Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week 2021

Posted on November 25, 2021 by admin

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.

Students Send Postcards to Space!

Posted on November 25, 2021 by admin

Ms. Reale’s Grade 1 & 2 students at Holy Cross School had fun learning about the solar system! Students listened to the story, “There’s No Place Like Space” during story time. Following, as a class, the students imagined living in space and created rules that they would need to follow to keep safe.

Here are some of their rules for living in space:

Stay together as a group.
Always be kind.
Always put your space gear away when not being used.
Don’t talk to aliens!
Always wear your space safety belt.
Be helpful.

Students then picked the rule they felt was the most important and designed their very own postcard that will be sent into space. These postcards will be returned and upon return, each postcard will get stamped with an official “Flown to Space” stamp.

Club for the Future will send the postcards into low Earth orbit on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. Watch the New Shepard Rocket launch and land with thousands of postcards.

Thanks to a partnership between Let’s Talk Science and Club for the Future, Canadian students are invited to design a postcard that will be sent into orbit. Now is the chance for students to own something that has been to space and back. There is no deadline for this project, the earlier you submit your postcards, the earlier they will return.There are many ways you can use this activity with your students. It can be a fun craft or mindfulness activity that also sparks reflection and creativity. If you would like to have a grade appropriate lesson presented to your class can contact christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca

Beards Bakery Brings Holy Cross Student’s Donut Design to Life!

Posted on November 17, 2021November 17, 2021 by

Meet Nate, the Donut Designer!

When he is not inventing a new donut called “The Magnolia” at Beards Bakery, he is a busy Grade 3 student in Mrs. Whalen’s Grade 3/4 class at Holy Cross School.

Pictured: Holy Cross Student and Donut Designer, Nate proudly shows off his “Magnolia” donuts outside Beards Bakery

Why did Nate create a donut, and what does this have to do with school? Well, it all started with an idea and a little persuasion.

This past school year, Mrs. Whalen taught Nate and his classmates about the author’s purpose, which involves concentrating on convincing others and practicing persuasion through persuasive writing.

To help students understand persuasion, Mrs. Whalen had an idea to get each student to design a donut with the goal that once their creation was complete, they had to convince their other classmates why their donut design was the best. This would put their writing skills to the test and make them ponder how they could best convince and persuade their classmates using the skills they had learned from their lessons.

Pictured: Beards Bakery’s Magnolia Donuts

To make this persuasive writing activity a reality, Mrs. Whalen reached out to Beards Bakery, located on Kathleen Street, at the end of August to see if the owner would be interested in helping out.

Jess, Beards Bakery owner, quickly and enthusiastically agreed, and the plan was set in motion!

Under Mrs. Whalen’s instruction, students illustrated and labelled their donuts and then wrote a paragraph to persuade their audience (classmates) to believe that their donut design was the best. Following this, students presented their donut designs, and each student voted for their favourite. The activity was extra exciting because Beards agreed to serve the winning donut at their storefront on Nov. 6th.

Fast forward to this November. Students then worked on designing a donut using nothing but their imagination and a toppings list provided by Beards.

The students all did a fabulous job using their words and illustrations to persuade the class. Nate was crowned the ultimate donut designer and was excited to have Beard’s Bakery bring his winning donut, “The Magnolia,” to life. What made the occasion more fun was his brother’s 10th Birthday fell on Nov. 6th and was celebrated with a specially designed Beards donut.

Nate’s family ordered many donuts to share with their friends and family. The rest of the class also had the option to visit Beards to purchase a donut on the day. A HUGE thanks to Beards Bakery for embracing this idea and helping us out. ‘Donut’ forget that you’re fantastic!

Remembrance Day 2021

Posted on November 11, 2021 by admin

This year for Remembrance Day, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board (SCDSB) paid respects to the extraordinary men and women whose services and sacrifices will never be forgotten through preparing a virtual Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11th. The service, which used various forms of prayer, readings, music, and video, acknowledged the day’s importance and was a powerful social connection that included various schools participating in its production.

Following today’s events, the SCDSB has provided a clip of our opening video that was viewed at our virtual ceremony.

The following presentation highlights historic clippings and images of war veterans as well as beautiful artwork and visual displays that our school’s students and staff brought forward this year.

In addition to the video, please see the gallery of photos below. The gallery demonstrates wonderful examples of various activities and lessons school’s had participated in leading up to and on this important day of reflection.

Special thanks is given to the staff and students whose provided contributions enabled us to put together an amazing virtual service for our entire board. Thank you everyone!

Remembrance Day 2021 Video

Remembrance Day 2021 Gallery

St. James

Marymount Academy

Holy Trinity

Holy Cross

St. Benedict’s

Bishop Carter Alexander

St. Albert Adult Learning Centre

St. Charles College

St. John

St. Joseph

Immaculate Conception

St. Paul

Let’s Talk Science – STEM Storytime Grades K-3

Posted on October 20, 2021 by admin

Register now for weekly STEM Storytime series on Tuesdays at 1pm ET in English! Each week a Let’s Talk Science Outreach student will read a storybook followed by a hands-on activity.

If you cannot make it to a live session, feel free to register and you will be sent a link to the recording afterwards.

