June 10, 2021

Mr. Redick took the Gr. 8-10s to the Bowness Lagoon to get some kayaking experience in preparation for their Gulf Islands Outdoor Education trip. The weather mirrored what they are expecting on Galiano Island with a light drizzle but the temperature wasn’t too bad for the energy they were exuding while paddling.

WEEK AT A GLANCE

FRI. June 11 – WALKATHON!

The plan is to leave the school as soon as the boys arrive at school (DON’T BE LATE!) and start the walk at about 9am. Grades 1-4 will be picked up at South Glenmore Park which is also a Snack Stop. The picnic will be around noonish at Sandy Beach. There are two “Sweep” locations along the way that if some boys don’t make it to a certain point by 12:00, they will be picked up and shuttled to Sandy Beach. We have established 6 emergency pick-up spots along the way and we have our bus drivers, as well as a teacher in the van, on call to pick kids up that need a lift. After a picnic lunch at Sandy Beach there will be games at the park until they are bussed back to the school at 3:00. They will arrive back at school by 3:30. Sunscreen, proper clothing/shoes and a water bottle is all that they will need. 

FRI. June 11 – Uniform Fit Day @ 8-10am

MON. June 14 – Heathy Hunger: Mucho Burrito

MON. June 14 – Winners of Pitch Competition will be announced

MON. June 14 – THURS. June 17 – Gr. 8-9 Exams (See exam schedule below)

TUES. June 15 – Townhall, Fun Lunch, Non-uniform Day

Fun Lunch will be pasta from the Lunch Lady

FRI. June 18 – Gulf Islands Outdoor Education Trip Starts

FRI. June 18 – ACTION FRIDAY: Baseball @ Optimist park

All grades will be going at 9:30-11:30 rather than at their regularly scheduled Action Friday times. Please bring a baseball glove if you have one.

From Dave Jackson

If you haven’t done so yet, please ensure your 2021-22 school year post-dated cheques are submitted before the end of June.  

For any account inquires and assistance, please contact Dave at the school office.

Thank-you. 

June 11th – 1st ANNUAL NP WALKATHON

FOOT STEPS FOR OUR FUTURE

We are so proud of the effort the boys and their families have put into raising funds and getting behind this effort! We have surpassed our goal! As of Thursday afternoon we have raised:

$16,805 of our $12,000 target

Congratulations to all who have put in such a tremendous push towards our goal. Here are the class standings so far (final tallies will be made tomorrow morning):

Miss. Jenn’s Gr. 1/2 – 297%
Mr. Hirtle’s Gr. 6 – 125%
Mrs. Fairehead’s Gr. 3/4 – 87%
Mr. Qureshi’s Gr. 5 – 199%

https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/NP2021walkathon

2nd ANNUAL STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR PITCH COMPETITION

Its the final week for the Financial Academy Pitch Competition, where students pitch an idea for a product, service, or business idea in a 60-second Flipgrid video. Flipgrid is a fun and simple platform for creating engagning videos with plenty of special effects that enhance presentations. Instrutions, ideas and examples are located in Google Classroom and at Financial Academy Pitch Competition (student email required for access).

Seven students will win $25 gift cards! This competition is open to students of all grades. Digital badges are awarded to every student who submits a pitch. The final deadline for recording pitches is extended to Saturday, June 12th. Winners will be announced Monday, June 14. Good luck to all the young entrepreneurs!

EXAM SCHEDULE

Grade 8 & 9

Students are only required to be at school to write their Exam and can then head home once they are finished (WITH MONDAY AS THE EXCEPTION).  Boys will be required to stay in the exam room until at least 10 am regardless of whether or not they have finished their exam early.   

Regular classes will not be conducted during exam week. 

If students choose to remain at the school they will be expected to complete any outstanding assignments they might have and/or prepare for their remaining exams in an independent study hall area.  

Grade 6 & 7

Students are only required to be at school to write their Exam and can then head home once they are finished.  Boys will be required to stay in the exam room until at least 10 am regardless of whether or not they have finished their exam early.   

Regular classes will not be conducted during exam week. 

If students choose to remain at the school they will be expected to complete any outstanding assignments they might have and/or prepare for their remaining exams in an independent study hall area.

STUDENT HIGHLIGHT

Cater P. – Budding Photographer

One of our Gr. 8 students, Carter, has a keen interest in photography and wanted to share some of his latest pics with our school community. Great job, Carter, on capturing some very moody skies!

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

The Water Gun Fight

by Riley Champman

As you may know, from your son coming home soaking wet, a huge water war struck on last week’s Action Friday between the grade 1’s to 6’s. In this article I will tell you what happened in the battlefield, how the grade 6’s prepared from my point of view, and the Navigator games.

I will start off with the preparation. Some of my classmates and I had created a small alliance as we had 8 people, each with a different role. Half the boys would be defenders, half attackers, and 1 scout. I chose to be a defender. I had brought 2 big water guns and almost 50 water balloons! Some of my other teammates had brought their water guns and 100 more balloons! From my, and my team’s, eyes we were stocked and ready for battle. We even had a base in the corner of the fence, where we kept all of our balloons, guns, and extra water to reload the guns when needed.

