NBC Viewfinders Challenge - Colson Donohue 1st & 2nd Prize

Two of Colson Donohue’s films took 1^st and 2^nd place prizes in the NBC Viewfinders Challenge recently.  He was runner-up in the animation category and first place in the live action category.  Colson is a grade 10 student at Fountain Academy of the Sacred Heart.  Congratulations, Colson!

Weekly Update, Ms. Scott April 22

Last week-end we hosted 62 teams from across the country for the 8^th Annual Donahoe Cup.  Advanced and novice debaters were involved in nine rounds of debate on Saturday and quarter-finals, semis and finals on Sunday.  Congratulations to Rory Flynn and Mattea Roach who were runners-up in the advanced category, and to Sarah Bjornson and Emma McLean who made it to the quarter finals in the novice category.  Individually in the advanced category Rory Flynn placed 1^st, Mattea Roach 5^th and Sabrina Secord 14^th; in the novice category Emma McLean placed 8^th and Sarah Bjornson 11^th.  Thank you to Mr. Brian Casey who is the chief organizer of this event, to Mrs. Donnelly, and to the many parents, students, faculty and staff who helped out in any way whatsoever.  The Donahoe Cup is a first class event and visiting schools always comment on the great hospitality extended to them by the Sacred Heart community.

Athletics – Our senior field hockey team continues to play hard and have three more games left in the season.  Track and field students are out training with Mr. Griffiths on a regular basis.  I am sure they are appreciating the warmer weather.  Congratulations to Sarah Polley for being named to the Nova Scotia Canada Games Swim Team.

Multicultural festival – Global Citizens Club organized a great activity period yesterday.  As well as having our parade of nations we enjoyed K-Jamm, Spanish, Mexican, French and Indian songs and dances and a Viennese waltz.

Thanks to all who participated and to Mrs. Arthur for her input and guidance.

Student Council Executive Elections – This has been a week of campaigning, speeches and election of our student council executive for 2013-2014.  We had a great slate of candidates and I want to congratulate them all on conducting well-run campaigns.  Our new executive is: Head Girl – Taryn Mason, Vice-head Girl – Katie MacLellan, Secretary – Catherine Turnbull, Treasurer – Rachel Field.  Class rep nominations for 2013-2014 go out on Monday and I encourage students to think about running.

Earth Week – this past week our environment committee has encouraged us to turn off lights when we leave a room, they have sold earth o’grams, and today we had a $2 colour day.  The environment committee supports a number of different causes and will give us a full account at the end of the year.

Kiwanis Music Festival - A number of students have been participating in the Kiwanis Music Festival these past two weeks.  Results have been posted on our website - congratulations to all who participated!

Grade 12 Day of Reflection – the grade 12s had a wonderful day of reflection today under the direction of Mrs. MacKenzie and Sr. Mary Finlayson.  Mrs. Drummond and I joined them for lunch, as did Sr. Anne Marie Conn and Sr. Donna Dolan.   The day of reflection is the first of a number of special events for the grade 12s and it is always a very beautiful, if somewhat emotional, day.

Sacred Heart Girls Make Robot for Robots East Competition!

Our Girls’ High School Robotics Team initially participated in the Robots East Competition in 1999 and has attended the tournament annually since 2004.  We have been successful in winning various aspects of the competition (logo, multi-media, best engineered robot), but our best effort in the Championship was in 2007 when we placed 2^nd.  Robots East supplies a kit containing motors, batteries and the control system.  The rest of the approximately 30-kilogram robot, is designed by students and constructed from whatever materials they choose.  There is a different theme every year.  The “Checkmate” mission was revealed on February 1, 2013.  Our robot is a soldier in Medieval times fighting feudal wars.  As expressed by the organizers “This multidisciplinary competition exploits and advances their knowledge and capability in Mathematics, Physics, Tech. Ed., Journalism, and English.”

Kiwanis Music Festival Results for Sacred Heart Students

Mimisu Lee:

1^st Concerto - French Horn - Grade 11 and Under

1^st Senior Solo - French Horn - Grade 11 and Under

Lala Lee:

1^st Piano Solo - Bach - 18 Years and Under

1^st Piano Duet 18 Years and Under

2^nd Intermediate Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 18 and Under

2^nd Senior Piano Solo - French - Grade 9/10 Level 

3^rd Senior Piano Sonata - Minimum Grade 10 Level

Caraid McGinty

1^st Solo - Girls Under 14 Years

Rachel Arab

2^nd       Piano Solo - Classical - Grade 1/2 Level

Abigail Sinclair

2^nd       Musical Theatre Under 14

Annie Xu:

1^st Senior Piano Solo - Romantic/Late Romantic - Grade 9/10 Level

2^nd Piano Solo - Baroque - Grade 10

3^rd Senior Piano Solo - Modern/Contemporary - Grade 9/10 Level

3^rd Piano Sight Reading - Grade 9/10

Felicity Barker      
2nd       Senior Art Song 16 - 19 Years (Voice)

The Sacred Heart Elementary School Choir received a Silver award.

