamber Choir; Grade 9 Instrumental Class; Grade 11/12 Instrumental Class; Junior Concert Band; Concert Band and Concert Choir.

Thanks to Kevin, Mike and Lisa Weir (Dance Team Staff Liaison) and all of our performers for a wonderful evening. You set us all up beautifully in anticipation of our holiday season! Well done, everyone! Bravo!!!

Celebrating our Champions!

Congratulations and special thanks to all of our students and staff who attended and were recognized at our Luncheon of Champions yesterday!

The Luncheon of Champions is one of our favourite events as we get an opportunity to recognize students who have overcome challenges or obstacles, while achieving personal bests. Our staff nominate students who have made unique and significant contributions in their classes and within our school community.

At this celebration, we had many family and community members join us, who got a tremendous opportunity to hear the accolades and heart warming stories told about their loved ones, through the passionate voices of our teaching and support staff.

In most, if not all cases,students who attended the luncheon, have taken some significant risks to make contributions and improvements, personally, as students of IRHS, and as members of the IRHS, broader school community.

Upon receipt of their certificates, much pride and humility was demonstrated by our "champions." Our hope is that this recognition can foster future successes, personal achievements and continued momentum in further engaging our students in their learning and in school life.

I would like to thank our Personal Career Services Team (PCC) - for organizing and hosting this special event - Nancy Anstett, Georgina Cook, Melanie Spelman, Rachel Stecca, Elaine Fung and Kris Reeve.

Special thanks to Mrs. Jennifer Flynn and Mr. David Willis for their help behind the scenes in ensuring the luncheon's success and to our parents/caregivers and community members for joining us in celebration of our kids.

We are very proud of our "champions" and our "Ridge Team" and look forward to another celebration of students in Semester 2!

"Be A Hero" Contest

Last Thursday evening, I had the privilege of attending the "Be A Hero" Contest Awards for the Region of Halton. This contest allowed students to participate in a creative endeavour on the theme of Homelessness and Affordable Housing.

93 student submissions were entered in this contest, of which 50 were Iroquois Ridge students.

When I was invited to the evening, I wasn't aware of the scope of our participation, but knew we were being considered for some of the awards. Members of MJ Mendes and Monique Gazan's classes participated and the submissions by our kids were outstanding!

To our delight and surprise, two of our students finished in the Top "5", out of 15 Halton Public and Catholic Secondary Schools and additional community submissions.

Congratulations to Cheryl Joseph for her 2nd place finish and $500.00 cash award and to Mayuri Mahendran who finished 4th with a $100.00 cash award.

The icing on the cake was our school capturing the "School Spirit Award" for 2012.

At the gala, we had the good fortune of listening to a keynote address by Craig Kielburger, who inspired all of us to continue to make a difference. Our students even got to have a photo opportunity with Craig, who is the founder and leader of "Free The Children." They were also recognized by the local media.

We are very proud of all of our students and staff who represented us and participated in such an important consciousness-raising, social issue through the arts and media. It was fitting that the gala was held on the eve of National Housing Day.

Congratulations and well done, Ridge...you never cease to amaze me!

