What's New?

Updated May 6, 2013

May School Council Meeting

Our last meeting of the year will be held Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. in the library. Everyone is welcome. Topics will include allocation of remaining funds and lunch programs for next year. Here's the agenda.

Please note that an OCDSB extended day program person will attend our last meeting to answer questions.

WOMFest Volunteers

Many more volunteers are needed for WOMFest, Saturday, June 15, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. to help set up, run events and clean up. If you are available to help out on this day, please email womfest@womschoolcouncil.com with your name and your availability. Just an hour of your time can make all the difference! This is a great opportunity for high-schoolers to fill their volunteer hours.

Staff Appreciation Lunch Volunteers

We're also looking for volunteers to help with set-up and clean-up for the May 22nd lunch. Please email chair@womschoolcouncil.com to let us know of your availability.

What's All the Racket About?

On May 9th and 10th, students at WOM will be involved in a fun badminton tournament to support The Children's Wish Foundation. The tournament will take place during regular phys-ed classes. The students will be squaring off against others of a similar age. In order that we can raise funds while having fun, we ask that each student contribute $2 to play. Please be assured that everyone plays, regardless of the donation. We kindly ask that you only send in donations on the day of the tournament. Classes have been asked to wear a particular colour, and they've been given their tournament date. 

We continue to be awed by your support and thank you for your continued support of Darcy's desire to provide a "wish" to another child who has gone through a life altering experience.

Pam Amlani Volunteer Appreciation Award 2013

Volunteerism enriches our school community and makes many activities and resources available that would not otherwise exist. There is no question that contributions from volunteers greatly enhance our school. Your school council has voted in favour to annually recognize a member of the WO Mitchell parent community who is an outstanding volunteer. The award is named after Pam Amlani, a WOM parent who gave untold hours of her time and energy to the school helping children and staff. Her youngest child graduated in the spring of 2009 and the WOM Parent Council felt she should be honoured because of her immense contribution to the school. This award has been created in her name.

Selection Criteria: This award honours a volunteer who has shown outstanding dedication and commitment to the students, staff, and general WOM community. To be considered for the award nominees must be involved as a volunteer at W. O. Mitchell ES. Some criteria to consider when nominating someone are:

- Has made a significant contribution to improve the quality of life in the school and has had a positive impact on students.

- Provides support to students, staff and administration

- Positively promotes WOM in the general community

- Not paid for their services

Nominations will take place during the month of May 2013. Anyone, parent, staff, or student can nominate someone. To nominate someone, please email chair@womschoolcouncil.com. Please provide a brief written explanation of why you think this person should be awarded the Pam Amlani Volunteer Appreciation Award. The Award Selection Committee will review the applications and the volunteer chosen will be announced and the award presented at the Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast in June.

Scholastic Book Fair

A huge thank you to the volunteers that helped with the Scholastic book fair. With your support the WOM fair sold over $5000 worth of books. The librarian earned over $577 of books from the fair as well as another $1200 to buy new books for the library. Total profit of $1861.37. 

Your support and help during this event made it so successful.

Thanks too, to all the readers in the community for their purchases and support of our library.

Children's Wish Foundation Bracelets

From Ms Potvin:  

Our next fundraising event for the Children's Wish Foundation is the selling of bracelets. The bracelets are homemade and are strung with two stars to represent the Wish Foundation. They will be on sale beginning Friday, April 26 for $2. Our hope is to sell them to as many students as possible so that we can all wear them in solidarity of our support for the Children's Wish Foundation.

April Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the April meeting are now available. They include updates from the principal, vice-principal, and school council members.

Secondary School Exit Outcomes Consultation and Feedback

The Secondary School Review Ad Hoc Committee has drafted a document outlining a set of core characteristics and skills of OCDSB graduates.

Characteristics:
    Resilient
    Adaptable
    Globally Aware
    Collaborative
    Innovative and Creative

Skills:
    Critical Thinkers
    Effective Communicators
    Academically Diverse
    Digitally Literate

From the OCDSB School Council Update:

Regardless of which pathway our students choose, we want to ensure that they develop a core set of characteristics and skills before they take their first steps beyond the OCDSB. Through the work of our Secondary School Review Ad Hoc Committee, we have drafted a document which outlines those expectations and discusses why each characteristic and skill is needed, and how we will develop it.

