The school year is
now into its final days, leaving many of us to
wonder, "Where did the time go?"
It is a time of celebration, examinations and
graduations that will mark the turning of spring
into summer.
It means school trips and Grade eight
graduations, which began this week and more will
come next week. For secondary school
students, it means cracking down for final
examinations and graduation exercises that will
be held next week as another class leaves the
Board for higher education or the world of work.
At many schools, like St. Martin, it was a
time for the annual end-of-year "Play Day,"
held on Tuesday, with
the older students organizing games and assisting
the younger students. (Above) For more,
check the Schools pages in this issue.
A special mass and
reception will be held tonight to celebrate the
careers of three retiring Superintendents.
Gary Clarke (Left), Corrie Gicante (Centre) and
Tim Holmes will be leaving the Board at the end
of this school year. Tonight will give
their friends, families and colleagues a chance
to wish them well and to say thank you.
FREE
BIKE HELMETS DONATED TO SCHOOL KIDS
The Brain Injury Association of London and
Region [BIALR] and the Ontario Trial Lawyers
Association [OTLA], with its partners, have
announced that over 1500 bike helmets will
be made available to London school children this
year as part of the annual "Helmets on
Kids: A Community Partnership" program.
This year, the kick-off event was held at St.
Pius X school. At the assembly, children from
Grade 4 viewed a safety video developed by the
Helmets on Kids Partnership with sponsorship
from the provincial board of OTLA. The video
shows kids how to fit their helmet properly,
and reviews important bike safety. A live
demonstration of a helmet fitting followed and the
final segment was a bike rodeo.
HELMETS ON KIDS, A LONDON COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP,
SEEKS TO PUT HELMETS ON THE HEADS OF EVERY CHILD
WHO NEEDS ONE
London members of the Ontario Trial Lawyers
Association [OTLA], with full community support,
continue the program which first began in London
with the delivery of 200 bicycle helmets. The
program is now being expanded across the
province through the initiative of OTLA. This
year, 1505 helmets will be distributed to
children through the two school systems, the
Children's Safety Village, and the Health Unit.
Each child will receive a pamphlet that gives
simple Visual instruction for the proper and
safe fitting of a helmet. Anyone who needs help
with fitting can call BIALR or the Health Unit.
.
BICYCLE HELMET STATISTICS
A research paper recently delivered by a team of
specialists from London's Children's Hospital establishes that helmet
use in childhood bicycling injuries improves the outcome and decreases
the costs. Highlights of the study show: The most severe bicycling
injuries are to the head. Wearing a helmet is associated with an 88%
decrease in head injuries and 65% decrease in facial injuries.
Unfortunately, bicycle-related hospital visits at the Children's
Hospital have increased by 23% from 2001-2006. 90% of the patients seen
in hospital were not wearing a helmet. The Children's Hospital cites
with approval the "Helmets on Kids" campaign.
To serve the Catholic
student in a community that nurtures a living faith
and provides a quality Catholic education that enables the individual to
become a contributing member of the Church and Society.
or contact: John
Boles,
Manager of Communications,
519-663-2088, ext 40015
is produced weekly by the
Communications Department of the LDCSB.
Spotlight is a BRAVO Award winner for
demonstrated excellence, recognized by the Canadian Association of Communicators in Education and
a winner of the
Glorya Nanne Award from the
Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education for making
a substantial contribution to fostering better understanding of Catholic Education.
BICYCLE HELMET STATISTICS
is produced weekly by the 