Community Issues Meeting

Today we had the privilege of hosting our 7th Community Issues Meeting which included students; members of our Safe School Action Team; administrators; our local MPP Kevin Flynn; Melissa Matton (IRHS's Public Health Nurse), Constable Bruce Hasenbacher (Community Police Liaison Officer), our Tobacco Enforcement Officer - Aaron Jackson; reps from our local, community recreation centre (Amalia Voicu and Deb Mackay)); additional reps from Halton's Public Health/Sexual Health & Needle Exchange Program (Robert Poezeg and Adam Higeli) and parent representatives from the Ridge Community - Sara Severin and  Fozia Rehman We were very excited to host this forum earlier in the school year, so that we could have all vested stakeholders at the table to share our own personal current information, knowledge and trends;share the latest data from our Youth Surveys and highlight resources available for youth in our community to promote safe and positive responses related to their personal wellness. All participants shared their personal perspectives around two issues in particular,,,mental health and substance use in our local community.It was particularly important and enlightening to hear from the student perspective as three, senior  student reps shared their personal stories and viewpoints about youth issues and concerns.The outcome of the morning discussion culminated in  all of us getting  a better understanding of our roles in working together to further suppport the wellness of our youth at Iroquois Ridge and beyond. Next steps and actions will follow, which will be primarily student led and faciliated by myself, Melissa and members of this community team. The forum itself was initiated by our Safe School's Action Team, as part of our School Improvement Plan Goals for 2012/13, and supported and organized by our new, Public Health Nurse, Melissa Matton. We were delighted to have such a great turn-out at the meeting, which certainly could have been a full day session, due to the rich discussion, feedback, problem solving and action planning by all participants. We were very pleased to hear from our students and our local community partners that in many ways things are improving for our youth, although we can never be blind to the tremendous pressures our young people face as they make personal decisions about their wellness and the wellness of others. In particular, I would like to thank Mrs. Jennifer Flynn and Mr.David Willis  for ensuring that our morning went without a hitch in organizing such a welcoming meeting venue. And I am especially proud of the continued hard work of our SAFE Schools Action Team (SSAT) staff members - Nancy Anstett, Kris Reeve, Caitlin Grieve, David Allan, Paul Beck, Linda Wiles and Lisa Omeri for continuing to work with me in providing advice about how to continue to make our school and community a safe and positive place for our youth, and all vested stakeholders, within our school and extended, Oakville Community. I was very proud of our work together today and thank all of our participants for coming together in support of our students, and each other, as we continue to promote "Wellness" for all. We will look forward to another community session in the Spring, with additional participants joining us, once again, to touch base, and see how we are doing and whether we are putting our next steps into actions that will truly make a positive, difference for our students.

November Reflection...

This past week was a particularly, busy and eventful week at "The Ridge." We are presently hosting a small contingent of OISE students (7 teacher candidates) who are participating in a very rigorous teaching/mentorship program under the leadership of  Stephen Merner, our Program Leaders and associate teaching staff. So far, they are very impressed with our school, staff and our students as they begin their first placement at IRHS, with so much to learn, under our good guidance and care.

Special thanks to our Parent Engagement Team and PCC Program Leader - Nancy Anstett for providing two, very well attended.Tuesdays at 10/7 sessions on the topic of Post Secondary Destinations. This session is one of our most popular sessions, as our particpants receive very, current information from our in-house experts, including a graduate student who came back to speak about her experience as a first year university student.

Congratulations to Melanie Spelman (PCC Counsellor) for organizing and implementing a very, successful "Take Your Kids to Work Day," this past Wednesday November 7th. Our Grade 9's truly benefit from this day where they can explore various pathways in workplaces they choose to attend. In addition, Melanie ensured that 100% of our students were placed, as she chaperoned and supervised a small group of 8 students without placements, at Oakville Hydro.Well done, Melanie!

Our "master" coaches, Al Samsa and Stephen Merner took our Junior and Senior Girls' Basketball teams into play-off action earlier in the week versus Garth Webb and Oakville Trafalgar High Schools, respectively. Akthough both teams fell short of victories, they had great seasons and represented our school with pride and exemplary sportsmanship.

In addition, Marie Guest and our Senior Boys' Volleyball Team won a very exciting game against L.B. Pearson, with a 25-14 and 27-25 score for the victory. Marie and the boys now move on to the Halton Senior Boys' Volleyball Finals tonight at 5:30pm at Sheridan College. We wish them the best of luck and encourage folks to come out and support this exciting, Ridge Team!

This past Friday, our Senior Boys' Football Team (Coach Luyks/Coach Phillips) fell shy of a quarter final victory over OTHS. Despite being small in numbers this group did not quit all season long. We are very proud of them! They had an awesome season!!

Cailtin Grieve and the members of our Acceptance Club promoted and participated in Random Acts of Kindness Day, also, this past Friday. Positive messages greeted us upon our entry to school and positive messaging continued throughout the day, as we joined other Oakville organizations in promoting "positivity" on this very, special day.

