The Sudbury Catholic District School Board would like to congratulate the following teams on their excellent performance at the recent SCDSB Co-Ed Volleyball Tournament:
Championship Round
Corpus Christi (A) – First Place
Corpus Christi (B) – Second Place
Consolation Round
St. Christopher – First Place
St. Francis (A) – Second Place
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the first Sudbury Catholic District School Board newsletter, Partners in Spirit. This newsletter is dedicated to celebrating the new and exciting
events that continue to take place at our Board and in our schools each and every day…
Jordan Primeau, a Grade 1 student at St. James Catholic School in Lively will have his wish of a lifetime granted through the generosity of the Children’s Wish Foundation and the Sports Television Network, (TSN). Jordan and his family will travel by limousine to Toronto on Monday, January 21, 2008. On Tuesday, Jordan will have the opportunity to practise and play with his favourite hockey team – the Toronto Maple Leafs and will also attend a Maple Leaf hockey game on Wednesday, January 23 at the Air Canada Centre.
Since Junior Kindergarten, Jordan has bravely battled childhood leukemia and as a result of treatments is visually impaired. But whether he is 400 kilometres away at the Hospital for Sick Children or sitting in the classroom with his friends and classmates, Jordan is always in the hearts and minds of the school community.
St. James Catholic School students and staff keep Jordan in their daily prayers and have also undertaken a number of fundraisers for Jordan and his family to help offset the costs of accommodation and transportation to and from Toronto.
On Tuesday morning, James Duthie, a Reporter for TSN along with a camera crew from Toronto visited Jordan in his
Grade 1 class to give him the exciting news that “his dream to practise and play with the Toronto Maple Leafs had come true.” The interview along with Jordan’s story will be featured on national television (TSN) during the intermission and breaks of the Toronto Maple Leaf Game on January 23, 2008.
Students and staff at St. James School were asked to wear Maple Leaf attire to help celebrate Jordan’s surprise. Jordan’s parents, Dan and Shannon Primeau along with his younger brother Zachery were also on hand to share in the moment with him.
Jordan gives his mom a big hug upon hearing the great news.The Sudbury Catholic District School Board in conjunction with the students and staff at St. James Catholic School would like to thank the “Children’s Wish Foundation” and TSN for making a special wish come true for a very special little boy.
This year, January 18 to 25, 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of Christian Unity Week. In 1908 at Graymoor in Garrison, New York, the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement held the first Church Unity Octave and have prayed for Christian unity, “without ceasing,” ever since. Christians around the world celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity together, with the encouragement of the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Jesus prayed that all might be one as He and the Father are one. Jesus broke down barriers which separated people from each other. He gathered around him people from all walks of life. St Paul teaches that in Jesus there is neither male or female, master or slave, Greek or Jew. Paul became known as the Apostle to the Gentiles and he encourages us to “pray without ceasing.” This is the theme for this year’s Christian Unity Week. This is a great time to turn to God and ask for His Spirit to unite us, not only with Him but also with each other.
How can we promote Christian Unity? We can pray. Never doubt the efficacy of prayer if it is entered into with a sincere heart. Jesus told us, “Ask and it shall be given to you. Knock and the door will be open.” We can be attentive to others. We can listen to others. We can take time to learn something about another’s faith. We can take time to be with others and pray and celebrate together.
During the week of prayer for Christian Unity, attend a prayer service. Services, along with other Christian Unity resources, are listed on the Christian Unity section of the DSSM website.
To further reflect on Christian Unity Week 2008, visit http://www.weekofprayer2008.org, or order the Novalis resource ‘Pray Without Ceasing’.
Sudbury Catholic District School Board Secondary Schools are hosting “Open Houses and Information Nights” in January and February 2008 at the following dates and times:
St. Charles College: Tuesday January 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Marymount Academy: Thursday January 17 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Bishop Carter CSS: Tuesday February 5 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
St. Benedict CSS: Tuesday February 12 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Staff and student representatives from each of the secondary schools will be on hand to answer any questions during the “Open House” sessions.
All Grade 8 students and their parents or guardians are welcome to attend.
For more information, please contact Jean McHarg, Superintendent of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board at 673-5620 ext: 301.
St. Mary Catholic Elementary School recently was involved in another in the series of the Esso Family Math Nights where everyday materials and math games are used to help children understand math ideas and where parents and children have fun sharing their thinking and understanding of Mathematics.
“Mathematical Me” was the focus of the Early Years (ages 4-6) workshop facilitated by Miss Waern, the JK/SK teacher. Students were actively involved in making the graph entitled “How old are you”. Number sense and numeration became alive for the students as they applied personal experience to the graph they were constructing.
Mrs. Morin, the grade 3/4 teacher led the “Measurement” workshop for Grade 2-5 students. Ms Bruneau, the grade 1 / 2 teacher lent her expertise as well during these activities. A lot of string was used to measure all sorts of items – even heads! Estimates were made based on certain measurements. Various other math activities were held while parents and their children had fun with Math.
All families were treated to a lasagna supper before beginning the math projects. Many thanks to all who participated, cooked, and cleaned up! Thanks as well to the St. Mary Catholic School Council who funded the meal. We eagerly look forward to the next Math session. For more information about the Esso Family Math Nights please visit www.edu.uwo.ca/essofamilymath.
