Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Category: Schools

SCDSB Students Participate in Hour of Code Activities All Week Long!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

We live in a world surrounded by technology. We know that whatever field our students choose to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increase depending on their understanding of how technology works.

That’s why once again this year, students at Sudbury Catholic Schools joined in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week (December 6-12th 2021). 

We would like to thank Professor and Program Coordinator of Game Design at Cambrian College Aaron Langille, who presented two informative and engaging sessions about Coding and Gaming to our students. In addition, thanks goes out to all of our amazing teachers, parents & volunteers! With their help, our students joined students around the world and participated in Hour of Code activities or tutorials 20 MILLION times this month!  

To commemorate the event, Sudbury Catholic teachers and students that participated in an Hour of Code were entered into a draw to win a classroom prize pack! Congratulations goes out to: Martine Shydlowsky and her grade 6 French Immersion class! Prizes will be distributed in January! 

Draw Prize Winners: Martine Shydlowsky and her grade 6 French Immersion class.

It was incredible to witness our students share in discoveries and big ideas throughout Computer Science Education week. Check out our next generation of computer scientists in action!

St. Anne School Donates 1,234 Cans & $556.70 to Inner City Home Of Sudbury

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

This week, St. Anne Catholic Elementary School wrapped up their canned food drive with amazing success.

Thanks to the hard work of the students, staff, and families at St. Anne school, the school food drive concluded with a successful collection of 1,234 cans and $556.70 that will be donated to Inner City Home of Sudbury. The generous donation provided on behalf of the school supports the services offered by Inner City Homes to help those in need in Sudbury.

Students and staff enjoyed coming together as a school community to honour the season of giving and help collect donations for an important non-profit in Sudbury. Thank you to Mme Lafrance for her amazing leadership who helped organize this food drive for the school.

A special shoutout goes out to Mme Lafrance’s class that brought in a total of 511 cans and Mme Shonwise’s class that brought in a total of 536 cans. WOW!

On behalf of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, we would like to congratulate our Angels on a job well done!

Food Drive Gallery

Virtual After School STEM Club for Grades 7-9 Students Begins!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin


On Wednesday Dec 1st, a group of Grade 7-9 Students participated in the first of six Virtual After School Stem Classes offered in partnership with Let’s Talk Science! 

In this introductory lesson, Nicholas Butt, Outreach Coordinator for Let’s Talk Science and special guests; Dhruvi and Ahlam, Cambrian College students from the Dental Hygiene Program led the students in a Paper Flyer STEM activity.  

The students learned how the four forces; gravity, thrust, lift and drag create the aerodynamics of flight. Following, students had the opportunity to design, build, test, and re-adjusted their own paper gliders. 

Each week, Let’s Talk Science, features a different hands-on activity using minimal, easy-to-find materials.  Students are given the chance to learn from and ask questions to inspiring STEM role models. In addition, a prize is drawn at the end of each class and  students earn an entry per session attended, for a chance to win a grand prize in June! 

There is still time to Register for the next five interactive and fun sessions! You only need to register once to be able to participate in all of the classes. Please note, you must register the Monday before the next session in order to receive all the supplies delivered to your school on time. For more information  about participating in this activity contact: christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca

Grade 7 Student wins Trip to Project Arrow Virtual Reality Cave Tour in Windsor!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin


Last spring, grades 6-12 students at Sudbury Catholic Schools were invited to participate in the 24 hour Driving Your Career Competition. The competition was hosted by the Ontario Centre of Innovation and ChatterHigh to raise awareness about careers and post-secondary pathways in Ontario’s automotive and smart mobility sector.

Owen Carpenter, a grade 7 student at St. Benedict School scored the highest correct answers in his grade and had to choose from a variety of great prizes including membership sessions with industry leaders.  Being passionate about vehicles made it difficult for Owen to choose a prize!.  Owen comes from a family of car enthusiasts including his father Justin, who is an automotive sales consultant at Mike Doyle Dodge Chrysler.  

After careful deliberation, Owen selected the Project Arrow Virtual Reality Cave Tour in Windsor, Ontario.This tour is an immersive and active virtual reality environment, integrated with state-of-the-art hardware and software. The facility serves as a teaching, training and research tool for the region and beyond, designed to support connected and autonomous vehicle development. Virtual reality provides many valuable opportunities to aid in product development, including simulation, skills training, communication and collaboration. 

