Sudbury Catholic District School Board

St. Francis Students Win Top Honours in Remembrance Day Contest

Students from St. Francis Catholic Elementary School participated in the Canadian Legion Branch 564 Lockerby Remembrance Day contest and walked away with several of the top spots. Mrs. Rinaldi – the Grade 5/6 teacher encouraged her students to enter the competition.

Justin Pappano – Third Place Story
Livingston Boyd – Third Place Poetry and Second Place Poster contest
Logan Dube – Second Place Poem
Perer Boylan – First Place Story

Perer’s story will be going on further in the competition with other branch participant winners. Congratulations to all of the participants!

Sudbury Catholic Schools Pilot Turning Points Project

“After doing my research, I realized that the Sudbury Catholic District School Board is a board where the Turning Points project is really going to work well!” These were the words that Judi Symes from the Learning Partnership declared to the teachers invited to be a part of the pilot “Turning Points” project. On December 8, 2009 English teachers from St. Benedict Catholic Secondary High School and Marymount Academy joined Symes as well as Marni Angus from the organization The Learning Partnership. The Learning Partnership is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to championing a strong public education system in Canada with its partners through innovative programs, credible research and executive leadership. This group approached Sudbury Catholic last year to see if there was any interest in piloting their innovative “Turning Points” project. This project links essay writing with personal experiences and it helps students get to know more about their own values as it is a combination of character education and literacy which is aligned with Ministry of Education expectations. Catherine McCullough, Director of Education realized that this was an amazing opportunity as the Sudbury Catholic District School board was the only board in Northeastern Ontario approached to be a part of this initiative and gave the project the green light. The teachers met with the team of Symes and Angus to delve a little deeper into the process involved and learned that the students will be asked to write an essay relating to a turning point in their life through different class exercises that will lead up to the final piece of writing. Those students that are willing to share their work will then submit them for two different tiers of judging. By the end of the year, there will be an awards ceremony that celebrates the students and their winning essays. The Turning Points trainer, Judy Symes – a former Head of English for the Toronto District School Board, says that the students are asked to really scrutinize turning points in their lives as their own emotion can be a critical part of their learning. She believes that risk taking needs to happen for meaningful learning to occur. This is what is asked of the students involved in this assignment. “The essay writing involved will not change everybody’s life, but for a lot of these students and teachers it is really, really special. It is very often transformational!” The teachers that attended this inservice walked away inspired to engage their students in this project in the upcoming months.

Sudbury Catholic Board Names New High-Tech, Green Elementary School

There was a celebratory as Trustees with the Sudbury Catholic District School Board voted to name Sudbury’s new elementary school. In the end, trustees selected the name “Holy Cross Catholic School.”

“The name ‘Holy Cross’ has significant meaning,” says Board Chair, Jody Cameron, “The four points of the cross represents the coming-together of four existing school communities into one new, learning community where our children will learn and make lifelong friends. This is a very exciting time for the Board and the expansion of Catholic Education in Sudbury’s south end.”

The decision comes after extensive consultation with students, teachers and parents from Corpus Christi, St. Christopher, St. Michael and St. Theresa schools — as well as St. Francis. The Board also got input from the local Parishes and community partners.

The new school will serve elementary students in the city’s south end and will be located on the St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School site. Catherine McCullough, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board is equally pleased with the decision of the new school’s name.

McCullough emphasized, “Holy Cross Catholic School will have lower energy and utility costs than traditionally built schools, and the money saved can go back into the classrooms. That means more money to expand on programs such as our already-established, nationally-recognized Learning with Laptops program as well as full-day junior kindergarten which the Board announced just last month.”

“The naming of this new state-of-the-art school is only the beginning of the many new steps that our Board will be taking in creating this educational village in the city’s south end,” stated Board Chair Cameron, “The next step is to complete the architectural final plans for the design of the new school and get shovels in the ground.”

The Board will decide on the site plan for Holy Cross at next Tuesday’s regular Board meeting. The school will open in September 2011.

Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School Breakfast Club Feels Like Family

On December 4, 2009 parents and community members were invited to join the staff and students to celebrate the success of their school’s breakfast club. It has been up and running since May of last year and has grown in leaps and bounds. Dave Soehner, principal of the school says a lot of the program’s success is because of the staff involvement, most especially Dennis Dechaine, Cathy Boyer and Jen Geddes. All during the breakfast preparation, the serving of the food and the clean up afterwards, these three kid, joke and smile with the students that attend. It is more of a family environment that exists at their breakfast club. “The students from day one were told – wash your hands, sign in, eat your breakfast, and put your plates in the dishwasher” says Mr. Dechaine. And the students do just that – very reminiscent of a family setting around the table. Many of the students volunteer to clean up afterwords as well. Geddes says that they are very grateful to the Breakfast Clubs of Canada as well as the Human League for all of their financial support and donations. Other local companies have also started to donate to this program. Mr. Soehner says that the breakfast club has improved their school culture. “It has provided our students with a greater sense of community and this message is reinforced by the commitment of our teachers who facilitate the program.” Cathy Boyer feels it is a great way for the kids to have some social time before class. “It really provides the students with many opportunities including a chance for them to spend quality time with their teachers as well as their friends.”

