These awards are given over eight categories including Junior Citizen, Education and Sports & Recreation. Do you know a student or staff member who should be recognized for their special contribution to our community?
Nominations are being accepted until December 9, 2005. Download the nomination form (pdf).
Sudbury Catholic District School Board principals recently participated in an inservice session on how to implement the Ministry of Education’s new policy/program memorandum regarding Daily Physical Activity in Elementary Schools, Grades 1 to 8.
Bob Soroko from the Ontario Physical Health and Education Association (OPHEA) provided the principals with a framework of daily physical fitness activities as an important part of making schools healtheir places for students to learn.
Rossella Bagnato, Academic Superintendent of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board was also in attendance at the Ministry’s presentation. “Our principals were the first in the province to receive this workshop,” stated Bagnato. “While the Ministry recognizes there will be differences in approaches and implementation, all elementary schools are expected to make their best efforts to ensure that all students are receiving at least 20 minutes of sustained moderate to vigorous daily physical activity during instructional time as soon as possible”, concluded Bagnato.
Over the next few weeks the Sudbury Catholic District School Board will begin the work of developing a Board Action Plan with full implementation in all schools by September 2006.
The Lung Association is pleased to announce Laps for Lungs. It is a fun filled activity that combines fundraising and health promotion that directly benefits children living with asthma and our school.
The Lung Association is a registered charity that funds respiratory research, promotes better management of asthma, helps those with chronic lung disease, promotes a tobacco-free society and addresses the effects of air quality on lung health.
Visit www.on.lung.ca/events/laps4lungs.html for more information.
Immaculate Conception School has won the Sudbury Catholic District School Board Fitness Challenge. The goal of the program is to lower the resting and exercise heart rates of the Board’s students over the course of the school year. Staff and students in the Junior Division participated in this program under the supervision of Mrs. Karole Lariviere (Fitness Challenge School Co-Ordinator)
The heart rates were measured three times during the 2004 – 2005 school year. Students from Immaculate Conception School received a plaque from Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s Chairperson, Mrs. Paula Peroni during a recent board meeting. Thank you to Mr. John Tarini, Principal of Corpus Christi School, for co-ordinating this Board wide Fitness Challenge.
Grade 5 and 6 students from St. Michael Catholic School took part in the City of Greater Sudbury Public Library’s Introduction to Research Program recently. Students learned how to research topics by author, subject and/or title, on-line through the website at the library’s main branch.
Books and other resource materials can also be identified and reserved by students on-line from home at the main library located on Mackenzie Street or at any of its satellite branches through the use of the student’s name, pin number and library card number. The City of Greater Sudbury provided free round trip bus transportation to the students for the launch.
Students, parents and guardians will have an opportunity to participate in the third annual Transitions presentation that will take place at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, 275 Loach’s Road this coming Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium. Transitions 2005 is an information session designed to help students make key decisions in the transition from elementary to secondary school and from secondary school to college and university.
“With different streams in high school designed for apprenticeships, college and university it is important to know what choices are available to students as they enter high school, post secondary education or the work force,” states Maurizio Visentin, Guidance Counsellor at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School and one of the guest speakers at Transitions 2005. “Our secondary school curriculum requires that students make educational choices as early as grades 7 & 8 and then again in grades 10 to 12. It is important that parents, guardians and students know what choices are available so that students have as many educational and career opportunities as possible. With that in mind I encourage all Grade 7 to 12 students and their parents and guardians to attend this very informative session,” concludes Visentin.
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board, the Rainbow District School Board, and Cambrian College have joined with College Boreal and Laurentian University to present Transitions 2005. A representative from each organization will be on site to provide information and answer questions throughout the evening.
Students, teachers, staff, trustees, and senior administration from the Sudbury Catholic District School Board joined honoured guests, and His Excellency, The Most Reverend, Bishop Jean-Louise Plouffe in the official celebration and blessing of the new site of the St. Albert Adult Learning Centre recently.
Formerly located on Eyre Street in Sudbury’s West End, the Centre has been the mainstay of Adult Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board for the past twelve years. With the move to the new site at 504 St. Raphael Street, (off Howey Drive) the Board renewed its commitment to adult students and their children by relocating the programs and daycare services offered on Eyre Street.
“With the new location comes a renewed vigor to help adults reach the goals they have set for themselves,” stated Rob Pappin, Master of Ceremonies for the event and Coordinator of the St. Albert Adult Learning Centre in his opening remarks to the assembly.
According to Pappin, the St. Albert Adult Learning Centre opened its doors in the fall of 1992. The approach to adult education was and continues to be twofold: To identify and meet the academic needs of adults returning to school, and to provide on-site and off-site community supports and services to cope with the challenges facing re-entry to learning.
An overview of the history of St. Albert reveals that numerous staff within the Sudbury Catholic District School Board have either started their teaching career at the school or retired from St. Albert after holding various teaching positions throughout the Board. Zandra Zubac, the present Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board was a former principal of the St. Albert Adult Learning Centre.
Mrs. Zubac highlighted the distinctiveness of Catholic education in her address to the many students who were in attendance. “When you enrol in a Catholic School, you become part of a larger family,” stated Zubac. “In partnership with families, parishes and communities, Catholic schools encourage academic excellence within an environment that nurtures and recognizes the individual capabilities of all students.”
Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe, Bishop of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie echoed Mrs. Zubac’s remarks in his blessing of the school. “It is never too late for a new beginning,” the Bishop told his audience. “Life is a journey that must be made in balance, and Jesus is the one who teaches us to walk this journey, carefully balancing the input from the spirit, the body, the heart, and the mind,” concluded His Excellency.
With reference to the accessibility of quality education, Pappin noted that; “Every individual, regardless of age or background, has the right to respect, and equity of access. Adults who attend the St. Albert Adult Learning Centre upgrade their academic needs and access supports such as daycare, food donations, clothing donations and counseling. Local service agencies, income support programs, health care providers and local businesses in the City of Greater Sudbury are community partners.”
The St. Albert Adult Learning Centre offers such programs as Office Skills, Entry Level Skills for office and clerical work, a Writer’s Guild for aspiring writers and poets, Pre-employment Training, Computer Literacy, and Entrepreneurship Preparation.
Bishop Alexander Carter Catholic Secondary School Council held its weekly meeting at the school with special guest, Mayor Dave Courtemanche in attendance. Mayor Dave was invited to the school as part of the “YouthThink, Switch Shoes” initiative. “YouthThink” is a unique educational campaign that seeks to raise awareness and dialogue among adults and youth about the inclusion of young people in the community of Greater Sudbury. The project is part of the Social Planning Council of Sudbury’s Closing the Distant initiative. Mayor Courtemanche spent the afternoon shadowing Eric Spence, a Grade 11 student at Bishop Carter which included taking part in a computer lab class, a student council meeting, and a basketball practice. Eric will attend a meeting with the Mayor later this month which is a key component in the “YouthThink, Switch Shoes” initiative. Zandra Zubac, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board “shadowed” Alexandra Hickey, a Grade 12 student at Marymount Academy and President of the school’s student council.
