The students of G.F. Kells have certainly enjoyed the beautiful autumn weather we've had for the past couple of weeks.
The warm weather was certainly appreciated on Wednesday at the District Cross Country Meet in Weyburn. More than 600 runners showed up to compete and the competitors from G.F. Kells did very well. In the grade 7 boys' category, Kyle Sargent finished 1st, Cale Fleury finished 9th and Marshall Delorme finished 13th. In the grade 7 girls' category, Paige Smith placed 7th and Carlie Standingready finished 8th. In the grade 8 girls' category, Vanessa Bendtsen finished 10th. In the midget girls' category, Renae Fafard finished 2nd and Kacey Valentine finished 5th. In the junior boys' category, Branden Lequyer finished 3rd and in the senior girls' category, Jackie VanDresar finished 8th. Jory Dyck also trained hard for the meet, but was unable to compete due to illness. Congratulations to all the competitors. The top ten finishers in the midget, junior, and senior categories are eligible to compete at Provincials. Good luck to Renae, Kacey, and Jackie, who will all be competing at the Provincial Meet in Regina on Saturday, October 16.
The morning of Friday, October 8, saw the school body of the high school watching a mock accident scene. The accident was organized by the SADD group. The pretend accident involved a drunk driver and three victims. One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene, the drunk driver was taken away by the R.C.M.P., and the two injured students were attended by EMT's. The fire and rescue personal were also on hand since they had to use the Jaws of Life to gain access to the injured. After the mock accident scene, the students gathered in the gym and listened to the different rescue personal share their thoughts about the accident. Even though this particular incident involved drinking and driving, other accidents are caused from aggressive driving, or not paying close enough attention to the road and our surroundings. We all need to be reminded of this every now and then. We may think that this won't happen to us, but our lives could be changed in a moment. Even though this time was just pretend, the situation was very real. The SADD group would like to thank the members of the R.C.M.P., the Emergency Medical Technicians, and the fire and rescue personal that attended our scene and helped us get our point across. It is a very powerful message that we are delivering. We want to remind our friends and peers to drive safely and remember that it is okay not to drink and drive.
On Friday afternoon, the middle-years students participated in spirit-building activities including ping pong, silent ball, charades, and volleyball. They showed a lot of school spirit by being all decked out in their team coloursface paint and everything. Also on Friday afternoon, the high school students participated in a town-wide scavenger hunt where they were doing everything from singing songs at the rink to playing leap frog on the Main Street sidewalk. All of the G.F. Kells students had a lot of fun while learning more about teamwork, leadership, and sportsmanship.
The magazine campaign is underway. Get your magazine subscriptions through the school and save. We appreciate the support we received last year and we look forward to continued success this year.
The next meeting of the School Community Council will be held on Wednesday, October 20. This will be an important meeting since parents will be given the opportunity to see the new report cards and also find out about the reasons behind the changes.
Why the change in report cards?
The 2006 amalgamation resulted in various forms of reporting across the newly formed school division. It was requested by staff that a standard report card be created division-wide. The Ministry of Education has recently changed curricula (subjects) to become outcomes- based. This increased the need for a change to report cards in schools. South East Cornerstone School Division has responded by creating a division-wide, outcome-based report card.
Along with the school, the Student Council is fundraising in order to purchase two virtual information signs. We are looking for sponsorship with the potential for advertising on these high tech signs. Anyone interested should contact Mr. Howe at the school.
For all of your Gordon F. Kells news and updates, visit our website at gfkells.wordpress.com!