The Greater Sudbury Public Library will be presenting free Movie Matinees for Seniors and other adults. Each month one movie will be shown in English and one in French, at the Main Library, 74 MacKenzie Street at 1:00 p.m. on the following days:
Thursday, January 10, 2008: Away From Her: Drama. 110 minutes. Married for 50 years, Grant and Fiona’s life together is full of tenderness and humour, complicated now by Fiona’s memory loss. Moving Fiona into a nursing home specializing in Alzheimer’s disease, Grant embarks on the greatest act of self-sacrifice of his life.
Thursday, January 24, 2008: La Vie secrète des gens heureux. (French.) Drama. 141 minutes. The Dufresne family is the perfect family. However, when their son Thomas falls in love with Audrey, their entire family life is shattered and the romantic comedy they were living slowly slides toward tragedy… a beautiful and cruel tragedy.
Thursday, February 14, 2008: The Painted Veil. Drama. 124 minutes. The Painted Veil is a love story in the 1920’s that tells the story of a young English couple. Walter, a doctor, and Kitty, an upper-class woman, get married for all the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else.
Thursday, February 28, 2008: La Neuvaine (French) Drama. 137 minutes. Seriously traumatized by a tragic event, Jeanne, an emergency room doctor, leaves her home in Montreal and finds herself on the dock in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. As she prepares to commit suicide, a young man shows up, and after talking her out of her desperate act, decides that he needs to watch over her.
Thursday, March 13, 2008: Secrets and Lies. Drama. 142 minutes. A family is forced to confront the personal issues they’ve been avoiding for years when Cynthia, a working-class Englishwoman, receives a phone call from a woman who claims to be the daughter she put up for adoption years ago.
Thursday, March 27, 2008: La Tourneuse de pages. (French) Drama. 142 minutes. Melanie, a young working-class girl with a passion for the piano has an important audition. During the audition, one of the judges, an internationally-acclaimed pianist, disrupts the audition to give an autograph, disturbing Melanie’s concentration. As a result, Melanie gives up the piano. Ten years later, Melanie is 20 years old and forms a relationship with the same woman.
The movies are free and everyone is welcome. Please call Lise Larose at 673-1155, extension 225 for more information or e-mail lise.larose@greatersudbury.ca
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board “kicked off” year two of its Dearness Conservation Program and Challenge on November 14, 2007 at a media launch held at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School. The School Conservation Challenge was created by the Sudbury Catholic District School Board to increase the participation in the Dearness Conservation (DC) initiative that was introduced into all of the Board’s schools in 2001.
Since the inception of the DC program, the Board has been able to achieve substantial utility savings by educating teachers, students and staff and providing them with the necessary resources through this program. Mark Gervais, Energy Coordinator for the Sudbury Catholic Board is very proud of the cost saving measures of the DC program. “Our Board has saved $125,000 per year with the implementation of the energy conservation initiatives of the Dearness Conservation Program,” states Gervais. “This means that over the last six years the Board has realized more than three-quarters of a million dollars in cost savings.”
In 2006-2007, senior administration decided that a “Conservation Challenge” would be an excellent way to enhance the effectiveness of the program in addition to acknowledging the “Environmental Champions.” The selection of the School Conservation Champion involves a point system based on three categories;
(i) an unannounced site visit by the SCDSB’s Facility Services Department during the school year (ii) an interview with the principal from each participating school
(iii) submission of reports dealing with Lifestyle Conservation Campaigns and other relevant materials. Schools will be awarded points based on the above three categories.
The school that attains the most points will be deemed the winner of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s 2007-2008 School Conservation Challenge and will be awarded a Grand Prize of $500.00 and the right to display the “SCDSB School Conservation Challenge Champions” banner for a year.
The Dearness Conservation Program is geared toward both secondary school and elementary schools. The program consists of an in-school presentation/workshop and its mandate is to incorporate all of the Board’s students in its conservation efforts.
Eric Foster, Managing Director of the Dearness Environmental Society speaks to St. Benedict CSS students re the impact of and solutions to climate change during a slide show presentation.The DC launch consisted of two components: (1); A viewing of the widely acclaimed environmental movie trailer, An Inconvenient Truth followed by a “Changes” and “Choices” presentation by Eric Foster, Managing Director, Dearness Environmental Society. (2); Following the presentation, Suzanne Burwell, Educational Resources Manager for the Dearness Environmental Society guided students through a trade show which focussed on efficient technologies. Students learned about energy and water saving technologies, how to perform technical audits, and how to run campaigns to achieve energy, water and waste reduction.
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board will be presenting workshops in all of its four secondary and twenty elementary schools over the next two weeks and is inviting all SCDSB Dearness Schools, Classes and Clubs to participate in the “Conservation Challenge.”
Catherine McCullough, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board supports the board’s new initiative with respect to the far reaching positive effects and implications this program will have on students and the environment. “The SCDSB School Conservation Challenge provides our students with an opportunity to integrate the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations into their lives in an authentic manner,” states McCullough. “This Conservation Challenge invites all students to become responsible citizens and stewards of creation by respecting the environment and using the earth’s resources wisely.”
For more information on the SCDSB School Conservation Challenge please contact Mark Gervais, Energy Coordinator at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.
