CLAYTON PARK JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

CLAYTON PARK JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
September 2017                                                         Phone: (902) 457- 8930
School E-mail: cpjh@hrsb.ns.ca                                         Safe Arrival: 457-8930 Fax: 457-1646
School Web site: http://www.cpjhs.ednet.ns.ca                          SCHOOL CANCELLATION: (902)464-4636

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Welcome back for another great year at CPJH and we hope your summer was as good as the weather! We have
been experiencing ongoing server issues since before school began that has negatively impacted our ability to
access the internet, Powerschool, etc. so please accept our apology for not having everything updated such as our
website, etc. Thankfully, the school board has sent out their tech team to rectify the situation and we greatly
appreciate their efforts to remedy the problem.
Our fundamental purpose is learning and our number one goal is to improve student achievement in a learning
environment that fosters respect for self and others. Therefore, we focused our first few days of the Welcome
Week Review on topics such as Responsible Digital Citizenship, Anti Bullying, Academics, Computer Lab, Reviewing
our Code of Conduct / Behaviour Matrix and Extra-Curricular opportunities. All teachers reviewed Safety Drills
(fire, lock down, hold and secure) with the classes and please see below for a schedule that will indicate when drills
are to be completed.
Drills and Dates:
Fire/Evacuation Drills – 6times annually
    1. Between Sept 7 -15
    2. Between Oct 2-6
    3. Between Oct 30-Nov 4
    4. Between Apr 9-13
    5. Between May 7-11
    6. Between June 4 -8
Lockdown Exercises – 2 times annually
    1. Between Sept 18-22
    2. Between Feb 13-17
Hold and Secure Exercise – 1 annually
Between Sept 23-28
Relocation Exercise
1 annually by October 6

We concluded the two days with a fun, full student assembly and general housekeeping session with a question and
answer period to ensure comprehension of CPJH procedures. As per usual, we were impressed with how well the
students listened, responded and with their respectful participation.
Communication is key to our success and we have an open door policy here at CPJH and invite you to contact the
teachers and administration if you have any questions or concerns. Please take the time to visit our website and
familiarize yourself with it as we plan to use this as our main vehicle of communication for homework. We are in the
process of adopting a new model from the school board and hope to have it completed by the end of next month.
Teacher websites will be up and running by Monday, Sept.25/17 and should be very useful for both students and
parents as they are updated regularly.. Please contact the teacher at the email provided, and cc administration if
you experience difficulty accessing these websites as they provide links to your child’s homework expectations.
We are all lifelong learners and invite input as to how we can make our website more useful to all, so please email
Ms. Fay efay@hrsb.ca with any content suggestions you may have.
You will be receiving Telephone Messages from the school advising you of upcoming events or important
information being sent home and we will continue this throughout the year so please ensure you contact us with any
changes to phone or email information.

Grade 7 students brought home the parent log in information sheet yesterday for PowerSchool which offers
parents / guardians and students real time access to student’s grades, assignments and attendance, which you can
access from our website. If you do not have your log in information, please contact our school secretary, Ms.
Bryson, at 902-457-8930 or at cbryson@hrsb.ca.
All parents should have received the introductory letter via the Alert email system. If you have not received it
please refer to the school website under parents to get the information.
In future, these newsletters will be posted to the website on the first Friday of the month and you are asked to
please contact our secretary if you need a paper copy sent home with your child.

 If your child is late due to an appointment or special circumstance please send a note or call the school. Your
support is greatly appreciated.
Bells will ring at 8:50 am and 1:05pm to help students get to their 9:00 am and 1:15 pm homeroom classes on time.

I’d like to stress the importance once again of communication between home and school and encourage you to
contact us with any questions, concerns or relevant information that may impact on students/ staff at CPJH. We
can’t help you if we don’t know there is a difficulty and are here to problem solve and assist in any way we can.
Happy Friday, everyone and enjoy!!!

Ms. K. Acorn, Principal 

VICE PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

Welcome back to the 2017-2018 School Year!
My name is Alana Conrad and I am excited and honoured to be the Vice Principal of Clayton Park Junior High. I look
forward to working with staff, students and families building positive relationships. I welcome a strong
partnership with parents in order to support student education. I would like to encourage open communication and
invite families to contact me whenever you have comments or questions about your child’s education.
One of the ways I will work with your child is to support their needs and be open about mistakes we make. Sharing
with students how to take responsibility, learn from mistakes and take risks in education to challenge them and
grow.
I am proud to be a Clayton Park Wildcat.
Ms. Conrad, Vice Principal

CURRICULUM NIGHT

 On Thursday, September 28th we will host our Curriculum Night beginning at 6:30 pm with a brief presentation
from administration in the gymnasium. Parents will then proceed to individual classrooms to meet the teachers and
gain an insight to the course being taught

IMPORTANT DATES:
   Thursday, Sept.28 – Curriculum Night 6:30pm
   Friday, Sept 29 – PD Day. No classes
   Tuesday, Oct 17 – Picture Day

If there are any days your child is not attending school or late please call the office at 457-8930 to let us
know so that we know your child is absent with permission and that the absent days are recorded as
“excused” on the PowerSchool attendance records.

