At St. David Catholic Elementary School it takes a community of parents and teachers working together to create a safe, friendly school environment. The St. David School Catholic Parent Council believes that a positive school climate exists when all members of the school community feel safe, included and accepted, and all members of the school community actively promote positive behaviour and respectful interactions. Theresa Roussell, Parent Council Chair says, “All students, parents, and school staff have the right to be safe, and to feel safe, in their school community. But with this right comes the responsibility to contribute to a positive school climate”.
During Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week – November 18-22, 2013 – students, school staff and parents were encouraged to learn more about bullying and its effect on student learning and well-being.
St. David School would like to thank all community partners who work to make St. David School a safe and accepting school: Greater Sudbury Police Services, Child and Family Center, Sudbury Health Unit, Skakoon Hardware, Men’s Club at Christ the King Church (Holy Trinity), Breakfast Clubs of Canada, Better Beginnings Better Futures, Aboriginal Best Start HUB, the DEWCAN and White Buffalo Road Healing Lodge. “When we work together in true partnership our children are the beneficiaries”, states Theresa Roussell.
St. David School Welcomes Bully Prevention Week in Partnership with a Message from Greater Sudbury Police Services
On Monday November 18, all schools throughout Ontario are celebrating the start of Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week. This is a week to help promote safe schools and positive learning environments. During Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week, students, school staff and parents are all encouraged to learn more about bullying and its effect on student learning and well-being.
St. David Catholic School and the Greater Sudbury Police Services used the launch of this week to introduce students to the “THINK” bracelet. Special Constable Denise Fraser visits the students of St. David School on a weekly basis. Together with Greater Sudbury Police Services, St. David Catholic School has implemented a crime prevention and safety program to better support its students and their families. This program helps develop positive relationships between children and police, as well as provides access for students to reliable, accurate information about the law and how it protects them.
Through this program, Mrs. Fraser provides guidance and direction to students, parents and teachers as well as provides opportunities for students to form a better understanding of the role of a police officer in the community. The police liaison program’s topics include: bullying awareness and prevention, street safety, drug and alcohol education, internet safety, cyber crime and law awareness.
This week, the THINK program was introduced. The THINK program is a program sponsored by the Greater Sudbury Police Service. Each student was give a bracelet with the word “THINK” on it.
According to Mrs. Fraser, “we want children to THINK when they are addressing someone or talking to someone about someone. The first letter is T which stands for true. Truth is very important. If what a student is saying is not true and based on gossip it is not worth saying in the first place.
The next letter is H. H stands for hurtful. We are stressing to all students that they need to ensure their words are not hurtful to others. Calling someone names or gossiping about them hurts their feelings. I stands for illegal. Be aware of your actions. Words can be spoken verbally or electronically. On Facebook, twitter or in a text it is it illegal to threaten someone. Ask yourself, is what I am saying illegal? Is it defamation?
The N stands for is it really necessary. Life is too short. We should spend our precious seconds during the day doing things that bring joy and happiness to ourselves and others. Finally, K stands for kindness. Let’s start being kind to each other so that we can erase the bullying that exists in our schools.”
The students of St. David Catholic Elementary School embraced Mrs. Fraser’s message and proudly wore their THINK bracelets throughout the day. They hope all schools embrace Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week and start to live by the THINK bracelet motto.
That's a Wrap at S.C.C. – 112 Thousand Cans to Fill Sudbury Food Bank Shelves
Once again, the food drive at St. Charles College was a smashing success. Together with its feeder schools, 112 thousand cans were raised for the Sudbury Food Bank – smashing the goal of collecting 60 thousand cans in less than a week.
The food drive began more than twenty-five years ago, and its founder, former student Jim Szilva still takes part in the drive with his children at the school.
The school also teams up with Q92 and KISS 105.3 as well as the students at St. Raphael, St. David, St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. Paul, St. John and Pius XII Catholic Elementary Schools.
Students collect a combination of canned foods and cash – the cash portion totalled 15 thousand dollars this year.
Stacking Cans from the Ground Up at St. Charles College
St. Charles College students and soon-to-be Cards are on a mission from October 7 to October 11 to collect 60 thousand cans of non-perishable food to feed the hungry in our city. The more than 950 students at the school, along with students at several of its feeder schools are helping tackle the huge feat.
With a professional development day scheduled for Friday, October 11, it’s an even more daunting and onerous task to average 15 000 cans per day for the next four school days with a wrap-up aimed for Thursday, October 10th.
Last year, the students shattered their goal for 60 thousand cans by delivering a whopping 121 thousand cans to the Sudbury Food Bank – making it the largest single donation in the history of the Sudbury Food Bank.
The founder of the food drive at SCC, Jim Szilva told the students that the food drive starts at the ground and works its way up with feeder schools like St. Raphael, St. David, St. Bernadette, St. Andrew, St. Paul, St. John and Pius XII working with students in grades nine through to twelve in the high school to accomplish the mission. Szilva started the drive when he attended St. Charles College more than twenty-five years ago.
The school and Szilva are teamed up with local radio station Q92 and KISS 105.3 to “Stuff the Bus”.
Q92 host Melanie Dahl asked the students to remember the times their belly ached because they felt hungry. “Most of you can ask your parents for food or head to the fridge. But consider for a moment you could not do that.”
General public is invited to assist with the stuffing of the bus by visiting the city transit bus each morning between 7 and 9 a.m. at St. Charles College with monetary or canned food donations. There are some added incentives this year – including the option to fill out a ballot to win a ticket to the Sudbury Kinsmen home.
The bus will also be on location at Vrabs Independent Monday afternoon, Dumas Independent Tuesday afternoon and at the Metro on Lasalle Wednesday afternoon.
