Hello,

With a very successful exam schedule behind us we look forward to beginning semester 2 classes Monday February 1, 2010. It will be a regular day one with students picking up their timetables from their first period classes. Don’t know how to do that? Well, as you enter the school come to the main office windows and find your name alphabetically on the lists on the wall. Beside your name will be the name of your first period teacher and room who will provide you with your timetable for the rest of the day.

With the culmination of exams, teachers are busy doing final mark calculations and entering them in the computer. Just a quick reminder to parents that report cards will be issued to students on Thursday February 11, 2010 in their period one classes. Please request them of your children as they arrive home. Another reminder that Friday February 12, 2010 is our next PD day (no classes) and Monday February 15, 2010 is Family Day (no classes).

Meet the Teacher – Semester 2
Want to meet your child’s semester 2 teachers? For the first time Bell HS and staff are proud to provide this opportunity on Tuesday February 9, 2010. Classroom visits will begin at 4:15 p.m. and wrap up by 5:15 p.m. (10 minutes per class with 5 minutes of travel time in between) providing you with the opportunity to meet semester 2 teachers, review course outlines, and ask any questions you might have. I strongly encourage you to join us for this session.As we turn the corner into semester two it is important to know that we have begun planning for next year. February is an important month for students in that it is that time of year where students in grades 9 – 11 and those currently in grade 12 and planning to return complete option sheets for submission by February 26, 2010. To assist you as parents through this process Bell HS will be hosting an Option Sheet Information Night on Wednesday February 24, 2010 to walk you through the process and answer any questions you may have concerning pathways for your children. Please mark your calendar and join us.

Important message re: Community Service Hours
Community service hours are a mandatory requirement for graduation. All students must earn 40 hours by the end of grade 12. It is at this point in the year that I begin reviewing the number of hours completed by all grade 12 students, our potential graduates. In September when I had my first look, 50% of this years graduates had not met this requirement. So, please, please, please have a peek at the number of hours your child has completed as stated on the credit summary accompanying your child’s report card coming home with them Thursday February 12, 2010. In cases where hours are still outstanding it is imperative that they are completed in very short order so that this mandatory graduation requirement is met. It is important to note that students unsuccessful in meeting this requirement cannot receive their diploma as they have not graduated due to this fact.

On that note, please note the following CS hour opportunity with the Ottawa 67′s: The Ottawa 67’s are looking to help local high school students earn their community service hours.The Ottawa 67’s have opportunities for students to earn 3-4 community service hours every Friday evening (approximately from 5:00pm- 9:00pm) and Sunday afternoons (from 11:30am- 4:30pm).

Students may have a variety of tasks such as assisting with community fundraising opportunities, game promotions and game set up/tear down as well as interacting with fans in a customer service role.

If any of the students at your school are interested in volunteering with the Ottawa 67’s please contact:
Johanna ElgieSales/Marketing Coordinator
613 232 6767 ext 239
Johanna@ottawa67s.

For your planning, please see attached below this weeks edition of BTW.

attachment:Â bell-this-week-feb-1-5-2010.doc

Have a super week.
Bruce Whitehead – Principal

Hello everyone,

January 13, 2010…Bell HS’s annual Open House for parents of Grade 8 students…what a huge success. Thanks to the efforts of many staff and students more than 600 guests participated in this particular evening that allows Bell HS to feature all of its many programs, activities, and clubs in a mall type format. Thank you as well to those who attended. We hope you found the evening welcoming, informative, and productive; that was certainly our goal! It was a pleasure to host you and we look forward to partnering with you next year as your children begin their high school journey’s.

Monday January 25, 2010 is Bell’s next School Council meeting. I would like to encourage your participation from 7 – 9 p.m. in the Staff Lounge where I will be speaking to Bell’s School Improvement Plan, Bill 157, the Food and Beverage legislation that was mentioned in Thursday’s Ottawa Citizen, our upcoming Meet the Teacher evening on February 9, 2010, and finally staffing for semester 2. We are a great group and we always have room for one more and would love to see you there. Please consider joining us.

Exams began this past Friday and went off without a hitch due to the efforts of Mrs. Wendy Verreault who capably put together the exam schedule for students as well as the teacher’s supervision schedule. Semester 2 begins February 1, 2010…where did first semester go again?

