Over two hundred people filled the gym as the St. Bernadette staff and students came together to support one of it’s own. A few weeks ago, Ashley Dahlvik, the school’s Junior Kindergarten teacher approached Principal Nicole Snow with a fundraising idea. For the past nine years, Dahlvik has performed on the CTV telethon but this year she thought it would be a great idea to approached her school community for some support. They came up with an idea to hold a luncheon/fundraiser that could raise money for Dahlvik to present during the telethon. One of the student’s parents, John Cimino, who is also manager of the Caruso Club, decided to donate all of the food for the luncheon. “Its for a good cause.” stated Cimino. “It is also a good time to give especially when a lot of the community is struggling.” The school raised over $700 for Ms. Dahlvik to present at the telethon. “It is all about getting out Catholic school community involved in the Greater City of Sudbury Community. It is what we are called to do.” said Dahlvik. Father Al MacMillan from St. Raphael parish was on hand to say grace before the meal as well as Fred VaDerHooft, a Lion’s Club member who was also invited to take part in the celebration. Principal Nicole Snow was blown away by the participation of staff, students, parents, siblings, grandparents, and community members. “This is absolutely amazing!” stated Snow. “This shows a wonderful sense of community coming together for the children of Sudbury.” The staff and students sang Christmas carols and the grand finale included a performance from Ms. Dahlvik herself. A great luncheon was had by all!
Category: Staff
St. Andrew Catholic Elementary Celebrates the Feast of St. Andrew
All the staff and students of St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School came together to celebrate the Feast of their namesake – St. Andrew on November 30, 2009. St. Andrew was the first to be called by Jesus to be a disciple and to help proclaim the Good News. The staff and students celebrated this Feast day with a prayer service in their gym that included lighting of candles, prayers and song. As well, the students each enjoyed cake and juice which is also a part of the school’s traditional Feast of St. Andrew celebration.
Sudbury Catholic Board Implements Full Day Junior Kindergarten Programs in All Schools
It was a historic moment last evening as Trustees voted in favour of bringing full-day Kindergarten Programs to all of its elementary schools. The full day JK classes will begin next Fall. The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is the first English school system in Greater Sudbury to offer full-day junior kindergarten.
The decision comes less than a month after Dr. Charles Pascal released his report on early childhood learning commissioned by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. The report called on the government to introduce full-day JK for four and five-year-olds. The Provincial Government responded by agreeing to phase it in over the next five years.
“Dr. Pascal’s report talked about the economic and social benefits of spending public money on quality early childhood programs,” says Jody Cameron, Chair of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, “We agree with those findings completely and following the lead of the province, thought it was best for our students and our parents to implement full day junior kindergarten right away. Why wait for something that so clearly will help our children succeed?”
The programming will cost the Board $950,000 from its reserve fund. That cost also includes implementing nineteen Early Learning Program (ELP) classes in seven designated schools beginning September 2010.
“At the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, we believe you can’t put a price on the education and futures of our young people,” adds Director Catherine McCullough, “As Dr. Pascal said in his report — this is about more than traditional education — this is about turning schools into places that provide families with opportunities for children’s learning, care, health, culture, arts, and recreation. We agree completely and look forward to welcoming our new students and families into our full-day junior kindergarten programs in September 2010.”
Parents who are interested in registering their children for full-day JK in the Fall can do it now by calling the Board offices at: 673-5620.
For more information on the Early Learning Program please visit http://www.ontario.ca/en/initiatives/early_learning/ONT06_018876.
Winners of Henry Winkler tickets
Congratulations to Carissa Roy from MaryMount Academy and Colin Desjardins from St. Charles College who each won a pair of tickets winners for “An evening with Henry Winkler,” an inspirational presentation about his triumph over a learning disability, on Monday October 19, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Glad Tidings Tabernacle.