Aligned with the District’s strategic plan, the Exit Outcomes draft document identifies five characteristics and four skills that we believe are vital to the success of our students. Contribute your thoughts and experiences to this important discussion by reviewing the Exit Outcomes draft document and completing a brief online survey by April 30, 2013 (it may be helpful to have a copy of this resource available while completing the survey). For more information please visit the consultation webpage.

Tell Them From Me Survey (April 29-May 3)

A parent letter will be going home with further info on this student survey. Students will be having an assembly about the survey in April.

From the OCDSB School Council Update:

During the months of April and May all schools with students in grades 4 to 12 will be offering their students an opportunity to complete the Tell Them From Me school climate survey online at their school. Each school will send home a letter announcing the survey and the dates during which it will be run at the school.

The survey is completely voluntary. Students can decide whether they wish to complete the survey, but can also choose to skip certain questions. The survey is anonymous; it does not include the student name. The survey results will be reported at an aggregate level and NOT at an individual student level. The survey data will not be linked to any other student data. Parents who do not want their child to complete the survey are asked to advise their school Principal.

The Tell Them From Me (TTFM) survey was developed by The Learning Bar and the survey is used in more than 150 school districts across Canada. More information about the survey and about the Learning Bar is available regarding Tell Them From Me at www.thelearningbar.com. Should parents have any questions, they should contact their school Principal.

Mabel's Labels Are Back

Order Mabel's Labels anytime. Our promotional campaign begins on May 1st and runs through to October 31st. However, you can order anytime you need labels. Visit Mabel’s Labels for all your labelling needs at www.mitchell.mabelslabels.com 
Thank you for your support.

QSP Magazine promotional Fundraiser returning next Fall

Order or renew with QSP anytime! 
Our very popular promotional QSP magazine fundraiser will be returning next fall! Renew your favourite magazines or order new ones while helping to enhance student achievement at WOM. 

Don’t want to wait till next fall… you are able to order online anytime by visiting qsp.ca, clicking Shop and entering WOM code 10801. Promotional information will be sent home at the beginning of the next school year!

Bridlewood Home Hardware and WOM have teamed up 

Here's how it works: When you shop at Bridlewood Home Hardware, please let them know you are from WOM. When you do HH will give 3% of your total pretax purchase back to WOM School Council and that will go towards enhancing student achievement.  

It's win win!

April School Council Meeting

Please join us for the next school council meeting, Tuesday, April 9th, at 7:00 p.m. in the library. Click here for the agenda.

Terrific Toonie Tuesday

Wow! The WOM community has been incredibly generous. A grand total of $3,789.97 has been raised from Toonie Tuesday for the Education Foundation of Ottawa. 

Thank you to Louise Roy for all her great efforts in driving this fundraising and thanks to staff, students, parents and everyone in the WOM community for their time and generosity to help the children who will benefit from the Education Foundation of Ottawa. 

OCDSB Weekly Updates

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board provides a weekly update to School Councils, generally updated every Friday.

Please check the School Council Information and Updates webpage for the most up-to-date and detailed information. The updates are broken down into categories and tabs, including General Information and Upcoming Events. Alternatively, see the Expand All tab for the entire update

You can also follow the OCDSB on Twitter (@OCDSB), Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube!

February Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the February school council meeting are now available. The meeting included updates from the school council on fundraising, planning for WOMFest, as well as reports from the principal, vice principal, and the president of the Bridlewood Community Association. Looking for a March Break activity? The BCA will be hosting movie night, March 12th.

Toonie Tuesday Bake Sale

Thank-you to our outstanding bakers! On our raffle table, we had two extremely cute caterpillar cakes, a beautiful cake with lots of flowers and petals, a fabulous rainbow cake, an Angry Birds replica cake with accompanying piggy that was a true delight, a  fabulous sea scene with two fish enjoying a swim, a family favourite yummy cheesecake, an awesome chocolate cake with kit kat bars all around, a full of spirit WOM oatmeal chocolate chip cookie cake and a marvelous bunny cake.  Needless to say, all bags were full of names of kids who were hoping to win their favourite.

