Hello,

If you are a teacher, coach, student, or parent of a child currently attending (or very recently departed) we are very interested in your feedback!

As we review our existing student-athlete code of conduct we would love to hear what you think. Please follow the following link and answer the 13 questions to have your voice heard. The survey takes approximately five minutes and can be found at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bellstudentathlete.

The survey will be available from Monday March 29, 201o and close on Sunday April 11, 2010.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your feedback.

Sincerely,
Bruce Whitehead – Principal

Hello,

Over the March break you should have received progress reports for your children from each of their classroom teachers. These anecdotal reports are sent to give you a snapshot of how your children are doing in their respective courses about 6 weeks into the semester. Included in this package was a sign-up sheet for parent-teacher interviews. If you are interested in meeting with one of your child’s teachers, please use this form and arrange a time. The interviews are being held this Wednesday March 31, 2010 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the school. We look forward to seeing you there!

For your planning, please find attached Bell This Week.

attachment: bell-this-week-march-29-april-2-2010.doc

Sincerely,
Bruce Whitehead – Principal

VIB’s for February

Each month at Bell HS 8 deserving students are chosen by staff and awarded VIB (Very Important Bruin) status. The VIB program recognizes student efforts that go above and beyond the call of duty through displays character and/or service at the school. Deserving students chosen have their pictures displayed in the grad hall beside the doors leading in to the cafeteria and also receive a $10 gift card for Chapters.

Congratulations to the following 8 students nominated in February 2010:
Angel Jensen
Sadia Faquiri
Josh Larabie
Dionne Farquharson
Matt Leclair
Corey-Ann Occomore
Kinga Racz
Brittany Rich

OSSLT preparation – support materials on website

The official day of writing for the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test this year is April 8, 2010. All students who began high school with a date of entry of September 2008 (are currently enrolled in grade 10 courses; First Time Eligible; FTE) will be completing this mandatory graduation requirement in a few weeks time. English Language Learners in the upper levels of the ESL program will also be writing along with those students who have had an opportunity to write in previous years but are yet to achieve this graduation milestone (previously eligible; PE). Bell HS’s smart goal as developed by our School Improvement Team this year focusses specifically on the OSSLT; specifically our ELL’s, PE, and students in the applied/college streams. The particular groups were chosen as a focus this year due to what our school data was telling us about their levels of success on the OSSLT over the past five years. This does not mean that we have not exposed students in the regular program to OSSLT tasks directly related to the test. Au contraire! Since September teachers have been embedding in their classes on a regular basis in junior classrooms OSSLT specific tasks identical to those they will be facing on April 8th. The aforementioned groups (ELL’s, PE, and students in the applied/college level stream) have had more intensive support these past 6 weeks that will continue up to April 7th, the day before this years test. Teachers have been working diligently with all students and we look forward to meeting our goals this year of a minimum 90% success rate for our FTE students. I promise to provide you with our results as they become available later in the spring. Please know that I am very pleased and proud of all of the adults involved in supporting our students through this endeavour.Additional support and preparation materials are available at www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/brochure/osslt/

Corey Hum Captains Ottawa District Team to Bronze @ Winter Games 

Corey Hum captained the Ottawa District Badminton Team to a Bronze medal at the Ontario Winter Games held at Bracebridge on the first weekend in March. A badminton player since the age of 8, Corey has won numerous city championships across categories. In 2009, he won the Provincial Under 19 singles B championships and has also represented Bell HS at OFSSA. At the Ontario Winter Games, Corey played doubles and mixed doubles and along with his partner beat a Toronto team capturing the bronze medal for Ottawa. Corey’s goals this year are to win an OFSSA medal for Bell and to compete at the National Championships in May. Great luck to you Corey!

For your planning, please find attached this weeks version of Bell This Week.

attachment: bell-this-week-march-22-26.doc

Sincerely,
Bruce Whitehead – Principal

Hello,

Bell HS student “building” Green Bin Program

Bridget Irwin is a grade 9 student at Bell HS. When the green bin program began her parents openly discussed the issue of non-stick bags to line the bins and their cost. They challenged Bridget to come up with a homemade prototype that would serve the families needs. Not only did she come up with something that worked, her prototype has been picked up and shared in the Ottawa Citizen (Jan 16) as well as CTV news. With the publicity has come an increased demand to the point that the entire Irwin family has become adept at Bridget’s bag building in order to meet demand.Her motivation? Other than serving the needs of her family and now community, Bridget is using the experience as a fundraiser to fund her kayak training. She trains up to five times a week with the Rideau Canoe Club and has Olympic aspirations in the long-term.  A racing kayak costs $5000. Â

OSSLT test Preparation

Students in grade 10 will be experiencing their first crack at the OSSLT on April 8, 2010. This mandatory graduation requirement is an important piece in the lives of high school students. Recognizing a range of abilities among students, test specific tasks continue to be administered in classrooms across the curriculum in an attempt to provide as much exposure as we can. This past week, Mrs. Wendy Verreault took the lead in identifying and administering a pre-test for 140 Bell HS students; students currently taking ENG2P, ESLDO, ESLEO, previously eligible students who are those who have had at least one opportunity to write and have not yet been successful. These tasks are being assessed as we speak to help us determine the extent of further intervention required. In cases where additional practice and instruction is required, these students will be working diligently with support from teachers in the afternoons of March 10 and 24th. On the 31st of March all students will once again go through a second pre-test as a means of a second exposure. We are hoping that this level of intervention will assist these students as they progress toward earning their OSSD.

Bell This Week

For your planning, please find attached this weeks editions of Bell This Week.

attachment:Â bell-this-week-mar-8-12.docÂ

Sincerely,
Bruce Whitehead – Principal