• If you are a student who submitted your JL Scholarship Form and who has financial need but forgot to submit that information, please complete the google form posted in the 2023 google classroom.
• Are you interested in practicing Martial Arts? Sure you are. Mr. Hennebury will be running the martial arts club on day A of the schedule this semester. This time will be used to learn and practice Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Kickboxing techniques for self-defence. All participants must be in good standing with the school community and have their parents sign a consent form. We meet in the fitness room (202) next to the gymnasium.
• Girls Rugby Reminder! Anyone interested in learning how to play is encouraged to come give it a try Tuesdays and Thursdays after school in the gym.  New players always welcome!!
• Attention Judges! This week is our valentine’s spirit week. Today we show love for Jl and wear our school colour.
• Film Club will be postponed until next Tuesday. Everyone will have one more week to upload their scripts into the Google Classroom. All scripts will be due a week from today and we will meet next Tuesday at the regular time.
• Were you hoping to get a 2023 Yearbook? The deadline to purchase a yearbook is March 1st, 2023. If you want a Yearbook, you must buy it before this date. You can purchase a Yearbook online at the Yearbook store. A link to this is on the JL Ilsley website. You can also purchase a Yearbook at the office with Ms. Amy.  Again the deadline is March 1, 2023.

Monday is heritage day.

This year's heritage day is named after Elder Rita Joe.

Elder Rita Joe was a famous Mi’kmaw poet who celebrated her language, culture and way of life. Rita Joe, nee: Bernard was born in 1932 in Whycocomagh, Nova Scotia. Orphaned at the age of ten, Rite Joe soon found herself at the Shubenacadie Residential School. Forbidden to speak her language, Rita Joe endured mental and physical abuse until leaving the residential school at age 16. Soon after leaving residential school Rita Joe met Frank Joe, Two the married and started a family.

Elder Rita Joe began writing in the mid-1970s. Elder Rita Joe wrote seven books, including Poems of Rita Joe (1978), Song of Eskasoni (1988) and The Blind Man’s Eyes (published posthumously in 2015).

In 1989, Elder Rita Joe became a member of the Queen’s Privy Council. Elder Rita Joe was inducted into the Order of Canada and in 1992. She received an Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1997 and doctorates from several East Coast universities. Elder Rita Joe’s husband, Frank, died in 1989 and a year later she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Elder Rita Joe kept writing until her death in 2007, five days after her 75th birthday. Upon her death, the Globe and Mail named Elder Rita Joe the Poet Laureate of the Mi’kmaq people.

I Lost My Talk                       by: Elder Rita Joe

I lost my talk

The talk you took away.

When I was a little girl

At Shubenacadie school.

You snatched it away:

I speak like you

I think like you

I create like you

The scrambled ballad, about my word.

Two ways I talk

Both ways I say,

Your way is more powerful.

So gently I offer my hand and ask,

Let me find my talk

So I can teach you about me.