Sudbury Catholic Schools Continues to Champion Technology for Students
In a move to further support student success, Sudbury Catholic Schools are creating greater opportunities for students and teachers to learn through technology in the classroom. The school board recently strengthened its commitment to help students learn in ways meaningful to them with the addition of Technology Integration Mentors (TIMs). The TIM teachers will support classroom teachers and students to use technology in ways that enhance lesson planning, delivery and ultimately student learning and achievement.
Already, each student in Grades seven and eight receives a MacBook laptop as part of Sudbury Catholic Schools lead in promoting effective use of technology in student learning. In addition to the expansion of the TIM staff who will support teachers and students use of laptops, the Board has also purchased iPods, digital cameras and other tools to explore and create learning that responds to individual students’ ways of learning and expressing themselves.
Sarah Falvo, a Grade 8 student at Marymount Academy, says the laptop technology has provided her with greater ways of understanding and demonstrating her learning to her teacher and classmates. “I have been using the laptops since Grade 7 and really enjoy working with them,” states Falvo. “The laptops allow us to be creative and to try new things which makes the lessons fun… we can edit our journals and essays easily in English, produce lab reports and take tests in Science and work with mathematical formulas and quizzes which are directly related to our Grade 8 Math curriculum.”
Greg Huneault, a TIM teacher, says that with effective planning and use, “the technology ultimately responds to each student’s needs and interests, and engages the student where he or she is. “When we talk of classroom technology, it helps to understand its role in providing support to each student and teacher. With our MacBook program, for instance, every student in grades 7 and 8 uses software that allows them to create podcasts, multimedia presentations such as movies with voice-overs, music, and other products. The range of technology grabs the interest and natural talent of each student, and he or she typically becomes more engaged and interested in finding ways to learn and share the learning.” Students in grades 4 and 5 use iBook laptops for similar purposes to create projects in all subjects. SMARTBoards are another tool Sudbury Catholic Schools have recently purchased for all classrooms in grades 5/6 to 8. The interactive boards allow teachers to design and deliver lessons to further engage students. Images from a laptop are projected onto the white board, which responds to a teacher’s or student’s touch that allows everyone to manipulate words and shapes on the large white screens, so students can better see and understand concepts. For example, students can observe and experiment instantly with how an object changes shape as its measurements change, or move parts of a sentence around quickly to see how meaning is changed. In Science class, concepts using video and virtual exploration of body parts can help students better understand in real life how systems work together in ways textbooks and chalk cannot.
Some secondary classrooms also use the interactive white boards, which are placing 21st Century learning technology ahead of traditional blackboards.
Sudbury Catholic Schools Hold Literacy and Numeracy Workshop Over the Summer
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board in conjunction with the Numeracy Secretariat held a two day Workshop on August 20 and 21st which focused on strategies on how to Reach a Range of Learners.
The workshop was based on the Ministry’s resource document, “Combined Grades K-6″.
“In all classrooms, no matter how they are organized, teachers need to provide for the individual needs of students,” said Christina Raso, Special Education Consultant for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. To achieve this, teachers use a variety of methods on a daily basis to assess the needs of each student, and then adjust the focus of instruction for skill development accordingly.
Sudbury Catholic Board Principal Receives Principal of the Year Award
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board is pleased to announce that Mrs. Sharon Oliver, Principal of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School is the honoured recipient of the Catholic Principals’ Council of Ontario (CPCO), 2009 Principal of the Year Award for Outstanding School/Community Leadership and for her contributions to Catholic Education.
Mrs. Oliver was presented with the award at the Annual Conference, Gala Dinner in Toronto. Sharon has been a school administrator for twelve years and has shared her time and talents with her colleagues from across the province as Chairperson of the CPCO’s Professional Development Committee and was a member of the CPCO Policy Committee for one year.
Partners in Spirit: From the Desk of Director of Education Catherine McCullough (Vol. 2 Number 3)
It is with great pleasure that we share with you the final edition of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board newsletter for the 2008/2009 school year, Partners in Spirit. The newsletter celebrates the many exciting events, initiatives and programs taking place at SCDSB.
