Sudbury Catholic District School Board

Category: Student Wellness

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week 2021

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Bullying in all forms is considered a serious issue that affects student learning, sense of safety and overall well-being. Having respect and kindness towards one another is extremely important for our school board because a school should be a place where everyone feels included and everyone is welcome. By providing a safe learning environment, SCDSB can ensure student success and create responsible and compassionate leaders in learning and faith to help change the world for the better.

November 21 – 27, 2021 is Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week. This week is designed to promote safe schools and positive learning environments and will encourage everyone to play their part in preventing bullying at school, online and in the community.

Yet one of the most important things to understand during these conversations of bullying, is that it’s not just something that happens at school or online – it also happens in your home and in your neighborhood as well as other places where children spend time. This week we ask everyone in our community (students, educators, staff, parents and guardians) to consider how they can play their part to prevent bullying wherever it might happen so that all children and people can learn and grow in safe, positive environments.

To help understand how you can play your part to stop bullying, please review the following resources provided by the Ministry of Education.

Resource Downloads

Information for Parents/Guardians
School Board Guide

Why Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week Matters

Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week is significant to note because it enables schools and community members to promote positive change in student learning, achievement, and well-being for a safer learning environment, which is essential to student success.

Everyone has a responsibility to stop bullying. This week is an opportunity to increase awareness of the available tools and resources that will encourage everyone to get involved with bullying prevention.

To assist in this effort, the Ministry of Education has provided themes that can be focused on each day during this week:

  • Bullying and Cyberbullying: Raising Awareness
  • Engaging the Whole School
  • Engaging Students
  • Engaging Parents, Guardians or Caregivers
  • Educator/School Staff Resources
Explore Themes

What is the Take Away?

Providing a safe environment ensures student success. Bullying Awareness and Prevention week is about spreading kindness and gratitude and being aware of what’s happening around you. Are you being accepting and inclusive? Can you do something to help someone who is being bullied or could be a bully? The leaders of tomorrow will be impacted by the leaders of today. By acknowledging bullying’s impact and finding ways to stop it, you will help keep our community rooted in respect for all.

Bullying in all forms hinders children, teens, and all individuals from fully reaching their potential and discovering the path they want to take. Sudbury Catholic Schools continues to foster acceptance, unity, and kindness in projects and organizations that aim to fight bullying and invite everyone to do their part.

Resources to Support

PREVNet

Website
Tip Sheets

Canada’s Healthy Relationships Hub

PREVNet is a national research and knowledge mobilization hub that brings together researchers and national organizations to build research capacity, assess youth relationship problems including bullying and dating violence, and promote evidence-based programs and effective policies across Canada to address and reduce youth interpersonal violence and promote healthy relationships.

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation

Website
World Kindness Day

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a small nonprofit that invests resources into making kindness the norm.

Their evidence-based Kindness in the Classroom® curriculum gives students the social and emotional skills needed to live more successful lives. Their workplace kindness calendar shows companies how easy it is to change workplace culture through simple kind gestures.

St. James Students Participate in Live Inspirational Talk with Dr. Jane Goodall

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Students in Mr. MacNeill’s grade 7 & 8 class signed up for the annual Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge. The challenge is a commitment to ongoing outdoor learning throughout the school year.  Mr. MacNeill, his students and 700 000 other students across Canada made the commitment to learning outside at least one day per week.

This year marked the 11th annual Take Me Outside to Learn Day and in partnership with Canada’s Non-profit Outdoor Learning Store and MEC, they hosted a full week of speakers, activities and events that not only engaged students but deepened their connections with Indigenous perspectives, strengthened their health and well-being with outdoor learning, and increased their knowledge on climate change and the environment. 

On Thursday October 21st, Mr. MacNeill’s class along with seven hundred classes across the country were excited to participate in a live inspirational talk and Q&A with Dr. Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. Dr. Goodall spoke about growing up without television and social media and how she spent most of her time outdoors. She stressed the importance of living in harmony with nature as it improves our mental well-being.

The Jane Goodall Institute explained the opportunity for students to participate in their Roots & Shoots funding program. Roots & Shoots focuses on Jane Goodall’s inspirational message of hope, reminding participants that every individual is important and every individual can make a difference. Through a unique 4-step program, educators lead youth from inspiration; to mapping their community for sustainability issues for people, animals and the environment; to taking action to solve those issues; and then celebrating the impact they have made. Through this journey, youth are engaged to take action on sustainability issues and become compassionate leaders.

We can’t wait to hear about the action project ideas that Mr. MacNeill’s class will discuss next week!


For more information about this initiative please visit Roots and Shoots or for additional support in filling out an application contact: christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca

Students in Mr. MacNeill’s grade 7 & 8 class listen to Jane Goodall speak as part of the 2021 Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge!

International Students & Host Families Participated in Pizza and Kahoot Games Night!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

International students & their host families enjoyed an evening of food and fun! Each family received a DIY pizza kit. Together, students and their families kneaded the fresh dough and personalized their pizza with their favourite toppings. After supper, international students from all of our secondary schools joined in via Zoom to learn about the history of pizza and to play a Kahoot trivia game about Sudbury!  We were ecstatic to discover that our students, although they haven’t been in Sudbury very long, were quite knowledgeable about our city!  We look forward to planning more fun nights with our students and families!

