Winter NewsletterSaint Patrick Regional SecondaryVancouver, Canada

www.stpats.bc.ca

Inside...(click to jump to page)

Principal’s Message

Madeleine Thien

Remembrance Day

Learning Beyond the Walls

Open House January 9th

21st Century Learning at St. Pat’s

Communicating Student Learning

Cali Espinosa - World Class Wrestler

Celtic Sports Roundup

Post Secondary Resources

Celtic Outreach

Walkathon Wrapup

News From The Office / Use The Website

Upcoming Events

Bring Your Laptop

Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Trip

From the Principal...

Dear Students, Parents and the entire Saint Patrick Community,The 2016 school year can best be described as a year of transition and change. St. Patrick Regional must never be afraid of change. Instead, we welcome change as we continue to maintain our core values.

Our school has embraced the BC Ed Plan wholeheartedly with a focus on personalized learn-ing, cross-curricular learning, project based learning, commitment to best practices in assess-ment and a variety of new courses. Work Experience, Photography, Peer Helping, Graphic Design, Digital Citizenship and Integrated Studies are few examples of the new courses in-tended to meet the individual needs of our students. At the same time, we continue to strive for quality instruction in the more traditional courses.

Our mission is to provide a “climate of understanding, caring and learning that promotes an environment of safety, acceptance and respect for all students.” We must never

forget that “Jesus is the Reason for our School.” A look through this newsletter will provide you many examples of our school living out its faith.

I firmly believe that we must continue to keep up with the changing landscape in education while staying true to our Catholic values. The end result will be Saint Pat’s graduates fully prepared to meet the challenges of their post-secondary world with the values, morals and faith that will always serve them well.

With the Christmas season fast approaching, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their hard work, dedication and commitment to developing and fostering our faith and learning community. I look forward with anticipation to the joy and hope that the celebration of the birth of Jesus brings to our lives.

God Bless,

Ralph Gabriele

Saint Patrick must neverbe afraid of

change.

"I look forward to the joy and hope that the celebration of the

birth of Jesus brings to our lives"

St. Pat’s Graduate Madeleine Thien Wins Prestigious Literary Awards

St. Pat’s is proud of all its graduates, but this year Madeleine Thien has truly made us and all of Canada proud. For many years Madeleine (Class of ’93) has been one of Canada’s leading literary stars. Her books have been listed on many international best seller lists and her poetry and her novels have been translated into numerous languages. This year, Madeleine’s latest novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing has been named winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her novel was also a finalist for The Man Booker Commonwealth Literary Prize.

Madeleine’s recent success has once again propelled her onto the front pages of many news outlets. Click on the following links to read more on one of Canada’s leading literary figures and graduate of good old St. Pat’s High.

From the CBC: Madeleine Thien wins 2016 Scotia-bank Giller Prize for Do Not Say We Have NothingFrom the Globe and Mail: Review: Do Not Say We Have Nothing Cements Madeleine Thien As One Of Canada’s Most Talented Novelists

OUR MADELEINE THIEN SAINT PAT’SCLASS OF ‘93

New Open House Format at St. Pat’sThis year, the St. Patrick Regional Secondary Open House will be held in the

EVENING. On Monday, January 9, between 6 pm and 8 pm, please feel free to drop by to tour the school and enjoy some refreshments. The Open House provides an opportunity to meet the principal and the staff, to see the talents and abilities of

our current students, and to pick up an application for September, 2017.

Open HouseMonday January 9 6 - 8 pm115 East 11th Avenue

Vancouver, Canada V5T2C1604-874-6422 WWW.STPATS.BC.CA

OPEN HOUSE

MondayJanuary 9

6 - 8 PMSaint Patrick Regional Secondary

Pick up an ApplicationMeet the PrincipalTour the School

SAVE THE DATE

MondayJanuary 9

6 - 8 PM

St. Pat’s Remembrance Day Service Now a TraditionFor the second consecutive year, cadets from St. Pat’s organized and led the entire student body in our Remembrance Day Service. At 11:00 AM on November 10th, all students and staff gathered on 11th Avenue and watched Vivian Wong (Grade 12) march eight fellow cadets onto the school’s front patio while cadet Patrick McGrath (Grade 12) kept time on his snare drum. In the solemn ceremony that followed, the cadets paid tribute to the soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during WW I, WW II, the Korean War and the war in Afghanistan. Another highlight of the event was the playing of Amazing Grace by Daniel McQuade on his bagpipes. With the cadets leading the ceremony the last two years, we are declaring this a new Celtic tradition. Well done, Celtic Cadets!

