Cocoas and Cram!

Happy 2014 everyone! We have returned for our first week back in the New Year and now enter our assessment and evaluation period for Semester 1. Staff and students are focused on Performance Tasks, preparation for examinations and our Grade 9 students are readying themselves for their EQAO Math - Provincial Assessment to be held on Friday January 17th and Monday January 20th. This assessment is done during the regular math class time period. We wish this semester's Grade 9's the best of luck on this provincial test.

In light of this busy and stressful end of semester our staff are making themselves available for additional support and our students certainly will take full advantage of this to ensure their success. On Monday January 13th our LINK Crew Staff & Student Leaders, with the addition of many of our Grade 9 staff, will be hosting a study session called "Cocoas & Cram" after school from 3:00 - 4:30 pm in our Library.

We encourage all of our Grade 9's to take advantage of this opportunity as many study tips will be provided while students will also be provided with some delicious hot chocolate and treats. Perfect for this time of the year!

In addition, we will be offering "Zap the Zeroes" for those students needing more time to complete assignments on Thursday January 16th, Monday January 20th and Tuesday January 21st to be held in "The Ridge Room" from 11:10am - 12:10pm. Teachers will recommend students for this opportunity through our Student Success Leader - Mr. Kris Reeve. We hope that students who are invited to attend will do so!

Our formal exam period occurs on Thursday January 23rd, Friday January 24th, Monday January 27th and
Tuesday January 28th.Wednesday January 29th serves as an exam make-up day should Halton schools be closed due to inclement weather. We are hoping that we have seen the brunt of inclement weather by this time...cross all of our fingers!!

One note out to everyone as a heads'-up is that on Monday February 3rd (Day 1 of Semester 2) we will have a Special Schedule for the day. All of our Grade 9's will have a Breakfast Celebration with an 8:30 am start in our cafeteria with our LINK Crew. Students in Grade 10, 11 and 12 will begin classes later on this day. Period 1 of Semester 2 will begin at 12:10pm for all of our students with Periods 2, 3 and 4 to follow for all of our students. Please check our website for the Special Schedule which will be posted in the very near future. We will also put out a synervoice message to everyone in this regard as a reminder!

In addition, for Semester 2 we have been granted permission to continue with our Collaborative Mornings with a later start for all of our students in Grades 9 - 12 to allow for staff to be engaged in Collaborative Professional Learning. The dates are as follows: Thursday February 20th, Thursday March 20th, Thursday April 17th and Thursday May 15th. Daily schedules for these dates will have all students begin their period 1 classes at 9:45am with the other periods to follow: Period 2 - 10:50 - 11:45am, Lunch - 11:45 - 12:45pm,
Period 4 - 12:45 - 1:40 pm, Period 5 - 1:45 - 2:45 pm. Again...reminders will be provided via our website and synervoice. We believe that this will have huge advantages for our staff and students with the hopes of improving student success while also looking after the mental health and stresses that our students experience
in such a high achieving school. Our student focus group in May/June of 2013 reminded us of the pressures and stresses that they undergo with the expectations and pressures for high achievement and we honoured their feedback with this plan for a change in our Collaborative Mornings for this year. We will look forward to feedback from students, staff and our parent/careegiver community as we review this in May/June of 2014.

So, as we head to the "finish line" for Semester 1, we wish much luck and success for all of our students and we will look forward to reviewing their successes through our Promotion Processes to be held on Thursday January 30th!