Before we had the games, we did some Navigator activities including: the sponge game, which is were you had to have a line of boys, then pass the sponge around to get the most water in your bucket (Mountaineers won); the hit Mr.Qureshi game, which you guessed, it was trying to hit Mr.Qureshi with water balloons; and finally the water balloon toss game, which you had to get a partner, then toss the balloon around until you popped It. (Mountaineers and Aviators won). 

Then the battle began. Boys sprinting inside to get their water guns, the 6’s carrying out the water balloons, and the teachers refilling the reload stations. The other grades had a game plan of their own! All of them were teaming up on our squad! We then sprang into action, as some of us were defending the supplies, some of my other teammates went over to the where the other grade 6’s were encamped, and brought them over to try and help. Now it was grade 6 vs all, and most of our game plan was falling apart. We started rapid firing all of the balloons as the other grade 6’s charged the enemy. We quickly ran out of water, so some of us tried to run to the reload station, but we would get water in our face from all over.

We were starting to get overrun, as most of us just abandoned the camp. Then we started pushing back when we took some plastic tubs, and dumped full buckets of water on the enemy. 

By that time everyone was very wet and cold, so most of us decided to dry off and warm up in the school. I don’t know what your son said, but all I know is that the grade 6’s won the war in my eyes.

Stay Tuned For My Next Article!

 A MESSAGE FROM A PARENT

To all of our Northpoint families,

I am a mother of one of the boys at NP, and also have the privilege of being an Emergency Physician during a pandemic that I never thought I’d see.  I work at both the Alberta Children’s Hospital as well as the Foothills Hospital, so have seen the many different impacts of Covid-19 on people of different age groups.  I am so pleased to hear that most of the boys have been partially immunized to this point.  This is truly our only way out of this pandemic and towards a pathway forward to a somewhat more normal life.  I encounter a discouragingly large number of patients and families who are hesitant to vaccinate, or have concerns about the vaccines, their timeline of rollout and side effects.  I can say that these vaccines are truly a miracle, which is a word that is often not easily stated in medicine.  

These vaccines have been through all of the same trials that any vaccine in any time would have to go through.  Luckily, we already possessed the mRNA technology for pre-existing vaccines, so the trials proceeded at a rapid but scientifically rigorous pace.  Because this is an international emergency, and every day without a vaccine means lives lost and forever altered, the vaccines were released on an emergency basis prior to being FDA approved.  And this one point seems to be of great concern, and rightly so, for many.  However, it is reassuring that the scientific process of phased trials were conducted appropriately and showed results that were outstanding and far better than what was hoped.

I now see only unvaccinated or, occasionally,  partially vaccinated people requiring hospitalization for Covid-19, which proves, these vaccines work.  Many of these patients were previously healthy and still young.  I am seeing children getting very sick from this virus, moreso now with the variants.  The Delta (or Indian variant) is even more transmissible than the B.117 (British variant), and is beginning to prove more lethal than what we have seen so far.  The partially immunized were pretty well protected from the wild type as well as the British variant, but this is no longer the case with the Delta variant.  So now is the time to get your second dose if you qualify and if you have not been vaccinated, you need to do so as soon as possible.  The more people who are left unvaccinated, the more of a reserve the Covid-19 virus has to infect and mutate and potentially never end these lockdowns, healthcare collapse and the mental health strain being experienced by all, especially children.  

Lastly, I’m almost done, I promise.  I think this last point is the most important, and a life lesson we want our boys to embrace.  We are not independent of our society.  We are one society, and we all have an obligation to not only look after our own health but of those around us, including strangers whom we interact with daily.  By vaccinating yourself, you are protecting everyone in your close circle, as well of those members of society who are frail, unvaccinated (for example: small children), or immunocompromised.  It is a social contract.  It is our duty to protect everyone.  

I would be happy to answer any questions brought to me.  I will happily take a phone call.  I spend hours of my shifts answering vaccine questions, so I’m happy to answer any of yours.

Take care everyone, please get your vaccination if you haven’t already, and hopefully we can all meet again without masks on!

Sincerely, 
Rhonda Ness

YEARBOOKS

It has been a crazy year but we have created some great memories along the way. Our Navigators have show Resiliency and Resourcefulness throughout the year and we are working on capturing these moments in our yearbook. Yearbooks will be delivered to North Point School in September 2022. Yearbooks must be pre-ordered. They are not available for purchase at the school as we only order the quantity required.

All yearbooks must be ordered online at: https://ybpay.lifetouch.ca/

Our school’s Yearbook ID code: 14362521

NAVIGATOR SQUAD POINTS

Contact Mr. Fagan to get your books counted.

INTRAMURALS

There will be a series of short tournaments in a variety of sports to allow the boys to build their skills.