Dear Sacred Heart Community,
On this winter solstice, I want to write to say that we are winding down. It is the shortest day of the year and we are ready for Christmas – and a long winter’s nap! Before my head hits the proverbial pillow, I want to thank you for your incredible support through my first term at the Sacred Heart in Halifax. I am profoundly grateful!
In a couple of hours, we will welcome home our alumnae/i for a Young at Heart Wine and Cheese event. The RSVP responses have been terrific – far surpassing our expectations! Our school has such wonderful spirit & I look forward to meeting more of our graduates!
On Tuesday afternoon, we had a lovely Christmas meal for our current and retired faculty and staff members – about 95 people! You will soon gather for Christmas meals with family and friends at tables near and far. I will be in Ottawa at the Provincial House with other Religious of the Sacred Heart, and you will be in my thoughts and prayers!
I wish you joy and peace this Christmas, and a healthy and safe start to the New Year. I look forward to seeing you on January 3, 2013.
With love from the Heart,
Anne
Anne Wachter, RSCJ
Headmistress
Short Notes
If you are with grandparents, please invite them to “save the date” because on Friday, April 26, 2013 we will have Grandparents Day! Details will follow after the break, but it promises to be terrific! All grandparents, from Junior Primary through Senior High School are welcome to join us for this day. They are also invited to the Bursary Dinner the following night, April 27, 2013!
Please pray for Logan Mitchell's family; his maternal grandfather passed away on December 11, 2012.
If your children will be “plugged in” on electronic devices during the break, you might want to check out this piece that was in the New York Times ten days ago: Apps for Children.
12.21.2012
12.17.2012
Dr. Nancy Lowery Recipient of IEEE Canadian Atlantic Outstanding Eng. Education Award
Dr. Nancy Lowery, a recently retired faculty member of the Sacred Heart High School and head of the Science Department, is the recipient of the IEEE Canadian Atlantic Section's Outstanding Engineering Education Award recently.
This Outstanding Engineering Education Award has been created by the Section only recently. IEEE-CAS provides the Outstanding Engineering Education Award, in the form of a plaque and citation, to an outstanding individual who has "shared his or her professional and educational abilities, and, in doing so, has made an outstanding contribution to engineering education within the territory of the Canadian Atlantic Section." The award will be handed out for the first time this year. Dr. Lowery will be the first recipient. Dr. Lowery's accomplishments were brought to the attention of the IEEE-CAS Awards Committee by Dr. Mae Seto, a current Sacred Heart parent.
IEEE, pronounced "Eye-triple-E," stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. IEEE is the world's largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity (www.ieee.org). IEEE and its members inspire a global community through IEEE's highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. The IEEE-CAS actively supports, inter alia, the IEEE Teacher In-Service Program, TISP (www.tryengineering.org) and, through TISP Canada, issues a quarterly newsletter, the TISP Canada Courier (copies at www.ieee.ca/tisp).
The award ceremony took place December 6th as part of the IEEE-Canadian Atlantic Section's Annual General Meeting. The Awards Committee gratefully acknowledges the role of Dr. Seto.
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12.12.2012
Preparing, Understanding, and Rooting for Success
Preparing our Students Well
Understanding Their Range
Rooting for Their Success
I have used the metaphor of choosing music within the boys' range in other contexts, and I think that this approach is what characterizes much of the value that a boys' school such as ours has to offer. All of our teachers exhibit this same sense of what the boys need and where they are at any given moment. We set the bar high and ask the boys to move out of their comfort zone, extending their reach in the process. But we always begin where we find the boys; we always start with the boys as they are. This isn't as much of a contradiction as it may seem. You can't take the boys to an unfamiliar place if you don't begin with an understanding and appreciation for where they are right now. The beautiful balance that is at the heart of inspired teaching is this apparent dichotomy between understanding both who you are now and who you can become.
I was thinking about this a few days ago as I sat in the exam room and watched the boys wrestling with their exams. Those exams are a way to assess progress certainly, but their real value lies in their ability to stretch the boys and allow them to not only learn about the subject matter, but to learn about themselves. Each new struggle, stumble, or success carries with it a valuable lesson.
Many of the boys, and I suspect their parents as well, might see exams as an adversarial exercise in which the teacher is doing his or her best to trip up the boys and make them jump through a series of increasingly demanding hoops. It's true that the process can seem like a game in which the teacher is jealously guarding their marks like the troll under a bridge in some medieval fairy tale. And that can be the case in some schools and with some teachers, but I don't believe that it is the case here. While we ask our teachers to design a challenging exam, and they do, they then immediately swing around and sit with the students on the same side of the table facing that challenge together.
When Kim Umphrey prepared the boys for their performance, her only thought was their success. Their success was her success. Similarly, all of those teachers who are right now busy marking exams have that same aspiration. We have prepared our students well, understanding their range and always rooting for their success. Now we wait, as you do, for their successes to come to the fore, and win or lose we will be sitting on the same side of the table next January as we begin again.
Understanding Their Range
Rooting for Their Success
A Letter from Robert Marchand
Principal, Boys Grades 7-12
Dear Parents,
As you can imagine, the emotional highlight of my term was the performance of the boys at the Advent Service last week. I've have had countless parents, teachers and friends comment on the singing of the junior boys and the poise of the senior boys. It was, I think, a turning point in the history of Fountain Academy in many ways and a moment of great pride for me and my colleagues. Of course, much of the credit for the singing performance goes to our wonderful music teacher, Kim Umphrey.
