Upper School College Blog – Friday, May 13, 2022

On By Havergal Upper School

Dear Parents,

Thank you for taking the time to read this bi-weekly publication which is designed to help keep you up-to-date with the important events here in the Upper School. Please think of it as your go-to place for information and details related to school life. We do this to help keep our emails to you to a minimum, and so that all the information you need is in one place, easily found through the blog website. We suggest that you bookmark this link for future reference. 

The Middle School Gator Games were held on Wednesday evening and it was an incredible evening of fun and laughter with a drop of competitiveness, too. The Middle School parents and students participated in a fantastic Just Dance warm up and a variety of games such as spikeball, benchball, stones, ultimate chicken, and a campus wide scavenger hunt. A massive thank you to Ms. Di Filippo and the Sports Council who organised and led the games. Please take a look at the photos at the bottom of the blog entry for some highlights!

Today’s Blog contains information and updates on the following: 

Sincerely,

JJ Patterson, Head of Middle School

Deirdre Timusk, Head of Senior School

Latest News

Student Wellbeing Survey – Feedback and Next Steps

On May 3, students in Grades 2 to 5, 6 to 8 and 7 to 12 participated in three separate wellbeing surveys – known as the School Resilience Survey – designed to collect information to help us assess the future needs of our wellbeing programming. 

Thank you to those parents who reached out to engage in conversations and share feedback on the survey. We sincerely appreciate your feedback and will bring these key learnings forward for future initiatives.

Purpose of the Survey

The goal of the survey was to: 

  • Assess student perceptions and experiences 
  • Identify strengths and weaknesses of key grade-level wellbeing indicators 
  • Better understand the concerns of children growing up in our community
  • Learn how best to continue promoting positive development among our students

To help support us in our journey, we worked with an independent third-party team of industry-leading scientists, clinicians and consultants at Authentic Connections, who are committed to helping high achieving schools measure, track and improve wellbeing and resilience. 

Authentic Connections and Survey Measures 

The School Resilience Survey is an extension of the work of Dr. Suniya Luthar – Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer of Authentic Connections – to study and promote positive youth development. Dr. Luthar is Professor Emerita at Columbia University’s Teachers College, where she served as professor and senior advisor to the Provost. She was also previously on the faculty at Yale University’s School of Medicine. 

The Authentic Connections surveys (Children’s Resilience Survey and High Achieving Schools Survey) measured how our students are doing on important indicators of mental health, learning efficacy, sense of community connectedness, risk-taking behaviours and relationships such as student-parent, peer to peer and student-teacher. 

All individual responses were entirely anonymous; no identifying information – including IP addresses – were sent to the Authentic Connections research team or to Havergal. We are not able to share a copy of the surveys due to the fact that we do not own the rights to share or distribute the survey.

Survey Findings

The survey findings will provide us with a list of next steps to drive meaningful improvements at Havergal and help us determine programming that will meet the specific needs of our students. We intend to share the themes that emerge from the survey with students and parents. We believe the themes will offer valuable insights to both parents and teachers when identifying and addressing issues and concerns.

If you have any further questions please reach out to Dr. Meagan Yarmey, Director of Wellbeing.

Senior School Grade-Wide Fall Trips, 2022-2023

We recognize that students have not been able to participate in the variety of school related trips and experiences over the past two years. With this in mind, we have built a program that is unique for the 2022-2023 school year as we begin to build back the social and relationship experiences that help build a great community here at Havergal.  We will be taking each grade level to a different camp location for two nights in September to facilitate new friendships and strengthen relationships between students in each grade. In addition, leadership skills will be developed in an age appropriate manner. Learn more at the grade-specific virtual parent information nights. Dates are outlined in the chart below.

The approximate cost of each trip will vary and more details will follow. We recognize this is an additional cost. Havergal College is commited to financial assistance; please be assured that families receiving bursaries will be able to apply for assistance for these trips because this is a key part of our program. Please reach out to Deirdre Timusk if you have any questions.

Middle School Musical Theatre

On Thursday, May 19 the inaugural Middle School Musical Review, We’re All In This Together, will take place at 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm in The Legacy Theatre. Parents can reserve their tickets for the 7:00pm show by using this link. 

Middle School Music Night

On Thursday, May 26, the Grade 7 students and the Middle School Choir will perform at 7:00 pm, in the Brenda Robson Hall. Students have been preparing for this event all semester and the music promises to delight all those in attendance. Reservations are not required.

Grade 12 Families: Prom Permission Form Information

If your child is attending Prom, please, click this link to register. If your child is bringing a guest you will need to provide us with the information below:

  • Full name of child’s guest
  • Name of guest’s school  (Please note, if the guest does not attend a school their guest application must still be signed by a parent/guardian of the guest.)
  • Name of guest’s Parent/Guardian
  • Contact phone number for guest’s Parent/Guardian

All Havergal students bringing a guest will be required to submit a Prom 2022 Guest Application to Ms. Danto no later than May 20th.  All guests are subject to approval by the Havergal Administration.

Grade 12 Families: Graduation Events Information Session

On Wednesday, May 4th, the Grade 12 students were informed about important details regarding their graduation ceremony and the exciting events leading up to it. Grads were informed about their responsibilities regarding grad comments, awards voting, what to wear on the big day, and important dates. Grads are reminded to complete their grad comments which are due on Friday, May 27th. Grads are encouraged to review the slideshow that was emailed to them on Wednesday.

