Parent Newsletter
Macdonald Drive Junior High, November, 2022
Macdonald Drive Junior High
Email: macdonalddrivejrh@nlesd.ca
Website: mdjh.info
Location: 110 Macdonald Drive, St. John's, NL, Canada
Phone: 709-753-8240
Twitter: @mdjh
Dates to remember
- November 25 - Teacher PD
- November 29 - District Closeout
- November 29 - 50th Anniversary Open House 6-8pm - Details to follow.
What's Been Going On
Hallowe'en at MDJH
Hallowe'en fun at MDJH. Just a few snaps of some really wonderful and creative costumes!
Walking Tour Grade 8
Bright skies and cooling temperatures provided the perfect conditions for a grade 8 walk downtown on Friday, October 28. Students in four classes, who are studying the Janet McNaughton novel, Catch Me Once, Catch Me Twice, took advantage of the day to follow in the footsteps of the lead characters in the novel, Ev and Peter.
We walked from The Battery to Water Street, climbed the Courthouse steps, went past the old library on Duckworth Street, and walked up Cathedral Street to Long’s Hill to view the sites of the Knights of Columbus Leave Centre and the old Holloway School location.
We finished in Ev’s neighbourhood at Bannerman Park. After 10 000 steps and many steep hills, the students still had enough energy to play at the playground until the buses arrived. The tour enlivened the study and taught the students the true meaning of the genre, historical fiction.
Coming Together
At MDJH we acknowledge and appreciate the many diverse cultures and ethnicities in our school. Coming Together is a student-driven club that plans to help students coming from different ethnic backgrounds integrate into the school community, as well as share and learn each other's cultures.
The club is open to all students from grades 7-9. Students will be able to speak their native language and socialize with others. Students who are learning English as a second language can join the group and receive peer tutoring. This group can help students build a greater understanding of inclusivity, multiculturalism, and diversity.
The group will meet every day 7 in the art room (room 227) starting on October 17. The meeting shall take place during lunch hours. If you have any questions, concerns, or are looking to join this group please contact Alpita Patro (apatro_s@nlesd.ca).
Coming Up...
Grizzly Goss
The Grizzly Goss' is our new student newspaper! The newspaper club is working on our 1st issue. We are going old-school with a few paper copies per homeroom. Keep your eyes peeled in November to see what the students have been up to!
Student Council News
Student Council Initiative for Port aux Basques
Our student council would like to send a big thank you to our school community for their support and generosity to the Hurricane Fiona fundraiser. $1100 was raised and sent to the Red Cross which will be matched by the Federal Government.
2021-2022 Yearbooks Distribution Update
The 2021-2022 yearbooks have been distributed to any current student who ordered one last year. They have been sent to Holy Heart and Gonzaga and should have been distributed to students there.
Celebrate Student Success
We want to acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of the students of MDJH. We have a wall of celebration where we place a certificate of acknowledgement highlighting participation and success in a variety of activities.
We want to know if your child has participated in any plays, musicals or has been on a team that has won some title or has been recognized in any individual competition.
We need your help with this. Please let us know so we can proudly display this on our wall. Please email colettequann@nlesd.ca with Celebrate YOUR CHILD’S NAME in the subject line.
Jamarama 2021- Friday, October 21, 2022
$705 was raised by students and staff on Friday, October 21. Thank you to our school community for supporting this annual initiative.
MDJH Spirit Wear- Deadline to order is Friday, November 4
School Clothing is now available through our webstore https://www.unigear2u.com/mdjh. The deadline for ordering is Friday, November 4. All orders must be placed online. No orders will be accepted at school. Clothing can be delivered to your home for a fee, but you can get free shipping if you select ship to school. Please reach out to Beresford with any questions. You can contact them at
753-1900, www.beresfordltd.ca or www.bltd.ca
50 Year Anniversary
As part of our anniversary celebrations, we have launched a webstore through Beresford for our October event. School clothing can be ordered online until Nov. 4th.MDJH is celebrating our 50 year anniversary this year. For our November event, we are hosting an Open House for any MDJH alumni (former students and staff). This event will be held on Tuesday, November 29, from 6-8. Once details are finalized, they will be shared on our website and Twitter.
MDJH Science
Science News
Our Grade 7 and 8 Science classes have been quite busy exploring Ecosystems around our school. The Grade 8 Science students even tested the water quality of Kenny’s Pond. The results were what we hoped for! Kenny’s Pond is a very healthy ecosystem for the organisms that depend on it.
We also had a trip to the Fluvarium to learn about food chains and interactions of abiotic and biotic factors in Ecosystems.
Finally, people from the Ocean Science Centre made a surprise visit with the coolest marine invertebrates!
Stay tuned for more Science News from the Grade 9’s in the November newsletter!
Science quote of the month:
‘The important thing is to never stop questioning’ ~Albert Einstein
MDJH Music
Band Day 2022!
Our Grade 7 Band Mini-Retreat was a huge success! Thanks to all those who were able to attend.
Winter Concert Announcement
Our annual Winter Concert will take place on Wednesday, December 14, at 7:00 pm in the school gym. Tickets go on sale at the office on December 7.
MDJH Sports
Cross Country
Congratulations to all of our runners for an impressive final race of the regular season.
- Aidan Douglas once again demonstrated why he is the top runner to beat at the upcoming provincials by earning himself his fourth gold medal of the year.
- Henry Pearson similarly dominated his race and won the gold medal in the Grade 7 boys race.
- Millie Janes had a strong finish and won the silver medal in the Grade 8 and 9 girls race.
- Matthew Earle came away with the bronze medal after a close sprint to the finish line.
- Our Grade 7 Boys team (consisting of Henry Pearson, Jack Tilley, Kaden Maloney, and Nathan Stanley) won first place after combining their scores. This is the third time that our Grade 7 boys have placed first as a team, and they successfully secured themselves the team banner for this category.
- Our Grade 8 and 9 boys, Aidan Douglas, Matthew Earle, Adam Masek, Ian Santos, and Alexander Fitzgerald, similarly did well and placed first as a team.
We are so proud of all of our runners and what they achieved this year. Just being able to run this distance is an accomplishment, and to see so many of our students improve their race times was amazing. Everyone on the team deserves to be congratulated for all of their hard work and giving it their all during the races this year.
Way to go, Grizzlies!
Macdonald Drive Junior High
Email: macdonalddrivejrh@nlesd.ca
Website: mdjh.info
Location: 110 Macdonald Drive, St. John's, NL, Canada
Phone: 709-753-8240
Twitter: @mdjh