St. Daniel Weekly Update

January 20 - January 24, 2025

Prayer

Thank you for the joy of Christmas and the start of this special Jubilee Year. As we settle back into our routines at school, help us to learn and grow together, walking through each door with love and kindness in our hearts. Guide us every day and help us to be the best we can be.

Amen

Eighteenth Week of School

Our St. Daniel Lions are roaring with pride after the recent victory of Canada's Under 18 Women's team at the World Championships! This exciting win brings to mind the incredible legacy of our women's teams in international competitions over the past two decades. Perhaps one day, a future Lion will join their ranks!

In other news, the recent snowfall has transformed our schoolyard into a winter wonderland. Students have been collaborating on impressive snow creations, and the blanket of white has thankfully helped to conceal some of the treacherous ice patches that often plague school grounds.

We continue to observe unsafe parking practices around the school, including stopping in no-stopping zones, parking on the wrong side of the street, and mid-street drop-offs/pick-ups. These actions create significant congestion and pose a serious safety risk to our students and neighbors. To ensure everyone's well-being, we urge you to park a block away and walk to school. Let's work together proactively to prevent accidents and maintain a safe environment for our entire community. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated!

Our school experienced a brief power outage on Thursday. We have procedures for such events and quickly determined this was temporary. Generally, we remain open if the outage is short-term and we can maintain a safe environment with support measures. In this case, power was restored soon after students arrived.

However, a prolonged outage with significant heating loss, causing temperatures to fall below 18°C for an extended period, would necessitate closure. If we cannot ensure student and staff safety despite temporary measures, the Principal and Superintendent will close the school until the issue is resolved. We then have other protocols to follow should this occur.

Our cheers always fuel our Ottawa Senators towards victory! While Thursday night saw Ovechkin net another game-winner, the St. Daniel's spirit remains unbroken. We're counting on them to crush the Bruins tomorrow. With a little help from the Leafs (a Montreal loss to Toronto), our Sens will be right back in a playoff spot. GO SENS GO!!!!

United In Black Day

On Monday, January 20, on Martin Luther King Day, we’re celebrating this day promoting inclusivity and unity through deeper understanding of anti-Black racism and its impact.  Everyone is invited to wear black as a symbol of our collective support.

FSL Pathways Grade 3  Grade 6  Parents

IMPORTANT FRENCH PATHWAY INFORMATION FOR YOUR GRADE THREE or GRADE SIX CHILD

On February 13, you will receive an important email with a link/form regarding your child's French Pathway for grade four or grade seven. You will need to fill the important link/form at the bottom of the email that will be sent to you via school messenger, by March 7, 2025.  We can provide a paper copy of this information upon request. 

Identification of Potentially Gifted Pupils 

We are in the process of identifying candidates (Grade 3-6) who may qualify for the Program for Gifted Learners (PGL), an off-site resource withdrawal program for gifted learners in grades four, five and six. Screening involves cognitive, affective and academic assessment of potentially gifted learners. If you would like to speak further about this opportunity, please reach out to your child’s teacher to discuss this further. Thank you!

Grade 6 Upcoming Visits

Grade 6 Transitions - Frank Ryan Parent Info Evening

It’s that time of year when we start planning transition activities to support grade 6 students planning on attending Frank Ryan in September 2025.  Part of these transition activities include information for parents.  We wish to invite parents of Grade 6 students planning to attend Frank Ryan Catholic Intermediate School for the 2025-2026 school year, to a Parent Information Night at Frank Ryan on Thursday,  February 6th at 6:30pm.

During the information evening, teachers and students will discuss some of the key aspects of school life that will include such things as: academic programs, extra-curricular activities and leadership opportunities.  Tonight will also include a program overview of different subject areas. Our leadership team, teachers and support staff will be available to answer questions throughout the evening.

St. Paul Catholic High School Visit

The guidance department will be visiting our Grade 6 students on January 29, at 9:30 AM to present them with information about St. Paul High School. 

If you are interested in your child attending St. Paul, they would like to invite your child to St. Paul for a day of fun-filled activities, and a chance to preview their school play, Alice In Wonderland. This day will include a tour of  the school, a pizza lunch, and some giveaways for a few lucky winners. 

Please mark your calendars for February 19. 

Notre Dame High School

Please see the attached poster.

February 5, 2025

SNOW DAYS

In the event that extreme weather results in the cancellation of school buses, parents are not required to call in their child’s absence if they take a school bus.  The school will remain open.  Should you choose to send your child to school, parents are responsible for transportation to and from school that day.  School hours are from 9:15 to 3:45 p.m.  If you wish to have someone other than a family member pick your child up, a written request with your signature must be delivered to the office.

PIZZA DAY SNOW DAY

We do not cancel pizza delivery on a snow day that happens to fall on a Tuesday.  St. Daniel has most of the population these days.

Grade 6 Photos

Photos for our Grade 6 students will take place on March 4, 2025.  Teachers will speak to them about recommended attire.

St. Daniel Spirit Wear

St. Daniel Spiritwear is now available to order on our new webstore.  Please go to https://stdaniel.secure-decoration.com/ to shop our expanded line of St. Daniel merch!  

The webstore will remain open all year long, but those who order before the deadline on November 30 will qualify for free shipping to the school where you can either pick up your order, or have it sent home with your child.  THIS IS ALSO ON THE LANDING PAGE OF OUR SCHOOL WEBSITE.

