École Ulluriaq

The KRG Cirqiniq crew recently visited our school. The Cirqiniq program, which is affiliated with Cirque du Soleil, is a five-year project to encourage youth to learn circus arts while making positive life choices. During their visit, the animators worked closely with the students to train them and help them to prepare for the big “show” at the end of the week. The final performance was held in the school gym and the community was invited to view. The performance was very well received by all in attendance--a very enjoyable evening. It was a great week for all involved.

Click here to read more about the Cirqiniq program.

Click here to see the gallery of photos.

Again this year, Ulluriaq hosted some Halloween fun. Primary students had a chance to visit classes to play a variety of Halloween games. Secondary students participated in pumpkin carving contest and scarecrow contest. Heather’s class (Secondary 2.1) won the pumpkin carving contest and Kerrin’s class (Secondary 1.2) won the scarecrow contest. At the end of the day, all of the students gathered in the gym to view the scary parade of costumes.

Click here to see the gallery of photos.

The Arts and Crafts Club continues to flourish at Ulluriaq School. Kerrin Patterson, local artist and teacher, works with the students on a regular basis to explore painting, pottery, stained glass, batik, printmaking and a variety of other mediums. Some students have become very committed to developing their skills as young artists. Some of the artworks have even been sold. The Arts and Crafts Club is supported by funding from Brighter Futures.

Click here to see the gallery of photos.

To acknowledge Terry Fox’s historic run across Canada and to raise money for cancer research, the students at Ulluriaq celebrated Terry Fox Day.  It was the goal of the school to raise over $1500 before the day of the walk. Students were very motivated to raise money because there were added incentives—a chance to humiliate their teachers and Principal!

On the day of the event, students were very excited. If the goal of $1500 was reached they would be: shaving Josh’s hair off, waxing Mark’s leg, colouring Chris’ hair blue and Luc’s hair red, throwing pies at Anne, and giving Gillian a mullet.  When it was announced that over $3000 was raised, the entire student population roared with excitement!

Our new mascot took a recent tour of the school to visit all of the classes. The “Wolf” is not yet named so we are holding a contest in primary to decide on a name. During its visit, the wolf talked to students about what it takes to be a good student in school. Among other things, the mascot talked about being respectful to one another, working hard in class, listening well to the teachers. Most students we very excited to see the mascot as it made its way around the building, but others found it a bit frightening.

Click here to see the gallery of photos.

Kevin, the manager from the local Northern Store recently visited Ulluriaq to present a cheque for almost $3000. The donation was made to support the Ulluriaq Breakfast Program. Funds for the donation were collected by charging for plastic bags at the check-out. A super big thanks to Kevin and the Northern Store for their generous donation.

Click here to see the gallery of photos.

To kick-start the school year, Ulluriaq School held a “Celebration of Education” event on Septemer 26th. It was a wonderful evening where teachers, students, and parents could come together to celebrate academics in our community.

The evening started by welcoming all parents to visit the classes in the school, meet the teachers and enjoy some refreshments. It was a very cozy open-house style atmosphere.

Soon after, everyone gathered in the gymnasium for the main event. Nancy welcomed everyone to our celebration and the Kindergarten classes opened with an appropriate song, “Ulluriaq”. There were speeches by the Education Committee President, the Commissioner and even the Director General for KSB, Annie Popert. Each of the speeches highlighted the importance of education for the future of Nunavik.

Welcome back to all staff and students! Its the start to another school year filled with wonderful events and tons of learning. A super big welcome to our new and returning teachers especially Josh, Kirsten, Jeanne, Heather, Ali, Marc and Joetta--thanks for choosing to be players on "Team Ulluriaq".

Click here to see photos.

Click here to see Ulluriaq in the Nunatsiaq News.

When mid-June arrives, its time to wrap up the school year. And in traditional fashion, we finished off the year with a BBQ picnic. Following the hotdog feast, the students and staff went to the gym to participate in our first ever car rally.  A super big thanks to Chris who worked with the classes and organized the car rally.  All of the students designed and constructed a toy car that was raced in the competition. There were trophies for each age category and an overall winner. It was a great event that was enjoyed by all the students.

We wrapped up our celebration by showing a slideshow of the events that happened throughout the year.  As all the photos revealed, it was another great year--enjoy the summer vacation!!

Click here to see the photos from the car rally.