On Friday, we held three very excellent and impactful, Remembrance Day Assemblies. These student and staff led presentations featured our choir, under the direction of Mike Fraser, a media presentation prepared by our students and members of our Canada and the World Team (Jacquie Schettler, Paul Beck and David Pearce). We were delighted and proud to have graduate, Christopher Wright (first year student at Royal Military College, in Kingston) return to lay the ceremonial wreath on behalf of our soldiers, both fallen, presently in action and those remaining and returning as our veterans. A very memorable presentation and a definite highlight of our year. Well done, everyone!

And last but not least, Coaches Jim Fisher and Lisa Weir led a large contingent of IRHS students into the DECA Business competition, faring very, very well and the team moving on to Provincial Competition. 34 IRHS competitors will now compete at this prestigious level of competition. A truly outstanding result!

Congratulations to all who made last week so eventful. Engagement and excellence are alive at "The Ridge!"

Sports Update!

As we begin November our student athletes and coaches are beginning to wind down their regular season play and working towards play-off appearances. Today we will be hosting senior and junior football versus T.A. Blakelock, boys' senior volleyball versus St. Thomas Aquinas and  a girls' senior basketball play-off game against King's Christian College We wish our teams and coaches the best of luck and know that you will represent our school with pride, enthusiasm and exemplary sportsmanship.

In addition, our cross country team has had an excellent season. At the recent Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (GHAC) meet we had the following results:

• Midget Girls Team - 5th place
• Midget Boys' Team - 3rd place 
• Tim Gibson (Grade 9) - 12th out of 77 competitors
• John Breeson (Grade 12) - 14th out of 137 competitors
• Senior Boys' Team - 6th place
• Gillian Day (Grade 9) - qualified for the provincial championships (OFSAA) to be held at the Heart Lake Conservation Area this upcoming Saturday November 3rd.                                                       

We wish Gillian the best of luck in her race and congratulate the entire team on a great season!

All of our Fall Athletic participants have fared very well and I want to thank all of our teacher/coaches, in particular for their committment and dedication, beyond the classroom, as they serve as excellent role models

and mentors for all of our student athletes. Thanks also to our Program Leader - Mrs. Marie Guest for all of her hard work behind the scenes in ensuring that our students and coaches have an excellent experience in our co-curricular program.You are all simply the very, very best!

Camp Synergy

Today I visited our Grade 10 students, staff and leaders at "Camp Synergy." Although the weather was damp, "spirits" were not as 60 of our Grade 10 students enjoyed a day of archery, low and high ropes, farm education and other team building activities. Held at the Tim Horton's - Onondaga Camp near St. George, students get a wonderful opportunity to continue to build relationships with each other over the 3 day/two night experience.Mr. Stephen Merner and senior student leaders organized the second of three opportunities for our Grade 10 students to participate in. There will be a third trip later in the year. It was enjoyable watching the students and our staff (Mr. Fisher, Ms. Grieve, Ms. Burke, Ms. McCoy and Mr. Warner) participate in the activities which were both fun and educational.Of course, I had the pleasure of enjoying a nice hot lunch with our students and staff as we warmed up from the wet weather and shared stories from the previous day's activities."Synergy" is a follow-up to LINK Crew, which all of our Grade 9's experience when they transition to our school. As our school continues to promote an inclusive and safe environment, "Camp Synergy" is a perfect example of promoting the value of teamwork and collaboration, while also continuing to develop and sustain positive relationships with one another. The emphasis on the cultivation of future student leaders via both the LINK Crew and Synergy experience is what makes our student body at The Ridge so unique.These very special learning opportunities allow our students to take risks in a supportive and collegial environment, where students can demonstrate personal growth, while also respecting the attributes of one another. Many of our Grade 9 & 10's go on to serve as leaders in their senior years and we are fortunate for this as we know the value of developing strong leaders for the future, both within our school and beyond. A great day everyone....thanks for the privilege of letting me join you!

