No two days in a Principal's life is ever the same, much less two weeks! Last week, during our Performing Arts concert , we were entertained by our Band and Dance Academy and I was encouraged at the progress of the students- I find it difficult to believe that they are our Beginning Band students and have been playing only since September. As well, our Dance Academy students danced so beautifully. Every year we work at finetuning our Transition activities and events so that the Grade 6s have a smooth entry into this other stage of their learning journey.

This week has also been punctuated with preparing for meetings, dealing with day to day activities and dealing with issues on mental health. As society becomes more and more complex, we see a rise in anxiety among young people as some of them find it hard to navigate in a world full of transitions, demands and pressure. The key is to keep the line of communication open and to keep talking to our kids even though we get grunts and groans at times.

We also celebrated Anti Bullying Day and our Athletic Leadership class organised and presented a whole school assembly, which was run by students. It was very powerful as we had students telling their stories and sending the message that certain words, certain ways of behaviour are simply not acceptable. The challenge now is that ALL of us have a stake in this....we must all stand up and say no -- that takes courage but one at a time, we can do this. We are well on our way as on Friday, school was a sea of pink.

I was fortunate last Thursday to listen to a presentation by John Abbott who has written extensively on education. One of the points that I came away with is that the old adage "It takes a community to raise a child" is still, if not more vital. Children, especially teens need to have "assets" in their life - they need to have role models and people that they can talk to, not necessarily thier peers. So I invite you to be more active in your school --- let's continue to make our work a true partnership.

Reflection

As I reflect on the past week, I cannot but count myself to be so fortunate to work with amazing people. Recently, we have had cause to celebrate two achievements among our staff - Mrs Rasmussen, amazing Art teacher has been named National Art Teacher of the Year and will be receiving her award in Seattle in March. Ms. Furdal, science teacher extraordinaire will be competimg in the World Indoor  Rowing Championships in Boston later this month. This is indeed modelling life long learning!

School has been abuzz with new/not so new knowledge on Internet Safety as we had an informative and captivating presentation. According to recent statistics, 93% of teens aged 12 - 17 are now on the Internet, 89% of them go online from home. We have all been presented with strategies and tools that will keep us safe while we navigate in cyber space.The key is to use this effective tool critically, to stay informed and put these strategies in use. Please take a moment to visit The Door That's Not Locked where you will find several resources (www.thedoorthatsnotlocked.ca) 

We are in the midst of Transition activities for our Grade 9s and Grade 6s. We were very pleased to receive positive feedback about our students' visit to Belmont last Thursday; they were able to view and explore booths about the various programs and opportunities available to them. This week we will host the Grade 6s from our feeder schools to a Performing Arts Concert.

Friday, February 18th, being a Professional day, all staff will be engaged in continuing on the professional journey. It is amazing how renewed we feel when there has been opportunity to engage in new learnings and relationships.