For your planning convenience, please find attached below this weeks edition of Bell This Week. Please also see attached Charwell’s menu for the school cafeteria.

attachment:Â bell-this-week-jan-18-22-2010.doc
attachment:Â menu-feb-and-march-2010-for-the-schools.docÂ

Sincerely,
Bruce Whitehead – Principal

Hello,

As you are aware tragedy has stricken the people of Haiti in the form of an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale! Evoking mass devastation in terms of infrastructure and human lives our support monetary support is crucial at this time. Under the direction of Mr. Kicul, three very capable students (Amy Oldfield, Deniz Guvenc, and Abeer Chokr) have spear-headed a campaign to begin Monday at Bell. As stated on local news channels the most significant form of aid right now is through voluntary, monetary donations.To that end, a letter has gone home today requesting any amount of monetary donation as our campaign kicks off next week. It is hoped that we can partner with AY Jackson Secondary School in collecting as much money as possible to donate to the relief effort. Of course, monies obtained will only be funneled to patrons in Haiti through a reputable NGO or governmental organization. Any help we can all provide will help with the devastation and your contributions would be very much appreciated.

Congratulations to the entire staff and students of Bell HS for their magnanamous efforts in putting together our most successful Grade 8 Open House ever! More than 600 guests attended this years Open House and were provided with helpful information as parents prepared for that integral transition year from elementary to high school. Feedback from parents was extremely positive and I cannot tell you what a pleasure it was to see such a wonderful crowd. The mall that lined our hallways provided visitors with a more indepth look at the breadth and depth of the secondary curriculum; not to mention the opportunity for students to “strut their stuff” through such hands-on activities as demonstrations, videos, vignettes, and interactive games.

Last week before exams…please be sure to strongly encourage study time for your children as we approach this very important time of year. If you have not already had the chance, please feel free to visit the exam schedule using the link from our home page on the right hand side (green button).

Please find attached this weeks edition of Bell This Week.

attachment:Â bell-this-week-jan-18-22-2010.doc

Have an awesome week.
Bruce Whitehead – Principal

Hello,

This coming Wednesday January 13, 2010, Bell HS is proud to present its annual Open House for parents of grade 8 students. This evening is specifically designed with a plenary information session beginning at 6:30 p.m. Following this more formal part of the evening families are are invited to visit our plethora of tables set up along the hallways displaying all of the finer aspects of our fine school. The evening is a super opportunity for parents to ask any questions they might have concerning school attendance for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Just nine instructional days until exams begin. Teachers are diligently working through their courses and will be beginning exam reviews shortly. It is important that students begin to review their course material as we approach exams beginning on January 22, 2010. The exam schedule is available from the homepage of the Bell HS website.

Congratulations go out to Mrs. Lilian Mizuyabu and her students for their outstanding dance showcase this evening entitled “Ambition.” About 250 guests were treated to many different forms of dance by the students. In some cases individual students were responsible for preparing for and presenting 14 different dances across genres. An amazing time was had by all.The Ministry of Health (MOH) has provided regular flu vaccination clinics dates that are found in the following attachment:

attachment: Â moh-letter-to-parentsjan6_en.pdf

These clinics provide families with locations to receive their seasonal flu shot. This is separate from the Swine flu shots offered earlier in the Fall.

Please see this weeks edition of Bell This Week attached.

attachment:Â bell-this-week-jan-11-15-2010.doc

Have an awesome week!
Bruce Whitehead – Principal

Hello everyone,

Welcome back! I trust everyone had a super holiday with family and friends. Now that it is time to get back to the grind, I wanted to take a moment to remind you about a few things.January is a very important month for students. It is summative month meaning that students who have not already begun will begin their summative work in each of their classes. Thirty percent of students final marks in courses come from these evaluations of which there must be two. The first is usually some sort of in-class assignment making up a minimum of 10 percent of the final grade in a course. The balance (maximum of 20%) comes usually (most but not all courses have final exams in the exam schedule) in the form of a final exam between January 22, 2010 and January 29, 2010. The exam schedule can be found as a link from the website homepage. Just as a reminder, students are only required to attend school for the time that they will be writing their respective exams as classes officially finish on the January 21, 2010.

Students who have missed a major evaluation in one of their courses in December may have been referred to the Opportunity Room (“OC”) as a last opportunity to complete that particular piece of work. The OC is happening January 5, 2010 between 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. So important is this aspect of student evaluation that it must supercede participation in sports activities (games, practices, tournaments), clubs, and activities. Students who have been referred to the OC and miss completing these major evaluations run a significant risk of receiving a zero in their mark compilation which oftentimes significantly impacts final grades in courses. Â Please note that this is the fourth time this year we have provided this opportunity for students and the OC is on the heels of teachers persistence with students outside of class time to complete these evaluative tools.

For your planning purposes, please find BTW attached.

attachment:Â bell-this-week-jan-4-8-2010.doc

Have a super week!
Bruce Whitehead – Principal