REMEMBRANCE DAY

Photographyby Kaede Leitao

St. Pat’s recognized for Embracing the BC ED Plan

According to the Vancouver Sun, “one faith-based independent school, St. Patrick Regional Secondary in Vancouver, has embraced the new BC Education Plan and the new ministry directives outlined in the Plan.” In his article on Independent Schools Rich in Options, Sun writer William Mbaho quoted Principal Gabriele who said that “these directives are reflected in our new schedule, course offerings, approach to parent and teacher interactions, our current assessment policies and our integrated cross-curricular approach in Grade 8 and 9.”

St. Pat’s is indeed fully embracing the new re-designed curriculum. Besides the changes in Grade 8 and 9 this year, the Social Studies, English and Religion 11 teachers planned and delivered a cross-curricular project on “Shakespeare’s Refugee Speech.” We began the year by developing Learner Profiles for all our students in order to better deliver individualized instruction. This year, we will be introducing a week long mid-year Demonstration of Learn-ing opportunity where all students will have an opportunity to show case their learning in order to improve their standing. Report Cards will focus on communicating skill development along with traditional forms of Grades. Increasingly, our classrooms are being re-designed to reflect this new generation of learners. Click on the link to view an outstanding example of a Learner Profile created by Olivia Taguiam (Grade 8).

St. Pat’s has been and hopes to continue to be a leader in 21st Century Learning within the CISVA and throughout the province.

21st LEARNING AT ST. PAT’S

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO VIEW OLIVIA’S LEARNING PROFILE →

St. Pat’s is indeed fully embracing

the new re-designed curriculum.

We’ve evolved from single-roomschoolhouses – where every studentsimply memorized whattheir teacher told them –to today, where informationis updated continuously and avast array of resourcescan be tailored to the learning needsof individual students. BCEdPlan 2015 //focus on learning

In a world of rapidly changingtechnology, students today routinelynavigate through more information ina single year than their predecessorslikely encountered in a decade.

Bring Your Laptop to the Classroom

St. Patrick Regional is committed to providing students with an excellent, challenging 21st century education. Since students learn most effectively using electronic devices, the school has decided that personal, portable computers are essential tools

in all relevant classes. It is expected that students will come equipped with a personal computer.

St. Patrick Regional Secondary Work Habits Rubric

Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs ImprovementResponsibility: demonstrates an industrious work ethic, ready to work and learn.

Cooperation: exemplifies a high degree of positive and meaningful participation.

Independence: enthusiastic learner and continually seeks learning opportunities.

Responsibility: all assign-ments turned in, ready to work and learn.

Cooperation: works well with teacher and other learners, participates in class in a mean-ingful way.

Independence: a self-direct-ed learner, takes appropriate initiative for learning.

Responsibility: most assign-ments turned in, usually ready to work and learn.

Cooperation: usually works well with other learners and teacher.

Independence: sometime requires direction to remain on task.

Responsibility: most assign-ments are missing, frequently not ready to lean.

Cooperation: does not work well with other learners and teacher.

Independence: frequently off task, teacher supervision is required often.

Good work habits will lead

to all-round success.

On January 27, students will receive a Mid-Year Report Card. This report card will include traditional letter grades and percentages to communicate student learning. The report card will also include an indication of Learning Levels as prescribed by the BC Ed Plan. Please see the table below for the four Learning Levels that St. Pat’s has chosen to use.

ACcomplished COmpetent DEveloping BEginning

The learner can per-form the learning stan-dards at a near-mas-tery or mastery level. She/he is perceptive, and her/his work is detailed, extensive, sophisticated, accurate and consistently appro-priate.