Pride Week

Pride Week will take place next week at Havergal. The Pride Committee has organized a variety of activities scheduled at lunch and afterschool for interested students. They will kick off the week with Prayers on Monday where students on the Pride Committee will be talking about the history of Pride, sharing their experiences of being a part of the LGBTQ2AI+ community, and celebrating the diversity of our school. If you have any questions, please reach out to Cissy Goodridge. 

NEDIC Webinar

The National Eating disorder information centre is offering a free webinar on the connection between Social media and eating disorders.  If you are interested, more information on the webinar can be found here. 

‘Socks for Souls’ Drive

May is National Foot Health Month and, in honour of that, this May 17th to the 29th Havergal will be running a sock drive in support of Socks 4 Souls Canada. Socks 4 Souls is a non-profit charity that is run by emergency room doctors, who have first-hand experience seeing increasing amounts of homeless people across the GTA coming in due to foot-related injuries. Last year, during the pandemic, Havergal managed to donate over 300 pairs of socks to Socks 4 Souls’ partners across the GTA, and we are aiming to beat that this year! Starting next week, there will be designated boxes located at each of the grade entrances for students to drop off their donations of new socks. 

HC-X Launching Digital Microcredentials

HC-X is launching this pilot of new learning experiences to students beginning in September. Working with partners from our community as well as elite post-secondary institutions, HC-X is bringing unique learning experiences to our students. Registration is open now to gauge interest. To register click the links to the programs of interest below.

Working with Convergence.Tech, a leader in this space, HC-X believes that micro-credentials offer lots of potential for our students. They are verifiable, shareable and validated learning experiences that signal to authentic audiences that anyone who completes it, has gained a depth of knowledge and experience in these areas.

Benefits to an HC-X microcredential:

  • Learn from experts: We are partnering with Harvard Student Agencies, Inspirit AI who bring MIT and Stanford Professors, and Old Girls who are working and leading in these spaces
  • Getting Experience: learn about things that you don’t know about but may love, with little risk and just a little bit of your time, and build networks while they are at it.
  • Show off your Interests, Passions and Experiences: HC-X Digital Credentials are shareable on socials, like LinkedIn, and are verifiable on Blockchain.
  • Deepen and Extend Learning: For example:
  1. If a student is really interested in business and are part of DECA, CEO club, Investment / Finance Club, and are even taking courses in these areas, you may want to extend your learning into crypto and ESG investing.  
  2. If students are into BioScience and Medicine, they may be members of our HOSA club, and want to do more learning, you could take the Pre-Med micro credential offered by Harvard Student Agencies
  3. Or if a Student has completed the Digital Wisdom course, or a Comm Tech, are part of Coding Club, and are interested in Artificial Intelligence and coding they can take the AI credential with Inspirit AI and learn with and from professors from Stanford and MIT

To register, and for more information on these learning experiences please see below:

(1) Microcredential in: Contemporary Finance

(2) Microcredential in: Pre-Med

(3) Microcredential in: Artificial Intelligence
Or contact Garth Nichols, Vice Principal of Strategic Innovation & Design, or Adam Caplan, Director of HC-X.

GO-VAXX Mobile Vaccine Clinic at Havergal on May 21

On Saturday, May 21, GO-VAXX mobile vaccine bus will return to Havergal’s Upper School parking lot (1451 Avenue Road) from 10 am to 6 pm to provide Pfizer first, second, third and booster doses for those ages 12 and up, as well as paediatric Pfizer vaccines for children ages five to 11. Vaccinations are available to everyone—students, parents, faculty and staff, Old Girls/Alums—as well as friends, neighbours and beyond. All are welcome!

Walk-ins are available, while supplies last. To book an appointment, visit the COVID-19 vaccination portal or call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900. Bookings are available starting Friday, May 20. Visit Ontario.ca/vaccinebus for more information.

Dates on the Horizon

Pride Week

  • Monday – Friday, May 16-20

Havercrest Coffee House

  • Friday, May 20, Grade 11/12 students 

Victoria Day Weekend

  • Monday, May 23 –  No School

House Shout!  House Colour Dress Down Day

  • Tuesday, May 24,  1 pm, regular classes in the morning.

Virtual Fall Grade Trips Parent Information Nights (zoom links in next blog)

  • Wed June 1 7 pm: Grade 9 Fall Trip
  • Wed June 1 7 pm: Grade 10 Fall Trip
  • Thur June 2 7 pm: Grade 11 Fall Trip
  • Thur June 2 7 pm: Grade 12 Fall Trip 

Kilcoo Camp Overnight Excursion

  • Grade 8: May 30 (7:10 am drop off) – June 1 (approx. 1 pm pick up at Havergal)
  • Grade 7: June 1 (7:10 am drop off) – 3 (approx. noon pick up at Havergal)
    • Parents and students will receive an email with the final details and instructions on Thursday, May 26.

Celebrate Grade 8

  • Wednesday, June 15, 1:30 – 3:00 pm, Grade 8 students are dismissed at 3 pm following the ceremony and reception

Class of 2022 Graduation & Reception

  • Friday, June 17, 1:00 – 5:00 pm

Photos

Middle School Gator Games

Snapshots from Middle School Prayers on Thursday

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