Kim is clearly a gifted educator who is able to bring out the best in her students. I'm not much of a singer myself, and I know even less about teaching singing, but I would guess that much of Kim's success begins with choosing material that is in the boys' range. The selections that she chose were not only beautiful but somewhat masculine in their tone, and as a result the boys felt that they truly belonged to them and took great pleasure in singing them. If you were in the halls of the school in the weeks leading up to the service you may have heard the boys spontaneously breaking in to song as they moved from class to class. That, I would imagine, is the hallmark of success for a music teacher.
I have used the metaphor of choosing music within the boys' range in other contexts, and I think that this approach is what characterizes much of the value that a boys' school such as ours has to offer. All of our teachers exhibit this same sense of what the boys need and where they are at any given moment. We set the bar high and ask the boys to move out of their comfort zone, extending their reach in the process. But we always begin where we find the boys; we always start with the boys as they are. This isn't as much of a contradiction as it may seem. You can't take the boys to an unfamiliar place if you don't begin with an understanding and appreciation for where they are right now. The beautiful balance that is at the heart of inspired teaching is this apparent dichotomy between understanding both who you are now and who you can become.
I was thinking about this a few days ago as I sat in the exam room and watched the boys wrestling with their exams. Those exams are a way to assess progress certainly, but their real value lies in their ability to stretch the boys and allow them to not only learn about the subject matter, but to learn about themselves. Each new struggle, stumble, or success carries with it a valuable lesson.
Many of the boys, and I suspect their parents as well, might see exams as an adversarial exercise in which the teacher is doing his or her best to trip up the boys and make them jump through a series of increasingly demanding hoops. It's true that the process can seem like a game in which the teacher is jealously guarding their marks like the troll under a bridge in some medieval fairy tale. And that can be the case in some schools and with some teachers, but I don't believe that it is the case here. While we ask our teachers to design a challenging exam, and they do, they then immediately swing around and sit with the students on the same side of the table facing that challenge together.
When Kim Umphrey prepared the boys for their performance, her only thought was their success. Their success was her success. Similarly, all of those teachers who are right now busy marking exams have that same aspiration. We have prepared our students well, understanding their range and always rooting for their success. Now we wait, as you do, for their successes to come to the fore, and win or lose we will be sitting on the same side of the table next January as we begin again.
Robert Marchand, Principal
Boys, Grades 7-12
Boys, Grades 7-12
Fountain Academy of the Sacred Heart
12.11.2012
Staying Connected with Our Recent Alum Families
Sacred Heart School of Halifax
CLASSES OF 2009-2012
ALUMS and PARENTS OF ALUMS (PALs)
Dear Alumnae/i and Parents of Alums (PALs),
In September when I last wrote, you were preparing for a new academic year. Now, term exams are nearly complete, grad sweaters are being ordered for our Grade 12s, and holiday wonder is in the air. I am looking forward to meeting SHSH graduates on Friday, December 21 at our Young at Heart Alum Wine and Cheese party from 7-9pm (the event is free, but we ask you to RSVP to Nicole Ferguson at nferguson@shsh.ca,902-422-4459).
Have you heard?
We are the Provincial Champions in Volleyball, a “first” for our Senior Girls! The victory was especially sweet because we hosted the tournament and welcomed Mayor Mike Savage to campus for the opening ceremonies! It was great to see a number of PALs back on campus for the tourney. Our champions include Holly Foxall, Tina Kim, Claire McCusker, Marianna Saunders, Claudia Toulany, Taylor Shaw, Maddy Brennan, Bailey Francis, and Coach Kristen Morse.
Our Christmas Fair was very successful, and all were thrilled when the live auction items included cooking lessons with Chef Dale Nichols (a PAL); sport day with Mr. Tugwell, and an evening of cache-cache with Miss Scott. The annual Advent Service of Readings and Carols was inspiring. With the combination of music, scripture, prayers in six to seven different languages, and the inclusion of grades 4-6 boys for range support with the Jr. High Boys' Choir resulted in a spectacular experience.
You will be pleased to know that the new and past Chairs of the Board of Governors have made a seamless transition, as have the new and past Presidents of the Alumnae/i Executive. Our various constituent groups are embracing the four areas that comprise our Strategic Plan: Enrolment, Technology, International Program, and Financial Stability. In support of the Plan, we are establishing an Admissions Office (behind the Large Parlour) led by Ms. Robyn Erickson a Sacred Heart alumna (Grades 7-9, from 1998-2001) and a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University. Robyn's orientation has begun, and you can meet her on December 21.
Marilyn Hinch, receptionist for over 40 years, has retired. We will have an Open House on January 11 between 2-5pm to honour her. Please join us if you are able. I also want to let you know that at the end of this week we will be saying good-bye to Sra. Marquez; she and her husband will move to Chicago where he has accepted a position at Northwestern University. On January 3, we will welcome Sra. Malena Contreras into the position of Spanish teacher for the girls.
In closing, I invite you to view our revised website, and I look forward to the gift of having many of our alums and PALs participate in our Annual Giving program; you can do so online by clicking SUPPORT at the top of the home page.
I hope to see many of our Alums on the 21st!
Anne Wachter, RSCJ
Headmistress
Upcoming Events
Alumnae/i & PALs Welcome
Dec. 21 Alumnae/i Wine and Cheese Event, 7-9pm (RSVP to nferguson@shsh.ca)
Jan. 11 Honouring Marilyn Hinch, 2-5pm
Jan. 17 Book Talk with Author Alexander MacLeod ($20, Tickets at reception desk.)
Jan. 23 Financing Your Child’s Education (including the university years!)
12.05.2012
Kaylann Knickle with Hillary Clinton!
SHSH '05 graduate Kaylann Knickle is working with NATO's Office of the Public Affairs & STRATCOM Advisor. She is pictured here, Wednesday, December 5, 2012 covering Hillary Clinton at a NATO press conference during Foreign Ministerial meetings held at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
12.01.2012
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