Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Category: Staff Achievement

“Gangs and Youth. A Community Action Plan.”

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The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is proud to be a partner in the “Gangs and Youth. A Community Action Plan” initiative in conjunction with our fellow school boards and community agencies in Sudbury.

Representatives from the Board staff and Trustees participated in a “Gangs and Youth” Media Conference held at the Greater Sudbury Police Service to promote awareness around gang activity. The Board took this opportunity to reinforce the fact the Sudbury Catholic District School Board works hard to engage our students in our educational programs and extra-curricular activities. We believe that our school communities offer the best opportunities for our youth, thus enabling them to become positive members of society. Our Board supports and maintains positive school climates that enhance safety and focus on prevention and early intervention with opportunities for reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration of the community.

Pilot Apple Technology Project Huge Success for St. David’s Grade Fives

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The Grade 5 students were so excited they could hardly sit still as their St. David teacher Jennifer Gran asked them to open their macbooks and turn on their ipods. Gran along with Leann Laframboise, one of the Sudbury Catholic Technology Integration Mentor Teachers had put together a proposal and submitted it to Apple Canada with the hopes that the Grade 5 class would be selected to pilot a technology project. Luckily, the two teachers’ proposal was selected out of the hundreds of proposals submitted from across Canada. Apple selected Gran’s class which allowed the students the use of ten MacBook computers with wireless connectivity, digital still and video cameras, and iLife ’09, Apple’s award-winning digital media software as well as ten ipods. For the last four weeks, the class has created podcasts, comics, digital stories, movies and posters. As well, the students used ipods for different activities such as reading, navigating apps and browsers and literacy and numeracy games. Gran was thrilled that her class had the opportunity to have some really hands on learning time with the provided technology. “If you have a high number of identified students, the technology really levels the playing field in regards to learning. “said Gran. “The technology gives the students many different options for learning. They don’t all learn the same way and with the macbooks and ipods, they can choose the way they learn most effectively, which makes teaching easier for the teacher.” For each different activity, the students were divided into groups and sat down with either Gran or Laframboise to consult on their projects. All of the students got the opportunity to use both pieces of technology daily. After St. David’s, the next school to receive the kit will be St. Francis Catholic Elementary School which was also one of the schools to be selected from across Canada.

Marymount Academy Announces Advanced Placement Program for September, 2010

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Marymount students, teachers, trustees and guests gathered at a press conference held at the school to launch a very exciting and progressive program known as the Advanced Placement Program or AP as it is more commonly referred to.
Beginning in September 2010, Marymount students in Grades 9 and 10 can enrol in the pre AP courses while students in Grade 11 and 12 will be able to register in the AP courses. “Advanced Placement courses offer university level content to our students at the high school level allowing them to delve deeper into the course material and ultimately making them feel more comfortable and gain more confidence when entering university,” says Lucie Cullen, Principal of Marymount Academy. Another benefit of the Advanced Placement Program is that it allows students to accelerate through university as students may achieve advanced academic standing or equivalent credits at universities in Canada and the United States and overseas. According to Dan Bartolucci, Program Leader at Marymount Academy, the Advanced Placement Program is recognized worldwide. “Admission offices regard AP students as high achievers,” states Bartolucci. “Post secondary institutions in more than 30 countries recognize AP in their admission process, including 90 percent of North American colleges and universities.”
Marymount Academy will roll out the Advanced Placement Program in September of 2010 by offering three courses: English, Math and French at the AP level with Geography and Science courses being added the following year. The AP courses will be taught concurrently with the curriculum, and students will write the university exams at Marymount in May. The exams are sent to a central location in the United States for marking and the results are mailed to the students in July. Each AP exam is given a grade point a 5-point scale: Students that score 4 and 5 out of 5 on their exams will receive AP or university credits. Jody Cameron, Chair of the Sudbury Catholic District Program is also very impressed with the school’s Advanced Placement Program. “The AP Program is a perfect fit for Marymount Academy,” Cameron told the student body and the media. “Its innovative, progressive and meets the needs of our students by providing them with opportunities and challenges beyond their grade level. As a result of this program they will walk into colleges and universities with much greater confidence and knowledge as well as credits. It is with great pride that the Sudbury Catholic District School Board support Marymount and its dedicated staff in launching the AP Program.”

St. Andrew Elementary Holds a Hats for Haiti Day

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Staff and students of St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School have been praying daily during their afternoon Prayer Break for the people of Haiti. On January 19, 2010 the school held their “Hats for Haiti” day. Money was collected to support the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace in their effort to help the people in this devastated country.
Even though they are a small school of 152 they have big, generous hearts as they raised $721.70. The St. Andrew school council then decided to top the school donation to $1000. Quite a phenomenal accomplishment for a small school!

