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Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, November 1, 1995 ,Page 17 Graide The writing skilse of Durham's Grade 12 students are improving, according to results of a review by a consortium of four public boards of education. Ini 1992, the Mfinistry of Education and Training administered a Grade 12 writing review ini echool boards acrose Ontario. In 1993, the. Durham, North York, Lakehead and Halton boards of education developed a testing consortium to conduct student asment initiatives, including a repeat of the. Grade 12 writing review ini 1995 so that changes in School name suggestions wanted Local residents are asked to suggest names for the new elementary school to be, built on the. Anderson CVI property. The. school, to have a modified sch>ol year calendar, wiil be constructed at the corner of Pringle Drive and Crawforth Street. Naine suggestions can be sent to Whitby trustee Doug Rosa, at the trustees' office, Durham Board of Education, Taunton Road East, Whitby,LMN MR. . Vicki Duthie- FATHER LEO J ..AUSTIN Austin's third walkatuon took place yesterday and as we took one giant leap inta the future for school fundraising, we are also taking astep back int the past. Student coundil lias organized the. second dance of tue year for tamorrow night with an ail-new, very popular Retro theme. Retro refera ta »101? and '80s' music, including ail of our favourite disco tunes. Following the dance, Friday will b. non-uniform day. The. walkatuon taok place yesterday, and we are eagerly anticipating the final results. Many of us were out tuere in ful Austin sjit donned ini Halloween costumes. Energy 108 was tuer. helping t get Austin 'students motivated. Walkezs were awarded with many awards and great food after tue walk. Many. thanka ta Mr. Nicholas and tue walkathon committe. for a job weil don.. The post-aecondaiy workshop for parents interested in their *hildren's post secondary future takes, place at 7 p.m. in tue cafetarium. Parents are encouraged ta, attend. Big congratulations go out ta Austin'. athletic teams who are competing mercilessly throughout tue region. The Whitby Challenge Baaketball Tournament takes place this weekend lier. in town. Academicaily, Austin students are working as hard as ever. Jackie MeManus, a business student at our school, i. now 58th among 70,000 students in the. Toronto Star stock market competition. Beet of luck, Jackie. ÀAs the students of Austin take on. siail step back, on. gant step forward, we are growing stronger than ever. 12writing, skiIIs im provlng9 the students' writing akilîs could be monitored and compared to earlier results. Almost 6,000 students in the four boards enroiled ini general or advanced level Grade 12 English courses last spring participated in the review. lIn the' Durham Board of Education, 94 per cent or 1,378 advan:ced level students and 92 per cent or 1,018 general level students took part. Each student wrote an essay which was marked by teachers uaing a Ministiy of Education and Training six-point scale, ranging from superior to inadequate wriing skills. The i-pint criteria tells educators if'students are writung at the expected level as determined by an independent panel of university and coflege teachers, parents, business and labour representatives, teachers and trustees3. lIn the àdvranced level program, 76 per cent of Grade 12 students ini 19947Q5 performed at or abôve level 3, compared with 58 per cent in 1992. In the basic level program, just over 83 per cent of Grade 12 students in 1995 performed at or above the expected le7vel compared with 82 per cent in 1992. Again in 1995, females in both the advanced and general level programs scored higlier than males. The. Durham board will set up an interpretation panel consistung of about 15 staff and commu.mity members ta, examine the overail resuits and advise on recommendations ta be mcluded ini the final report to, trustees at the standing committee. meeting of Dec. Il.. Schools will release their individual resuits after this date. After mid-February, sehools wull release. action plans which they will develop ta, address their individual sehool results. The board also wiil release an action plan dealing with its overall results. Jason Collier HENRY ST. H.S. Halloween has; come and gone, leaving, in its wake a dreaded thing ... mid-terms. Many Hawks are in the process of wriing inid-term examinations. Grade 9 and Grade 10 students are required to write a mid-term examination in most of their classes, and as impossible as it seems, we are already at the halfway point of the first semester, and report cards are in our near future once again. On Oct. 27, Henry held their annual commencement and awards ceremonies. Henry Street proudly honoured its 286 recipients of Ontario secondary school diplomas and 87 Ontario sciolars, as well as ail those appearing on the Grade 12 and OAC achool honour roll, with an eveming ceremony followed by a reception held in the cafetorium. Opening and closing remarks were provided by principal Ed Grant, and musical selections were performed by the Henry Street Senior Concert Band and Henry Street Singers under the. direction .of Vizma Maksins. Also addressing those in attendance were* trustee Doug Ross, representing the. Durham Board of Education, and councillor Shirley Scott, representi«rg the Town of Whitby. On. of the. high points of the evening was the valedictary adrea given by Rajiv Gandhi and Brett Huether. Steve Lovelese, Ryan Hall and Joshua McVeity were the. creative muinda behind the cover for this year's commencement program, and the graphics arts students were responsible for the production of the programs. I am sure that all those involved ini the ceremony will look back on thes. keepsakes with fond memories of their departure from Henry,. as they embark on tue next part of their education. A Cabaret Night will be held in the. oefetoriuma on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. ickets are $4. For more information, caîl 668-2731. Tii. Young Workers of Canada wiil make a presentation on job safety on Nov. 29, 1:15 ta 1:45 p.m., and all members of Whitby's buiescommunity are invited ta attend the presentation. If you are interested in. attending, or if you would like more information, contact Barb Tutton at 668-2731. Until next tirne, Hawks. Samantha Ohwofl MuÎIi r ANDERSON This is very difficult ta write as I'm