September 2016 Cardinal Leger Junior High School

Inside this issue

Principal's Message ..................... 1

Important Dates .......................... 2

Charger Sports ............................ 3

2016-17 Updates ........................ 4

Important Links & information…..5

Superintendent’s Message………...6

Message from Archbishop…..……..7

Administors Message September has started off at full speed here

at Cardinal Leger as we have welcomed 134

grade 7 students to our family and a number

of grade 8 and 9 students who have joined

us.

We have also welcomed a number of new

staff; Mrs. Germaine is our new Assistant

Principal, Mrs. McInnis is our new clerk in the

office and Mrs. Slugoski is an educational

assistant working with a number of our grade

7 classes.

Our school year started off a bit hectic as we

have been making some major changes in our

options in order to place students in their

options of choice, wherever possible.

We have also made a few program changes

that we think will best address our students’

learning needs. These include mixed group-

ings for Religion with both Pre-AP and Regu-

lar program students, semestered options,

and changing our report card process. For

further information on these changes, please

read details found in the update section of

the newsletter.

A reminder that parents are encouraged to

access their PowerSchool accounts as soon as

possible in order to stay connected to their

child’s progress at Cardinal Leger. If you have

not yet accessed your account, you will re-

quire your parent password which you can

get, in person, at the main office. Pow-

erSchool is an excellent tool for parents as it

allows current up-to-date information on

your child’s progress. It also gives you details

on student attendance and lates, and pro-

vides you with email contacts for all of your

child’s teachers. Should you prefer to call

teachers, you are always welcome to call the

school directly and leave a message to have a

teacher call you.

We are currently working to update our web-

site and hope to have it up and running very

shortly. The current website will be replaced

by the newest version the district is sup-

porting.

We are looking forward to a great year at

Leger and hope to create many wonderful

memories along the way.

Mr. P. Meurs Mrs. K. Germaine

Principal Assistant Principal

Cardinal Léger Catholic Jr. High School Ph. (780) 475-6262

June 2016

Important Dates

September 20—Grade 8 Out-

door Ed—Tandem Canoeing

The grade 8 Outdoor Ed stu-

dents will be going to Her-

mitage Park for their first trip

which will include tandem ca-

noeing and orienteering

September 22—Grade 9 Out-

door Ed—Voyageur Canoeing

The grade 9 Outdoor Ed stu-

dents will be spending the day

on the North Saskatchewan

River in large capacity voya-

geur canoes.

September 28—Citadel Thea-

tre—Grade 8 and 9

As part of the Language Arts

program, all grade 8 and 9 stu-

dents will be visiting the Cita-

del Theatre to experience the

play, The Curious Incident of

the Dog in the Night-time.

September 29—Terry Fox Run

During Blocks 3-5, students

will be participating in our Ter-

ry Fox Run at the school. Stu-

dents are encouraged to bring

in a Toonie for Terry in sup-

port of cancer research.

September 30—Orange Shirt

Day

Students are encouraged to

wear an orange shirt in sup-

port of the Orange Shirt Cam-

paign—Every Child Matters—

which remembers the experi-

ences of former students of

Indian Residential Schools and

is a commitment to ongoing

reconciliation in Canada.

October 7—Thanksgiving Cele-

bration

Our Thanksgiving Celebration

will begin at approximately

8:45 AM, please feel free to

join us!

October 10—Thanksgiving

There is no school on this day

as we have the opportunity to

give thanks for the many

blessings we have.

October 11—Parent Council

Meeting

Please join us in the staff room

at 6:30 pm for our first Parents

Council Meeting. Meetings

are held throughout the year

and new parents are always

encouraged to join us.

October 12—Pre-AP Confer-

nece at H.E. Beriault

Mr. Motut 2 will be taking 10

Grade 7 Pre-AP students to

this student conference at H.E.

Beriault Junior High where stu-

dents from all the junior high

Pre-AP schools in the district

will be participating.

Oct. 28—Halloween Dance

Student dance will be held in

the gym. Students are encour-

aged to wear costumes.

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Charger Cross Country The cross country team participated in the opening event at Goldbar Park on September 15th. The final event is scheduled for Thursday, September 29th, also at Goldbar Park. Thank you to Coach Urquhart for her time and dedication to the team.

3

Charger Sports

Charger Soccer Both the Girls’ and Boys’ soccer teams have been selected with games already under way. The girls participated in the O'Leary — Tony Caria Tournament this past weekend, placing third. Way to go girls! Thank you to Coach Lepore (boys) and Coaches Bolling and Harvanka (girls) for your leadership of our teams.

Charger Volleyball Volleyball season is set to begin at the conclusion of the soccer season (early October) and our coaches have begun to hold some pre-tryout training sessions. Official try-outs will begin once the soccer season concludes. A reminder that there are both junior and senior teams for volleyball and all students are encouraged to tryout.