 School Garden Club

We would like to thank all the students in grade 7, 8 and 9 (now 10) who looked over the garden over the summer.
The students had harvested most of the vegetables over the summer. We would like to welcome the community to
harvest the rest of the ready vegetables.

Drama Club

"Are you a student who is interested in drama, improv, performance, and theatre? Drama club might be the place
for you! Beginning next week (September 27th) drama club will take place every Wednesday in the library during
lunch at 12:30pm. We hope to see you there!"
Thanks,

Zara Tufts
Fine Arts Specialist
Halifax West Family of Schools

School Advisory Council

The SAC is a committee made up of parents & community members to provide support and advice on school matters
such as programs, fundraising, parent school communication, etc. If you have a positive outlook, are willing to give
up 1 and 1/2 hours for six evenings throughout the year and would like to team up to support the school community
we would appreciate your support! Please contact the school at 457-8930 and give your name to our secretary or
sign up at Curriculum Night on Thurs. Sept.28. We look forward to you joining our team.

BREAKFAST PROGRAM NEWS

We are looking for parent volunteers to assist with our school’s breakfast program offered Monday-Friday each
week. A volunteer helps prepare breakfast items such as toasted bagels, sliced fruit, milk or juice, granola bars,
yogurt tubes, etc. from 8:15-8:40am, serving students until 9:00am. If you are interested in joining our Breakfast
Team for one morning per week, please contact Ms.Aikenhead-Bain (guidance counsellor and breakfast coordinator)
by email at saikenhead@hrsb.ca

Although we encourage all students to eat a healthy, well-balanced breakfast at home each morning to fuel their
bodies and brains for the school day, we understand that is not always possible. Students are invited to help
themselves to a breakfast item and/or drink if they have missed breakfast. Our breakfast cart is set up each
morning 8:45-9:00am. Students are reminded that if they take a breakfast item, please don’t waste it and ensure
any wrappers are put in the garbage can during the morning homeroom period.

Ms.Aikenhead-Bain, Guidance Counsellor

                                                 Lunch Programs
The ordered school lunch program will be starting up the week of September 28st. Boston Pizza is delivered
to the school on Wednesdays at lunch. Subway is delivered to the school Thursdays at lunch. You do have
to preorder for these programs. Forms for Subway and for Boston Pizza are available in the office and are
due by 9am Tuesday Sept 26.

CPJH ATHLETICS

The athletics year is up and running at Clayton Park Junior High. Our boys’ and girls’ soccer teams will both be
starting their seasons next week.
All interscholastic sports require financial funding in order to operate. Some sports have higher cost requirements
than others for officiating, equipment, facility rentals, etc. The following is a list of the fees associated with the
following athletic teams at Clayton Park. If you are unable to pay the fees, please contact Administration at
Clayton Park.

Fall Sport Fees
Soccer $15.00
Volleyball $20.00
Touch Football $10.00
Cross Country TBD

Cheques can be made payable to Clayton Park Junior High and receipts will be issued. All fees are to be collected
prior to the season of play in order to be eligible to participate

Student Athletic contracts will be given to all team members and we’d ask you to please review it with your child
prior to signing and returning them to Ms. Buckle.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding athletics or Physical Education
at mbuckle@hrsb.ca. Good luck to all our students participating in athletics this fall season!

Mary Lou Buckle, CPJH Phys. Ed.

Driving Students to Events:

The Boards Student Protection Policy States:
2.3 “School principals or appropriate school board personnel will ensure that any volunteer(s) involved in overnight
trips, coaching or who may have regular and direct contact or responsibility for students with limited supervision
of HRSB staff will initiate the police reference check through a local police agency or station (Appendix B). Once
complete the records check documentation should be provided to the school’s principal or vice-principal or
appropriate school personnel.”
As parents are unsupervised in their transport of other students to and from extra-curricular events, we now
require criminal records checks (CRC’s), a child abuse registry check and an updated “J” transportation form for all
our volunteer drivers. If you are currently up-to-date in this regard, we would ask that you submit a copy of the
documentation to the office to be kept on file. CRCs issued last year are valid for a three year period. If you do
not have the necessary documentation and are planning on volunteering to drive students, we would ask that you
contact the school and we will assist you through the process.
If you are planning on regularly volunteering for Clayton Park Junior High, we will be more than pleased to
reimburse you for the cost of the record checks and have asked our coaches to keep track of the volunteer time
so we can verify ongoing CPJH support. At the end of the season, we will reimburse those who have supported us
throughout the year and thank you for your time and ongoing support!

