Hello everyone
Each month I will be making a report to school council on some of the important events and initiatives going on at St. Anthony. Here is the report I submitted to council last night.
Principal’s Report to School Council Wednesday, September 10
I am very happy to present my first principal’s report to the St. Anthony School Council. I am thrilled to be here and the first few weeks have been a great learning experience. I look forward to working with all the parents of the St. Anthony community.
1. Communication – we are trying a variety of new communication methods to keep in contact with the St. Anthony. We have started a Community Blog – St. Anthony Connects which is updated on a regular basis. Important school news always goes on the blog first, then our web page, then our Facebook Page. The advantage of the blog is that parents can follow it and receive updates whenever there is a new post – there is also a translate tool on the blog which should help parents in the community. We are also using synervoice e-mail for those parents who have agreed to allow us to use their e-mail address. I will spend time at the Program Night next week (September 16th) to go over these changes with parents.
2. Toonies for Terry – we have started our fundraiser for the Terry Fox Foundation. For the next two weeks, students can bring in their loonies, toonies, whatever they have to support cancer research in Canada. Our goal is $300.00. If we make our goal I have agreed to have my hair dyed. If we get over $300.00 I will be dressed up as a princess for a day.
3. Other programs. We will be starting the milk program soon. Ms. Pollock, our office administrator has agreed to run this program. We will ask families to pay for the milk in three installments over the year rather than every month. We will also be sending home flyers for two Learn to Play programs – Squirmies and Gamepack a sports program. Squirmies, an arts and crafts program will cost $65.00 for 8 weeks and Gamepack will cost will cost $45.00. There will be subsidies available for both programs to assist with costs where necessary. Fun 2 Run is an exercise program associated with CHEO and HALO (Healthy Active Living and Obesity Program). This program will focus on the junior students and will run for five weeks ending with a 3 km ghost run. This is a pilot program designed to get kids to be and stay active. The program will be designed by Michael Shashin , a trainer who has worked with marathoners, ultramarathoners, beginners to experts. This promises to be a very interesting program for all our students.
4. BYOD – We are working towards developing a Bring Your Own Device policy here at St. Anthony. This too will be addressed during Program Night. Once we are ready, students will be allowed to bring in smart phones, tablets or lap tops to use in the classroom. All machines will be kept secure and locked using Techtubs which have been ordered. We will only invite students to bring in their devices once the Techtubs are installed. Students without personal devices will still have access to chromebooks, iPads, iPods and iPad minis – these machines have already been distributed to the classrooms. All students and parents will have to fill in an Acceptable Use form issued by the school board. This form should be coming home soon.