On the November 19th PA day, Owen and his father travelled to Windsor to meet Ed Dawson, a Senior Manager, at the Automobility and Innovation- Simulation Team at Invest WindsorEssex.   Mr. Dawson stated; “Owen and his dad Justin visited us at the Invest WindsorEssex VR CAVE this past Friday to experience Project Arrow and our simulation programs.  I wanted to say how happy we were to have Owen and Justin here.  Owen is such a bright young man with impeccable manners and very appreciative!  It was truly a delight for our team to show him all of the great tech that we have thanks to AVIN! “ 

Needless to say, Owen had a fantastic day filled with lots of hands-on learning and fun!  “I like the VR CAVE, I learned so much and I’m so excited to work in the automotive sector when I grow up.”  Peter Prochilo Superintendent of School Effectiveness stated; “The Sudbury Catholic District School Board would like to thank the Ontario Centre of Innovation and ChatterHigh for this opportunity.  Opportunities as such, provide career exploration to our young students and help broaden their exposure to the working world they will one day enter. It helps them to see and dream of the possibilities between school and career”

Sudbury Catholic Students in grades 7-12 join Skills Ontario’s Discovery Day

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Over 250 Sudbury Catholic Students in grades 7-12 joined Skills Ontario’s Discovery Day to learn about the incredible career opportunities that exist in skilled trades and technologies. Through the virtual  conference,  students were able to visit exhibitor booths and hear from local industry, educational and community service provider experts about careers, pathways and government incentives. 

Kent MacNeill Grade 7 & 8 teacher at St. James Catholic Elementary school shared, “I feel that it’s important to engage students with the trades at an early age so that they may choose courses and take advantage of programs like OYAP.  As a student at Manitouwadge High School, I was fortunate enough to be able to take Co-Op with the ambulance service and that led me to obtain certification and be employed at the age 18 as a part-time paramedic”.

Dan Levecque, OYAP and COOP coordinator for Sudbury Catholic Schools, was one of the education panelists who explained the benefits of employment in the skilled trades, as well as the variety of educational programs at Sudbury Catholic that prepare our students for their career destinations.

To learn more about the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, Specialized High Skills Major, Dual Credit and Cooperative Education programming at Sudbury Catholic Schools visit our website at: Secondary Specialized Programs or contact daniel.levecque@sudburycatholicschools.ca

St. John Students Create Parachutes while Learning about STEM!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Ms. Filice’s Grade 4/5 students from St John School participated in a STEM activity that involved the forces of gravity and drag. Students designed, built, tested, adjusted and retested their creations. They experimented with weight, size of parachute and indoor vs. outdoor flight.

Nicholas Butt, Outreach Coordinator for Let’s Talk Science and special guest, Hiba, a Research Student from the University of McGill in Montreal led the students in this week’s STEM activity.  

There is still time to Register Your Class  for fun and interactive STEM activities intended for Grade 4-6 students! Each week, Let’s Talk Science, features a different hands-on activity using minimal, easy-to-find materials.  Students will also have the chance to learn from and ask questions to inspiring STEM role models. 

An English activity is offered two times per week (Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. ET & Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET), and a French activity is offered once a week (Tuesdays at 1:00 p.m. ET).

The third cohort starts on January 27th 2022.For more information visit: Join the Let’s Talk Science STEM club or contact christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca if you would like more details about participating in this activity.

St. David Class Wins National Student Video Contest

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Grade 4 students at St. David Catholic Elementary School were thrilled to discover their September video submission was honoured as a national winner in the 2021 Take Me Outside Student Video Contest.  

The Take Me Outside Student Video Contest is a national competition aiming to get students outside by encouraging them to submit their best, self-made video, featuring how they like to spend their time exploring the outdoors in Canada. 

With a tight deadline of Sept. 17th and less than two weeks back at school, Mrs. Toffoli’s class were up for the challenge and placed second nationwide in the class category. In reward for their tremendous work, the class received gift cards from MEC to help get them outside even more!