St.David Catholic Elementary School's Summer Safe Day
St.David Catholic Elementary School had its Summer Safety BBQ on Friday, June 14, 2013. This was put on by the Holy Trinity Men’s Club and SOAR (Steelworkers Organization for Active Retirees). All the students were treated to hamburgers, hotdogs, drinks and cake some of which was sponsored by Arctic Glacier (Lecoupe Ice), Dumas Independent Grocers and Sunbeam Meats. The students also got to visit with representatives from Gobbo Towing and The Greater City of Sudbury Fire Department, EMS and Police Services. Students learned about how to be safe this summer. SK students exclaimed, “This was the best day of our lives!” They had so much fun sitting in a police car, walking through an ambulance and seeing the inside of a fire truck. Some lucky students even got to operate parts of a tow truck!
St. David Students Learn About the Lenten Season
To mark the start of Lent, St. David Catholic Elementary School Grade 1 students, Zach Munoz and Isabelle Fraser, took part in an Ash Wednesday service by being marked with the symbolic sign of the cross. Teacher Jennifer Gran’s grade 4/5 class organized and helped prepare the celebration. According to Grade 6 student, Katie MacLean, “Today’s Ash Wednesday celebration helped me better understand how important it is remember the sacrifices Jesus made for us. I think it is important that we learn how to treat one another with kindness and respect and appreciate how much we have.”
During the Lenten season, students at St. David Catholic Elementary School will be participating in reflective activities and lessons about who they really are as growing Catholic citizens. The ashes serve as a reminder of actions they are sorry for and of the importance of making good choices. Father Brendan Doherty, from Christ the King Parish, conducted the celebration for the school and local community members. Father Brendan spoke about how Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent and that it is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The Gift of Giving at St. David
This year, in the true spirit of Christmas, teacher Caroline Mansourian’s Grade 7 students at St. David Catholic School dedicated themselves to purchasing gifts for young, needy children to be donated to “Salvation Army” in Sudbury. The students devoted their time and gifts to their class philanthropic project to compassionately serve their fellow Sudburians and learned much in the practice of generosity. “The students have come to value the importance of community service, and through this project of giving to those less fortunate than themselves, they have gained an understanding about providing positive support for one another and an elevated sense of human compassion,” explained Miss Mansourian.
Shoes, Shoes and more Shoes!
Box after box, bag after bag, over 1500 pairs of shoes lined the hallway ready to be sorted. As part of a social justice initiative last year, the students and staff at the Sudbury Catholic District School Board collected a multitude of shoes to donate to other students and people in need in the community. The “Sudbury Catholic Shoe-Drop” was an initiative that was launched in May of 2012 as part of Catholic Education Week and continued until the end of June. To connect with this initiative, the SCDSB also asked Catholic trustees from across the nation visiting Sudbury for the Canadian Catholic Schools’ Trustee Association A.G.M. in June to support this cause. Many came with bags full of brand new shoes that were donated from their local community shoes stores. As well, students and staff from the Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario also stepped up to the plate and sent over numerous boxes from their own shoe drives. It has taken a few months to get the shoes all to one location and preliminarily sorted, and now the task at hand is a doing a more comprehensive inventory of the shoes. Christina Kilby, the grade 8 teacher at St. David Catholic Elementary School volunteered her class to be in charge of sorting all of the shoes by size to make it easier for donation. “I knew that this activity would be a great opportunity to connect to this month’s virtue of justice,” Kilby stated. “Working with my students to service the needs of others definitely speaks to this virtue, and allows my class to be able to connect to their faith through empathy and compassion.” Once organized, the shoes will be sent to those who might need some warm and dry footwear in the Greater City of Sudbury through various charities and outlets. Barry MacDonald, Chair of the Board for the Sudbury Catholic District School Board was thrilled with the response to the call for new and gently used shoes. “What an outstanding success this has been to support those in need in our community,” MacDonald stated. “Especially as we are gearing up for the Christmas season, as well as cold and wet winter weather, this considerable donation is a true reflection of the generous and compassionate spirit of the Sudbury Catholic DSB family, as well as its partners both in the community and across the nation!”
Cardinals Share Their 'Goodness' with the Sudbury Food Bank
The line ‘Teach me goodness’ is an integral part of the St. Charles College motto. This week, the students at the school learned about goodness and shared the fruits of their labour.
The secondary school students, coupled with children in the feeder schools canvassed together for the largest school food drive in the city. The goal was to raise 60 000 cans for the Sudbury Food Bank and the Cardinals surpassed that goal with a new all-time total of 125 080 cans. This is the single biggest contribution in history to the Sudbury Food Bank.
The secondary school has hosted a food drive for twenty-seven years. It is supported by students at St. Bernadette, St. Raphael, Pius XII, St. Andrew, St. David and St Paul and St. John.
"We Stand Up to Bullying at St. David Catholic School"
September 28 is International STAND UP to Bullying Day. To date more than 3100 schools and workplaces representing more than a million people have taken part in this celebration. St. David Catholic School celebrated STAND UP TO BULLYING day by asking all students and staff to wear pink. School staff reinforced that bullying can be verbal, social, physical or can happen on the internet. Students were reminded that if they witness any bullying in the school yard, it is important that they report it to their teacher or school staff immediately. Teachers reinforced how to protect yourself from being bullied and how to support friends who are victims of bullies. “Wearing pink today represents our school message to all bullies: We are standing up as a community againstt bullying –so we are wearing our pink shirts with pride and confidence recognizing that each of us has the power to make a difference”, stated Mrs. Jennifer Gran, St. David School grade 4/5 teacher.