The Sudbury Catholic District School Board Parent Involvement Committee is excited to announce the next session for our Virtual Engagement Series for Parents & Educators. Please see the attached poster to learn more about our upcoming sessions.
Next Session: Steps to Success: Exploring Secondary Programs and Pathways
Join us Wednesday, March 30th from 6-7 pm on Zoom to learn about secondary programming and the many options that are offered. SCDSB will take you on a virtual journey examining De-Streaming, fantastic opportunities in secondary education, and how to get future-ready with XELLO. XELLO is an engaging university/ college and career readiness software that unlocks every student’s potential by opening their eyes to endless possibilities.
Registration is required to attend this event. Sign up now and get ready to learn, and make a difference for yourself and others. At the end of the session, students, parents, and educators will confidently walk away with the knowledge and ability to navigate secondary and post-secondary opportunities better than ever before!
In preparation for Sudbury Catholic District School Board’s annual budget discussions, we are asking members in our community to identify areas that have been working well and those that are their top priorities for the next school year. By supplying feedback, it will provide Sudbury Catholic Schools the input we need to help guide our planning for the 2022-23 budget. The deadline to submit your feedback is April 8th, 2022. To help us gather feedback, we are using the online tool, ThoughtExchange.
It is extremely important that everyone has a chance to share their perspective as it will help us to understand what’s most important to the school community. Please visit the link below to share your thoughts.
Feel free to include as many thoughts as you like. Click the Participate button to share your thoughts and then rate at least 20-30 of the thoughts that others have shared. Please come back often until April 8th to rate new ideas.
Quick Tips:
This exchange is confidential. Your thoughts will be shared, but not your identity.
Please be polite and respectful as you share and rate thoughts.
If you see a thought that is rude, hurtful or identifies a person or group, you can report it by clicking in the upper right corner of the thought.
You do not need to rate all thoughts in this exchange. It is appreciated and recommended to rate around 30 over the time the exchange is open.
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board appreciates your input. By helping us today, you make a difference in the planning of our future.
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board Parent Involvement Committee is excited to announce the return of our Virtual Engagement Series for Parents & Educators. Please see the attached poster to learn more about our upcoming sessions.
Next Session: Cyber Safety
Join us Wednesday, March 23rd at 6-7 pm on Zoom for our first session, “Cyber Safety,” led by one of the industry’s foremost experts, Danny Pehar.
As the architect for the Cybercrime Equation, Danny works closely with the Toronto Police Cyber task force and the FBI cyber task force to help control cybersecurity. His extensive cybersecurity knowledge, combined with his extensive background as a best-selling author, comedian, and motivational speaker will garner an experience you do not want to miss. Registration is required to attend this event. Sign up now and get ready to laugh, learn, and make a difference for yourself and others. By attending this session, you will learn how to safely protect yourself, your colleagues and your family from digital threats.
The Sudbury Catholic District School Board was invited, along with other partners in education across the province, to take a stand on Thursday, March 10, 2022, as “#StandWithUkraine Blue and Yellow Day”. On this day, students and staff were encouraged to wear blue and yellow clothing and, where possible, donate a toonie to the “Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.”
We were grateful we could join together as a Board and take a united stance with our colleagues and students across the province by sharing our thoughts and prayers to all those affected by this ongoing tragedy. We began our day by coming together in a system-wide prayer for peace. Together, we prayed for those impacted by this invasion and for a quick resolution to the conflicts, destruction, and deaths being experienced by the people of Ukraine. We prayed for peace, and we prayed for God’s love to shine through and touch the hearts of everyone on this earth. We invite you to continue to pray with us by using our system-wide prayer.
In addition to participating in the province-wide blue and yellow day, Sudbury Catholic students, staff, and families have actively created ways to support and stand with Ukraine. Schools have hopped right in to provide support by developing fundraisers, participating in various awareness activities, inciting prayer, etc. We are proud to take this time to highlight a sample of some of the different types of actions completed by members of our community.
Secondary Highlights
St. Benedict
Students in the learning support program at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School, created Ukrainian themed keychains. After completing their keychains, these gifts were hand-delivered to members of their community.
In addition to creating Ukrainian themed keychains, St. Benedict chose to #StandWithUkraine by hosting a blue and yellow dress-down day on March 9, 2022. On this day, they managed to raise $2600 to support Ukrainian Humanitarian Efforts. We want to provide a special shout-out to the student council who originally came up with the idea of this day and members of faculty, including Joanne Burke, James MacNeil and Megan McMillan, who helped organize this effort. Fantastic job, Bears!
MMA faculty wear blue and yellow in support of Ukraine!
MMA regals wore blue and yellow in solidarity with other Catholic schools across the province, and thanks to the donations, the school raised $500 as a school community. Classes also created blue and yellow cranes to show their support.
Bishop Alexander Carter
In addition to having a dress-down day for students and staff at Bishop Alexander Carter, their school community raised donations by offering pizza concessions to help further their actions and raise even more proceeds to stand with Ukraine. All proceeds from these fundraising efforts will be donated to #HELPUKRAINENOW.
