St. Francis Catholic Elementary School Flames students in teacher Christine Boudreau’s Grade 1/2 French Immersion class were very excited to decorate pumpkins for Dynamic Earth’s “PumpkInferno”. PumpkInferno is an enchanting outdoor award-winning exhibit created by Upper Canada Village, featuring thousands of hand-carved pumpkins set against a glowing Sudbury back drop on the grounds of Dynamic Earth. Their pumpkins will be displayed along the walkway leading to Dynamic Earth from October 9th-30th. Visit sciencenorth.ca for further details.
Category: Community
Immaculate Conception “Green Squad” Enjoying the Fruits of their Labour
Teacher Sara Lotter’s Grade 3 Class at Immaculate Conception is proud to be the 2015-16 Green Squad. The students began in September by harvesting the vegetables in the garden. Some of the beautifully ripened tomatoes were used to make salsa. The salsa was made and enjoyed by Mrs. Hayden and Mrs. Lotter’s classes. The Green Squad has prepared the vegetable beds for winter and they look forward to planting in the Spring.
Staff and Students at St. Charles Elementary Celebrate Jays Day
The St. Charles Catholic Elementary School RAMS showed their spirit as they cheered on the Jays! As the Toronto Blue Jays entered game 5 of the division series on Wednesday, October 14th, staff and students wore their Jays gear for a Jays Day. Since this is the first time in 22 years a Canadian team has won in the MLB playoffs, Jays fever is spreading!
“It was great to see the school’s support as they came together to cheer for the Toronto Blue Jays” says principal Dave Soehner. “Now that the Jays have won game 5 and have moved on to the American League finals againstt Kansas City, our support for the Jays will continue! Stay tuned for more school spirit throughout the playoffs.”
O-K, O-K. Blue Jays! Blue Jays! Let’s-Play-Ball!
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.
Thanksgiving Feast at St. Francis
St. Francis Catholic Elementary School Life Skills and Communication classes celebrated Thanksgiving with a feast at the school. The students were given the opportunity to participate in preparing the delicious meal — turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn. The students decorated the room with beautiful artwork posters of what they are thankful for during this blessed occasion. Life Skills student, Shane Dempsey, stated that ‘I am thankful for my teacher and her sister to help make the delicious turkey’.
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.