The learner is meeting the learning standards and has a concrete idea of what he/she needs to do in order to achieve mastery. She/he is thoughtful, and her/his work is coher-ent and logical, with a considerable degree of accuracy.

The learner is meeting the learning standards and is aware of the curricular elements and skills which he/she must still develop. Her/his work is adequate, with some degree of coherence and logic, and some degree of accuracy.

The learner is meeting the learning standards, but has not yet demon-strated any depth of skills or deeper under-standing of content. Her/his work is limited, with a minimal degree of coherence and logic, and limited accuracy.

Communicating Student Learning

Provides the students of BC with information about programs in post-secondary education. https://choosebc.ca/

EducationPlannerBC helps learners make well informed decisions about their education and career options. https://www.educationplannerbc.ca/

We help with the cost of post-secondary education through student loans, grants, and scholarships. We also have programs that help with loan repayment. https://studentaidbc.ca/

Every year hundreds of scholarships and bursaries go unawarded because students did not apply for them. It does take work to put together an application, but it can be worth the effort. https://www.educationplannerbc.ca/plan/finance/scholarship

St. Pat’s Grads Receive UVIC ScholarshipsIn September, we were pleased to receive confirmation that the University of Victoria has given four graduates from the class of 2016 the following scholarships:

Alina Meyer and Santana Palmer Thomas: the University of Victoria Entrance Schol-arship, Evan Sanderson: the Excellence in Math and the University of Victoria Entrance Scholarship and Alexa Silvera: the Robert and Ellen Pearce Scholarship.

We are proud of all our graduates and extend a special congratulations to these graduates of the class of 2016.

Post-Secondary Liaison DayOn the morning of November 17,, St. Patrick students in grades 10 through 12 had the opportunity to hear from most colleges and universities in BC. Beginning in Grade 10, students are encouraged to think about where they will go to further their educations after high school. Our Post-Secondary Liaison Day allows our students to hear about admission requirements and programs offered at our provincial colleges and universities.

POST SECONDARY RESOURCES

ONLINERESOURCESFORPOST SECONDARYPLANNING

The Sr. Girls Volleyball team winning the Lower Mainland Championship highlights the Fall Athletic scene at St. Pat’s. With this victory the Sr. Girls ensured their 30th appearance at the Provincial Champion-ships in the past 31 years. The BC Championships will be held in Abbotsford during the first week of December. We wish the team the best of luck as they attempt to win a Provincial Banner. Click on the following Link to see a tribute to our Grade 12 team members before their last home game on Seniors’ Night.

The Jr. Girls Volleyball team wrapped up their season with a solid 3rd place finish in the Independent School League. One highlight of the season was taking a set from a very dominant STM team in their semi-final playoff. The girls were the first team all season to take a set from STM. Although the girls were defeated in three tough sets they finished with a top 4 plac-ing in the tournament. Congratulations on a fine season, girls.

The Gr 8 Girls Volleyball Team enjoyed great success this year by winning their league championship with a three set win over rival Notre Dame. Although the girls started off slowly and finished league play with a 6-6 record, the team realized their full potential in the playoffs. Their playoff run was ignited by a huge first-time win over LFA. Another highlight of the season was a tournament win at Carver Christian. Congratulations on an excellent season girls!

The Senior Boys Soccer team had one of the most successful seasons ever, posting an overall record of 10-4. The high-light of their season was their victory over Notre Dame, which propelled them into the Lower Mainland Championships. Unfortunately, their dream of making to the Provincial Championships ended when they were unable to advance beyond the Lower Mainland tournament. Special thank you to our Grade 12’s Lucas Ribeiro, John Estrada, Daniel Saiyo, Patrick Ramos, Joshua Jose, Peilan Nilamage, Eric Urmaza, Sean Haughian, and Alvin Adam for five years of dedication to St. Patrick’s soccer.

The Junior Boys Soccer team also had one of its best seasons ever with a record of 4 wins and 0 losses and 1 tie in League play. A special mention to Dencel Mondragon who scored 13 goals in those 5 games. In the playoffs, the boys won their first 2 matches. Unfortunately in the Championship match, the boys suffered lost 1 - 0 defeat in overtime. Congratula-tions Boys on an outstanding season!

