We are very pleased to present the Director of Education’s Annual Report for the 2021-2022 school year.
We thank our Board of Trustees, Senior Administration, staff, students, families, volunteers, community partners, and our parishes for their continued support and commitment to Sudbury Catholic. Together we are providing a caring, progressive, high quality Catholic school system that is nurturing our students – mind, body, and spirit.
Taking advantage of the sunny day, students in Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School’s grade 3/4 class had the opportunity to go for a snowshoeing adventure recently. Teacher Christina Lucciantonio said it was “a great way for the students to get some fresh air and enjoy the fresh powdery snow!”
Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School grade two teacher Tania Fay has a personal connection to Paris. On of her friends -Glenn Gervot, lives just minutes away from where the recent Paris shootings took place. Wanting to do something, Fay led the entire Holy Cross staff and students to create a piece of art that she would send to her friend in France. The school took up the challenge and sent the finished product off to Paris as well as a flag with messages of peace to be shared with the people of France and all the visitors from around the world. Gervot was thankful to receive the artwork and brought to the location of the attacks.
“Today was the day to bring to one of the November 13th shootings in Paris (that is 10mn walk from our place and saw 19 persons die) a collection a hearts and warm thoughts from a school from Canada! Thank you Tania for sending us this beautiful collection, made by ALL students from your school. It is now in a good place and should fill the scene with warm feelings from Canada.”
On Monday, May 25 the students and staff of Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School and St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School went for a walk – a walk to honour and support those fighting Cystic Fibrosis. As May is Cystic Fibrosis Month, and there are currently three students enroled at St. Benedict with the disease, the school campus decided show their support with the theme of the day being superheroes. The students and staff were encouraged to dress up as their favourite superhero while participating in the walk – the only two schools in Canada to be hosting their own. Member of the local Cystic Fibrosis organization were on hand to take part in the event with the group as well as families of some of the students. The two schools raised $1000 through a buy-out to
A Garden of Life celebration that was held on Friday during education week at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School. The Full Day Kindergarten students, teachers, educators and parents helped plant flowers and vegetables for the future FDK garden. Father Jim led the group in prayer and offered a statue of Mary to look over the garden in the years to come. It was a huge success and they look forward to caring for their garden in the weeks ahead.
This year was another great year for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure and none of it would have been possible without all of the teams who ran. 127,000 participants and volunteers came together on Run day and through the support of generous donors raised over $25 million for innovative breast cancer research, health education, and advocacy initiatives throughout Canada.
The Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School community put a team in again this year, and they collected $2374.00 towards this very worthy cause. Only a few of the members of the Holy Cross Cubs who came out for the run are pictured here. It was a great turn out for such a dreary day. Congratulations on helping to make a difference. Go Cubs Go!
Students from the grade 4/5 class at Holy Cross along with the the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) class at St.Benedict’s got together recently and did some planting. Together they sowed some seeds and established some friendships in the process!
On Tuesday, May 6th, the Grades 3 to 6 French Immersion classes from Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School brought their poetic flair out into the community. Gathering along with friends and family at Chapters, the young poets took to the microphone and read excerpts from their poetry anthologies. They also spent time in small groups, sharing their poems and talking about their writing, and explored the many wonderful books available to read in the store. Parents, grandparents, friends and families all enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate these young poets. Teachers Mme Sarmatiuk, Mme Toivonen and Mme Blais-Callaway were humbled by the energy and enthusiasm that the students brought to this writing experience, and look forward to reading more wonderful work from their students in the future.
On Tuesday, November 19th, the students in teacher Shanna Whalen’s Grade 2/3 class, Eva Scola’s class at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School, engaged in a Skype session with Ryan Hreljac, the founder of Ryan’s Well. The students are part of the School Challenge that is organized by the foundation. Their goal is to raise money to help build a well, as well as latrines, for Haiti. After watching the Ryan’s Well documentary, and learning about Ryan’s amazing dedication toward bringing clean water to Africa, the students were very excited to have the chance to talk to Ryan through Skype. They had the opportunity to ask Ryan whatever questions they wanted during the half hour session. One student, Mia Maurice, asked if she could ask Santa for money for the well. It was clear by his expression and response, that he was touched by this selfless act. Ryan was very supportive of the students, and encouraged them to choose a cause that they are passionate about, and try to make a difference. He does not consider himself to be a hero, but we do, and we are looking forward help create justice as well.
A photo taken of Ryan shortly after our Skype session.
On October 31’st 2013, students from St Benedict Catholic Secondary School visited Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School. Student Council president Brendan Sullivan, vice president and student trustee Mackenzie Connelly, and beloved mascot, Benny the Bear represented St Benedict as they read to grade 1 and 2 students in both English and french. “We thought this would be a great opportunity to bond with the students who share our campus and spread some Halloween cheer,” said Connelly.
After reading the books, Benny and the students donated them to Holy Cross and gave out Halloween stickers and high fives from Benny. “This experience has been very rewarding for us. We were able to practice our bilingualism and meet the students who will become future Bears,” stated Sullivan. “I look forward to continuing to connect our two school communities.”
