Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Holy Trinity Officially Opens its Doors – October 15, 2015

The sun poured in the gymnasium’s windows on Thursday, October 15 for the official opening of Holy Trinity Catholic Elementary School. Students, staff, parents, invited guests and community partners gathered for the official ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s newest elementary school. The Sudbury Catholic District School Board conducted an accommodation review process in 2009-2010, concluding that St. Andrew, St. Bernadette and St. Raphael Schools would be consolidated into a new dual track JK to Grade 6 school. The Ministry of Education approved the construction of the new facility on July 7, 2011. After this approval was received, a request for proposal for Architectural Services was issued, with Yallowega Belanger Architecture being awarded the contract. Construction documents were prepared and tendered with Build North Construction being awarded the construction contract. Holy Trinity Catholic Elementary School open its doors for students on September 8, 2015.
The official opening started off with songs from the school choir and also had Bishop Plouffe celebrate the event with a blessing. Invited guests including M.P.P. Glenn Thibeault, Mayor Brian Bigger, Ministry of Education Regional Representative Irene Charette, and Amber Salach from Yallowega Belanger Architecture Sudbury. As well, SCDSB Aboriginal Youth Worker Carla Petahtegoose brought greetings from the traditional territory of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation. School Principal Diana Salvador, Superintendent Nicole Bédard, Board Chair Jody Cameron and Director of Education Joanne Bénard also addressed the crowd. All speakers expressed their joy in seeing the vision of the new school come together so beautifully.
“Today we celebrate together what started off as a vision – a new school for our New Sudbury area that would pull together three individual schools as one – with a brand new identity. I can say with confidence that Holy Trinity Catholic Elementary School certainly fits that bill, and is a facility that is a positive asset to the collaborative nature of teaching and learning,” Stated Jody Cameron. “While we know that a building does not determine the quality of a student’s education, it can however be a facilitative factor in making the educational process a more effective one and a more pleasant experience for all. This beautiful school is a result of the collaboration of many different people, organizations and departments.”

Holy Trinity Catholic Elementary School is a dual track English and French Immersion programming school from Kindergarten to grade six and has over 520 students currently enroled.

SCDSB Cheers on LU

Sudbury Catholic District School Board elementary students were invited to cheer on their local Laurentian University Voyageurs hockey team during one of their season games. Students from St. Francis, Holy Cross, St. David, Holy Trinity, and St. Benedict packed the arena as they cheered on the Voyageurs as they won a victory over Nipissing 3-2 in a shootout.

Bishop Gives Back to the Community

Bishop Alexander Carter CSS held its annual Memorial Walk on September 30th. Partial proceeds from the walk is given back to the community. Once again this year, a cheque was presented to Chrissy and Scott from KICX radio to support their KICX for Kids Campaign. Presenting the cheque are two students, Kianna (Grade 12) and Jacob (Grade 9) and Cassandra MacGregor (Principal).

Harvesting Sweetgrass at St. David School

This fall, St. David Catholic Elementary School resumed it’s 2015 “Project Impact” community initiative entitled, “The Regreening of St. David School Yard with Sweetgrass”. As part of the project, funded through the Coalition for a Livable Sudbury, Local First Nation artist and parent of a student of the Donovan area school, Will Morin, continued his work with the students and staff. Mr. Morin supported the school in planting sweetgrass seeds in the spring of 2015 and is now teaching the schoolbody about harvesting sweetgrass. According to Mr. Morin, “This autumn harvest season rekindles the project’s plan of regreening the new school site for St. David School with native plants specifically sweetgrass, a traditional Anishnabe medicine. The growing of sweetgrass is an ongoing set a teachable moment from planting to harvesting”.

During the presentation, two young female students were asked to water the plants before the sweetgrass was cut. It was explained that water is the first medicine and vital for survival of all life.
Two young boys then gave offerings of tobacco in order to give back before the students take from nature. “We have to give back to the earth. This is done to maintain balance” stated grade 4/5 student Ethan Thompson.

According to kindergarten student, Kadence Legarde, “My Papa grows sweetgrass so I can have sweet dreams.” Mr. Morin’s message reached all students and staff regardless of age. Prior to braiding the sweetgrass Mr. Morin demonstrated the strength of many compared to the strength of one – which echoes the value of inclusion and the importance of coming together as a community to be our strongest selves.

Celebrating and Giving Thanks at St. David

During the month of October, English Catholic schools in Sudbury celebrate the value of Faith. St. David Catholic Elementary School teaches that faith is an attitude that encourages people to involve and develop a relationship with God. The school staff and students marked this Thanksgiving season by gathering as a community and celebrating the Liturgy of the Word. Deacon Roland Muzzatti, from Christ the King Parish officiated the school wide service. Deacon Muzzatti stressed to the students the importance of giving thanks not only for our material possessions, but also for our freedoms, special gifts, talents and families.

Mrs. Melody Henry, a school volunteer and choir director lead the school in song during the service. “It was a beautiful celebration of our Faith. The students were extremely attentive and engaged in the conversation with Deacon Roland. It was especially meaningful when the students proudly shared what they were thankful for this Thanksgiving.” Teachers, Nancy Costanzi and Natasha Folino, with the help of student volunteers, organized the celebration with the intention of deeply discussing our gratitude for all good things in life and sharing the notion that hard things can happen, but through our resilience and belief in God we can overcome these obstacles with dignity and perseverance.

St. John’s Supports the Garson Community

Teachers Miss Bennett and Mrs. Allen, and the grade 2/3 class at St. John Catholic Elementary School helped in organizing the canned food drive for the Garson Food Bank. Students collected cans from the community from Oct 5th-Oct 9th. With the overwhelming support from staff, family and the Garson community, St John collected more than 6 500 cans.

R/C Racing Back at BACCS

On October 8th, Bishop Alexander Carter hosted its 4th Annual BAC Traxx Invitational Remote Control car race. It was an afternoon of thrills, spills and high revving R/C action as the Bishop Carter drivers challenged the racers from École Secondaire Franco Cité. In all, well over 30 drivers competed in this year’s event. Adding to the excitement was the all new 2250 square indoor speedway that Bishop Carter teachers and students purpose built for R/C racing. On this track, cars are able to reach speeds in excess of 70km/h and fly over 10 feet in the air! Also adding to the excitement was this years “All Star” Shootout. Racers in this event included celebrity DJs Scott and Chrissy from KICX 91.7 and Nevena and Chloe from The New Hot 93.5. Also competing was Bishop Carter’s own principal, Cassandra MacGregor. It was definitely a memorable event that Bishop Carter is looking forward to hosting again in the future.

BACCSS Catches the Jays Spirit

Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School staff and students caught the Blue Jays spirit! Students took a break from hitting the books to watch and cheer for their favourite baseball team. The gym was adorned with blue and white and transformed into a mini stadium with its very own TD Comfort Zone couch. In September, students in the Bishop Elite Sports Training (BEST) program, as well as students in the Specialist High Skills Major Program (SHSM) in Fitness were able to use the Blue Jays training facility and toured their locker room and medical facilities.

“Thanks for Thanksgiving” at St. David School

St. David Catholic School, kindergarten students have been busy this week reading stories, poems, prayers and recipes all about the season of Thanksgiving. The class made homemade apple sauce and pumpkin pies while learning about measurement and procedural text. Angela Ross, early childhood educator states, “As a full day kindergarten team, we strive to cover the kindergarten curriculum in creative and meaningful ways for our students.” The week ended with the students enjoying a full Thanksgiving meal, including turkey, potatoes and of course the pumpkin pie they made as a class.

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