École Intermédiare

Macdonald Drive Junior High School

110 Macdonald Drive, St. John’s, NL A1A 2K9

T: (709) 753-8240 F: (709) 753-1243

 April 27^th, 2016

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This correspondence is to advise you of planned changes to our student transportation schedule and school opening and dismissal times commencing in September for the 2016-17 school year.

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District (NLESD) is in the process of preparing tenders for new busing contracts. The current busing contracts are expiring this year resulting in opportunities to look for efficiencies. Where possible, double runs are to be utilized, and this will require some bell time adjustments to schools with shared busing arrangements. Some schools have to begin their day earlier while some have to begin later in order to achieve and accommodate shared busing arrangements. The end time of the instructional day will also change as a result with some schools finishing earlier than current times and other schools later.

Busing costs have risen more dramatically than any other facet of education expenditures in recent years and a double run model is one way to focus educational funding on the core responsibilities of teaching and learning. The District recognizes that altering opening and closing times may involve significant changes to personal daily routines for students, parents/guardians, and staff and that early communication of such changes is important so that adjustments can be planned in advance. The District apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause to some families. The new opening and closing times for Macdonald Drive Junior High is as follows:

Opening Bell:              8:05 a.m.

Closing Bell:                2:10 p.m.

First Pick-ups:            7:15 a.m. – 7:35 a.m.

(Length of bus runs and distance from school will dictate pick up times)

Arrive School:             7:55 a.m.

Depart School:           2:18 p.m.

Last Drop-Off:            2:35 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.

Please note, new busing route information will be communicated as soon as it is available. If there are any questions please contact the school administration.

 

Sincerely,

Sarah Osmond

School Principal

 

 

The following courses that started yesterday will have a delayed opening of 10:00 am:

• Course 01A Trumpets and Lasers at MUN
• Course 02A Animal Psychology at MUN
• Course 03A Introduction to Chemistry at MUN
• Course 32 A Robots Controlled Micro Computers at CNA on Ridge Road

Courses that were to start today

• 28 A The Holocaust at MUN
• 19B Much Ado About Shakespeare at MUN

will start tomorrow instead.

The Course:

• 32A Engineering Design at CNA

will not go ahead today and students and parents will be contacted individually.

BABY PICTURES NEEDED for GRADE 9 STUDENTS

The email in this week’s newsletter has been corrected (see below).

In preparation for the School Leaving Ceremony on May 27th we are asking students in grade 9 to submit a baby picture (1- 5 yrs.) either by hard copy or by scanning and email to teliaraquel@yahoo.ca 

It is important that pictures be sent as soon as possible. A student group will be compiling the pictures for the PowerPoint component of the ceremony and such a task is time consuming.

Thank you.

 

Macdonald Drive Junior High recently won its third Team Chess Championship defeating St. Paul’s and Beaconsfield Junior Highs. The 2016 team is comprised of the following students (l – r): Luke Brockerville, Laxman Saravanakumar, Xingbo Huang, Ryan Pickard, Stefan Boon-Peterson, Ahmad Salah.

Individual winners from MDJH were: Xingbo Huang (silver medal), Stefan Boon-Peterson (bronze medal).

Congratulations to the boys and their proud parents.

 

 

TEDx Talks Event- Leadership Opportunity for students

 

TEDx St. John’s is proud to present TEDxYouth@StJohns, the first youth-oriented TEDx event in the province. Designed for youth aged 12-18, these events inspire curiosity, ignite new ideas, and empower young leaders through the mission of TED: ideas worth spreading.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s first-ever TEDx Youth event takes place Thursday, May 12 from 6:00 – 8:30 at the D.F. Cook Recital Hall, MUN Music Building. From over 100 applications, there are 7 speakers and 8 performers who are exceptional leaders and role models for NL youth. Event chaperones will be provided by TEDxYouth@St.Johns according to NLESD guidelines. You will be responsible for your own transportation to and from the event.

Tickets are available for $20 to youth 12-18 years old and are only available through schools. MDJH has been allocated 30 tickets and will be available to students on a first come, first served basis. The deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, April 25^th. Tickets are available from Ms. J. Sauvé in room 222.

For more information on TEDx events, visit tedxstjohns.com or TED.com.  If you have any questions please contact either colettequann@nlesd.ca or jodisauve@nlesd.ca.

 

 

Please see attached PDF document for this week’s newsletter:

Newsletter_April_22_2016

Our school has joined the Free the Children organization in order to fund-raise for education in Ecuador. This initiative is student-led and our two main campaigns are We Create Change (a coin / donation drive) and We Bake For Change (bake sales). Our goal is $500 for this school year and we hope to continue our efforts next year. There will be bake sales and opportunities to donate for each homeroom. Parents and students are asked to please support this worthy cause. Any questions, please contact Ms. Sauvé (jodisauve@nlesd.ca) or Ms. Quann (colettequann@nlesd.ca).

Congratulations to Ms. Donna Mills and the MDJH Drama Club. They were the concluding performance of the 2016 Eastern Avalon Drama Festival, and won the “Tear Your Heart Out” Award, as well as  “Best Cameo” for a special video appearance by Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Dale Kirby!

It was a great weekend for Macdonald Drive Junior High basketball. Congratulations to our Grade 9 Boys for winning the provincial championship!

Congratulations also to our Grade 9 Girls for placing third in the provincial championship!

Parents we need your help! The first MDJH Community Market is creeping up on us and need your help in spreading the word. If you have Facebook, please use the following link to access our event page. Please invite as many people as you can!
https://www.facebook.com/events/563510723815341/

If there are any parents that would like to volunteer some time during this event, please contact David Lawton (davidlawton@nlesd.ca).

Thanks!