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Reporting Process

This year, we are changing our reporting process and will only be having two report cards, one at the end of January and the other at the end of June. We will be maintaining the two demonstration of learning days, with the first in November being an interview format where parents can book appointments to see their child’s teachers. With the emergence of PowerSchool as a live resource that is a snapshot of your child’s progress, we are encouraging all parents to activate their accounts and stay connected to their child’s pro-gress in this manner. In order to activate your parent account, you will require a password which you can get at the school office. Unfortunately, due to FOIP, parents must come to the school in person to get this information. In order to ensure parents are still aware of their child’s progress, teachers in the four core subjects of language arts, math, science and social will send home interim progress reports prior to our in-terview/demonstration of learning evenings to allow parents to book appointments should they wish to speak to any teachers. As we are also moving many of our options to semester offerings, it makes sense to have report cards coincide with the ending of these semesters. As always, we encourage parents to contact their child’s teachers should they have any questions or concerns. Listed below are the relevant dates with regards to the reporting process at Cardinal Leger this year: November 9, 2016: Distribution of Interim Progress Reports, to be signed and returned November 17, 1pm-5pm, 6pm-8pm: Demo of Learning, Interviews—appointment booking required January 27, 2017: Posting of Report Card 1 to PowerSchool January 30, 2017: Beginning of Semester 2 March 8, 2017: Distribution of Interim Progress Reports, to be signed and returned March 15, 2017, 3:30-5:00, 6:00-8:00: Demonstration of Learning, Drop-in format June 28/29, 2017: Posting of Final Report Card to PowerSchool

Religion Groupings We have moved to make our Religion classes a mixture of Pre-AP and Regular Program students to encour-age cooperation and build our school community, as a whole. For core instruction classes of Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Health and Physical Education, students are again split into their regular in-structional groups of A, B, C , D and E, with the C and E classes at each grade level being our Pre-AP classes.

Semestered Options To better accommodate the requests for a number of our more popular options, we have moved many of our options to semestered options while still accommodating requests for full year options in Construction, Com-munication Technology and Art. We are hoping to continue to refine the option selection process for coming years in order to accommodate as many requests as possible.

2016-17 Updates

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Important Links and Information

PowerSchool Use the link below to connect to PowerSchool and keep in contact with teachers about your child’s progress. Parent password required and can be picked up at school office. https://powerschool.ecsd.net/public/

Teen Mental Health On September 9th, the staff at Cardinal Leger participated in “Go to Educator” training where we became familiar with the terminology of mental health and things to look for to help sup-port our students. An excellent resource for parents, students and schools is the Teen Mental Health site. It can be found at: http://teenmentalhealth.org/

School Resources We have some additional in-school resources for the students at school. Taylor Jacobs is our Family School Liaison Worker who supports students as a counsellor, as well as linking families with outside services, as needed. Doug Green and Richard Cole are our STAY Advisors (School Team Advisors for Youth) who are retired police officers. They are here to educate, mentor and empower students while raising awareness of issues students face in our community.

Complimentary Course Costs For the 2016-17 school year, only fees for complimentary courses will be charged along with a $20.00 Student Activity fee to cover the costs of dances, theme days and guest presenters.

Alberta Health Services—Grade 9 Immunizations Nurses with Alberta Health Services will be making presentations to our grade 9 students on their upcoming immunizations early in October. Information with details and dates will be sent home when it becomes available.

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Superintendent's Message— September 2016

August - September 2016 Welcome to the 2016-2017 School Year! Our theme for this year is We are Called…To Be Leaders of Hope and Mercy. The scripture which

we have chosen to guide us this year provides us with a truly beautiful image for Catholic education. It speaks to us of nurturing our stu-

dents so that they become leaders of hope and mercy who show compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. At the most fun-

damental level, they are learning how to clothe themselves in Christ to create a world of great hope.

Christ is the focal point of all that we are and all that we do in Catholic education. On August 30, our staff gathered together as a communi-

ty of Christ to renew their commitment to Catholic education and to celebrate the Eucharist together. This uplifting celebration is such a

wonderful way for each of us to celebrate our vocation and our role in fulfilling our District’s mission to provide a Catholic education that

inspires students to learn and that prepares them to live fully and to serve God in one another.

Our ongoing commitment to providing the best possible educational opportunities to our students and their families is reflected in the six

goals that we have established in our District Plan for Continuous Growth (2016-2019). I invite you to visit our website at https://

www.ecsd.net/AboutUs/annual_reports/Pages/District-Plan-for-Continuous-Growth.aspx to look more deeply at the richness of each of

these goals and the promise that this plan holds for your children.

Goal One Live the Distinctiveness of Catholic Education

Goal Two Every Student is Successful

Goal Three The Edmonton Catholic School District is Inclusive

Goal Four Quality Teaching and School Leadership

Goal Five Engaged and Effective Governance

Goal Six First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Students are Successful

This is such an exciting year for Edmonton Catholic Schools. As we continue together on our mission to provide a Catholic education that

inspires students to learn and that prepares them to live fully and to serve God in one another, we are welcoming two new schools and a

new educational partnership into our Edmonton Catholic Schools family. St. John XXIII and St. Brendan Catholic Elementary/Junior High

Schools are opening this fall, and we welcome Kitaskinaw Educational Authority from the Enoch Cree Nation into partnership with us. We

are truly blessed to be able to serve these communities!

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, is a shining example of what it means to be a leader of hope and mercy. I would like to share one of his

many inspiring, hope-filled tweets with you as you begin the exciting journey of a new school year. “God is inviting you to dream: He wants

to show you that you can make the world a different place.” (July 30, 2016) This is the essence of Catholic education, empowering our chil-

dren to make the world a better place!

I wish everyone an amazing year of growth and discovery as members of our Edmonton Catholic Schools family!

Sincerely,

Joan Carr

Superintendent

August - September 2016

Dear Friends,

Welcome to a new faith filled school year.

The theme for our new school year, “We are called…to be leaders of Hope and Mercy” continues to

focus our attention on the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy which has as its central message God’s

forgiveness. Each of our schools designated a Jubilee Door of Mercy, modelled on the official Doors

of Mercy opened by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, last December. As you walk through the Holy

Door at your school may you be reminded that our God is a God of Hope and Mercy. May we contin-

ue to be instruments of His hope and mercy in our schools and communities.

May God continue to bless each of you this school year.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

X Richard W. Smith

Archbishop of Edmonton

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A Message from Archbishop Richard Smith