Our bake tables had amazing cupcakes, cookies, brownies, muffins, loaves, squares, banana breads, and every single item was sold! We made a whopping $848.26 thanks to our impressive bakers' skills and generosity and our generous students.

Bridlewood Spring Sports

Registration has begun for Bridlewood Spring Sports and continues to February 28th, 2013. Registration can be done online, or in person on February 19th 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Eva James Memorial Community Centre, 65 Stonehaven Dr. Please check out their website www.bridlewood.ca and their flyer.

WOMFest 2013

WOM'S School Council is gearing up for WOMFest 2013! This year's celebration takes place Saturday, June 15th from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the school. BBQ, Carnival Games, inflatables and more! Mark you calendars and please pass on the word that we are looking for volunteers! For more info or to volunteer, please contact us at womfest@womschoolcouncil.com.

And find more info on Twitter and Facebook.

https://twitter.com/womfest2013

https://www.facebook.com/pages/WOMFest-2013/422104087873226?ref=hl

Early Learning - Extended Day Program

The OCDSB is pleased to announce that WOM is one of six sites chosen to offer a before and after school program (Extended Day Program) starting September 2013. This program has been designed to meet the needs of the community for before and after school care.

The Extended Day Program will be led by a Registered Early Childhood Educator employed the the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. The Extended Day Program is an optional program that is offered for a fee provided there is sufficient demand for the program. 

The Extended Day Program will be offered to children in Grade 1-Grade 6.

Parents may register their children in the program for the morning portion of the day only, the afternoon portion of the day only, or both. You may also choose to use the program from one to five days per week, but you must register you child/children.

The Extended Day Program will operate on some PA Days, March Break and one week at Christmas if there is interest and demand at your location.

Hours: The Extended Day Program will operate from  a.m. to the start of school day, 8 a.m. and from the end of school, 2:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. Parents may register their child in the morning, afternoon, or both programs.

Fees: The fee for the 2013/14 school year will be $2.00 per day for both before and after school care; before school care only will be $4.50 per day; after school care only will be $15.50 per day. Extended Day Program fees are the responsibility of parents/guardians.

Transportation: Parents will be responsible for getting their child to and from the Extended Day Program.

Important: Please do not discontinue your current child care arrangement prior to receipt of confirmation and acceptance in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Extended Day Program. Confirmation will be provided to parents/guardians in April 2013.

For those of you who have a child or children enrolled in the City of Ottawa After School Program, this program will continue to run after school for next year. Contact the City Coordinator, Adam Walthert, at 613 580-2424 extension 33304 for more information about their program.

Please do not hesitate to contact Eleanor Heap, Manager of the Early Learning Program, at 613-239-2378 or Heather Graham, WOM Principal, AT 61-271-1806 if you have any questions about the new Extended Day Program at W. O. Mitchell. Please return the intent to register form, no later than February 20, 2013.

Extended Day Program Application Forms were sent home Tuesday, February 5, 2013.

2012 Royal Canadian Legion Contest

The results of the 2012 Royal Canadian Legion Contest are in!  We are delighted that four WOM students were awarded prizes as follows:
 
Noah F. - 1st Place - French Poem
Justin H. - 2nd Place - Poem
Chloe B.I - 2nd Place - French Poem
Komal S. - 3rd Place - French Poem
 
The submission of our 1st Place winner has been forwarded to the Zone level for further assessment and potentially additional prizes may be awarded.  On behalf of the WOM School Council, we wish you the best of luck Noah!
 
Sincere thanks to all of our students who participated in the Legion Contest this year.  You are all winners in our eyes! Also, many thanks to WOM teachers and staff for their support.

School Council Updates

Your school council is now paperless.  If you would like to keep up to date with school council happenings and events, please create an account to sign up for email updates. Stay informed while helping us go green. Don't forget to mention your kids attend WOM whenever you shop at Bridlewood's Home Hardware. They in turn make donations back to WOM.