Students’ Letters to Santa Are On the Way!

On December 4, 2009, Mme Raymond’s Grade 3/4 French Immersion class and Mr. Martin’s Grade 2 class from St. John Catholic Elementary School set out on the sunny winter day to visit the local post office. The students went on this field trip in order to deliver their letters to Santa. At the post office, the children had the opportunity to ask questions of the postmaster and have a tour. The students and staff had a great time and now their letters are one step closer to the North Pole!

St. Albert Makes the Grade

St. Albert Adult Learning Centre was featured in a story this week in the Northern Life. Staff writer Heidi Ulrichsen contacted St. Albert after writing a previous story that talked about a student who was struggling to finish school and couldn’t find a place that suited his needs. St. Albert fits the bill.

Read this story at Northern Life to learn more about St. Albert.

St. Michael Catholic Elementary School Choir On Their Way to Becoming Stars

The students from Grade 2 to 6 at St. Michael Catholic Elementary School have been hard at work practicing for their performance on the annual CTV telethon. The school council parents have raised $200 for the school to donate and they will be continuing these fundraising efforts in the upcoming weeks. St. Michael’s would like to thank the parent council for all of their help with their money-raising efforts as well as their work with the choir – especially Mrs. Vintinner, Mrs. Udeschini and Mrs. Herold. The staff and students of St. Michael would like to wish HOPE, JOY, LOVE and PEACE to all of the families in our community!

Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School on our Radar

As the holidays are approaching quickly, many of our schools are experiencing a flurry of events. This is true for Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School. The school has had several outstanding events occur and many more happening in the upcoming weeks. Just a few of the great things that have happened recently at Bishop include hosting their fifth Annual Spaghetti Dinner for students, parents, community (feeder schools) and staff which was a huge success. Over three hundred people attended and it was a super fundraiser for the school. As well, the Bishop A.C.C.S.S. Junior Girls basketball team were the city champions for the second year in a row. For the month of December, the students and staff have been gathering items to make up a Christmas Hamper as well as collecting gently used winter clothing items for the St. Kevin’s Parish initiative called “Socks for the Sole”. On December 4th, the school will be hosting a Parent Breakfast at the Breakfast Club and parents and the community have been invited to attend. This breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. and runs until 8:10 a.m. To add to all of this, the school is also in the process of raising money to donate to the annual CTV telethon. Through mission donations and neighbourhood caroling, the school has raised $665 to date. The students are continuing with this fundraising effort until Friday with the hopes of bringing that total even higher. The staff and students of Bishop A.C.C.S.s. have been extremely busy and we look forward to hearing more about their school community in the upcoming weeks!

St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School CTV Luncheon/Fundraiser Phenomenal Success!

Over two hundred people filled the gym as the St. Bernadette staff and students came together to support one of it’s own. A few weeks ago, Ashley Dahlvik, the school’s Junior Kindergarten teacher approached Principal Nicole Snow with a fundraising idea. For the past nine years, Dahlvik has performed on the CTV telethon but this year she thought it would be a great idea to approached her school community for some support. They came up with an idea to hold a luncheon/fundraiser that could raise money for Dahlvik to present during the telethon. One of the student’s parents, John Cimino, who is also manager of the Caruso Club, decided to donate all of the food for the luncheon. “Its for a good cause.” stated Cimino. “It is also a good time to give especially when a lot of the community is struggling.” The school raised over $700 for Ms. Dahlvik to present at the telethon. “It is all about getting out Catholic school community involved in the Greater City of Sudbury Community. It is what we are called to do.” said Dahlvik. Father Al MacMillan from St. Raphael parish was on hand to say grace before the meal as well as Fred VaDerHooft, a Lion’s Club member who was also invited to take part in the celebration. Principal Nicole Snow was blown away by the participation of staff, students, parents, siblings, grandparents, and community members. “This is absolutely amazing!” stated Snow. “This shows a wonderful sense of community coming together for the children of Sudbury.” The staff and students sang Christmas carols and the grand finale included a performance from Ms. Dahlvik herself. A great luncheon was had by all!

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