Last week, Grade 1 & 2 students in Ms. Reale’s class at Holy Cross listened to Laura Dricoll’s book, “Javier’s Hummingbird” and then completed a hands-on science activity about bird feeders!

You can find upcoming listings on the events section of the Let’s Talk Science website: https://letstalkscience.ca/events?type=storytime.

If you require more information about this initiative please contact:

christina.raso@sudburycatholicschools.ca

PA Day On Oct. 25th

Posted on October 8, 2021October 12, 2021 by

Monday, October 25th PA Day

We are pleased to announce that the SCDSB’s Monday, October 25th PA day will focus on mental health and wellness.

As we continue in this time of Covid-19, all staff will report to their home school for a combination of small gatherings where public health guidelines will be followed and zoom for portions of our day. See the pdf below for more details.

Schedule of our Day

8:30 – 9:30	Prayer and Reflection
9:30 – 9:45	Break
9:45 – 10:45	Keynote Presentation: Boosting your Positive Outlook (Zoom)
10:45 – 11:00	Break
12:00 – 11:00	School Improvement Planning (Principal led)
12:00 – 1:00	Lunch
1:00 – 3:00	Supporting Minds: An Educators Guide to Promoting Students Mental Health and Well Being (Principal led)

Monday, October 25th PA Day

Orange Shirt Day At Holy Cross

Posted on October 1, 2021October 14, 2021 by

On September 30th, 2021, the Holy Cross school took it’s first preliminary step in learning about the history of residential schools.

On the day, both students and staff wore orange to recognize and begin to understand the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.

The opening exercises for the day focused on a moment to reflect on the historic truth and its lasting impact. Everyone also observed a very special drumming version of the national anthem. Educators also took the time to move past the orange shirt, explaining the relevance of the day and what it means to different people to help empower our community and children with educational resources as they observe this day.

Students of Madame Malafarina at Holy Cross wearing their orange shirts on September 30th.

Students and Staff Embrace Franco-Fun Day

Posted on June 11, 2021 by admin

Staff and students took part in Franco- Fun Day: a day dedicated to celebrating French language and Franco-Ontarian culture! Here are just a few ways our schools joined in on the fun:

St. Charles College students were treated to a live concert by Steph Paquette!

Holy Trinity Catholic Elementary School staff and students got into the spirit by wearing white and green in honour of the Franco-Ontarian flag.

a collage of students and staff wearing white and green.

Immaculate Conception Catholic School students participated in a workshop by Ariko. They loved learning how to play the spoons and learning the dance steps. They listened to the song Mon beau drapeau and discussed the meaning of the Franco-Ontarian flag. The students then drew their own flag while listening to les chansons à répondre!

Sudbury Catholic District School Board Lowers Flags in Honour of BC Residential School Victims

Posted on May 31, 2021 by admin

The Sudbury Catholic District School Board joins communities across Canada in honouring and praying for the 215 Indigenous children whose bodies were discovered on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Tk-emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation territory.

To honour their lives, flags at all SCDSB schools and board buildings will be lowered for nine days (May 31-June 8) – a total of 215 hours to represent each of the 215 children. As a sign of our collective mourning, the Board will also be participating in the National moment of silence at 2:15 p.m. today as we honour and acknowledge the children who never returned home.

“Today, we honour the lives of the 215 Indigenous children who will not be coming home. It is a heartbreaking tragedy and while there are no words to truly express the deep mourning those impacted are experiencing, we humbly offer our prayers that they and their families will find healing. We also acknowledge the pain and trauma this brings to all Indigenous peoples across the country, and we recognize the need for ongoing truth and reconciliation. May God continue to watch over the 215 souls and their families,” said Michael Bellmore, Chair of the Board of the Trustees for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.

“All Sudbury Catholic District School Boards schools and facilities are standing in solidarity with communities across Canada in honouring the 215 Indigenous children. While it is indeed an unspeakable tragedy, we send continued prayers and healing to all those affected and to the Indigenous communities in the Sudbury area and across the country. We have lowered all flags for 215 hours and will join the National moment of silence at 2:15 p.m. As a system, we are also wearing orange shirts on Wednesday, June 2 and will unite in a collective prayer service as a reminder that every child matters,” said Joanne Bénard, Director of Education for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ Attempt Event 2021!

Posted on May 28, 2021 by admin

What do these three young men have in common?

They just submitted their video to smash a world record!

Skills Ontario is excited to announce a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS attempt event. We would like to invite everyone to participate in making history by helping them to break the record for Largest Online Video Chain of People Passing and Using a Screwdriver!

The call went out yesterday to Sudbury Catholic staff and students to help Skills Ontario. Both staff and students have been eagerly participating. Kent MacNeill, remote learning teacher assigned the challenge to all his grade 7 & 8 science students!

Anyone of any age, across the province can join the fun! Skills Ontario’s minimum goal is to receive 251 individual video submissions.

In order, to secure the record please make sure all guidelines are followed, refer to the Educational Guide & Attempt Guidelines and video. For additional information, refer to: Guinness World Record Attempt 2021

All participants must sign a photo/video release form when uploading their video. Participants 18 years and younger must have a parent/guardian sign the form.

All participants will be added into a draw for a chance to win 1 of 20 $50 prizes!

Deadline to submit is June 2^nd 2021!