BAND NEWS

Welcome to a new year at CPJH. I hope you had a great summer and are ready for a fun and successful year.
Our band fee at CPJH is $25.00 and can be paid at the office or brought to me. Thanks to those people who
have sent theirs in already. Please note that this year both the grade 7 band and the grade 8/9 band be
rehearsing on Thursday mornings alternating weeks.
Band Schedule
Grade 7 Concert Band - Thursday September 28 first rehearsal
Grade 8/9 Band has started already. Our next rehearsal will be October 5th.
 Jazz Band Thursday – Lunch

If I need to cancel early morning band due to illness or road conditions, I will communicate this on my
webpage which is linked to the school site. Although I don’t cancel very often it’s a good idea to check this
before sending kids in the morning especially as the winter rolls in.

Please feel free to contact me at wilsonv@hrsb.ca if you have any questions or concerns.

V. Wilson

ART CLUB

Art Club will start Monday, October 2nd. We will meet in Ms.
Chisholm's room each Monday at 12:25. Students will be able to
partake in extra art and craft projects, and be able to work on projects                                      of
their own while getting to use the school's art materials. All students
interested in participating in the art club should come to the first
meeting to sign up and learn more.

Ms. Chisholm, Visual Arts Teacher

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

CPJH continues to make changes to our integration of technology policy. Teachers can now give students permission
to use their smart devices in class for certain activities. We have shared the wireless password with the student
body so that they can access the internet without using their data plans. . Students are asked to deposit their
smart devices in the pocket holders now available in each class. Students will be able to use their phones only with
teacher permission. Of course, the expectations are that students are using their smart devices for the intended
purposes during class time. Refusal to do so will result in devices being taken to the office and parents informed.
Chronic misuse may result in the removal of technology privileges at the school. Please contact Ms. Conrad our vice
principal with questions or concerns.

21st Century Learning

The educational landscape is changing rapidly with the increase in technology that is available to
students. Recognizing that technology is such an important way our students interact with the world, the staff at
CPJH has embraced the use of technology in the classroom. The powerful tools gives staff two particular
challenges. First, we must teach the students digital citizenship. For example, students need to learn how to use
technology in a positive way. Second, we must teach students how to use technology as a tool to promote their
learning.
If you have any technology suggestions that you feel would be beneficial to our school, please forward the
information to aconrad@hrsb.ca

SCENT SENSITIVITY, PEANUT/NUT ALLERGIES

Just a reminder to students to please refrain from wearing scented deodorants, colognes and perfumes (especially
AXE and TAG) to school. We’d ask parents to please provide your child with a stick or roll-on deodorants as
aerosols end up being sprayed and have caused headaches and distress to staff and students alike. Some of our
students and teachers have very severe allergies that can result in loss of breath if coming in contact with
particular scents. In some cases, they may require an immediate Epi-pen injection. This is a very serious matter
and we ask all students to treat it seriously.
As well, we ask that since some of our students have severe allergic reactions to peanuts, tree nuts and seeds. , we
ask that you please do NOT send those particular foods (and other foods containing a trace of those products) to
the school.

SCHOOL BUS INQUIRIES

Any questions or inquiries relating                     to school busses should be directed to Stock
Transportation at 481-8400. Please                     make note of this phone number and contact them when
making bus related inquiries or you                  can access the Stock web site through the Halifax Regional
School Board site www.hrsb.ns.ca

METRO TRANSIT

Clayton Park Jr. High School (Route FV01)
Should you wish to continue using Halifax Transit to journey to school, the Routes 17 St. Mary's, 42 Lacewood /
Dalhousie, and 52 Crosstown also travel in close proximity to the school.

GRADE 7 IMMUNIZATION CLINIC

Public Health Services will be offering immunization to Grade 7 students. Consent and information packages have
been sent home with your child. Please ensure that your child has returned their consent form.
Please encourage your child to eat a healthy breakfast and to wear short sleeves on the clinic day. The first clinic
will be held in the library on Friday, November 15, 2017.

          If you have any questions about vaccines or wish to speak to a member of our immunization team
                                               Please call 481-4956.

Medical Alert Information

If your child is in need of a medical alert bracelet please go to the following website.
http://www.nochildwithout.ca

Also please check the attachments for the following information:

      Lyme disease awareness
      Student Attendance and Engagement Policy
      A letter from your community health team
      Free Program for Parents of Teenagers
      Free Health and Wellness programs