A Message from the Principal
Dear Parents/Guardians,
2013/2014 was a fantastic year for St. Joe’s . The excitement never
stopped throughout this past year with many championships being
won, a fantastic musical getting rave reviews, many new students
walking the sacred halls of St. Joe’s. Looking out at the sea of students
that were so very respectful and attentive during our Advent Mass
in December, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. I feel grateful
that I am in this extraordinary place of learning. We truly have a strong
Catholic community of students that we can be proud of!
A big thank you for your generosity of canned food items during our
food drive. We collected a total of 4700 food items and $1200 in
monetary donations. This was an amazingly successful food drive. All
donations were given to St. Vincent de Paul to help the needy in our
community.
St. Joe’s shows
its generosity
St. Joe’s delivered an early Christmas gift to St.
Vincent de Paul. Our school raised $1,205 in
monetary donations and 4,700 canned food
items for the local charity.
Principal Natalie Cameron and Falcon principal
Renee Rozon were also presented a “bacon slice
award” from the Boom 101.9 breakfast radio
show for their efforts for “making the community
sizzle.” Congratulations Panthers.
Exams are just around the corner beginning on January 23rd
and going until January 29th . Please make sure your child
establishes a good study routine for these exams. If he or she
is struggling in a certain subject, please make sure they seek
out help. Lunch hour assistance is always available.
The new semester begins February 2nd 2015. Reviewing your
child’s schedule and making sure he or she is comfortable
with their course selection is important. The guidance
dept. is always there to support you and your child and
answer any questions you might have. You simply need to
call the school to make an appointment with Mr. Andrew
Krol, Mrs. Liz McCormick or Mrs. Stephanie McDougall.
The staff would like to wish everyone a great new year. If
you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate
to call the school. I am looking forward to another great
semester with our St. Joe’s community.
Yours in Catholic Education,
Natalie Cameron, Principal
Learn, Live, Lead... in Faith
www.sjssonline.com
St. Joe’s
Christmas
concert
We would like to take a moment to
thank all of our musically talented
students for making the Christmas
concert such an unbelievable success.
Many parents and students gathered
to hear music come alive at St.
Columban Church. A special thank
you to Mr. Gilles Levac for making
this evening possible. What a great
way to get everyone in the Christmas
spirit. We are looking forward to our
annual musical production in April.
This year, students are already hard at
work preparing for “The Little Shop of
Horrors” musical.
Guidance
As first semester comes to an end, the
guidance department is finalizing the
application process for all Grade 12
students who are applying to College
and University. Many students will
begin to hear from the universities
and colleges that they applied to
in the near future. Students are
reminded to check their application
file to ensure everything is in order.
Check us out
at sjcss.ca
St. Joe’s has a new website where
you will find all the helpful information you will need to
know about our school.
Check the site out often for changing photos about special student
events and for links
to our Facebook page and YouTube
channel.
Literacy
The 2015 OSSLT is fast approaching. Students will be writing the test on
Thursday, March 26, 2015. Please
remember the date! For four weeks, all grade 10 students
have been working on reading
comprehension strategies, specifically
focusing on decoding graphic
texts and answering short answer
questions. As well, Mrs. McDougall’s peer tutors
have been meeting with students who
need extra help with opinion essay
writing. In the coming weeks, they
will also be helping students with the
news article format.
If your son/daughter has an IEP,
his/her Resource teacher will be
meeting with him/her to discuss
the accommodations that will be
available for the OSSLT. If you have
questions regarding accommodations,
please contact the assigned Resource
teacher. They can be reached at (613)932-0349 x 125.
In February, all students who will
be writing the OSSLT will be given
more instruction and support before
they take part in another practice
test. Please be sure to review your
son/daughter’s Grade 9 Practice
Test and the individual summary of
results sheet that were sent home
with report cards in November. The
feedback you received is a good
indicator of how much preparation
and support your son/daughter may
need. If you would like to assist your son/
daughter at home, please visit www.
eqao.com to access previous versions
of the test. Hopefully our combined
efforts will ensure success.
If you have questions or concerns,
please contact Mrs. McDougall (613)
932-0349 x311 or Ms. McCormick at
(613)-932-0349 x310.
School to Community class
participates in Special Olympics
The students in The School to Community Class have been very busy lately. We
competed in a Special Olympics Bocce Ball
tournament on December 5 at C.C.V.S. It
was a wonderful event supported by The
Cornwall Police, who welcomed all competitors to the event with sirens flashing
on police cars parked outside the school.
Inside, a welcoming committee greeted
each athlete with a high five.
A special thanks to Fallon Longtin and
Taylor Guppy for the support they gave to
Kyle Renardson and Ryan Whittaker. Jason
Eden and Sean Longtin, our co-captains,
represented our school and team with
great spirit and enthusiasm.
•We also held an exceptional Christmas
Party with Santa and many of our friends
in the school. A great time was had by
all. We enjoyed excellent food and had
the pleasure of a sing-a-long with Mr. Rae
Peet. Our parents appreciated a special
candle box made by our students for
Christmas.
•On December 12, we took a trip to Cornwall Square on Cornwall Transit. We had
a picture taken with Santa, and enjoyed
walking around the mall looking at the
Christmas decorations. We would like to
thank Chelsea Lalonde and Sarah Hebert
for organizing this fun excursion.
Hats off to Christmas Spirit Week
St. Joe’s got into the Christmas spirit with festive hat day on Dec. 16. Pictured are Sarah
Lawrence, Lydia Pritchard and Mackenzie Wylie-Arbic.
Students’
Council
Happy New Year from Students’ Council!!
