Sudbury Catholic District School Board

2022-23 Director’s Annual Report

We are very pleased to present the Director of Education’s Annual Report for the 2022-2023 school year

We thank our Board of Trustees, Senior Administration, staff, students, families, volunteers, community partners, and our parishes for their continued support and commitment to Sudbury Catholic. Together we are providing a caring, progressive, high quality Catholic school system that is nurturing our students – mind, body, and spirit.

Click here to read our 2022-23 report!

Sudbury Catholic Schools Stand With Ukraine!

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board was invited, along with other partners in education across the province, to take a stand on Thursday, March 10, 2022, as “#StandWithUkraine Blue and Yellow Day”. On this day, students and staff were encouraged to wear blue and yellow clothing and, where possible, donate a toonie to the “Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.”

We were grateful we could join together as a Board and take a united stance with our colleagues and students across the province by sharing our thoughts and prayers to all those affected by this ongoing tragedy. We began our day by coming together in a system-wide prayer for peace. Together, we prayed for those impacted by this invasion and for a quick resolution to the conflicts, destruction, and deaths being experienced by the people of Ukraine. We prayed for peace, and we prayed for God’s love to shine through and touch the hearts of everyone on this earth. We invite you to continue to pray with us by using our system-wide prayer.

In addition to participating in the province-wide blue and yellow day, Sudbury Catholic students, staff, and families have actively created ways to support and stand with Ukraine. Schools have hopped right in to provide support by developing fundraisers, participating in various awareness activities, inciting prayer, etc. We are proud to take this time to highlight a sample of some of the different types of actions completed by members of our community.

Secondary Highlights

St. Benedict

Students in the learning support program at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School, created Ukrainian themed keychains. After completing their keychains, these gifts were hand-delivered to members of their community.

In addition to creating Ukrainian themed keychains, St. Benedict chose to #StandWithUkraine by hosting a blue and yellow dress-down day on March 9, 2022. On this day, they managed to raise $2600 to support Ukrainian Humanitarian Efforts. We want to provide a special shout-out to the student council who originally came up with the idea of this day and members of faculty, including Joanne Burke, James MacNeil and Megan McMillan, who helped organize this effort. Fantastic job, Bears!

Marymount Academy 

MMA faculty wear blue and yellow in support of Ukraine!

MMA regals wore blue and yellow in solidarity with other Catholic schools across the province, and thanks to the donations, the school raised $500 as a school community. Classes also created blue and yellow cranes to show their support.

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Bishop Alexander Carter

In addition to having a dress-down day for students and staff at Bishop Alexander Carter, their school community raised donations by offering pizza concessions to help further their actions and raise even more proceeds to stand with Ukraine. All proceeds from these fundraising efforts will be donated to #HELPUKRAINENOW. 

St. Charles College 

Cardinals swapped their red uniform to participate in Thursday’s blue and yellow day. In addition to showing support through their clothing, students in Ms. Dzuirban’s class created a beautiful poster supporting the people of Ukraine!

Elementary Highlights

St. Paul

St. Paul Students take time to snap a shot during #StandWithUkraine Blue and Yellow Day!

St. Charles

St. Charles School in Chelmsford paused took a second to pause and show off their blue and yellow attire that demonstrates how they are standing in solidarity with those in Ukraine. Rams of all shapes and sizes were happy to support and make donations to support Ukraine in their school’s worthy cause. 

St. Francis 

Students and staff at St. Francis School had a Canada Day-themed spirit day. They thought it was imperative to highlight that they stand with Ukraine as Canadians and as St. Francis Flames. Together as a school community, they jointly raised $408 for the families of Ukraine.

