With the date of the grade 9 carnival approaching, we would like to have the slideshow presentation for our students who are leaving ready to view the evening of Thursday, May 28th. Grade 9 students are asked to submit a baby picture or picture of them as a younger child for the slideshow. Please submit a picture to colettequann@nlesd.ca by Monday May 25th.

Did you lose these glasses? They were found at the school during an outside clean up. If they are yours, please contact Ms. Pike at christinapike@nlesd.ca.

The 2019-2020 yearbook is complete. MDJH is a very busy school, and the 750 pictures included in the yearbook reflect this. There are many moments and memories captured in this book in spite of our school’s early closure.

ALL MDJH STUDENTS from every homeroom (7-9) are included in the yearbook. It is not a book for grade 9 students only. The grade 9 students do get to include a bio with their picture which includes a quote, a favorite memory and what they are most known for, These are included again this year for every grade 9 student who completed and submitted one. It is a nice keepsake for all junior high students that highlight school events and memories and these books will be delivered next fall for distribution..

Ordering of yearbooks (You can now place your order online)

• The website to visit to order online is ybpay.lifetouch.ca and the school code is 11573720.
• If you have any questions or problems ordering, please contact Ms. Colette Quann at colettequann@nlesd.ca

During these unprecedented times the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District (NLESD) has continued to provide services and resources that assist students in managing their mental health and wellness while classes are suspended.

On April 7th, NLESD launched the telephone counselling component of its Volunteer Guidance Services Initiative. This service has seen both parents and students reach out to our team for support in navigating through these challenging times.

To expand upon this initiative, our team of volunteer school guidance counselors will be providing further support through online Social Emotional Learning Sessions. These will be facilitated using Google Meet. The sessions will be live events open to all students. To access these SEL sessions, students must log in to their NLESD Google account.

These Social and Emotional Learning events are not counselling sessions rather they are live group gatherings for the purpose of promoting positive mental health and wellbeing. A schedule of upcoming fun/helpful sessions will be posted on the Well-Being section of the Learning at Home website at https://learningathome.nlesd.ca/well-being/guidance-services so that users can easily view presentation times, obtain session information, and join as they wish.

First live session is Tuesday May 12th, 11:00 am (NST)

Calling all students! We want your family stories about what is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador during the Covid-19 pandemic! Here are some sample questions to get you started on your home oral history interview. You can answer these yourself, or sit down with a family member and interview them. Don’t forget to start your interview by spelling out your full name, and including the date of the interview. You can record your interview in any format (audio or video) on your smartphone or digital device, and email it to covid19@heritagenl.ca. If it is a large file, you can use the free www.wetransfer.com website to send it to the same email address, or post it on YouTube and send us the link.

All submissions welcome, including songs, recitations, poetry, or music!

Sample Questions:

• Can you describe the community where you live?
• When did you first learn about the coronavirus? What were your initial reactions?
• How did your community respond to the virus? What closures, restrictions, or safeguards were put in place?
• Describe any events you witnessed that express your or your community’s response to the virus.
• How are you personally responding to the virus? What has changed in your daily routine?
• How has your family been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic?
• How are you staying in touch with family and friends?
• What will you remember most about this time in our lives?

Feel free to make up your own questions!

What will happen to my audio/video file?

Once you contact us, we will ask you to fill out a brief, confidential consent form so that we can add your story to a permanent collection on Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative, where it can be seen and accessed for educational and non-commercial use only, and where it may be used as part of a future physical or online exhibit at The Rooms about the Covid-19 pandemic. Your story will become part of the historical record! If at some point you want your story taken down from the website, we can always remove your records from the archive.

For more information, contact:

Dale Jarvis, Heritage NL dale@heritagenl.ca

@dalejarvis on Twitter www.hfnl.ca

Did you recently receive a text message from NLESD? This is a service that grants permission to the school to send you messages via text. It is something that was scheduled to go out on March 13th but got delayed due to the pandemic. It is completely voluntary. We will still continue to send out school wide messages via phone, email, website and social media!

Kids Help Phone has launched a phone counselling service in Arabic, facilitated by Arabic-speaking interpreters. For more information, visit their website at https://kidshelpphone.ca/get-involved/programs-resources/supporting-arabic-speaking-youth/.

On Friday, May 15, curbside pickup of personal items will be available for parents/guardians for the students in their household.

To make arrangements, parents/guardians must email Ms. Pike at christinapike@nlesd.ca and indicate:

• Student Name and Homeroom
• Locker Number, if known
• Personal item(s) to be retrieved. Please identify clearly what items are needed. You must be specific as there are students that share lockers.

Once the request is received, parents/guardians will receive a specific time on Friday, May 15, to retrieve the item(s). It is very important that parents/guardians adhere to this time as item(s) will be bagged and organized using these times.

The bagged item(s) can be picked up curbside at the student entrance of Macdonald Drive Junior High. To limit contact and to follow safety protocols, parents/guardians are asked to pop the trunks of their vehicle and the item will be placed in the trunk. Parents and guardians will then close the trunk, as staff personnel are not permitted to touch vehicles.

There will be no entry to the general school area.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Ms. Pike at the address above. Take care. Stay safe.

The Canadian Mental Health Association’s (CMHA) annual Mental Health Week is May 4-10, 2020.

The theme of this year’s Mental Health Week is social connection. Connecting with other people and our communities doesn’t just feel good. It’s good for our mental health.

It’s common in our society to ask people how they are. Unfortunately, it’s also common not to provide—or expect—a truthful answer.

As we face the COVID-19 global pandemic, we need each other now more than ever. It’s time to #GetReal about how we feel and lean on others for support.

Visit www.mentalhealthweek.ca for info and tools about CMHA Mental Health Week.

• Connect on social media using the hashtags #GetReal and #MentalHealthWeek.

In celebration of Star Wars Day, Ms. Comerford prepared a little treat.