We are back in the Panther jungle rested
and ready for a fun-filled 2015! Students’
Council would like to congratulate St.
Joe’s students for digging deep and
contributing to the mountain of food
collected during our Christmas food drive.
Thousands of cans were collected for the
needy families of our community. Way to
go Panthers!
Council will be looking ahead to our
February activities while students
prepare for exams. February will bring
matchmakers and heart-o-grams for
Valentine’s day as well as a winter-themed
dance. Council will also be setting dates
for the spring talent show - listen to
announcements for more information!!
Good luck on exams everyone!
Knitting club crafts with care
The St. Joe’s knitting club modeled
their creations before sending them
out to members of the community in
need of a nice warm scarf.
Best wishes extended to Sister Terry Wilson
St. Joe’s students took time after the Advent Mass to celebrate Sr. Terry and
wish her well on her retirement. Guests of honour, pictured with Sr Terry, were
(from left) former St. Joe’s principal Yvon Labossiere, Sr. Barbara, Sr. Terry, Sr.
Francine and superintendent and former St. Joe’s principal John Cameron
Sporting a ‘stache for Movember
Staff and students were wearing fake moustaches on November 28th to promote awareness of prostate cancer. Several of the male staff members grew
real moutaches and beards for the cause and allowed students to die them
school colours. Great job to everyone who participated!
Midget Volleyball captures SD&G
Congratulations to the midget boys volleyball team who won the title of
best team in SD&G last month. Way to go boys!
Physical
Education
Good luck to all of our WINTER
SPORTS TEAMS in the New Year. May
your preparation and work ethic lead
you to success!! LET’S GO PANTHERS!!!!
A very important note to all Phys Ed.
Students that culminating activities
(exam, scrapbook/poster (Gr. 9 &10),
and practical activity (Gr. 11-12) will
be presented to all students and
worth 30% of your final mark. Also,
another reminder, Phys Ed exams are
also written during the regular exam
period.
ATTENTION SEMESTER II PHYS Eder’s:
Phys Ed uniforms are mandatory for
all Phys Ed students. Please purchase
your uniforms from the McCarthy
store.
See you in the gym!!!!!!
Season kicks off with
Panther-Falcon classic
The senior and junior boys basketball
teams kicked off their seasons last
month when they hosted the annual
Panther-Falcon basketball tournament. St. Joe’s put forth a great effort
in the warm up tournament. The
season is now is full swing and lasts
into February.
Exam Schedule
Our gr. 9 to 12 students will be writing their first
term exams from January 26th to January 29th .
Here is the breakdown:
Wednesday, Jan. 23rd—Week one exams at 9:10 a.m.
— no school in the p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 26th —Week two exams at 9:10 a.m.
—no school in the p.m.
Friday, January 27th — Week three exams at 9:10 a.m.
—no school in the p.m.
Monday, January 28th — Week four exams at 9:10 a.m.
—no school in the p.m.
EQAO Math Testing for our Gr.
9 students—coming soon!
The Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics will be
administered on January 21 st to all students enrolled
in first-semester Grade 9 applied and academic
mathematics courses.
The assessment provides multiple opportunities for
students to show what they know and what they can do in
relation to the Ontario curriculum expectations for students
in Grade 9 applied and academic math programs. This
assessment will count as their final exam.
Please note that if buses are cancelled due to weather
on one of these exam days, that exam will be reschedThe Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics provides individual,
uled for the following school day and exams will then
board and provincial data on students’ knowledge and skills,
finish a day later (January 29th).
based on the Ontario curriculum expectations. All students in
All exams will commence at 9:10 a.m.
Grade 9 applied and academic math programs are required to
Students will be expected to stay for the full exam
participate in the assessment. Please make sure your child does
time.
not have an appointment on this day. It is an absolute must that
they be present for this assessment.
There will be no transportation offered at
lunch. Students will be responsible to
organize their own transportation if they
St. Joe’s welcomes their feeder
wish to leave the school after the
schools in a big way!
morning exam.
Monday, February 2nd –
From January 7th until January 16th, we will be welcoming each and every
the second semester begins!
student in surrounding elementary catholic schools to the Panther’s Den.
Our up and coming future gr.9 students will be coming in to learn more
about what St. Joe’s has to offer. Students will learn about course selections,
the different pathways being offered and they will benefit from a tour of the
entire facility with some of our student council members. The orientation
will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will end with a free pizza lunch. We would like to
officially welcome all of these students to our den, the Panther den!
Ski and snowboard
club launched
The St. Joe’s Ski and Snowboard
THE OPEN HOUSE AT ST.JOE’S WILL TAKE PLACE FEBRUARY 4TH AT 6:00 P.M.
Club is sliding into action in the
PLEASE COME AND VISIT OUR SCHOOL. COME SEE WHAT MAKES US WHO WE
new year. The group will be
ARE… A CATHOLIC SCHOOL RICH IN TRADITION AND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE.
headed to Edelweiss ski resort on
COME SEE WHY WE ARE FAMILY!
three different occasions to hone
and improve their skiing skills.
The trip dates are set for January
Spirit Wear
16th, February 20th and March 6th.
Spirit wear will be on sale again in February. We hope to encourage
Sudents should watch for
everyone to wear their spirit wear during dress down days and spirit
announcements and see Mrs. Erdelyi
days! Thank you to all the students that participated in the fall. The
in the art room to join this exciting club.
overwhelming response has encouraged us to start selling again in the 2nd
If you have any questions regarding this
semester. Look out for the order form coming your way.
club, please do not hesitate to call the
school.