CELTIC SPORTS ROUNDUP

The Senior Boys

Celtics Learning outside the ClassroomOne of the ways that St. Pat’s is helping our students make connections between what they learn at school and what they experience and learn in their everyday lives is through learning outside the classroom. St. Pat’s teachers and students are working together to create new learning environments and experiences that allow stu-dents to explore, discover, and fully embrace their passions. Since September, a number or students and teachers have ventured outside the classroom. Here are a few examples:

Two Star-crossed Lovers and One Hundred High School English Students

On Wednesday, September 21, the St. Patrick’s Grade 11 English students attended the Bard on the Beach pro-duction of Romeo & Juliet. Because the students studied Romeo & Juliet in grade 10, they found that many of the themes, such as the individual versus society, strained family relationships, and the power of love were as rele-vant and resonant today as they were in 14th century Verona. While at the performance, St. Pat’s student Lauren

Howard was interviewed and asked to give her feedback on the production of Romeo & Juliet. Lauren’s comments were recorded by the producers of Bard on the Beach, so don’t be surprised if a St. Pat’s Celtic appears in some of the promotional materials for the 2017 Bard on the Beach season.

Dragon Boating Grade 10s

On September 21, all Grade 10 students had the opportunity to experience dragon-boating with Dragon Zone Paddling Club. Over 80 students braved the waters of False Creek and learned the paddling skills necessary for this growing international sport. In January, Mr. Au will be forming the first-ever St. Pat’s Dragon Boat team to compete against other schools across the prov-ince. More info on how to be a part of this awesome team will be coming in the new-year. Stay tuned.

Work Experience at St. Pats

This year, St. Patrick proudly introduced a new Work Experience program. Currently, 18 St. Pat’s students involved in the program are acquiring invaluable workplace skills outside of school while continuing to earn graduation credits. In just a few short months, participating students are building auton-omy, independence, creativity and confidence and preparing for life after graduation. Please feel free to contact Ms. Greene with any questions about the Work Experience program at St. Pats.

BEYOND THE WALLS

Our own Calista Espinosa has been very busy over the last seven months. In April, Cali became a National Champion, win-ning gold in the 40 kg division at the Cadet Canadian Wrestling Championships in Calgary.

In July, Cali represented Canada at the Pan American Cadet Championships in Lima, Peru. Cali had the distinct honour of being the flag bearer for Team Canada during the opening ceremonies. Cali won bronze in the 40 kg division by rallying from a deficit to defeat her American opponent by pin-fall.

In September, Cali wrestled at the Cadet World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia. At the World Championships, Cali defeated her opponent from Belarus just 38 seconds into the first round with a score of 11-0. Cali was later defeated by her opponent from In-dia who would go on to win sliver. Cali was one of only 3 Canadian wrestlers to win a match at the Cadet World Championships. Because of her outstanding performance, Cali is now ranked 7th in the world in the cadet 40 kg division.

Although it has been an exhaust-ing seven months for Cali, her hard work, passion, and perseverance have all paid off. Coach Mongeon and the entire St. Patrick Celtics community are so proud of Cali and everything she has accomplished.

Cali is now ranked 7th in the world in the cadet 40 kg WRESTLING division

BEYOND THE WALLS Calista EspinosaWrestling

On September 26, 2016, 40 grade 12 students from St. Patrick travelled to Ashland, Ore-gon to see Shakespeare come to life at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The senior En-glish students had the opportunity to take in five plays including, Yeoman of the Guard, The Wiz, Twelfth Night, Great Expectations, and Hamlet.

The trip to the OSF was greatly enhanced by the School Visit Program, an outreach initiative that allowed the students to experience Broadway caliber performances that deepened their appre-ciation for The Bard and beyond. One highlight of the trip was an intimate backstage tour led by two of the actors from the troupe. They helped the students fully appreciate just how much hard work goes into each and every production.

Seeing the production from behind the curtain gave the Celtics theatre enthusiasts a unique perspective into the multi-million-dollar business side of the festival as well as the varying career prospects that theatre offers. The students were able to see that hundreds of professionals are employed in administrative, artistic, education and production roles and hundreds more serve as volunteers to make the festi-

val happen.