SCDSB Staff Published Authors in National Magazine

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Dawn Wemigwans, Aboriginal Lead and Christina Raso, Special Education Consultant are both Sudbury Catholic District School Board staff who go above and beyond in their roles on a regular basis. Even though their daily workloads allow them little time for anything else, they both realized the importance of sharing best practices with other boards across Canada. Theresa Harris, Executive Director for the Ontario Catholic supervisory Officer’s Association asked all of the Catholic school boards across the province to submit their ideas and initiatives that engage young children in schools. The two women decided to write an article highlighting the value of providing authentic aboriginal learning experiences to students and how this already is taking place at our board. The selected articles were them submitted to a national magazine entitled “Leaders and Learners” which is the official magazine of the Canadian Association of School Administrators The article written by Wemigwans and Raso was one of seven from the entire province selected for the magazine.

St. John Catholic Elementary School Supports St. John the Evangelist Parish

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Father Mathieu, Parish Priest of St. John the Evangelist in Garson accepted a cheque from Toni Kritz-Roque, the grade 2 teacher from St. John Catholic Elementary School last week. The school raised the money through gift donations from staff and students that were used to make baskets and then raffled off. As well, local business donated gift certificates for the school’s gift tree. Tickets were sold and a total of $1500 was raised to support the parish. The parish is using the money to purchase malaria nets for children in third world countries. Each net costs ten dollars and can potentially protect a small family or groups of children from malaria.

Sudbury Catholic District School Board Staff Take Part in Teacher Learning And Leadership Program (TLLP)

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The Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP)is an opportunity for experienced teachers to engage in self-directed action research with funding from the Ministry of Education. Teachers submit project proposals to their Principal, who then sends the proposal on to the Superintendent of Program. The Superintendent then selects one or two projects to send on to the Ministry for consideration. This project was initiated in 2007, with the first two cohorts of projects reaching completion in July 2009. The Sudbury Catholic District School Board has had a project in each of the three cohorts so far (two have been completed, and one in ongoing).
In November, all of the project leaders from the first two cohorts across the province came together in Toronto to celebrate and share their findings. This “Sharing the Learning Summit” was a powerful and positive experience. Marlene Lee, a teacher from St. Paul School, shared her project entitled Cameras, Camcorders and Computers: Intermediate Students Sharing their Visual Insights”. Krista Sarmatiuk, Kathy McDowell and Kevin Krystia, from St. Raphael School, shared their project entitled “Problem-Solving: Math, Literacy and Logic”.
Thanks to Ministry funding, both teams have developed valuable resources for teachers to use which will help to promote student success by creating engaging and differentiated learning opportunities.
All of the TLLP participants were sent an invitation to submit a proposal to present at the 5th Annual Ontario Education Research Symposium. Marlene Lee’s presentation was one of thirty-five proposals accepted to mount a display from February 17 -19, 2010. She will now have the opportunity to share what she has learned during her TLLP and also to see what other educational research is taking place in the province.

St. Raphael Students’ Voices Ring Out on the Radio

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As in years past, this Christmas many of our elementary school students were invited to sing Christmas carols on Easy Rock with Rich and Gary. It is an event that the students work very hard preparing for and are very excited knowing that their voices will be broadcast all around the City of Greater Sudbury. This morning the Grades 1 and 2 classes from St. Raphael Catholic Elementary School had the honour of singing two songs for the station. The boys and girls were on their best behaviour and sang clear as a bell when they performed their two songs. Rich and Gary took time to ask some of the kids what they wanted for Christmas and then after their performance were treated to a tour of the station as well as Timbits and hot chocolate courtesy of Tim Horton’s. Definitely a nice treat for the classes and a great start to their day! Thank you to Mrs. Low, their teacher and skilled Choir Director and congratulations to the Grade 1 and 2 students for a job well done!

St. Mary’s Students Hit the Bigtime!

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The music was blaring as the students practiced for the last time before their big performance at St. Mary Catholic Elementary School last week. Ms. O’Reilly, a teacher at the school organized a lip synch contest for those daring students who wanted to participate in the big show. With costumes covered in “bling” and musical instrument props at the ready, the kids rehearsed their choreography anxious to wow the audience. “It is a nice event for the students just before Christmas.” said Gen Waszczylo, principal of the school. “The kids really work hard to prepare and the rest of the students enjoy the different acts. It is fun for everybody!” As predicted, the performance went off without a hitch and was a huge hit for all of the students and staff!

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