JUNE 2015
for Kids! 2015
Camp EDVentures (ages 5–12)
SS01
Week 1—July 6–10
$149
Cruise Around the World!
The Kildonan-East and Miles Macdonell group at Juno Beach, Normandy; one of five beaches of the Allied invasion of
German-occupied France during the Second World War.
and Normandy regions of France and
made some unscheduled detours to
Omaha Beach and Juno Beach, as well
They spent hours listening to the
In early March, 40 students from
as cemeteries that held significance for
stories of veterans in Groesbeek,
Miles Macdonell Collegiate and
them.
Netherlands. Later, they met up with
Kildonan-East Collegiate experienced
STUDENTS HONOUR VE DAY 70TH IN EUROPE
an extraordinary memorial celebration
firsthand, as they visited Europe to
participate in the 70th anniversary of
VE Day—March 8, 1945.
VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day,
marked Germany’s surrender of its
armed forces and the end of the
Second World War. On this day in 1945,
millions of people crowded streets
around the world to celebrate. Seventy
years later, the celebrations took on
extra significance with the knowledge
that it may be the last anniversary in
which any great number of Second
World War veterans will be alive.
The RETSD students visited London,
walking the streets that had been
terrorized by Luftwaffe attacks during
The Blitz and visiting Bletchley Park,
where British codebreakers broke
German ciphers, which is said to have
shortened the war by two years.
They then journeyed to the
Netherlands and France to see how the
war affected those on the other side of
the English Channel.
over 800 other Canadian students and
took part in a commemorative silent
walk to the nearby Canadian cemetery.
“It was surreal. It was silent for at
least three kilometres and there were
a couple thousand townspeople,
as well, that joined in the march,”
says Miles Macdonell teacher Kara
Wickstrom-Street.
The students also took part in a
Liberation Day parade in Wageningen,
celebrating the Canadian army’s
liberation of the Netherlands. Over
100,000 people cheered on the parade
as it passed. They walked behind the
veterans and experienced, firsthand,
the lasting gratitude of the Dutch
people, who waved Canadian flags,
cheered and high-fived the students.
“It was powerful; it’s hard to explain,”
says Ms. Wickstrom-Street. “It was
emotional, too. A lot of the students
cried, because they couldn’t fathom
the connection between the Dutch and
the Canadians.”
Afterwards, the group visited the Vimy
“A lot of the students had family
members who were part of the
various campaigns overseas. One
student’s great-grandfather and
great-great-grandfather were both
killed in the First World War,” Ms.
Wickstrom-Street says. “We went way
off the beaten track and found the
cemeteries where they were buried
and visited their graves.”
They also located the grave of
Winnipegger and Victoria Cross
recipient Andrew Mynarski near
Amiens, France, which was important
to one of the students, a cadet in
the Andrew Mynarski regiment. The
graves are sadly plentiful and the
group encountered cemeteries far too
frequently.
“These cemeteries are in the middle of
nowhere in northern France, all over
the place. There are commonwealth
cemeteries absolutely everywhere,
some of them really tiny,” she reflects.
The schools hope to return and mark
the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge in
2017.
Get your “passports” ready as you leave on an
imaginative “cruise” around the world, using
games, crafts and creativity.
SS02
Week 2—July 13–17
$149
Super Cartoon Movie Chaos Week!
It’s Superheroes meets Frozen meets The
Incredibles week with crafts, games, real-life
heroes, your favourite animated characters and
original creations.
SS03
Week 3—July 20–24
$149
MasterBuilders Week!
This week, creative games, building, exploring
fascinating structures (think bugs, birds, exotic
architecture and “LegoLand”) will be included.
SS04
Week 4—July 27–31
$149
Ultimate Sports & Games Mashup!
What would we call a Frisbee and Volleyball
mashup? This week it’s ultimate games and
sports all mixed up!
SS05
Week 5—Aug. 4–7
$119
Underwater Discovery Week!
Favourite water games, with mysterious and
fascinating underwater sea creatures and cities
added... hmmm. This could get interesting.
SS06
Week 6—Aug. 10–14
$149
CSI Science Mystery Week!
Time to solve the big crime case of the week.
Can you guess what mysterious games and
sports will be played?
Register soon,
camps are filling up fast!
For more information contact:
Adult & Continuing
Education
204.667.6193
or www.retsd-conted.com
Superintendent’s message
In this month’s issue of The Torch,
I see a junction of our division’s past
and present—celebrating history while
meeting the needs of the “here and
now.”
As you’ll see in one of the stories
below, two of our schools are
celebrating their 100th anniversaries—
Lord Wolseley Elementary School and
John Pritchard School—so if you’re a
former student or staff member, this
is a great opportunity to check out
your old alma mater or workplace.