Experiencing many of the plays “in the round”, and seeing the show in the context of the world it serves, took on a whole new meaning, and our budding theatre school candidates saw pros-pects they might not have otherwise considered. Beyond the eclectic village vibe, the gorgeous warm weather, and the special bonding time it afforded, the Ashland trip was a unique, personal-ized, immersive learning experience for St. Pat’s students. That’s a classroom enriched!

Please follow the link to learn more about the Oregon Shakespeare Festi-val.

The Play’s The ThingTHE PLAY’S THE THING

Living out our Faith - Celtic Outreach

Monsignor Louis Forget, who founded our school in 1923, established early on that St. Patrick would be a school that lived the Faith by way of service. We are happy to report that 94 years later we continue to live out his vision with ongoing service and outreach programs.

In November, students in our Learning Support Services Department generously began giving their time to serve those less fortunate. These enthusiastic and generous students now participate in a weekly Sandwich Making for citizens of the Downtown Eastside. In typical Celtic fashion, these students have big hearts and are Ready and Willing to serve those in need of our assistance.

Our Social Justice Club has been busy living the Faith with an array of outreach initiatives. During Halloween week, students in the club raised $250.00 by selling candy bags and tickets to their haunted house. The proceeds were used to buy backpacks which will be filled for the youth who rely on Covenant House for support during Christmas. For Thanksgiving, this same group of dedicated Celtics raised over 700 cans of non-perishables for the Saint Vincent de Paul food bank. Lastly, $750.00 was raised through Development and Peace for Haitian Relief.

This year, our vibrant Respect for Life Club, as our major outreach, is sponsoring a young girl in the Philippines through the Chalice Char-ity. Throughout the year, we will continue to promote Prolife activities including the March for Life and the Value Project. Stay tuned for more news.

Almost 100 years later, Monsignor Forget’s vision happily lives on at the school he founded.

Walkathon WRAPUP

This year we are happy to report that $65,000.00 was raised though our Walkathon 2016 initiative. We would like to congratulate the entire student body for its efforts and a special gratitude is extended to Mrs. Nathalie Mey-er, Mary-Margaret Bentley, Mary Lau and the army of parent volunteers who organized and supervised the walk. We are blessed to have a large number of dedicated par-ents who volunteer their time and expertise to this annual event. One last thank you goes out to all the individuals who pledged our students. We still have a few thousand dollars outstanding and ask that parents remind their children to return all pledges to the school office. Once again thanks to all who support this very important school fundraiser.

Thanks to all who support this very important

school fund-raiser.

Our main office staff would like to remind parents and students of the following:

• To report an absence call or email (absence@stpats.bc.ca) the school. Our voicemail service allows parents to leave a message at any time regarding an absence.

• Absence notes from the parent/guardian, substantiating the absence, must be brought to the office on the first morning the student returns to school.

• For early dismissals parents must supply their child with a note which he/she must be submit to the office at the time of sign out. Students will not be allowed to leave school without the written permission of their parent.

We also ask parents to pay attention to our weekly news bulletins that are emailed out every Wednesday.

Office News

Ms. Quirozand Ms. Kerin

are here to help!

www.stpats.bc.ca

Please visit our school website at www.stpats.bc.ca. The website contains current important information, including an always up-to-date school calendar, daily announcements, program information and many other updated aspects of life at St. Pat’s. Additional information about the school can be accessed through the school’s Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Please note the entire September calendar and school timetable can be found on the website.

December 1: Advent Mass 8-10: Senior Shamrock Basketball Tournament

16: Talent Show (8:30-Noon Dismissal)

Christmas Break: December 17th to January 4th

January 3: Staff Retreat 4: School Re-opens

6-7: Bantam Shamrock Basketball Tournament9: Open House12: School Mass13-14: Junior Shamrock Basketball Tournament17-20: Demonstration of Learning Week27: Report Cards Issued

February9-10: Catholic Educators’ Conference (NO SCHOOL)

13: Family Day

January 17-20

Demonstrationof Learning

Week

Upcoming Events