Honour Roll Recognition

Last Thursday, we had the privilege of hosting an Honour Roll Celebration to acknowledge student academic excellence at our school. To achieve honour roll status, students must earn 80% in their courses, in both semesters (not a combined average).650 students were recognized and approximately 120 parents and caregivers attended this morning event. To have more than 1/2 of our student population achieve such greatness is truly amazing and wonderful.We are very proud of this and certainly know that this achievement does not come without the support of our dedicated and amazing staff and members of our Ridge Family, our parents and caregivers! During the celebration,students performing speaking duties, were the highest achievers in their grade, Manjot Sangha (Grade 12), Hyunji Shin (Grade 11) and Elaine Zhong (Grade 10) Our Superintendent, Stuart Miller and School Trustee, Kelly Amos were also guest speakers at the celebration. Mrs. Kate Rehm (Vice-Principal), Mrs. Jane Greenhill and Mrs. Jennifer Flynn (Administrative Assistants) planned a wonderful morning which featured a gathering in our cafeteria, followed by snacks and refreshments on "the street." Mr. McConvey's music classes performed during the informal gathering time, while students were awarded certificates of honour, by members of our Parent Engagement Group(PEG). Special thanks to our PEG volunteers: Fozia Rehman, Diana Bell, Kechrid Mohamed Chihab,Tuula Maki, Nigar Yunus, Jacqueline Benin, Shehla Habler and Kim Smith. We appreciated the time you spent giving back to our honourees and our school.Additional thanks to Mr. David Willis and Ms. Tiffany Olmsted for the set-up of our venue and to Laura Battista and Aramark staff for our treats! It was a very successful morning and inspiring to think of 650 students who attained such excellence and serve as role models for all students to aspire to. Congratulations to all of our Honour Roll recipients of 2012! Your achievements are simply awesome!!

Engaging our newcomers!

This past Friday, September the 14th, we held an event to welcome all newcomers to Iroquois Ridge. Invitations were sent, by our PCC (Personal Career Counselling) Team to 60 students, who were also able to invite a friend to join them for a special luncheon, held in their honour. Members of our admin team, PCC staff and other student leaders, including our Student Council Co-Presidents, were introduced to welcome our newcomers and encourage them to get involved in school life....co-curriculars, clubs and special activities. It was interesting to hear from our newcomers and where they have come to us from...certainly from many places around the globe. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Dubai, Bahrain, Korea, China, and South Africa were some of the countries represented. At Iroquois Ridge, we have a very diverse and inclusive school where our emphasis on "Global Learning" and "Global Outreach" attracts many students and their families to us, who enrich our culture tremendously. In addition, this year our diversity has been recognized and we are very, fortunate to have been allocated additional section support for those students who are English Language Learners (ELL's). Mrs. Gordana Panoska is the lead responsible for supporting over 240 students who are newcomers/ELL's  to "The Ridge." As an extension of our work with our ELL's and newcomers, our school will be involved, for the second year, in a Ministry Collaborative Project with White Oaks Secondary School, to further support our newcomers and English Language Learners. Our LINK Crew team and Parent Engagement Team will also be focusing on ensuring that all of our newcomers and newcomer families/caregivers feel welcome, safe and supported at our school. We are very proud to continue to ensure that all of our students have an opportunity to engage with us, fully, and achieve student success in both our curricular and co-curricular program. This caring and inclusive approach toward everything that we do is "who we are" and "will continue to be" as a Ridge Family and Ridge Community. So we welcome our newcomers and wish them every success for a wonderful, school year. You're going to love it here!