St. Charles College
Cardinals swapped their red uniform to participate in Thursday’s blue and yellow day. In addition to showing support through their clothing, students in Ms. Dzuirban’s class created a beautiful poster supporting the people of Ukraine!
Elementary Highlights
St. Paul
St. Paul Students take time to snap a shot during #StandWithUkraine Blue and Yellow Day!
St. Charles
St. Francis
Students and staff at St. Francis School had a Canada Day-themed spirit day. They thought it was imperative to highlight that they stand with Ukraine as Canadians and as St. Francis Flames. Together as a school community, they jointly raised $408.00 for the families of Ukraine.
St. John
In addition to wearing blue and yellow in solidarity with other Catholic schools across the province, St. John School ran a “Popcorn for Peace” campaign from March 7 – March 10. With a goal in mind to raise $1000.00, their school community quickly jumped up, or should we say “popped up,” to meet the challenge. Offering popcorn sacks for a minimum donation of $2.00 per bag, their school community amazingly raised $1250.00 in just four days. The only thing that makes this news better is seeing so many smiling faces. Knowing this money is being donated to St. Mary’s Catholic Ukraine Church to help Ukrainian people makes us smile as well. Go, Jaguars, go!!
Students in St. John’s English FDK class created blue and yellow flags in honour of the people in Ukraine. They learned that different flags represent different places in the world and that right now, the Ukrainian flag is a symbol of people who need our prayers.
Holy Trinity
Students at Holy Trinity showed their support for friends in Ukraine during Winter Fun Day on March 10. Ms. Skelly’s class made a fantastic sign in the colours of the Ukrainian flag. A donation jar was also created in blue and yellow, resulting in a $331 donation generously brought forward by various students, staff and parents at Holy Trinty. Good job Redbirds!
Holy Cross
Holy Cross has been very busy. Grade 6 students Abigail and Sara approached the school with what they could do to help and support Ukraine, and together they put their heads together and decided that they would be able to help by constructing and selling blue and yellow hand-made bracelets and pins for their school community. This not only provided a way to raise money for donations to the cause, but it was also a visible way for Holy Cross School to stand in support of the people of Ukraine.
“I really wanted to help the people of Ukraine, and making pins and bracelets is one of the ways I knew I could help”. – Abigail Debruyn, Grade 6 student at Holy Cross
After countless hours of hard work, Abby and Sara’s beautiful bracelets and pins were up for grabs, and their fellow students were quick to swipe them. Both staff and students eagerly lined up in the front-hall entrance to make their donations. The girls also passed around the school at lunchtime to ensure everyone had an opportunity to donate and recieve a pin or bracelet. Thanks to the efforts of these extraordinary young leaders, Abby and Sarah were able to raise $2252.05 that will be donated to St. Mary’s parish, who will, in turn, donate the money to humanitarian efforts.
“I want to help in any way I can because it is the right thing to do”. – Sara Wolski, Grade 6 student at Holy Cross
In addition to Sara and Abby, students at the school continued to support the Ukraine campaign by baking and decorating cookies. The cookies were sold door to door and allowed the school to raise an additional $450 to support Ukraine. Holy Cross would like to thank everyone who took the time to generously donate.
We all have a responsibility for peace!
At Sudbury Catholic District School Board, we follow and promote the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations. The Ontario Catholic School Graduate is a responsible citizen who gives witness to Catholic social teaching by promoting peace, justice and the sacredness of human life. This involves acting morally and legally as a person formed in Catholic traditions, witnessing Catholic social teaching by promoting equality, democracy, and solidarity for a just, peaceful and compassionate society, and respecting and affirming the diversity and interdependence of the world’s peoples and cultures.
There have been countless examples of how different communities exhibit this expectation and stand with the people of Ukraine during this time of need. It is our sincere hope that by highlighting some examples of how our schools have supported Ukraine, we can continue to work together as responsible citizens on this earth and inspire others to stand in solidarity to end the violence and suffering of the people of Ukraine.
Upon its completion, St. Charles College students proudly showed off their Stand With Ukraine poster.
Our Lenten journey began on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022, with Ash Wednesday! Sudbury Catholic District School Board honoured the start of this season with a morning prayer service. Our church tradition shares that on Ash Wednesday, we are invited to be marked with the sign of the cross on our foreheads. This symbolizes our understanding that we make mistakes and that we will take this time of Lent to grow in holiness, so we are prepared to celebrate Easter with great joy. Bishop Thomas Dowd also joined us and reinforced this message, reminding us that Lent is a time to make our hearts a worthy place for the Holy Spirit to live.
The day was also one where we joined in prayer for the situation in Ukraine. Pope Francis sent out an invitation for the world to join together for a Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace. He asked that we especially pray for those suffering, be aware that we are all brothers and sisters, and implore God for an end to the war.
For those members of our community who were unable to attend our service yesterday, you can still participate by watching a virtual recording of our Ash Wednesday service. We’ll also continue joining together for prayer on Monday mornings. We invite you to view the following poster to see a schedule of our future virtual prayer services taking place throughout Lent.