Recently, a gentleman who is in his
nineties visited Lord Wolseley to see his
childhood classrooms! While much has
changed since he was running around
the schoolyard, the school maintains
much of its old school charm.
While we pay homage to our division’s
rich history, we’re also striving to
create student success by helping them
to meet the needs of the current job
market and to become contributing
members of their community. In
part, this is done by maintaining a
rich variety of both vocational and
academic programs and providing the
just shone.”
Almost 15 per cent of the students in
RETSD are self-identified as Aboriginal.
Being part of the Powwow is a great
source of pride for many of these
students and their families.
(l—r) Trustees John Toews, Colleen Carswell, Eva Prysizney and Jerry Sodomlak with a
dancer in traditional Aboriginal regalia at the Powwow.
RETSD celebrates with Powwow
Along with students, staff and
community members, the gym at
Chief Peguis Junior High was filled
with pounding drum rhythms and a
kaleidoscope of bright colours on
April 22, 2015—Earth Day—as River
East Transcona hosted its fourth
community Powwow since 2008.
Dozens of Aboriginal dancers from
across the province turned out for the
event, which celebrates Aboriginal
culture, the community and another
successful year of Aboriginal Academic
Achievement (AAA) programming in
RETSD. AAA programming integrates
Aboriginal perspectives into learning
for all students and aims to help
Aboriginal students achieve the highest
possible success at school.
There’s a lot involved in putting on such
a large event with so many participants
and RETSD Aboriginal community
networker Lisa Aymont Hunter credits a
group of hard-working volunteers with
making sure it went off without a hitch.
“The flow of everything went so well,
from feeding our guests to registering
the dancers,” she says. “We have such
a committed group of volunteers. They
“It’s powerful, seeing the pride in their
identity as Indigenous people and
seeing their school and community
welcome them as Indigenous people,”
says Ms. Aymont Hunter. “These stories
are out there. We just need to see
more of them.”
modern technology students require to
be at the top of their game. In recent
years, it’s also done by helping our
students take advantage of the growing
number of opportunities in the trades
sector. You can read more about these
efforts in our story about the High
School Apprenticeship Program on the
following page.
Please enjoy this issue of The Torch,
our last for the 2014–15 school year,
and have a wonderful summer!
Kelly Barkman
Superintendent/CEO
England, in 1777. The John Pritchard
centennial celebration will take place
on Thursday, Oct. 8, at the school,
1490 Henderson Hwy. There will be an
afternoon program from 1–3 p.m., an
evening program from 5–8 p.m. and
a formal presentation at 7 p.m. The
program will include an alumni band
and a student choir featuring music
and dance through the decades. The
classrooms will be open for viewing in
the afternoon and evening.
Two RETSD schools, just a stone’s
throw from each other on Henderson
Highway, will celebrate their 100th
anniversaries early in the fall of
2015—John Pritchard School and Lord
Wolseley Elementary School. So, if
you’re interested in attending, be sure
to save the dates on your calendar.
Lord Wolseley was built in 1915 and is
named for Field Marshal Garnet Joseph
Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, who
commanded the Red River Expedition
in 1870. The Wolseley neighbourhood
of Winnipeg is also named for him. The
Lord Wolseley centennial celebration
will take place on Thursday, Sept.
24, from 5–8 p.m. at the school, 939
Henderson Hwy. The formal program
will begin at 6 p.m. and there will be
displays, tours and refreshments.
John Pritchard officially opened its
doors in 1967, but previously it was
called Lord Kitchener School and was
built in 1915. John Pritchard was an
early settler in the area, a politician
and an employee of the Hudson’s Bay
Company who was born in Shropshire,
If former students of John Pritchard or
Lord Wolseley have any information,
stories or memorabilia they would
be willing to share with the schools,
please contact them at 204.339.1984
(John Pritchard) or 204.661.2384 (Lord
Wolseley).
Don’t miss these fall centennials!
on-the-job apprenticeship training.
“With baby boomers set to retire, there
will be shortages in the skilled trades
over the next 10 years,” says RETSD
HSAP teacher Catherine Westlake.
“With this program students will be
able to learn from skilled workers
before they retire and address that
labour shortage at the same time.”
HSAP taps student potential
For decades, attending university has
been touted as the gold standard of
post-secondary education. However,
with an abundance of lucrative
positions in the trades now becoming
available, there is an increased focus
on helping students realize the
opportunities that could await them.
The High School Apprenticeship
Program (HSAP) is one of the ways
River East Transcona is helping
students interested in working in
a skilled trade. HSAP is a provincial
government initiative that enables
students to become apprentices and
earn certification in a trade while still
in high school. It combines regular high
school instruction with paid, part-time,
Congratulations to Hampstead School principal Elizabeth Linton (pictured), recipient
of the 2015 School Administrator Award for Distinguished Service, presented to her
on May 11 by the Manitoba School Library Association. Ms. Linton was nominated
because she demonstrates exceptional personal commitment to her school and its
library, making a difference in the lives of her students.