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone! It is great to be back at "The Ridge" for 2012/13. We are off to a fantastic start as we welcomed our staff, students and parent community this past Tuesday September 4th.Prior to the school start, our LINK Crew staff and student leaders had an intense training session together to prepare for our Grade 9 Students' Orientation on the morning of the 4th. The purpose of our LINK Crew Program is to ensure and promote a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment for all of our incoming freshmen, and to build relationships, so that each Grade 9 has a senior to "link-to" throughout the year. In Semester 1, our LINK Leaders will provide special activities and events during monthly, Mentoring Mornings for our Grads of 2016. We believe strongly in the value of our LINK Crew Program and are appreciative of the dedication and committment of our LINK Crew Staff and Senior Student Leaders to our Grade 9's.As the school year begins we welcome some new staff to our school: Peter Stevens (Vice-Principal), Joanna Sandford (Program Leader for Special Education), MJ Mendes (Art), Jovan Djurdjevic (Canada & The World/French), Allison Tenn-Yuk (Math), Lorna Lanza (Family Studies) and Julie Smintich (Semester 2-Canada & The World/Family Studies. These folks will contribute greatly to our school and students will benefit from their experience, passion and committment to student success. We also welcomed our Grade 9 parents and caregivers in on Tuesday morning to engage in a Parent Orientation prepared by our Parent Engagement Team and facilitated by one of our Halton's Public Health Nurses. The theme of the session was "How to Help Your Teen Survive in High School and was well attended and appreciated by those who were able to join us. This Friday we will be hosting our :"Live Different" Schoolwide Event. This is our second year bringing in this team of youth, who begin with a multimedia schoolwide assembly in the morning, followed by the facilitation of workshops for 180 of our students in the afternoon. The focus of the workshops is intended to further engage our students in making a difference in their local and global communities. At "The Ridge" we do this very well and "Live Different" Day will remind and inspire us all to get involved and continue to promote service in making our local community and world a better place to be. We look forward to Friday and will celebrate the day with a schoolwide barbecue at lunch for everyone. We hope to set a great tone for the rest of the year with "Live Different Day" and create some buzz and enthusiasm for all of our staff and students as we kick-off 2012/13. So everyone, we are definitely already  gearing-up for another amazing year at "The Ridge" and will absolutely look forward to learning and working together with you to ensure that all of our students, staff and community are highly engaged to ensure success for all! Have a fantastic year everyone!

Parent Engagement Team Celebration

Last evening we had the privilege of celebrating our year-end with members of our Parent Engagement Team (PET). Many members were in attendance and many recognized for their contributions to our students, staff, school and community. Sara Severin has been our PET Chair for the past two years and has worked diligently and faithfully to sustain the excellent work that is still being done with our parents and caregivers. Celine Steeves, our School Chair has also worked very hard to ensure that members of our parent community have a voice and has ensured that many special events and speaking engagements have been offered to members of our school community over the past two years. Shannon McDonald has led our Tuesday at 10/7 Program, which still continues to thrive and provides an excellent network and helpful resources for our parents. Bonita Kent has been a very important leader with our Ridge Cares Program and her role has been an integral one in support of our students. Our Public Health Nurse, Nicholle Russell has spent the past year with us and has been another vital  member of our team. These five amazing individuals will be graduating and moving on to other endeavours next year but have sought out others to step into their place. This sustaining and building of capacity for our PET bodes well for our future as our team continues to promote and support our work at Iroquois Ridge High School. At this time I would like to pay tribute to all of the members of this year's Parent Leadership Team and thank them for their committment and dedication on behalf of all of us: Celine Steeves, Sara Severin, Fozia Rehman, Shannon McDonald, Penny Smith, Kathy Cancilla and  Bonita Kent. Your caring manner and investment of heart and soul is greatly appreciated.We will soon be announcing members of our new Leadership Team and know that they too have the enthusiasm, skills and abilities to carry on  the continued support of our students, staff, school and community. We are very fortunate at "The Ridge" to have such an amazing school community and the involvement of our parents and caregivers makes us a stronger school community of which we are fondly grateful.