“I am so proud of my classmates and my teacher because we won second place in Canada.” Edrea, Gr. 4 Student

“I am so happy that we got second place. Our hard work paid off.” Diymtrius, Gr. 4 Student

Mrs. Toffoli and her teaching assistant Brandon Antonioni ensured students had the support and resources to inspire the creativity needed to create the video and follow the rules. 

“When I first heard about the contest, I knew right away St. David School had the perfect backyard. We have such amazing trails and a great outdoor classroom that showcases Canada’s beauty. The students worked hard on this contest and came up with some brilliant reasons why learning from and on the land is important to them.” Stephanie Toffoli, Gr. 4 Teacher 

“At St. David School, we continue to work to enhance our teaching pedagogy to ensure that we include not only Indigenous theory and knowledge in our lessons but also ways of being. An important part of Truth and Reconciliation is learning on the land and acknowledging the teachings around us in nature. We thank our Indigenous community partners and Elders that continue to support our learning on the land, as well as thank wonderful organizations such as “Take Me Outside” for the encouragement they offer to all schools to take that step outside and enhance our learning.” Dawn-Marie Wemigwans, Principal

The winning video can be found at: St. David Catholic Elementary School’s Take Us Outside Video.

For more information about St. David Catholic Elementary School, please visit, www.st-david.sudburycatholicschools.ca

SCDSB Highlights IT Staff As Part of Computer Science Education Week at Sudbury Catholic Schools

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

In honour of Computer Science Education Week (Dec 6-12), each day, we will put a special spotlight on 1 amazing staff member whose expertise within the fascinating world of IT and computer science deserve to be celebrated!

Learn more about Computer Science Education Week by checking out the #csedweek website.

CLICK HERE!

MONDAY

Everyone meet David Hempel!

He is one of the wonderful Computer Infrastructure Technicians we have here at SCDSB and believes that “IT can take you anywhere!”

Thanks David for all that you do and more!

TUESDAY

On Tuesday we’d like to introduce you to Samual Smith and his inspiring quote. Sam is IMS Technician who believes “technology is everywhere. you can revolutionize the world if you know how to use it.”

Thank you Sam, we appreciate and thank you for all your hard work at SCDSB!

WEDNESDAY

Introducing our staff highlight for Wednesday, Pat Hauser!

Pat is an extraordinary Computer Technician and believes that “with technology, the world is literally at your fingertips.”

Thank you Pat for all your hard work and dedication that you do everyday!

THURSDAY

Continuing our streak on computer science education week, we’re highlighting Ron LeClair this Thursday!

Ron is one stupendous Computer Management Technician that we have here at Sudbury Catholic Schools.

Thank you, Ron, for all you do and more!

FRIDAY

Thank you to everyone who participated in Computer Science Education Week at Sudbury Catholic Schools!

CSEdWeek was founded as a call to action to raise awareness about the need to elevate computer science education at all levels and to underscore the critical role of computing in all careers.

The theme this year highlighted the impact that computer science is making everywhere and the relationship that computer science has to different subjects, industries, career paths, and in our everyday lives.

To close off the week, we’re treated with a quote from our Superintendent of School Effectiveness, Peter Prochilo who reminds us that “technology is an effective tool that educators can leverage to support equity of access to curriculum and learning.”

UPDATED! Bus Transportation Cancelled

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

UPDATE***

TRANSPORTATION CANCELLED, SCHOOLS REMAIN OPEN  – SUDBURY, MASSEY, ESPANOLA  AND MANITOULIN ISLAND


BUSSES ARE NOT RUNNING IN ESPANOLA AND MASSEY

Due to snow covered roads and poor road conditions and in the interest of safety, all school related transportation services for English Catholic, English public, French Catholic and French public schools, operating in the districts of SUDBURY AND MANITOULIN (this includes all areas such as St-Charles, Noëlville, Monetville, Markstay, Hagar, Warren, Wahnapitae, Coniston, Killarney, Whitefish, Whitefish River First Nations, Onaping, Chelmsford, Capreol, Valley East, Garson, Chelmsford and Azilda) are cancelled today. All schools will remain open, however, NO transportation will be provided.

Parents who transport their children to school are reminded that they must pick their children up at the end of the school day.

All staff are expected to report to work.

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