Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Educators Improve Student Learning

Principals, vice-principals and Grade 4, 5, and 6 teachers from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board attended full day workshops dedicated to improving learning for junior grade students recently. The topics of study were based on the findings from the Expert Panel Reports in Literacy and Mathematics.

These reports are curriculum resources which were recently published and distributed by the Ministry of Education. Collaborative dialogue between the school partners quickly led to development of strategies to improve classroom practice. In turn, the implementation of these strategies will ultimately lead to higher levels of student achievement.

Each school in the Sudbury Catholic Board has selected a lead teacher in literacy and a lead teacher in mathematics. These teachers will be provided with additional training and time to implement the strategies within their own classrooms. In addition, the lead-teachers will be given the opportunity to share this research-based information with the other junior grade teachers in their schools. Junior educators, with the support of school administrators have been invited to journey forward in their quest of best practices to improve learning for all students.

SCDSB Introduces the Game of Bridge to Area Schools

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board hosted a “BridgeAtSchool”
presentation at St. Andrew Catholic School recently. Chuck Crispin and Doug Foreman, the facilitators of the “BridgeAtSchool” program gave a short presentation to the Grade 5 students in the school’s library and introduced the children to the game of bridge. The objective of “BridgeAtSchool” is to create enthusiasm for learning with a variety of teaching approaches. According to the school’s principal, “Teaching bridge to the students helps improve their short-term memory retention. The game of bridge brings together logic, communication, social competence and decision making in a unique way.”

Rossella Bagnato, Superintendent of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board noted that the additional benefits to the “BridgeAtSchool” program are tremendous. The game helps students increase scores in math, further develops critical thinking and social skills, allows children to learn at their own pace in the midst of a larger group, involves children with their local community and provides opportunities for school spirit through inter-school competitions. St. Andrew Catholic School is one of two schools in which the “BridgeAtSchool” program has been introduced. St. James Catholic School in Lively will be hosting the program for a second time later this year.

SCDSB Appoints New Principals

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board has appointed Guy Mathieu, the principal of Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School in Valley East to become the new principal of St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School effective January 31, 2005. Mr. Mathieu replaces Teresa Stewart who will be retiring at the end of January after 30 years of experience with the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.
Sherry Bortolotti, principal of St. Andrew Catholic School will be the new principal of Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic School. Judy Bellmore, who retired in June as the principal of St. Andrew Catholic School will return to her former position until the end of the school year.

Schools, Board Staff and Parishes Donate $270,000 to Tsunami Relief Fund

Students, parents, family, friends and staff of the Sudbury Catholic
District School Board’s elementary schools, secondary schools and
parishes helped to contribute more than $270,000 to Development and
Peace in support of the victims of the tsunamis in South East Asia in a major fundraising campaign. Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie called for a special collection to be taken up in all the parishes of the diocese this past weekend. All regions of the diocese demonstrated their generosity by collectively raising over $450,000 to aid victims of the earthquake and tsunamis.

In addition to the $270,000 raised by the districts of Sudbury-Manitoulin, the North Bay-Nipissing region contributed $88,000, while the Sault Ste. Marie Algoma region added a further $90,000. In similar fashion, the elementary and secondary schools of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board initiated their own fundraising events ranging from the donation of pizza money, bake sales, dress down days, special prayer services followed by silver collections and numerous other activities. Funds raised by the Sudbury Catholic Board totaled over $15,000. The funds collected by the schools and parishes have been donated to Development and Peace and will be matched dollar for dollar by the Federal Government.

Development and Peace has just recently opened its regional office in
Sudbury, located at 30 St. Anne Road. Fleur Hackett, a teacher on leave from the Sudbury Catholic Board has been selected as the facilitator for the Sudbury office to serve the dioceses of Hearst, Moosonee, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Timmins. “The office couldn’t have opened at a better time,” stated Hackett. “At the moment, people across North America are looking for the best way to offer assistance to those affected by the disaster in South East Asia. Our efforts will be coordinated with contributions from other countries, the United Nations, and from the Catholic Church’s social welfare network throughout Asia. All of these resources help to ensure that contributions for the Southeast Asian relief will be used intelligently and effectively,” said Hackett.Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe celebrated mass at the Sudbury Catholic Board to pray for victims of tsunamis. Development and Peace as of late yesterday had received $9.5 million to date for the urgent appeal, according to Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. “Channeling donations through the schools and parishes gave
people the opportunity to manifest their usual generosity,” stated the
Bishop. The Bishop also noted that Development and Peace as been
working in Asia for more than 30 years and for this reason, this unique organization can count on the support of an active network of partner groups, their staff and resources in each of the countries to assist victims of this terrible disaster.

3rd Annual Mock Trial Competition to be Held on January 17 & 18

Greater Sudbury students will be participating in a Mock Trial Competition to be held on Monday, January 17 and Tuesday, January 18, 2005 at the Sudbury Courthouse located on Elm Street. This year’s Mock Trial Competition represents a joint effort on behalf of Sudbury’s legal community and the French Catholic, Rainbow District and Sudbury Catholic District School Boards.

Groups of Grade 12 Law students from participating schools will compete by holding “mock” trials which will culminate in a final round to decide the winner. St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School will have twelve Grade 12 students participating in the mock trial event as well as Mr. Boisvert’s Grade 11 class from St. Charles College. The mock trial competition is an exciting event which is gaining in popularity. This year there will over 100 students from 8 different schools taking part on January 17 and 18. In last year’s competition, St. Benedict’s defence team defeated Lockerby Composite’s Crown team in the final round of play.