Torch of Life

Today we had a unique opportunity during the lunch hour to welcome Khaled Khatib and the "Torch of Life" to our school. Many members of our school community were present to greet him as he continues on a 75 city/town tour of Ontario to bring awareness about organ/tissue donations. Joining Khaled via Skype was Helene Campbell, a 21 year old recipient of a double lung transplant. Helene had a chance to speak with our students, staff, parents and program leaders about her experience from the perspective of being a recipient of this "gift of life". This interaction was very special for us as we truly marvelled about Helene's courage and her enthusiasm in speaking candidly about her story. Khaled's 110 day journey will  culminate in Toronto on June 19th, where the "Torch" will be brought to Helene at the Toronto General Hospital at 12:30pm for the final journey to Queen's Park at 1pm, where Helene will cross the finish line.Helene will be passing the "Torch" off to Nancy Salvalaggio, who is still waiting and in need of a double lung transplant. We were proud to meet with Helene and Khaled today and will watch closely on the 19th. The "Torch of Life" is an initiative founded by George Marcello, who is also a transplant survivor. George has made his life's mission one of bringing awareness to organ/tissue donation over a 16 year campaign. His goal, as is Khaled's and Helene's for us all to consider registering as organ and tissue donors so that others will receive the same chance to enjoy a healthy future with friends, family and loved ones. The "Torch of Life"  journey has also inspired many transplant recipients and those who are waiting and in need of donations. It was a pleasure to host this event today at "The Ridge" and we thank all who participated.

Banquet of Champions!

This year has been a phenomenal one for Ridge Athletics. Right from the "get-go" our teams and student athletes have been successful at the highest level of competition in HSSAA (Halton Secondary Schools' Athletic Association) action, regional and provincial competition. Tonight we celebrate the achievements of our athletes and coaches at the annual Athletic Banquet sponsored by our Healthy Active Living Team. Having an excellent final week of student athletics, our athletes came fresh from both Halton and OFSSAA (Ontario Federation of School's Athletic Association) finals. Matt Vivolo and Jeremy Lee played on Centre Court at the Rexall Centre/York University where they finished 4th in OFSSAA competition. Both our boys' and girls' baseball teams won silver medals in the Halton Championships. Our Junior Boys' soccer team lost a heartbreaker to Loyola Secondary School 1-0 in Halton Finals competition.To perform so successfully for the full year and to finish so strong is an amazing accomplishment for our school. Special thanks to all of our coaches in 2011/12, congratulations to our talented student/athletes and special thanks to all of our students, staff and parent community who came out to support and cheer on our Trailblazers. When we look to 2012/13, the future remains bright for continued success for Ridge Athletics! Way to go everyone....you have represented our school with stellar athleticism, class, determination and pride!

Athletic Update!

We are heading into the home stretch for our student athletes and coaches for 2011/12. Recently, we have had tremendous success on the track, on the field, on the diamond and on the courts. Our Track & Field Team had their best showing in years with 57 athletes participating in regionals and pre-OFSAA competition. Many personal bests and medals resulted from the excellent efforts of our students representing Grades 9 - 12. Our soccer teams have had excellent seasons with our Junior Boys heading into the Halton championship today against Loyola, while our girls finished up their stellar play in the Halton semi-finals, losing to Notre Dame. Our Senior Boys also represented our school in fine fashion and gave it all they had in each and every game. Playing on the tennis courts right now at OFSAA are Matt Vivolo and Jeremy Lee. The boys won their first two matches yesterday and are heading into the championship round today at York University.On the baseball diamond, both our boys and girls are headed into the Halton Championship Finals. Our boys play today against
Corpus Christie and our girls play in the finals this upcoming Thursday versus Christ the King. This is an absolutely fantastic showing by our athletes who have played at the highest level in their sports, achieving phenomenal results.We wish all of them and their coaches the best of luck in championship competition.Go Ridge Go!!!!

Let the Celebrations Begin!

Last Friday, our Personal Career Counselling Team (PCC) hosted our bi-annual, Luncheon of Champions. Thus began our year-end celebrations of student recognition. Many students, staff, parents and caregivers attended as we spoke to the many accomplishments of our nominated students. Our "champions" stood out and made a difference in our classrooms, in our school community and beyond our school community. Some of the common characteristics attributed to our student winners were perseverance, committment and leading by example.We are very proud of these students who are exemplary role models for others to aspire to! Thanks to our PCC Team, Nancy Anstett, Georgina Cook, Rachel Stecca, Melanie Spelman, and Kris Reeve for hosting a wonderful luncheon and celebration that is definitely a highlight in each of our semesters.Well done!

Phenomenal News!

