In partnership with parish and school, St. James Catholic School ensures that the teachings and values of Jesus Christ are integrated in all aspects of school life. Besides celebrating Mass on a regular basis, St. James Catholic School is very blessed to have a vibrant priest like Father Vince Fiori who often visits classrooms and relates well to the students.
Category: Programs
Awarding Winning Best Selling Canadian Métis Author David Bouchard to Address Students on the Importance of Reading
On Thursday, November 27, 2008 award winning best-selling Canadian Métis author David Bouchard will be speaking to Sudbury Catholic Schools’ students about the importance of literacy for life long success.
Mr. Bouchard will be at St. Raphael Catholic School and St. Andrew Catholic School for two speaking engagements. David Bouchard’s presentation, entitled “For the Love of Reading” will inspire students, parents, and teachers by addressing real literacy issues in our schools and promoting reading as a tool for success.
In addition, as part of Sudbury Catholic Schools Aboriginal Initiative, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board will be hosting an inspirational evening for parents, students and community members with David Bouchard at the Community Centre (Reserve Road) Whitefish Lake First Nation starting at 6:00 p.m. David’s message is spelled out in his books, The Gift of Reading and For the Love of Reading. A former teacher and principal of 28 years,
Mr. Bouchard offers parents, teachers and administrators a concrete and realistic plan to promote reading and fight illiteracy.
Poet in the Classroom
Thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Cara Soehner, St. Anne, Immaculate Conception and St. Mary Catholic Schools were able to enjoy having Dawna Proudman, a published poet from the League of Canadian Poets share her expertise with their students.
Ms. Proudman’s presentation was both interactive and creative and thoroughly enjoyed by all students. Students were able to not only listen to Miss Proudmans’ poetry, but also create their own poems throughout the day.
One Life…Many Gifts
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board in conjunction with the Trillium Gift of Life Network presented the “One Life…Many Gifts” educational program at Marymount Academy to Sudbury Catholic District School Board trustees, senior administration, elementary and secondary school principals, school chaplains and the entire Catholic Education Centre office staff.
The “One Life…Many Gifts” is a senior secondary school pilot curriculum program aimed at raising the level of understanding about organ and tissue donation in secondary school classrooms across the province.
Dr. Frank Markel, President and CEO of Trillium Gift of Life Network and Joan Green, Education Consultant and Program Advisor were the key presenters of the “One Life…Many Gifts” program. “It is vital to begin the conversation around organ and tissue donation with students in our high schools,” stated Markel regarding the donor program. “Our hope is that every student will start talking about the importance of organ and tissue donation and will talk to their loved ones about their wishes
The “One Life…Many Gifts” curriculum is being delivered in 240 schools made up of 20 school boards across Ontario in the 2008/09 academic year, including the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.
Dr. Frank Markel, President and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network donned a Sudbury Irish Heritage Club vest during a presentation at Marymount Academy regarding the “One Life …Many Gifts” program. In his address to the audience, Dr. Markel stated that it was impossible to talk about organ donation in Sudbury without mentioning the great work and efforts of the Sudbury Irish Heritage Club. “This group has been instrumental in raising awareness and funds around organ donation in Sudbury through their billboards, walkathons and golf tournaments,” stated Markel. Dr. Markel also noted that Canada as a country has one of lowest donor rates in the world at 14 donors per million people and if we are to make any progress in this area that it will come from our young people and students.
“The focus of the presentation is not the science of transplants, but how to help individuals become civically engaged enough to want to become their brother’s keeper,” said veteran educator Green.
St. Charles College Kicks Off Annual Food Drive with Big Daddy 103.9 and Bell
It is that time of the year again! The temperatures dip, the roads begin to crumble and St. Charles College kicks off its annual food drive!
This year Big Daddy 103.9 and Bell are taking Jim Szilva of Sudbury Mornings with Carrie, Jim and Rick and throwing him on a Sudbury Transit bus – and he won’t be getting off until 60,001 cans of food are collected.
It all started Monday morning at 8:45a.m. with a pep rally at St. Charles College. Students from St. Charles College will be going door to door and collecting food for the needy in Sudbury. Please join the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, Bell and Big Daddy Radio in wishing the students at St. Charls College the best of luck as they kick off this great foodraising initiative.
Help Get Jim Szilva off the bus, and help the hungry in Sudbury.
The St. Charles College Food Drive proudly sponsored by Big Daddy 103.9 and Bell – Giving just got better.
St. Charles College Students Try Out a New Sport in “Floorball”
The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association (OFSAA), with the financial support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ontario Government, is again providing funding for 260 high schools across the Province to initiate a new sport or physical activity program into their school – St. Charles College is one of these lucky schools.
The “Try Day” programs are intended to introduce high school students to non-traditional sports or physical activities that may attract students who previously have not participated. This is the second year of a three-year grant program in which the Ontario Trillium foundation has provided up to $800 per school to assist schools with promoting these goals.
The funds will assist St. Charles College to help introduce “Floorball” to the Grade 9 to Grade 12 Physical Education Classes. “Floorball” is a non-contact team sport, the premise of the game is to direct the ball into the opposing team’s goal using a composite-fibre stick fitted with a plastic blade.
On October 1, 2008 the students of St. Charles College were provided with an opportunity to experience the “Floorball” sport at the school. Not many students were familiar with the sport at first but being a combination of the two most popular sports in Canada (hockey and soccer), many students showed excellent skills and the game quickly caught on.
“Floorball is an excellent alternative to Floor Hockey,” says St. Charles College, Physical Education Program Leader, Chantal Dagastino. “The big difference between the two is that the rules of floorball do not allow for any high sticking, stick contact or body contact, so the game tends to be less physical than Floor Hockey and more skill oriented and fast paced.
