By Evan Green
It’s an exciting time at Torah Day School of Ottawa (TDSO). We are pleased to welcome Rabbi Boruch Perton as our new head of school and look forward to working with him as we continue to grow and enhance our school. Building on our foundation of Jewish learning and Torah, coupled with striving for overall academic excellence, we continue to improve opportunities for our students related to school life, programming, academic goals and our curriculum.
S.T.A.R. Fair
Last month we held our S.T.A.R. Fair. Students presented projects related to science, Torah, art and reading, all connected to a nature theme. The cross-curricular event showcased student work from JK to Grade 8, in three languages, from every subject and included dramatic and artistic presentations, projects and displays. We continue to be amazed by the creativity and depth of our students’ work and our teachers’ innovativeness.
Year of Kindness
TDSO is participating in the Year of Kindness created by World Changing Kids, an educational organization offering programs for elementary school children, their families and educators fostering character education, leadership development and community building. Students participate in daily acts of kindness, community and family challenges with our Student Council taking a leadership role.
Buddy program
This is a great example of the family atmosphere at Torah Day. Our older students are paired with younger students in the school for monthly buddy activities including art, games, reading, writing friendship notes, outdoor fun, and exchanges. Our older students have seamlessly assumed a natural leadership role for our younger students modeling good behaviour and kindness.
Collaborative problem solving
Thanks to a Jewish Federation of Ottawa grant, we hired a student support specialist to bring the collaborative problem solving (CPS) model to our school. CPS is an evidence-based model for supporting children with the development of social and emotional skills, in particular, to help children that struggle with behaviour. CPS is the standard of practice in all school boards in Ottawa, and at CHEO. Our staff is learning how to integrate CPS into their classrooms. This new approach is now being implemented daily at Torah Day with noted benefits.
Exceeding Ministry requirements
Our administration has revisited the Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum objectives and synthesized them by subject to create a more succinct way to teach material to students and offer acceleration for students learning above their grade level.
Torah Day is implementing Canadian Achievement Test (CAT4) in literacy and numeracy for Grades 2, 4, 6 and 8. It will provide us with data as a school so we may examine what areas we need to focus on and where individual students need improvement or enrichment.
We are proud of what’s happening at our school. Our priority continues to be academic excellence that is founded on Torah values and supported by a vibrant school community. We nurture, educate and inspire our students both academically and spiritually so that they will develop a love of Torah and of community. We look forward to our new head of school, Rabbi Perton, building on this great foundation and being part of what is sure to be a bright future for our school and our community.
Feel free to reach out and give Torah Day School a look. Visit us at www.torahday.ca or arrange a tour by calling us at 613-274-0110.