Multicultural Day at Sacred Heart!

Sacred Heart High School celebrates Multicultural Day!

Elementary Update

A colleague of mine shared a quote with me yesterday that resonates:  Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child.  It is so tempting to want to line things up so that our children will not have to face any trouble, particularly with the headline news of the past few days.  Sometimes in our haste we jump to solve their problems for them.  And without question, it is imperative that we as parents and teachers play a crucial role in guiding our children, ensuring their safety and providing opportunities for them to grow and flourish.  At the same time, it’s worth us stepping back and looking at how much do we do for our children, and how much we allow them to try themselves.

 We all wore pink yesterday because awareness is important on the path.  Your children were asked to ponder the question, How do we keep bullying out of our school?  It never ceases to amaze me how clearly our children see and understand what we need to do.  Here are some of the many responses we received:  Try being kind to others even if they look different from you… We can stop bullying by being kind and never stop being kind…  If we witness it we tell an adult immediately.  We don’t fight back because then we are bullies too… We treat everyone equally.  Give everyone a chance to speak… We try to help others.  If we help others who are bullies then maybe the bullies will change…  We can stop bullying by not just standing there but trying to help…  Treat everyone the way you want to be treated…

 Our children keep growing.  As they grow, they want and need more independence.  They’re headed toward adolescence then adulthood.  A time will come when we’re not there to watch them play or sign their agendas.  We’re traveling with them to that place.  That’s what we’re trying to do here.  At Sacred Heart we call it personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom, and we work tirelessly to ensure that it happens for every child.

In India, we have a saying:
“Everything will be alright in the end.” 
So if it's not alright, it is not yet the end."
(Sonny in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

Weekly Update, Ms. Scott April 15

Spring is here – the Public Gardens are open!

Athletics - ACIS Badminton:  We had a great tournament last Saturday.  Congratulations to all our medallists:  Gold Medal U14 Singles – Hannah Baillie, U14 Doubles – Hannah Cassie and Alexa Pirie; U16 Singles – Sophie McIntyre, U16 Doubles – Razan Al-Sharkawi and Julie Inglis.  Silver Medal U14 Singles – Emma Butler, U14 Doubles – Katherine Khorovets and Caila Smithers.  Bronze Medal U14 Singles – Markley Wakeland, U19 Doubles – Calla Owens and Claudia Toulany.  Overall as a team we placed 2^nd.  Thank you to Mr. Griffiths for running the tournament.

Citadel Zone Badminton – Sophie McIntyre placed fourth.

Jr. Field Hockey – the girls are participating in the Nancy Tokaryk Memorial Tournament at Armbrae this week-end. 

Sr. Field Hockey – league games continue over the next two weeks.

Barat Literary Readings:  As part of the English programme the girls prepare a short story or an essay to be presented to their class.  One representative is chosen from each class to read for a panel of judges and for the student body.  Last Thursday we had the senior high readings and yesterday we had the junior high readings.   Barat Literary Distinctions were awarded to Meredith Bullock, Grade 7M and Savannah Cox, Grade 12S.  Barat Literary Commendations were awarded in junior high to: Meg Currie, Catherine Burke, Lala Lee, Teresa Donovan and Rory Flynn, and in senior high to: Mattea Roach, Hanna Garnier, Zoé McIntyre, Mimisu Lee and Abbie Salyzyn.  Congratulations to all!

Dean of Students – I am pleased to announce that we have a new Dean of Students for September 2014.  Her name is Ms. Shauna Wall and she has been teaching at Lower Canada College in Montreal for the last nine years.  She did her undergraduate degree in science at Dalhousie University, her education degree at McGill and her M.Ed. at Acadia.  She is looking forward to coming to Sacred Heart and she and Mrs. Drummond will be meeting and communicating over the next few months to make for a smooth transition.  Ms. Wall will be here this week-end with LCC students for the Donahoe Cup.

Duke of Edinburgh Award – We have just received confirmation that Ruis MacDonald has earned her Gold Award and Anya Friesen has earned her Bronze.  Congratulations!

Student Council elections – Over the next few weeks we will have elections for student council executive and class representatives for the 2013-2014 school year.  Executive elections are next week and I wish all the candidates the best of luck.  I encourage students to think about running for class representative.  Nomination forms will be available from Mrs. Drummond.

Donahoe Cup – Good luck to all our debaters this week-end.