The Canadian Women in History course is now live on the ChatterHigh platform!

Canadian students in grades 6-12 (grade 6 to secondary 5 in Quebec) now have access to the modules designed to help youth embark on their learning journey and work towards becoming more informed while celebrating diverse and inspiring stories of Canadian women who have made an impact.

Four free modules are available:

• Celebrating and Commemorating Canadian Women in History
• Key Moments in History
• Women of Impact in Canada
• Gender Equality and Your Learning Journey

https://resources.chatterhigh.com/canadian-women-in-history-course

Limestone students, staff, families, community members, and community stakeholders will be consulted through an online survey platform, Thought Exchange, in an effort to collect a wide variety of qualitative data on the question “What key supports and services are important for students with special education needs to experience success at school and reach their full potential?”.

A brief 10 min Instructional Video on how to use the Thought Exchange platform can be found here: https://youtu.be/GLVbpSAMI6c. We'd love to hear from you and your family about what supports and services help your child experience success at school.

The Thought Exchange will be available for students with special education needs and their families between February 27 and March 6, 2023, and then it will be available to Limestone staff and community members and partners starting April 24 to April 28, 2023. The information gathered through the Thought Exchange will be reviewed and analyzed by the Educational Services Team, allowing key ideas and input to inform the future planning, priorities, services, and supports available in Limestone. Final results and findings will be shared publicly in the Fall of 2023.

We will be inviting student voice and partcipation in the survey through our special education support staff. This includes our Student Success Teachers and School to Community Teachers (both elementary and secondary), as well as our Secondary Learning Program Suport Teacher. They will be faciliating the survey with students that they support who would like to share their feedback on what helps them be successful at school from February 27th to March 6th.

Learn more about the Special Education Review here: http://bit.ly/SpecEdReview20

Grade 8 graduation photos will take place on Thursday, March 9th. Students will be called down by grade 8 homeform teacher to have their picture taken on the cafeteria stage.

More information about how to prepare for these momentous photos are available in Prestige's Grade Portrait Info Package linked below!

• Congratulations to our amazing Secondary Junior Girls Volleyball Team for winning a silver medal at EOSSAA.
• Congratulations to our Intermediate Salt of the Earth award winners.

Organization of Kingston Women Artists (OKWA) has generously offered to financially support a student at Kingston School of Art.

The Organization of Kingston Women Artists Bursary is $500 and awarded to a deserving student to support her/their studies at Kingston School of Art. This bursary may be awarded to two deserving individuals, in which case, each would receive a $250 bursary.​
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Priority will be given to students who identify as female. A panel of OKWA members will jury the submissions.

Organization of Kingston Women Artists (OKWA) is a non-profit independent association formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1989, with a current membership of approximately sixty artists. The organization provides a forum for mutual support and exchange of information and ideas among local professional women artists. ​

Mr. Stephen Graham's senior drama class recently enjoyed a performance of the one-man play "Josiah", performed by Cassel Miles (centre in the pic). It was arranged as part of Limestone's Black History month activities.

The play tells the true story of Josiah Henson, a man born into slavery in the US who escaped to Canada, founded a town for families escaping slavery, and became active internationally in the abolitionist movement and underground railroad. He was the basis of the main character in the Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin". The play is 90 minutes long and includes 30 different characters, all played by Miles! It was an incredible performance, enjoyed by all.

This Summer Mentorship Program provides high school students of Indigenous or African ancestry with the opportunity to explore health science education and careers at the University of Toronto, this summer.

Students who attend the program receive mentorship in their health science area of interest, a stipend for completing the program, and a grade 12 science credit (SNC 4M) which can be used on their university or college applications. This program is hands-on and highlights Black and Indigenous health knowledges and perspectives.

For more information, please see the attached brochure or the SMP online application. The deadline to apply is March 24, 2023.

If you have further questions, please contact Renée at ohpsa.outreach@utoronto.ca.

There are many community organizations, including The Maltby Centre, that offer a variety of resources to support students and families. The Maltby Centre (https://maltbycentre.ca/) provides mental health and autism services to children and youth, and works with clients in schools, homes, and other locations.

Other supports include:

• School Mental Health Ontario
• Youth Diversion
  
• Kids Help Phone

We continue to see many students who struggle to safely and respectively use social media. Please monitor your student's phone usage, especially at night. Many students admit to staying up quite late each night, and therefore coming to school quite tired. Thank you for your vigilance and helping your student get the most out of their day.

Limestone Tutoring Resources January 9 – March 30

As part of the Ministry of Education Tutoring Grant, LDSB is extending an afterschool drop-in Virtual Tutoring Program through the winter months for Limestone students in Grades 1 to 10.

Grade 7 to 10 - Math skills and support. 3 tutors per night. (30 min sessions)

Grade 7 to 10 – Homework help. 2 tutors per night. (30 min sessions)

• Student must be logged in to MS Teams using their Limestone account.
• Click on link for age group and subject support. (links below)
• Sessions are on a first-come, first-served model.
• Wait in virtual lobby until tutor invites student into the session.

TEAMS Links

Grade 7-10 Math Link 1

Grade 7-10 Math Link 2

Grade 7-10 Math Link

Grade 7-10 HW Link 1

Grade 7-10 HW Link 2

Last month, we celebrated Black History and Futures month. This March, we would like to continue to work towards improving the La Salle experience for students who identify as racialized (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour). If your child identifies as racialized, please click this link to learn more about how we hope to do this.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Xxb04a7rgk2nPKDeWTgwvtJYiH_BZ_NBpZFyRrHi1pVUOFNJWUUyUTJBUFhCQjIzSVZQWlhEQVNZRC4u

La Salle Secondary School would like to make our school and student experience better for racialized students – those who consider themselves as Black, Indigenous, People of Colour. As part of that we would like your input and perspective to help us understand what school has been like for your children (and/or yourself as a caregiver) and to provide more opportunities for racialized students at LSS.

We would like to do this in two ways:

1. Survey to students

If you provide us with your consent, and the name of your student, we will send a brief survey to students to let us know how they would like to engage with the racialized student support team. We will take our lead from them.

2. Survey to parents

We have also designed a short survey to inform us about how you would like to engage with the team at LSS. You can complete the parent survey below.

Name of Student

Permission granted

Name of Parent

Contact Information

The surveys will ask if people want to give us feedback via: 1-1 call or meering, online survey, parent group meeting in the evening.