The Try Day event offered the St. Charles College students the opportunity to try a new sport and to see if it can be integrated into their physical education program. The sport was met with a great success as students were very active during their gym time and it helped promote a healtheir lifestyle.
Sudbury Catholic Board Students Continue on Upward Trend re Provincial Test Scores
The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) has released the results of the Grades 3 and 6 reading, writing and mathematics tests, the Grade 9 academic and applied mathematics tests and the Grade 10 Ontario Secondary Schools Literacy Tests (OSSLT’s) written by Ontario students during the 2007–2008 school year.
Officials at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board are pleased with the results of their Grade 3 and 6 students with both grades demonstrating gains across the spectrum. With respect to Grade 3, student scores improved in reading (from 56 percent to 57 percent), writing (from 53 percent to 58 percent) and in mathematics (from 59 percent to 61 percent). The Board’s Grade 6 students demonstrated gains in the reading component (from 68 percent to 75 percent), from 58 percent to 69 percent in writing and improved in math (from 59 to 60 percent).
With respect to the Board’s secondary schools, the math component remained relatively unchanged in both the academic (74 percent) and applied programs (29 percent) while the Board’s Grade 10 OSSLT scores improved dramatically to an all time high of 90 percent.
Paula Peroni, Chair of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board is encouraged with the recent test results. “Our board continues to trend upward with respect to the number of our Grade 3 and 6 students who have met or surpassed the provincial standards in reading, writing and math thanks to the hard work and commitment of our teachers and staff,” states Peroni. “We firmly believe that the introduction of technology has played a major role in the success of Sudbury Catholic Schools’ students through improved learning which can be directly linked to an overall increase in our Board’s primary and junior EQAO scores. The recent release of EQAO data listed Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s Grade 6 reading achievement levels and Grade 10 OSSLT (English) scores as the highest in Northern Ontario.”
Catherine McCullough, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board is equally optimistic with the latest data. “This truly is a good news story for our Board,”says McCullough. “Not only are our test scores improving for our Grade 3 and 6 students from the pervious year but we have demonstrated significant gains in reading, writing and math since 2005. “This positive EQAO report coupled with the fact that our elementary and secondary enrolment is on the increase which translates into the Board hiring four new teachers is an excellent start to our new school year.”
For further information and a link to the complete results visit our EQAO section at http://www.scdsb.edu.on.ca/schools/eqao.php
Sudbury Catholic Schools Director to Speak at CASA Leadership Conference in Halifax
Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, Catherine McCullough has been invited to speak at the Canadian Association of School Administrators (CASA) Summer Leadership Academy Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia from July 10 to 13, 2008. The theme of this year’s national conference is “Literacy-Lighting the Way.”
Mrs. McCullough’s discussion will focus on the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s extensive commitment to technology with respect to the introduction and rapid expansion of its “One to One” Apple laptop program in its elementary and secondary schools since 2002 and more specifically with the boys’ literacy program.
Sudbury Catholic Schools “Technology has quickly transformed the world around us,” states McCullough. “We know that our students need to develop different skills sets in order to live, learn and work in this digital age. As a school board in Northeastern Ontario, we decided to meet this challenge head on.” By meeting this challenge head on, McCullough is referring to the “One to One” laptop program in all of its Grade 7 and 8 classrooms, a program that was unique in the province of Ontario. Realizing that boys are visual learners and respond more positively to visual images that accelerate learning, the board is using computers and technology to support the success of this program. “We have especially observed success in the area of enhancing and engaging Boys’ Literacy through the introduction of our One to One Laptop Program,” said McCullough. “Boys thrive on the visual language of television, cartoons, and video games. Similarly, boys respond well when presented with the opportunity to present their ideas and written work using charts, flow diagrams, and other visual forms.”
Research also suggests that boys respond positively to images because boys are more oriented to visual/spatial learning. As a result, visual images accelerate boys’ learning.
(Daly, 2002, p. 16) Educators and parents may have been too quick to dismiss boys’ preoccupation with computers as a diversion from their own book-based literacy, not recognizing the computer’s capacity to empower users to gain access to, and control of, information. It is imperative that educators and parents be aware of the impact of the multimedia world, and understand the positive ways in which these new languages and cultures can be harnessed as adjuncts to book-based literacy. (Millard, 1997, p. 46)
Sudbury Catholic Schools Celebrate End of First Year of Roots of Empathy Program
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board honoured its Roots of Empathy Babies, the world’s youngest teachers, from across the City of Greater Sudbury on Monday, June 9, 2008 at the Catholic Education Centre. For the past ten months, these one-year-olds have worked with the Board’s students by teaching an innovative classroom program about empathy and social/emotional literacy.
Roots of Empathy is an evidence-based classroom program which has shown dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression and violence among schoolchildren while raising social emotional competence and increasing empathy. The program focuses on raising levels of empathy, resulting in more respectful and caring relationships and reduced levels of bullying and aggression. The heart of the program is a neighbourhood infant and parent who visit the classroom once a month for the full school year. A certified Instructor works with a specialized curriculum to coach students in observing baby’s development, celebrating milestones, interacting with baby and learning about infant needs and temperament.
One of the many positive outcomes of Roots of Empathy program is the fact that it creates a bridge from student to student, and from student to teacher. The end result creates a feeling of empathy among the students and a basis for dialogue as children learn to identify and name their emotions.
Sudbury Catholic Schools, Director of Education, Catherine McCullough along with the Boards Senior Administrative Team, ROE Instructors, Teachers, staff and parents showed their appreciation for the Roots of Empathy Mothers and their babies in helping to make the first year of this program a tremendous success in a special reception held in their honour.
Sudbury Catholic Schools would like to thank all Roots of Empathy mothers, babies, instructors, teachers, staff and volunteers for participating in this program.