St. David School hosted a Christmas Math Morning for students and their families to encourage Growth Mindset, specifically in math acquisition. One of the school’s main focuses this year is continued emphasis on promoting a greater collaboration between educators, students and their families. St. David School works closely with families because when there is a trusting, respectful relationship between the home and school, students have a better chance of being successful academically, socially and emotionally.

During the math morning, all parents and family members played fun, educational math games at school the with their children, then were given a Math Bag to take home. The Math Bag was filled with dice, cards and math game instructions as well as other simple math tools that they were encouraged to use at home to support their children build confidence in math.

Local artist and educator, Will Morin and parent of St. David School grade 1 student, M’Komii-Nodin Morin, facilitated the transplanting of traditional First Nation medicines, sweetgrass and sage, at the new St. David School in the Donovan.

Mrs. Cimino’s grade 1 students received traditional teachings on the importance of water and our relationship with the plant world. These same students one year ago, participated in traditional teachings by Morin where they planted sweetgrass seeds and nurtured the seedlings while waiting for the new school to be built. These traditional plants, sweetgrass and sage, are sacred medicines to the Anishinabek, Ojibwe people.

“Planting the seeds of inclusively in the world of education calls upon educators, parents and community members to literally plant seeds. Schools must work together and invite community into the school to share the their gifts and knowledge”.

“To Indigenous peoples, all plants are medicine, but so is education. With St. David School having such a large Indigenous student population and the school incorporating traditional knowledge throughout the curriculum all students, both Indigenous and non Indigenous, get to learn in an environment that is culturally inclusive and rich for positive learning experiences.” stated Morin.

St. David Catholic School would like to thank all family members, staff members and community partners who supported St. David students in collecting funds to support the annual Terry Fox Walk at St. David School. Over the past 10 years St. David School students have raised over $5000.00 for cancer research.

The Terry Fox Walk is an annual school event where students raise money for cancer research in Terry Fox’s name. It is a day of celebrating Terry’s legacy, learning about the importance of helping to find a cure for cancer and working together as a community to support those in need.