Over the last three years and with
funding from the province, the division
has supported a half-time position
to co-ordinate HSAP and, as a result,
both awareness and interest have
been increasing. In 2014 student
participation grew to 37 from just
seven participants a year earlier, and
2015 numbers are on track to exceed
last year’s total.
“I’ve seen students thrive in this
program,” says Ms. Westlake. “Often,
they start as a means to get credits
or earn some money and as time
progresses they realize that they like
what they do and it could be a career
for them. It’s very fulfilling to see them
gain an awareness of their abilities and
potential.”
HSAP this summer
Students who will be working in
qualified trades over the summer
months qualify for HSAP and should
contact [email protected]
to submit an application prior to June
30, 2015.
As well, RETSD and Apprenticeship
Manitoba are jointly hosting Building
Tomorrow Summer Camps to
introduce students (age 13–16) to
the skilled trades and the High School
Apprenticeship Program.
The week of activities will have
culinary/pastry, electrical and carpentry
camps running simultaneously at
Kildonan-East Collegiate and Salisbury
Morse Place School. Students will work
in their areas, learning and exploring all
their trade has to offer, while providing
Manitoba Mutts Dog Rescue with
opportunities to raise funds for their
organization.
For more information and to register,
students should see their school
counsellors.
Westview School parent advisory committee members (l–r) Tara Mulholland, Beck
Parisian and Crystal Honey with their children—who are Westview students—at one
of the new swings installed on school grounds just in time for the warm weather.
The swings, along with a play structure, outdoor classroom and sandpit, and
eventual landscaping, are part of an ambitious project the PAC has been fundraising
for over several years.
Individual Difference, Relationship-Based (DIR) Model. RETSD
occupational therapist Natalie
Creighton, speech and language
pathologist Wendy Kuryk, and autism
behaviour specialist Joanne Sobczak
support school staff as they use the DIR
Model with Flynn.
Flynn’s progress has everyone excited.
Flynn enjoys some time on the swing in the sensory room with Ms. Klassen.
Strategy helps connect,
change lives
Six-year-old Flynn Whittaker enters the
gym at Donwood Elementary School
and heads straight for the ceiling-high
curtain that bisects the room. His
educational assistant Rebecca Klassen
jogs a few steps ahead of him and he
begins to follow her, beaming and
running his hand along the bright
yellow drape.
The scene is unmistakably different
from Flynn’s first days of kindergarten
at Donwood.
At that time, Flynn, who is on the
autism spectrum and is non-verbal,
wasn’t engaging at all with people or
making eye contact. He was clearly
frustrated and expressed this by
banging his head and yelling; he had to
wear a helmet and Ms. Klassen spent
mornings slowly transitioning him into
his new classroom space.
Donwood resource teacher Fran
Trafiak credits Flynn’s progress to the
close relationship he’s formed with
Ms. Klassen and to a strategy used
with Flynn called the Developmental,
Students from Murdoch MacKay Collegiate and Collège Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau
took part in a Habitat for Humanity build on May 8. Here, some Murdoch MacKay
students take a break from the hard work and strike a pose.
“Whereas before he was completely
disconnected, he’s totally engaged
now, watching where Rebecca is,
wanting to play with her,” says
Ms. Trafiak. “Before, he was in his
isolated world. But every day now,
there’s a little more improvement.”
The DIR Model is based on the theory
that some developmental disabilities,
including autism spectrum disorder,
are caused by differences in how
the brain processes information and
how the different parts of the brain
work together; and the belief that
how we engage and interact with
these students can change how their
brain works, whether through play or
through activities of high interest.
“Our first real connection with Flynn
was with the swing in the sensory
room,” says Ms. Trafiak, referring
to a room in the school that is often
dimly lit and also contains a rocker and
other equipment to appeal to special
sensory needs. “We got him swinging
and he enjoyed (the regulating tempo)
so much that when we stopped it, he
would ask us to continue.”
The swinging motion grounded Flynn
and settled his bombarded senses
enough to allow him to interact with
others around him. He visits the
sensory room throughout the day to
regulate and this has led to him making
eye contact, reaching out for others,
laughing and smiling, taking turns,
directing play and using some basic
gestures to express needs. The helmet
now sits on a shelf, unused.
“His parents are over the moon,
seeing him using a lot of the tools and
strategies we’re teaching so they can
engage with him more richly every
day,” says Ms. Trafiak.
“They’re just so happy to see him happy.”
(l–r) Trustee Rod Giesbrecht, library-technician Julie Robson, principal Marjorie
Millman and trustee John Toews pose with a plaque that was presented on the
occasion of Salisbury Morse Place School’s 100th anniversary. The school board has
been presenting centennial plaques to all RETSD schools that mark their 100th year.