St. John 

In addition to wearing blue and yellow in solidarity with other Catholic schools across the province, St. John School ran a “Popcorn for Peace” campaign from March 7 – March 10. With a goal in mind to raise $1000, their school community quickly jumped up, or should we say “popped up,” to meet the challenge. Offering popcorn sacks for a minimum donation of $2.00 per bag, their school community amazingly raised $1250 in just four days. The only thing that makes this news better is seeing so many smiling faces. Knowing this money is being donated to St. Mary’s Catholic Ukraine Church to help Ukrainian people makes us smile as well. Go, Jaguars, go!!

Students in St. John’s English FDK class created blue and yellow flags in honour of the people in Ukraine. They learned that different flags represent different places in the world and that right now, the Ukrainian flag is a symbol of people who need our prayers. 

Holy Trinity

Students at Holy Trinity showed their support for friends in Ukraine during Winter Fun Day on March 10. Ms. Skelly’s class made a fantastic sign in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. A donation jar was also created in blue and yellow, resulting in a $331 donation generously brought forward by various students, staff and parents at Holy Trinty. Good job Redbirds!

Holy Cross

Holy Cross has been very busy. Grade 6 students Abigail and Sara approached the school with what they could do to help. Putting their heads together, they decided that they would be able to help Ukraine by constructing and selling blue and yellow hand-made bracelets and pins for their school community. This amazing act not only provided a fun and visible way for the girls to raise money for donations, but it was also a beautiful concept that utilized their existing talents to help Holy Cross School stand in support with the people of Ukraine. 

“I really wanted to help the people of Ukraine, and making pins and bracelets is one of the ways I knew I could help”. – Abigail Debruyn, Grade 6 student at Holy Cross

After countless hours of hard work, Abby and Sara’s beautiful bracelets and pins were up for grabs, and their fellow students were quick to swipe them. Both staff and students eagerly lined up in the front-hall entrance to make their donations. The girls also passed around the school at lunchtime to ensure everyone had an opportunity to donate and recieve a pin or bracelet. Thanks to the efforts of these extraordinary young leaders, Abby and Sarah were able to raise $2252.05 that will be donated to St. Mary’s parish, who will, in turn, donate the money to humanitarian efforts. 

“I want to help in any way I can because it is the right thing to do”. – Sara Wolski, Grade 6 student at Holy Cross

In addition to Sara and Abby, students at the school continued to support the Ukraine campaign by baking and decorating cookies. The Ukrainian themed cookies were sold door to door and helped raise an additional $450. Holy Cross would like to thank everyone who took the time to generously donate their time, talents, and monetary funds to support Ukraine. Thanks to the efforts of many caring individuals, their community was able to stand with Ukraine during and promote peace. Students and staff plan to continue to stand with Ukraine by wearing their bracelets and pins as support.

We all have a responsibility for peace!

At Sudbury Catholic District School Board, we follow and promote the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations. The Ontario Catholic School Graduate is a responsible citizen who gives witness to Catholic social teaching by promoting peace, justice and the sacredness of human life. This involves acting morally and legally as a person formed in Catholic traditions, witnessing Catholic social teaching by promoting equality, democracy, and solidarity for a just, peaceful and compassionate society, and respecting and affirming the diversity and interdependence of the world’s peoples and cultures.

There have been countless examples of how different communities exhibit this expectation and stand with the people of Ukraine during this time of need. It is our sincere hope that by highlighting some examples of how our schools have supported Ukraine, we can continue to work together as responsible citizens on this earth and inspire others to stand in solidarity to end the violence and suffering for the people of Ukraine.

Upon its completion, St. Charles College students proudly showed off their Stand With Ukraine poster.

Celebrating Roots of Empathy at St. James

The Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) class at St. James Catholic Elementary School has enjoyed the “Roots of Empathy” program this past year, but has especially enjoyed the visits by Baby Kinsley. Kinsley was only 4 months old on her first visit and by her last visit she had turned 11 months! FDK students, staff and Baby Kinsley have loved watching and being part of her milestones throughout her first year. Last week, there was a classroom celebration to wish Baby Kinsley farewell for the year.

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.

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