The day begins with an opening address at 8:45 a.m. on January 17 followed by the trial competitions at 9:00 am, 10:30 am and noon. The play off rounds will be held on January 18, 2005.

Learning Through the Arts

It’s Monday morning and the Grade 1/2 students in Ms. Kindrachuk’s class and the Grade 4 students in Ms. Giusti’s class eagerly await the arrival of artist Val MacMenemey. The children know her as “Ms. V,” a dynamic artist who visits students and teachers at St. Andrew’s school on a regular basis to work with the school community.

The Learning Through the Arts Program was initiated by the Sudbury Catholic District School Board in order to create a partnership between the artist and the teacher so that new and exciting art ideas could be explored and implemented in the school’s art program. “The Learning Through the Arts initiative was an excellent opportunity in that it gave the students and teachers a chance to develop an appreciation of art through a variety of forms and venues,” stated Sherry Bortolotti, St. Andrew Catholic School principal. “More importantly, the program helped our children understand that art is therapeutic and given the right tools and skills it empowers children to express themselves,” concluded Bortolotti.

SCDSB Elects New Chair and Vice-chair

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board elected a new chair and vice-chair at the regular meeting of the board held at the Catholic Education Centre on December 7, 2004. Paula Peroni, a longtime Trustee with the Board returns as Board Chair, a position she is no stranger to having been elected previously as Chair of the Board in 2000 and 2001. Mrs. Peroni brings a wealth of experience with her and is currently an executive member of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association (OCSTA) and the Canadian Catholic School Trustees’ Association (CCSTA). In returning to her former role, Peroni commented on the changes she has witnessed in education since she first became a Trustee and the Board’s reaction to these changes. “Our greatest challenge as a board is to help the Minister of Education understand the important issues in education today such as ongoing funding for transportation and special education,” stated Peroni. “The vision of this Board will be not only be to maintain but also to improve the excellent faith-based education for our students in the way of new Information Technology initiatives, ”concluded Peroni.

Barry MacDonald, elected last December as a Trustee with the Sudbury Catholic Board will assume the position of Vice-Chair. “I would like to thank the members of the board for placing their confidence in me in my new portfolio as Vice-Chair of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board,” stated MacDonald. “Being a new Trustee and new to the Board, I found this last year to be a very challenging one. I would like to thank our previous Chair, Ray Vincent for his excellent leadership and I am looking forward to working very closely with our new Chair, Paula Peroni, fellow Trustees, and Director of Education, Zandra Zubac in continuing to provide for the physical, spiritual, intellectual, cultural and moral growth of our children in our Catholic environment,” noted MacDonald.

SCDSB Students Participate in Victory Team Day

Students from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board participated in the Victory Team celebration held at Cambrian College recently. The Victory Team Program was created to develop and nurture positive behaviour in the youth of the community by implementing a peer initiative program throughout local elementary schools.

The Victory Team Program gives all students the opportunity of participating on a team which does not demand any exceptional type of scholastic or athletic excellence but rather looks for students who display a positive attitude. Elementary schools from all four school boards are involved in the Victory Program and are divided into three team categories: Sophomore, (JK to Grade 2); Junior Varsity, (Grades 3 to 5); Varsity, (Grades 6 to 8).

The students on the Victory Teams are selected from
staff nominations in each school with one student being chosen each
week. Team members receive Victory Team T-shirts with the opportunity to participate in three major events, and will be awarded gold medals at the end of the year.

Special congratulations goes out to St. Anne School, whose students took home top prize in the Victory Team Puzzle Championship!

Canadian Specialist in Language and Learning Problems Speaks to Educators

Teachers, principals, curriculum coordinators, members of Special
Education Advisory Groups, superintendents, directors, and almost anyone related to the field of education were treated to a highly informative seminar on “Adult Learners” and “How They Learn” at a breakfast seminar hosted by the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury and SMTAB recently. Pat Hatt, a world renowned educator with a Masters in Language and Learning Problems and a Canadian Specialist in the areas of adult literacy had a room packed with educators captivated with her high energy and dynamic presentation style.

According to Hatt, almost 10 percent of the Canadian population has a
learning disability, with the same percentage translated into schools
and students. “A child sitting in a classroom may not know what is
wrong with them when it comes to processing information,” stated Hatt.
“They do know, however, that for one reason or another they are
different from the other students.” Individuals with Learning
Disabilities, both as children and as adults experience problems with
processing information. A Learning Disability can also affect the way
in which a person takes in, remembers, understands and expresses
information. What is surprising to many people is that people with
learning disabilities are intelligent and have the ability to learn in
spite of difficulties in processing information. However, given the
appropriate coping strategies and accommodations these individuals can
be extremely successful.

The Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury (LDAS) in conjunction
with the Sudbury Manitoulin Training and Adjustment Board (SMTAB)
invited Mrs. Hatt to share her knowledge on literacy and support groups for individuals with learning disabilities in number of public
presentations. Session one took place at Cambrian College on November 23 with students, parents and teachers involved with “Breaking Down the Barriers.” This informative and educational session included the topics of balancing accommodations while maintaining skills, integrity, the need for acceptance and disclosure by students with LD and their parents, and the critical value of schools, teachers, parents and student partnerships. Session two: “Our Community, Breaking Down Barriers” was held on November 24 for employment service deliverers, teachers and counsellors of adults and focused on the various types of learning disabilities.

For more information on Learning Disabilities, please contact the
Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury at ph. 522-0100 or by
e-mail at info@ldasudbury.ca or website at www.ldasudbury.ca

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