  • Pictured is Lo, a grade 11 student at Marymount Academy from Japan, with her host family members Bella and Tracey.
  • Pictured is Irene, a grade 11 student at St Benedict Catholic secondary student from Spain with her host sisters Emma and Audrey.

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board offers international students an opportunity to achieve a competitive academic advantage while shaping students to be the leaders of tomorrow. Students receive exceptional math, science, social science, and language instruction in first-rate, innovative labs and school facilities. Administrators, teachers, support staff, and students are committed to creating a safe and welcoming school environment to help international students feel at home in our school communities. Extracurricular highlights include championship-winning sports teams, dynamic school clubs and student committees, and outdoor adventure opportunities.

For more information about our international education program, including program options and details regarding the application process, please visit the international education website at Come to Study Interested in becoming a host family for our students? Visit the following Link 

Pictured are international students from all of our secondary schools coming together to learn about the history of pizza and play a Kahoot trivia game about Sudbury!

COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream – Education Related Projects

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board would like to acknowledge that schools in SCDSB have received COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream – Education Related Projects (CVRIS-EDU) as part of Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).

The CVRIS-EDU funding is a federal and provincial program designed to help school boards promote occupant health and safety, improve facility conditions (e.g. optimize air quality), enhance physical distancing and facilitate distance learning.

In total, the CVRIS-EDU projects will support up to $656M in projects in school boards across Ontario. We are grateful for the support of both our federal and provincial partners in supporting our ongoing efforts to ensure safe and supportive learning environments for our students, staff and community.

Eligible expenditures under the program are those that will be incurred by school boards between February 2021 and December 31, 2021, and have been approved by the federal government.  

The funds we received are being used to facilitate Ventilation Upgrades at the following schools: 

  • St. Francis
  • St. John
  • St. Anne
  • St. Albert
  • St. Charles (elementary)
  • Bishop Alexander Carter C.S.S

To learn more about the Fund, please visit

Learn more about this initiative

This project is funded in part by the Government of Ontario
This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada

Holy Trinity Students Present About Themselves During Anti-Bullying Week

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Students in Mrs. Meyer’s grade 3 class presented All About Me presentations during Anti-Bulling week. The purpose of the presentations are for students to get to know each other better, to see what they have in common with each other. Students enjoyed listening to the presentations and finding ways that they are connected with each other.

Equine Assisted Learning day for students at St. Charles College

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Students at St. Charles College spent a day last week developing communication and leadership skills with the help of horses.Grade 11 Specialist High Skills Major students studying Health and Wellness participated in Equine Assisted Learning at PMC Performance Horses in Val Caron.

EAL is a dynamic and innovative way to encourage students to develop both communication and leadership skills. It forces them to step outside of their comfort zones and collaboratively problem solve.

Teacher Mrs. Julie Dion says “Our students thoroughly enjoyed working with the horses and the immediate feedback that horses provide through their responses to students’ body language. Even some of the more hesitant students quickly became at ease with the kind and safe horses used in the program along with the reassuring guidance of the facilitators.”

Through the exercises students learned how to refine their communication skills (both physically and verbally) as well as effectively work as a team member to achieve a given goal.

Teacher Mary-Lynn Poirier says “It was wonderful to see how engaged students were with this program. There were many smiles, laughs and “aha” moments throughout the day!”

This is the second year in a row St. Charles College has worked with the team at PMC Performance Horses.

St. Charles College Food and Nutrition students transform summer berries into fall preserves

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

The St. Charles College Food and Nutrition classes have spent some time this fall harvest transforming summer berries into fall preserves. Under the guidance of teacher, Julie Jessop the students created an assortment of jams for parents, guardians or their lunch sandwiches.

The course is offered to students in grades 9 and 10 and continues with basic meal preparation in grades 11 and 12.

Teacher Julie Jessop says “there is lots planned this semester with hearty fall meals of soup, chili and roasted chicken and welcoming in the winter months with an assortment of comfort foods such as mac & cheese and amazing Christmas cookies featuring ginger snaps and short breads.”

Students and Staff take a stand against bullying!

Posted on by Carlee Vendramin

Staff and students wore their favourite pink shirts to celebrate #PinkShirtDay. Pink Shirt Day is celebrated each February to take a stand against bullying and promote inclusivity.

SPS Officer Cheryl Kennelly stopped in at Holy Trinity for a visit and a discussion with some of our students about why it is so important to spread kindness to others not only today, but every day.
St. James staff stood together to promote Pink Shirt Day.

St. David hosts Children’s Mental Health Week Proclamation!

Posted on by admin

As part of Catholic Education Week, St. David Catholic Elementary School helped proclaim Children’s Mental Health Week alongside Child and Family Centre. The theme of this year’s week is getting back to nature. To demonstrate the importance of this, the group participated in Medicine Wheel teachings and completed a nature walk.

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