recovering from excessive candy consumption. The dial tane has been eating my feet in tue middle of tue night. And tuen I woke up and the pop tart tried to bite me. Agg. Sorry, tuat was tue sugar talking. Junior awards ceremonies were held last Thursday, iionouring those students who academically excelled last year. Friday was our 1994-95 graduation ceremony. Our former principal, Mr. Dekker, made a brief appearance ta congratulate the graduates, and was welcomed with heart-felt applause. The. firet payment of $50 for prom tickets can be made this week. By buying your tickets now you may receive a small refund or discount, depending on this year's prom budget. Se. members of tue prom committe. for details. Yearbooks are being sold for anotuer week. The prie is stil $25. However, tue price wiii go up $10 after this week. Pick up your airband applications. Make it happy. University iniformation night wiii b. held this Monday, Nov. 6 at EasBtdale CVIm Oshawa. This wil b. an excellent opportunity for you and your parents ta decide your academic futur.. College info night i. later thi8 montu at Durham Coilege, check guidance for exact date. OK, words of advice for next year - you're tao old ta go out for Halloween, your body isn't used ta ail thatjunk. Candy affects you in weird ways. Resuits of the provincial Grade 9 reading and writing test conducted earlier this year by the Ministry of Education and Training were scheduled'ta be released taday (Wednesday) by the ministry. The Durham Board of Education wiii bring a report on the resulta ta the standing comxittee meeting on Dec. 11. Similarly, it will develop and release action plans dealing with the resulta by mid- February. The. four boards involved in the. assessment consortium plan ta again adniinister the. Grade 12 writing test within the. next two years. On tap of the "usual and expocted trials of school work, sports, university application decisions and a myriad of after-school activities, the. students of Trafalgar are putting on a fabulous charity bazaar this Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. So, as you, might expect, it has been absolute madness at school this whole week. Teachers are collecting articles and malring announcements; posters are springung up ail over the halls and are attracting attention in the windows of shops all, over town; tables are being organized and raffle ticket money is pouring in. Don't worryif you haven't got yours yet - w. will set some aside on Nov. 4 just for procrastinatoa. 1 hear from Lori Ann D'Ornellas that some great prizes are being offered, so don't miss out. Prizes ta b. won include trips (yes, 1 said trips), free. haircuts, discount' coupons for valuable and self- indulgent services and much, much more. The fashion show, headed by. Jaclyn Bryant, is coming along smoothly. And don't think it'Ll be an all-girl show. We are rehearsing some of Ontario's hottest young men at this veiy moment ... definitely a unust-see event. Remember your admission goes straight ta charity. (But the. autographs you collect here may be worth- millions to your grandchildren.) There'll bemany unique and unteresting tables - check out the teachers' gift baskets, the popular and beautiful Christmas boutique, Mr. K's book shelf, our thriving potted plants, and, of course, those unheatable food tables. There's pizza, Chines. food, Korean food, ice cream and pop. Some girls think preparing for the. bazaar is hard work but, caul me crazy, 1 really enjoy it. At the end of the. day it's gratifying ta know that we have helped someone else. Ail funds raised are sent ta charities outaide the school. Local and international charities include Amnnesty International, Denise House (for abused women in Oshawa), Christmas baskets for local families, Toronto Food Bank, World Vision, 'Sick Children's Hospital, Canada World Youth, World Relief, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driv ing) and Child Find. Our student fellowship group, headed by myself and Pekkey Ha, sponsored this annual event. -Over the. past decade we have contributed over $50,000 to charities and, if you are a regular supporter, thank you. Come again. i aiiya riuuiier / Miai Id o\Ue SINCLAIR SECONDARY SCHOOL Staying alive, staying aijue! Celtic spirit is alive again! Last week'a Spirit Week brought out tue best in aIl of-us with a variety of activities. Plaid day, crazy hair day, PJ day, barbecue, Celtic pride! day and disco day filled our agendas. Last week's Halloween dance was frsh. More than 200 students tunned out for Sinclair'a fiirst danoe ofthe year. Thanke go out ta SAC, volunteers, SAC advisors Ma. Mace.nnan, Mr. O'Toole and Mr. Palme;, and 14 staff membera who volunteered as chaperons. Student Services are buzy helping students with their plans for future education. Visita are scheduled for Waterloo on Nov. 8, Queens on Nov. 27, and York Nov. 29. Drop by Student Services to sign Up. College-bound studenta a attend College Information Day Nov. 21 at Durhamn College. Register at Student Services. Durham College reapresentativea are at Sinclair on Nov. 29 ti period C. You know where to Eaigri Up. Juit a remunder toalal Grade 9 students that Take a Student to Work Day ta coming up on Nov. 8. Job shadow a parent and find out If their job might be ofitorest to you in future times. Speak to, your TAG teacher for more -details. Parents, watch for those interim reports on Friday, Nov. 3. Good luck toalal students. Parent- teacher interviewis for Grade lU te OAC atudents are acheduled on Nov. 7 and 8. Laat caîl for vendora for Sindlair's second annual Craft and Collectiblea Show on Saturday. Call Ms. Cotter or Ma. Jones at the. echool if you are' inter.ated. If you're looking to buy, tue show ta on from 10Oa.m. to4 p.m. Graduates have already noticed their lait moments slipping away. Prom will b. her. before you know it and you won't want te, misa this event. Hurry up and ask that guy or gal, because prom tickets go on sale next week. Tii. adventureso me Outdoor Purauiti cias ta on the prowl once again. They have begun their cydling unit which has takeri them ta Durham Foreit and along tue waterfront trail. Their trip from the Whitby Yacht Club to, the GM glass building ini Oshawa is oeming up éliortly. Keep weIl rested. Tii. mtdget and junior boys' volleyball teain begin their playoffs rwxt week. Good luck, guyu, we*r rootin' for ya. Jean Templeman. TRAFALGAR CASTLE k VINen -rnnitn Wi infýmr / A