News from Vanier - October 13-16

Dear Vanier students and families: 

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.  
–1 Thessalonians 5:18  
Dear Lord, I am so thankful for your love, guidance, and protection from the storms of life. You are so good to me! Amen. 

We hope that all our students and families enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving long weekend filled with good food and lots of safe, appropriately physically-distanced gathering with family and friends.  Last week, Ms. Gray led short Thanksgiving liturgies focused on the benefits of being grateful and extending that gratitude to others. 

In that spirit, we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for all the wonderful, spirited students we are fortunate to accompany each day along their educational journeys.  Through all the ups and downs of school, we benefit from the life and spirit that all our students bring to our school as much (or more) than we can sometimes give in providing educational opportunities and support.   

Today is our annual Whitehorse Schools’ Food Drive for the Whitehorse Food Bank!  This year, we will not have students/families driving around to pick up food on a designated evening.  Instead, tonight until 8 pm, food drop-offs will be accepted at the following locations: 

• Vanier Catholic Secondary 
• Porter Creek Secondary 
• FH Collins Secondary 
• Wood Street Centre 
• Whitehorse Food Bank (306 Alexander Street) 

The Whitehorse Food Bank heavily depends on these food drives to stock their shelves for the winter.  We hope that students and families can think creatively and safely about how to encourage friends and neighbours to donate and drop off food tonight. 

Sincerely, 
Ryan Sikkes, principal and Alethea Wallace, vice-principal 
 
Week-at-a-glance 
Tuesday, October 13th    

• Senior School - Day 2 
• Food Drive 

Wednesday, October 14th  

• Senior School - Day 1   

• Junior School - PLC early dismissal 

Thursday, October 15th 

• Senior Schoo - Day 2 
• Earthquake Drill 

Friday, October 16th    

• Senior School - Day 1 ​ 

Tuesday, October 20th 

• School Council Annual General Meeting at 7 pm 

 
Phone Calls/Messages 
In the recent days and weeks, we have been noticing that more and more parents/guardians are making phone calls directly to students during class time.  It is difficult for students to ignore incoming calls at the best of times, especially when they are coming from a parent. 
 
Every minute of class time is crucially important this year, so we would very much appreciate parents/guardians waiting until breaks to make calls or to simply send a message to a child requesting a call back at the next break time. 
 
We would also like to remind all parents that in truly urgent situations, please don’t hesitate to call the office and ask someone there to relay a message directly to a student. 
 
Blended Learning – how to help 
The first interim reports may indicate that students are not on track to earning the grades that they (or you) wish.  Here are some suggestions to consider if their progress is not what was hoped for: 

• Ensure your child has access to devices, technology and Internet away from school. If you do not have devices for your student to access, please ensure they know that devices can be accessed in the Senior Skills Room.   

• Keep in contact with teachers about your child’s learning progress during the year by email, phone, or arranging an in-person meeting. 
• Talk to your child about using digital tools and ask them to show you what they are learning on their devices.  Help them figure out when work is more effectively done without devices present to reduce distractions (e.g. reading or textbook work). 
• Have your child log you in on your device to their MS Teams so you can track what is being assigned. 
• Help your child establish routines and a weekly schedule (including planning for sleep, homework, paid employment, chores, and leisure time) 
• Be cautious of the number of hours being spent at paid employment or other activities that may need to be spent on course work. 

• Be aware that a student’s Rapid Identity login provides access to all the software students need to complete online assignments (Teams, Word, Power Point, Excel) on both Mac, Windows, iOS, or Android devices. 

 
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