Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Category: Programs

Marymount Students Send 3500 Christmas Cards to the Canadian Armed Forces

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Students and teachers at Marymount Academy all came together to truly share what Christmas is about; spreading joy and love to everyone.

While this holiday season will be different with COVID-19, our Canadian Forces are always putting themselves in harm’s way to ensure we can spend the holidays with our families. Creating Christmas cards for the Canadian Armed Forces is something we did as a school to share the holiday spirit with them. We are forever grateful for their sacrifices and service.

Christmas is a time when you want to be surrounded by love and family. For the Canadian troops overseas, this must be a very difficult time and although we can’t all understand, we can empathize and help support in any way possible. This year we have decided to create Christmas cards for the Canadian Troops and send joy to them during the holidays. Students have been busy making cards this week and last in hopes of spreading love and cheer this holiday season. The cards will be mailed out this Friday, December 4 to the military headquarters in Belleville, where they will be then deployed to different locations around the world where our troops are stationed. We have come together as a community of students to share in the Christmas spirit as we will be sending 3500 Christmas cards out to the troops.

Ms. Gattoni, the teacher who spearheaded this thoughtful gesture at Marymount shared that “we were truly overwhelmed by the amount of cards students were making. The beautiful and thoughtful messages and warm wishes they included for the Canadian Forces truly demonstrates what wonderful and caring students we have at Marymount.”

Michael Bellmore and Ray Desjardins Elected During Annual Inaugural Meeting

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board held its annual Inaugural meeting on Tuesday, December 1, 2020.

At the meeting, Michael Bellmore was elected Board Chair and Ray Desjardins was elected Vice-Chair of the Board. Both Michael Bellmore and Ray Desjardins have served in their roles for five years. They were first acclaimed during the 2015 Inaugural Board meeting. 

“I am proud to be re-elected as Board Chair,” said Michael Bellmore, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “I thank my fellow Trustees for entrusting me with this role and look forward to working alongside them and our Senior Administration team as we navigate this unique school year and work collaboratively in the best interest of all of our students.”

“I thank my fellow Trustees for re-electing me as Vice Chair,” said Ray Desjardins, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees. “I take great pride in serving alongside each of them and look forward to our continued work.” 

Board meetings take place on the third Tuesday of each month during the school year at 6 p.m. and are open to the public.

St. Francis Student places Third in the Ontario #SkillsAtHome Challenge Series Challenge #14: Build a Fort

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Owen Carpenter, Grade 6 student at St. Francis School, placed third in the #SkillsAtHome Challenge – Build a Fort.

Challenge #14 required students to build a blanket-covered structure in their home using household items such as blankets, broomsticks, pillows and couch cushions. Students were to collect and take inventory of the fort materials around their home. Using the materials they collected, the students created a design on paper and then built it. Challengers were marked on their ability to use creative items for their structures, the details within their blueprint designs as well as their overall structure. This challenge involved the following skills: planning, design, creativity, organization and fine motor and promoted the skilled trades of architectural design, ironworker, welder, and home renovations.
Owen and his brother had a fun time designing and creating their own unique forts. Owen created an army base equipped with sleeping quarters, kitchen, war zone and command base. Owen has been participating in several of Skills Ontario’s challenges.

“We congratulate Owen on his third-place finish in this #SkillsAtHome challenge. Sudbury Catholic students continue to achieve success through the series of challenges,” said Joanne Bénard, Director of Education. “We continue to invest in providing innovative and hands-on experiential learning opportunities for students Kindergarten to Grade 12 and we thank Skills Ontario for their continued partnership. The skills being developed support our focus on equipping all of our students with the skills they need for the future.”

We encourage our teachers and students to enter the excitement by joining in the last 2 competitions:

– Challenge #16 Build a Robot: November 30, 2020- December 14, 2020
– Challenge #17 Cake Decorating December 14, 2020 – January 4, 2021

The St. Francis School Community Comes Together Virtually in Prayer each Month

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Students, staff and families continue to come together in prayer each month via Zoom and to celebrate those students who do an exceptional job of exhibiting our value of the month.  “We are truly blessed to have Father Larry who continues to build positive relationships with our school community by visiting our school each week to meet with our students and to lead us in prayer each month at our monthly prayer service,” said Meghan Dopson, Acting Vice Principal. 

Holy Cross School Complete Virtual Field Trips

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Virtual field trips are a form of experiential learning.  With the internet and technology, the barriers of time, cost and location have been removed making a wide variety of learning activities and experiences possible to students. Virtual field trips allow learners to engage with and to learn about authentic artifacts and to explore places important to their curriculum.