OSTA

Ottawa Student Transportation Authority has launched a user-friendly progressive web application to

provide real-time updates about your child’s transportation status. With this app, you’ll receive timely

alerts and notifications directly to your device via push notifications. It’s easy to set up, it’s free, and

notifications are instant. The app will replace emails when it comes to weather cancellation

notifications only; emails will still be circulated for delays, cancellations and other alerts.

Visit www.ottawaschoolbus.ca to learn more. Questions and concerns can be directed to

pwahelp@ottawaschoolbus.ca.This initiative reflects our commitment to better serving our communities and improving the well-being of our students during transportation.

Parking

As a reminder, the north side of the street in front of the school is a no-stopping zone. Please be mindful of the no-parking zone on the south side as well. We've noticed increased congestion in these areas, which creates a potentially unsafe environment for our students and neighbours.

To help alleviate this, we kindly ask that you park a block away and walk the short distance to school. Your cooperation in making our school zone a safer place for everyone in our community is greatly appreciated!

We also wanted to bring to your attention concerns about entering the back parking lot for drop off and pick up of EDP students.  Please be cautious and go very slow when entering and exiting the parking lot.

We are looking at having a two way mirror installed to alleviate the blind spot.  We will keep you posted.

Snowsuit Fund

The Snowsuit Fund provides new snowsuits to children aged 0-15 who are Ottawa residents and considered low-income. Eligibility criteria include proof of the child's age, household income, and address. Families can apply for the program by appointment only through the Snowsuit Fund website. There is a nominal $10 fee to help cover administrative costs.

Breakfast Program

Dear Parents/Guardians,

All students are invited to attend the breakfast program.  If you do not want your child to participate in the breakfast program, kindly contact your teacher with this request.

Arrival / Dismissal Drop off / Pick up

Please be aware the procedures that are in place for dismissal and pick up.  To promote the safety of our students at St Daniel Catholic School, we have developed and implemented a plan to ensure the safe arrival and dismissal of our children. Parents and school staff have a vital role in this process. 

ARRIVAL: Children enter the gate which is located at the east end of the school . They do so between 9:00 - 9:15 a.m. Students will then proceed to the schoolyard. No adults are allowed on the school yard before, during or after school. Educators will be in these designated areas.  At 9:15 when the bell rings, students will line up with classes, and then they will proceed into the school through their designated door, and be escorted with their teacher to their classroom.  In the case of inclement weather, students will enter the school from designated doors, and be directed by staff to their classrooms. We ask your full cooperation as the safety and security of our children is a whole school approach.  

Dismissal:  Everyone will be dismissed from their classrooms between 3:38 - 3:45pm.  When the buses arrive, kinders will start boarding buses at 3:40, followed by Grades 1-6 students.  EDP students will leave at 3:44 to walk directly to EDP.  Walkers will leave at 3:44 to leave school for home.  

Drop Off /Pick UP If you are driving your child to school in the morning or picking them up at dismissal time, we ask you to park your car away from the school and WALK-A-BLOCK. We ask that you do not enter the Bus drop off zone, these are off limits to all cars between 9:00 AM - 9:30 PM and  3:30 PM - 4:00 PM .

Reminder EDP

We for students both before and after school to not enter classrooms with parents.  These rules have been in place for a very long time. It is important they are followed. 

St. Daniel Catholic School Council  

Next Meeting:  January 21, 2025   Cancelled

Rescheduled to January 28, 2025  6:30 PM  Learning Commons

School Website

We encourage all of our Parents/Guardians to check our St. Daniel website daily during the week.  Updated information from the Board is published, as well as weekly updates from the school, as well as important dates  listed on the school calendar. Please take note that the information that is on weekly updates will also be sent via school messenger.

Reminders:

School Messenger

 Please sign up for School messenger to make sure you will be receiving all communication from our school. If this is not completed you may miss out on receiving some important announcements from our school. School Messenger

Parent Portal

****** VERY IMPORTANT TO COMPLETE THIS PROCESS OR YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO ACCESS REPORT CARDS 

Please visit Login - enCompass to access your students information and in future their report cards.  Please review the contact information listed.  If any changes need to be made please email Daniel@ocsb.ca with the new updates.  

Office Administrator 

Please take note that often times you will not be able to speak to our Office Administrators 30 minutes before the end of school bell at 3:45 PM. This is a very busy time.  Requests to have students be removed from the bus or ready for you to pick them up early should be done in the morning,  by communication in the agenda or a voicemail message before 12:00 PM.  Please understand that these types of requests may not be addressed if you are calling late. We would kindly ask that if you are requesting a pick up at 3:30, please wait until 3:45.

Thank you 

Staffing Update

We take this time to thank Ms. Sara Palitza for being part of St. Daniel Catholic School.  Her LTO ended January 13th. We welcome back Mrs. Barrette.

We also take this time to wish Mrs. Kelsey Farr, Educational Assistant  all the best.  Mrs. Farr will be leaving St. Daniel Catholic School at the end of January.

Important Dates

January 20  United in Black Day

January 28  Parent Council Meeting  Learning Commons  6:30 PM

Future Jan 25   Leafs vs Sens

Future  March 4  Grade 6 Photos