Sudbury Catholic Board to Build Green School in South End
Trustees for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board voted in favour of closing four south end schools (St. Christopher, St. Theresa, Corpus Christi, and St. Michael Catholic Schools) at the May 26th Board meeting held at Tom Davies Square.
The motion to close the four schools, three of which are PTR Schools (Prohibitive to Repair),allows the Board to apply for Ministry funding to renovate St. Francis Catholic School and to build a new state of the art 550 pupil “Green” dual track (JK to Grade 8) school with a Multi-Media Technology Plaza in the City’s South End.
Students from Corpus Christi and St. Michael Catholic Schools will be consolidated into St. Francis Catholic School (JK to Grade 6)
while students from St. Christopher, St. Theresa and all of the Grade 7 and 8 students from St. Francis and St. David Elementary Schools will be consolidated into the new “green school” on the St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School site. Trustees also voted in favour of renovating St. David Catholic School with regular JK to Grade 6 programming to include further community partnerships aimed at the expansion of the current programming with a holistic service model.
With respect to the North/West Planning area, Trustees passed a motion to consolidate St. Mary Elementary School Grade 7 and 8 students and programming into St. Anne Elementary School commencing September 2009.
In her presentation to Trustees, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board, Catherine McCullough stated that after the Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) had completed its work and made its recommendations, it was incumbent upon her to provide a vision for the Board in both programming and capital expenditures. These recommendations recognized that the decision before Trustees revolved around the future of providing quality education and quality facilities for all of Sudbury’s Catholic students.
With respect to the South/Central Planning area, McCullough reiterated the following major points concerning the Director’s recommendations before the motions were considered by Trustees:
• The recommendations maintained the integrity of the accommodation review process. The supporting rationale provided by the Accommodation Review Committee guided the decision making process.
• JK to Grade 12 on the one site at St. Benedict CSS permits increased opportunities for professional development, teacher collaboration and staff specialization
• JK to Grade 12 on the one site at St. Benedict CSS creates more opportunities for cooperative education, peer tutoring, “fast tracking,” interventions for at risk and disengaged students, and seamless transition for French Immersion students wishing
regular programming
• Two large elementary schools (St. Francis and St. Benedict) with dual track programming are beneficial to the Board as it provides parents and students with more options
• A renovated St. David School would enhance partnerships with First Nations communities within the Board’s jurisdiction.
• The recommendations implement the Ministry of Education’s direction that effective programming must be viewed as a continuum that minimizes the number of times a student would transition as he or she progresses from JK to Grade 12. In fact, the JK to Grade 12
single campus concept would be unique to the South/Central community.
• A state of the art Green School will be fuly compliant with the Ontario Disabilities Act(ODA) with enhanced programming such as music, drama, theatre, technology, day care,be fore and after programs, and superior sports facility.
• The larger population of Grade 7 and 8 students and the proximity of the secondary school creates an opportunity for program enhancements
• Access to specialized facilities (technology areas, cafeteria, double-gym, sports programs and fields)
• Expansion of program offerings and flexible spaces to meet changing program needs
• Expansion of resources in classrooms and optimal learning opportunities for all students
• Interaction with a larger community learners
• Larger blocks of uninterrupted teaching time
• Expansion of co-curricular activities for all students
• Potential of enhanced partnerships with the City of Greater Sudbury
The Multi Media Resource Centre would provide equipment for students to have a more hands on style of interaction encouraging new learning opportunities. This Centre would enable the Board to provide both elementary and secondary students with 21st Century skills and learning opportunities directed toward all career pathways.
“The creation of a new “green school” and the renovations to St. Francis and St. David Catholic Schools will enhance educational programs within these facilities which will provide the students under our care with a Catholic education that is of the highest quality possible,” stated McCullough.