For instance, Ms. Reale’s science class at Holy Cross School is learning about the characteristics of living things and the growth and changes in animals.  What better way to learn and engage students then a trip to the zoo? Dr. Zoolittle and Roberta the Zebra, shared interesting facts about some animal architects such as the black-headed weaver bird, the burrowing owl, the dung beetle, the meerkat and the beaver.  Students traveled safely to the San Diego Zoo and even had time to meet and pet both Shiloh and Justeen, the zoo’s friendly beavers.  Students also learned about leaf art and how to make no bake beaver dams for dessert!

If you would like assistance or more information about bringing virtual field trips to your class, contact Christina Raso, Experiential Learning consultant at:  christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca.

Marymount Student received YMCA PEACE Medal!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Each year, YMCAs across Canada celebrate acts of peace by recognizing individuals and groups who, without any special resources, status, wealth or position, have demonstrated a commitment to building peace within their community or communities elsewhere in the world. During YMCA Peace Week, held during November, local peacemaker(s) receive special recognition and a medal at Peace Medal ceremonies across Canada.

This year, our very own, Milena Raso, a Grade 12 student at Marymount Academy, was awarded the YMCA PEACE Medal Recipient in the Youth Category.

Milena has been volunteering for 9 years and has been actively involved in raising funds for the Northern Cancer Foundation, Sudbury Hospice Care, Children’s Wish Foundation, Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer, Black Youth Helpline and Sudbury Alzheimer’s Society. Milena also founded the Stomach Cancer Fund, alongside her family and in memory of her father.

In March, when her Co-op placement was cancelled due to Covid-19 she came up with a creative idea to earn her credit. During the school closure period, Milena spent hundreds of hours making masks for the Sudbury community donating $5000 to NOFCC (Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer). In addition, with her fundraising efforts, she fully funded two nurse chairs for the Northeast Cancer Centre.
To date, she has raised more than $20 000 for local charities.

“Milena exemplifies the traits and characteristics that makes her the perfect recipient for this award. She is actively involved within the Sudbury community and consistently demonstrates and lives out our Catholic values. The Marymount community is extremely proud of Milena and all Regals, past and present, want to congratulate her on her accomplishment,” said Cassandra Trenbergen, Principal at Marymount Academy.

“We are all very proud of Milena’s accomplishment, she is most deserving of this recognition not only for her years of dedication but most importantly for her genuine spirit of generosity and care towards others,” said Peter Prochilo, Superintendent of School Effectiveness.

Our Experiential Learning Robotic Kits are Up and Running!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

According to Stephen Hawking, “Whether you want to uncover the secret of the universe, or you want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn.”

Our Kindergarten to Grade 12 Experiential Learning Robotic kits are designed to introduce students to stem concepts and teach even our youngest children to code! Various classrooms teachers have signed out our robotic kits and our students are having fun learning!

Check out Mrs. Denomme’s Grade 6 class at St. James Catholic School who participated in a Bot Battle. They built and programmed LEGO EV3 robots and then participate in a one-on-one battle outside the classroom that was Zoomed into the classroom, where everyone could safely watch. Congratulations to the tournament champion, Chelsea.

We want to hear from all of our classes on how they are using the Experiential Learning Robotic Kits and engaging students so please send us photos and stories!

Students participated in a bot battle!

Bishop Alexander Carter Students Create Wooden Plaque

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Mr. McKee and the students in the Open Doors program created a wooden plaque to represent the Board – displaying our mission, vision, values and our logo. The students, in particular Elliot Hamilton, Shelby Dupuis and Isaac Chandler crafted the plaque and presented it to Superintendent of School Effectiveness Peter Prochilo and Director of Education Joanne Bénard.

The wooden plaque is proudly displayed at the Catholic Education Centre in the main foyer. Thanks to our students for their hard work and creativity – we wish them continued success in the program!

Students Participate in Fort Building Challenge for Skills Ontario

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Since March 2020, Skills Ontario has been encouraging students to participate in various competitions throughout the school year that promote the skilled trades. Sudbury Catholic students learning both in-class and remotely have been eagerly participating in the various challenges with remarkable results.

Challenge #14:  Build a Fort:

Students were challenged to build a blanket-covered structure in their home using household items such as blankets, broomsticks, pillows and couch cushions! Students were to collect and take inventory of the fort materials around their home. Then, using the materials they collected, create a building design on paper and then build it!  Challengers will be marked on their ability to use creative items for their structures, the details within their blueprint designs as well as on their overall structure. This challenge involves the following skills: planning, design, creativity, organization and fine-motor.

Pictured is St. Francis grade 4 student, Nolan Carpenter.  Nolan’s fort is designed to include a skylight for natural lightning, a “chill zone” to read books and a sleep area for not only himself but for his two brothers! We encourage students to participate in these fun challenges at home. The next challenge starts November 16th and the deadline to enter is noon on November 30th! For more information, please click HERE!

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