Hello everyone! I am pleased to let you know that the students of our Safe School Action Team/Anti-Bullying Team (otherwise known as the "Jasmine Project Team" ) were nominated and have now won the "Louise Russo - W.A.V.E. Award" for 2012. W.A.V.E. represents "Working Against Violence Everywhere" and this is one of the most prestigious National Awards that students can win. The award includes a $2,000.00 prize for our student team to continue their great work in 2012/13.We were one of "5" Award Winners and our student team will now represent our school at a Gala Awards Ceremony on Wednesday May 16th at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. Congratulations to Caitlin Grieve (Staff Advisor) and the following members of this student team: Roshni Jain, Kristine Confalone, Emily and Tristan Vella, Sam Lehner, Sabrina Yeing, Fahad Buchh, Katherine Marek, Sawyer Karabelas-Pittman and Mack Calistan. You are simply...the best!!

Spring Reflection

Spring has finally arrived and students are about to receive their mid-term evaluation for Semester 2. On Thursday April 19th, mid-term report cards will be distributed in Period 1 classes. Interview night will be held during the evening on Thursday April 19th from 6:30-9:00 pm. At mid-term ,it is always important to reflect on successes and challenges and re-set targets and goals for the final evaluation in June. Our teaching staff, admin and service-side staff (Personal Career Counsellors, Special Education and Student Success Team) are looking forward to providing the necessary feedback, coaching and mentorship for all of our students. At all of our reporting periods we review all of our students' achievements and results. Students, parents and caregivers are encouraged to seek out whatever is required to ensure student success. We look forward to working with you in partnership to support the goals of all of our students and thank-you for your continued efforts in supporting best-ever results, both in and outside of the classroom.

You Have the Power!

Hello everyone. I am excited to let you all know that we have just finished two days of filming with Jasmine Richards and Cody for her first music/video "You Have the Power", to be launched very soon. Over the weekend we have seen the first two "rough cuts" and we are very pleased with many elements in this inspiring anti-bullying production. As you know, this effort has been entirely student led and I know that both Jasmine and her producer, Robert Johnston are very happy with the committment, participation and enthusiasm demonstrated by our students. They all have truly inspired me! There will be a little more work to do yet, as everyone is striving to have the best video possible. This upcoming Friday,we will look forward to the Halton "Inside and Out" Conference, where Jasmine will speak and perform her new song. Our GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) will attend with staff members, Jason Schaffer and Caitlin Grieve. This will be a great day of learning and networking together with hundreds of other Halton intermediate and secondary students. This past Friday our staff engaged in a full day of professional learning, which was prepared, planned and led by our Safe School Action Team. In the morning, all of our staff participated in  Restorative Justice Training with Art Lockhart and Art Biffis, followed by workshops in the afternoon that highlighted: our Ridge Respect Website; further learning with board and ministry folks with our ELL Project, in collaboration with White Oaks; students and staff of our GSA presented; program leaders in our board shared curriculum connections incorporating First Nations, Metis and Inuit studies; our public health nurse and our community police liaison officer presented a Drug Education and Awareness session and additional leaders from our board presented a session on how to reach out to our ELL students and newcomers with the assistance of our Settlement Workers. At lunch, while the Jasmine Richards Project was being filmed, our staff had the opportunity to support our students, by taking it to "the street" for their version of a "dance mob." As students, cheered our staff on, from the second floor balcony, all of us had a great time showing off our "moves", whether they be ones "like Jagger" or otherwise! I am sure that this film clip will make a surprise appearance when we least expect it! Special thanks to the following SSAT folks for taking the lead last Friday: Linda Wiles, Kris Reeve, Lisa Omeri, Paul Beck, Kathryn Patterson, Caitlin Grieve, Jason Schaffer, Tamara Phillips, Danny Devine, Elaine Fung, Sara Severin, Celien Steeves, Fozia Rehman, Nicholle Russell, Bruce Hasenbacher, Vinita Maharaj, David Allan, Monique Gazan, Kevin McConvey and Samuel Lehner. I also would like to thank Karm Sangha Boslund, Kerry Sagar, Luisa Botelho, Sherry Saevil and Gillian Hall for leading our afternoon sessions. Your participation in this day ensured that we were all able to take some great learning away with us in support of all of our students, as we continue to sustain a safe, inclusive and positive learning environment at our school.

