What’s Happening at Halifax West High School...

APRIL - MAY 2018

· Principal Principal’s Message Mr. Simony The middle of the se- Regular attendance has a direct youthspeakers.ca/nick-foley/ ), com- · Vice Principal mester will soon be relationship with school suc- munity groups including Prescott surnames A-F upon us, and spring is cess. Students who miss more House and Special Olympics, as well Mr. Corkum starting to show than 10% of classes experience as students and staff from · Vice Principal through. We want to remind a significant drop in achieve- HWHS. Our communities change surnames G-M students, parents and guardians ment. In most courses this is because of the leadership that our Mr. Khan that you should be tracking about 10 hours of instruction. young people bring to addressing student attendance through With the weather improving, issues of inclusion and equity. We · Vice Principal PowerSchool and following up and the little snow we had are proud of our students and their surnames N-Z with the student if you are melting, it is also important to ability to be leaders for change. Ms. MacGibbon receiving automated calls at remind all students that they home regarding absenc- should take care of their own The Halifax Regional Centre for Edu- · Main Office es. There can be a 24 hour garbage both on and off of the cation is continuing to work with (902) 457-8900 turnaround time at the school property. Halifax West will STOCK transportation to resolve to process notes for correc- have a school yard clean up issues of late school busses. The bus · Our school website : tions in PowerSchool, there- later this month, but the situa- hwh.hrsb.ca system and schedule are independent fore calls will sometimes go tion will improve in the long of the school. If you are having issues home before a correction is term if people take care of please contact STOCK at 902-481- INSIDE THIS made. The Provincial Attend- their trash daily. 8400. Students who are not on ISSUE: ance Policy specifies minimum We want to extend our thanks STOCK bus routes are serviced by requirements for attendance, to the many groups, clubs, Metro-Transit, and can receive a bus and a student who repeatedly travellers and teams that make Programming 2 pass from the HRCE if they live 3.6 misses classes can lose the up the pulse of Halifax Club km away or more, and live within the ability to earn credit in the West. Most recently the Inclu- boundaries of Halifax West High course. Please consult this link sion Committee held a series Inter- 2 School. We hope you have a great for details of the poli- of assemblies for our grade 10, lead up to the midterm. Report cards national Student cy: https://www.ednet.ns.ca/ 11 and 12 classes. It was high- will be distributed during the week of Program student-attendance-and- lighted by guest speaker Nick the 17th. Parent-Teacher Interviews engagement-policy Foley ( http:// are coming up on the 19th of Options and Op- 3 April. Check our calendar on our portunities (O2) website, and follow us on Twitter for up to date information. Track and Field 3 Creativity, Action, Service - IB

Music this spring 3 The Grade 12 IB students Arts Centre. This offering is have been busy finalizing their only a taste of the creativity CAS projects. A great varie- Important Dates 4 demonstrated and success ty of projects were tackled achieved by all the students as with community support, they propelled themselves be- including an International yond the academic demands of Model Parliament, an intro- the IB programme. ductory Taekwondo session for elementary students, a fun day for seniors, building a home in Haiti, writing and producing a movie, making finger puppets for the IWK, and still to come, a benefit concert at the Bella Rose PAGE 2 Programming Club The Halifax West Programming Club is alive and well and continues to expand. The club, launched last year, is comprised of like-minded students that wish to explore the world of programming. Every week students meet with Dalhousie University PhD student and Halifax West Alum, Robert Smith, to learn how to use virtual machines to expand their knowledge of Linux, Java, Python, C and other lan- guages. Mr. Smith is hopeful that someday these students will learn to program artificial intelligence and enter competitions. The club meets every Thursday during lunch-hour in room B320 and welcomes all newcomers - no experience needed.

The club extends their gratitude and appreciation to Robert Smith for his time and dedication.

If you have any questions regarding the club, please see Mr. Watt.

“You are the sum

total of everything

you've ever seen,

heard, eaten,

smelled, been

told, forgot - it's

all there.

Everything

influences each of

us, and because of

that I try to make

sure that my

experiences are

positive."

Maya Angelou

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HALIFAX WEST HIGH SC HOOL... PAGE 3

We have lege in Lower Sackville where students will April 20: Skills NS at Akerley Campus an enthusi- have the opportunity to learn from a Red astic group Seal Tradesperson. April 24 & 25: Drywall Workshop at of O2 stu- CMC in Lower Sackville Our CBL class will also be spending some dents this time volunteering at FEED NS where they May 10 & 11: Fall Arrest & Scaffolding year and will be stocking supplies and learning about Course at CMC in Lower Sackville second semester is now under way! Stu- the organization. May 16: Volunteer Day at FEED NS dents in grade 11 and 12 are enjoying their Cooperative Education work place- UPCOMING EVENTS FOR GRADE 10’S: ments and our Community Based Learn- March 28: Job Shadow Day ing 10 students are looking forward to a busy month. March 29: Essential Skills Workshop

Our CBL students designed T-shirts for April 5 & 6: Carpentry Workshop at CMC the class and are currently working on an in Lower Sackville O2 promotional video. We will be at- April 11: Volunteer Day at FEED NS tending several trade workshops next month at the Carpentry & Millwright Col- April 18: Volunteer Day at FEED NS

Track and Field

Track & Field season is fast approaching. Practices will start on March 20th and will continue into May. There is something for eve- ryone!!! Practice schedule is posted outside of Ms. Duggan's office. The City Meet will be May 16th & 17th and held at Beazley Field in Dartmouth. The Regional Meet will be May 23rd & 24th and will also be held at Beazley Field. Provincials this year will be held at Cape Breton University on June 1st & 2nd. Thanks to all coaches who are assisting this year. Ms. Brennan, Mr. Snook, Mr. MacRae and Ms. Duggan.

Music at the West

The Halifax West music program has a busy spring coming up this year. The con- cert band will perform a co-concert with the Halifax Concert Band in April as well as attend the Annapolis Valley Music Festival at Acadia University. The concert and jazz bands will both participate in the Kiwanis music festival May 3, and then all the school ensembles will have their final performance on May 29. Important Dates:

April 17 - Mid-Term Report Cards Sent Home (Tentative)

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Our website is available in Follow us on: Twitter many languages @HalifaxWestHS

Halifax West High School website: hwh.hrsb.ca

Report Cards will be Please remember that our website has a multilingual translation tool located on distributed the third the top right hand corner. Please access us online at : week of April . hwh.hrsb.ca/ (April 16-20th)