The Jasmine Richards Project - Anti-Bullying Music/Video

Hello everyone! We are very proud to be involved in a very unique opportunity with Jasmine Richards and her Producer Robert Johnston. Jasmine is a former student of Iroquois Ridge and now a rising Canadian actress and singer. She has performed in Disney Movies, such as Camp Rock and on television in "Naturally Sadie", among other television shows. Just before the exam period, over 120 students met with a few of our staff to begin the process of writing and producing a music video which will highlight Jasmine' new song, "You Have The Power." This song is in response to the tragic suicide of Jamie Hubley, an Ottawa teen, who ended his life as he could not further endure the homophobic bullying he was experiencing. The music video will be filmed this month and released about the same time that "Jamie's Law", an anti-bullying law will come into action. Last night student performers were interviewed and auditioned for the various scenes portrayed in the music video which they have written, created and will film with Jasmine and Robert. This project is a magical one in which student engagement and enthusiasm is at it's finest! This is a lifetime experience for everyone involved and we look forward to the final product in the very near future. "Ridge" students and Jasmine are working closely together to spread an inspirational anti-bullying message through the power of song. There will be more excitement to follow, as Jasmine meets with us again today after school to continue with the creative process. For more information about Jasmine please visit: http://www.jasminetheantibully.com/, where she blogs about our project together and for more Bullying Awareness Education, please also feel free to see our "Ridge Respect Website/Blog" at http://irs.hdsb.ca/. We will keep everyone tuned as to the release of the music video and hope to have a schoolwide assembly to accompany the release and the launch of our own "Give Respect/Get Respect" Campaign at "The Ridge."

Welcome to Semester 2!

We are delighted to have had a successful "turnaround" time, having completed our performance tasks, exams and promotion meetings! We were very happy to see such excellent results by our students, who continue to impress us with their outstanding accomplishments and achievements. As we begin the semester our Personal Career Counselling Services Team (PCC) is hard at work, adjusting student timetables and setting each and every student up for a successful semester. We appreciate their committment and dedication in ensuring that our students will be on the right "pathway" in Semester 2! Very soon, this team will be working closely with our staff and all students as course selections are made for 2012/13.We encourage students to select wisely as they go "on-line" to choose their courses as their selections will determine our staffing for next year. At our most recent staff learning session we introduced new staff to our school.
We are very proud to be welcoming aboard Sarah Hodge (English), Virginia Gingras (Math/Science), Mike Szarka (Moderns) and Sarah Germain (Science). We are very excited about our new recruits as they will add excellent value to an already very, strong Ridge Teaching Staff. As always, our Ridge team is committed to the success of all of our students both in and outside of the classroom. We look forward to an awesome Semester 2 and thank everyone for their continued support as we continue to strive to be the best of the best!

Semester Turnaround!

Hello everyone. As Semester 1 winds down, our secondary students await their final results, based on their term, performance task and exam results. Our staff have had an opportunity to evaluate our students and how well they have met the key learnings in their courses. On Thursday February 2nd, we will be having a special schedule for students to receive feedback from their teachers on their performance and achievement. This day will also be an opportunity for our students to provide our staff with feedback about their experience in their courses. The provincial report card for Semester 1 will be issued on Thursday February 9th during Period 1 classes. During this turnaround period, students get a great opportunity to reflect on their successes and areas in which to improve upon over the next semester. In some cases, this reflection will prompt changes in plans or pathways. At this time, our Personal Career Services Team, Learning Resource Team, Student Success and admin team are available to work with and provide good guidance and counselling for students in regard to Semester 2 choices. We also encourage our students to seek out the advice from their teachers, as to next steps, when they meet with them this upcoming Thursday February 2nd. As a school team we will be reviewing the results of all of our students through our promotion process and look forward to seeing outstanding successess, achievements and personal bests! We are very proud of our staff and students and will continue to strive for excellence in all that we do! Congratulations on a successful Semester 1 and best of luck to everyone for a very, successful Semester 2!