Staff, students and parents joined together to give our school a big hug, literally!
The hug was a part of Catholic Education Week, and is experiential programming by Heartspeak. The Embrace Your School initiative is about getting students involved in taking an active role in improving their school, and creating an opportunity to invite members of the school community to join them in creating a caring, safe and accepting school.
Students at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School in Chelmsford had the opportunity to admire a commemorative door that arrived at their school. This symbolic door contains beautifully laser-etched panels representing every school in the Sudbury Catholic District School Board. The door unites all of our schools with this year’s Catholic Education Week theme “Opening Doors of Mercy”, which aligns with Pope Francis’s declaration that this be a Holy Year.
This stunning piece of woodcraft has students, parents and visitors stopping in their tracks to marvel in it’s beauty. Several students shared what they thought of the door. Emma Carpenter, Grade 6, said “this door shows us that each school is different in their own way”.
Nicole Walker, Grade 8 explained, “I like how the door represents our Catholic school communities and how much we love each other through God by showing each other mercy”.
Andrew O’Brien, Grade 5 shared that “this door reminds us that the door to God is always open”.
Delia Ross-Arseneault, Grade 6, stated “I like how the door shows us all of the Catholic schools around Sudbury that come together to pray to God”.
Students gathered in the gymnasium for a brief introduction and prayer service. The door was then sent to St. Alexander’s Parish for a school mass and shared with the parishioners on the weekend and will return to St. Charles for another week before moving on.
To celebrate the Year of Mercy, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board ‘Door of Mercy’, created by SCDSB staff has been “traveling” throughout the system and is on display at our schools and some parishes. Launched in December at St. David Catholic Elementary School, the door is pictured here at St. Alexander Parish with St. Charles Catholic Elementary School Principal David Soehner and SCDSB Trustee Ray Desjardins.
With Christmas just around the corner, families at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School came together to generously support people in their community who are less fortunate. Donations of canned goods were collected over the 3 weeks of Advent to support the local food bank, Friendship House. Last year, the school collected 3014 cans and the goal this year was to beat that number by 1 can. With true school spirit, RAMS collected 3200 cans!! Way to Go RAMS!
Showing true RAM spirit, students at St. Charles Catholic Elementary outdid themselves again! Under the direction of teachers Holly-Anne Swain and Emily Maxwell, the Sock and Mitt Crew, made up of Intermediate students, created posters and announcements to encourage students to bring in new socks and mitts to be donated to the Salvation Army. The crew collected over 800 pairs of socks and mitts to be donated to the Salvation Army this Christmas.
Way to go RAMS!
During Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week (November 16-20), students at St. Charles have been engaged many activities to raise awareness around the topic of bullying.
Students in all three FDK classes, with help from their teacher, Ms. Posso, have taken a pledge to stop bullying! They have read books and talked about what bullying means and together made this pledge:
I am a kid againstt bullying! And I will…
– Speak up when I see bullying
– Reach out to others who are bullied
– Be a friend whenever I see bullying.
Students in Grades 2-8 have each created a pink shirt with a message about bullying on them, and these shirts have been strung up down the halls to show they are “Hanging Bullying Out to Dry”. On Wednesday November 18, there was a flourish of pink throughout the school as staff and students wore their pink shirts.
Other activities include a visit from Sergent Randy Hosken from the GSPS, a MADD presentation for students in grades 6-8 and students in grades 4-8 gave their input into our Safe School Survey called OurSchool (formerly Tell Them From Me). Also, Amanda Lantheir, a SCDSB child and youth worker continued to share with groups about the FRIENDS program and Kelso’s Choices, and students learned Chris D’Souza’s new song “I Want You to be Nice to Me”.
Staff and students at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School have been on a mission to raise money for a good cause. On October 16th, students attended a presentation by Tammy Pomroy, a former Sudbury resident who now lives in Cambodia. The presentation was about a school that Mrs. Pomroy founded called ABCs and Rice. This school is a reverse tuition school where some of the poorest students in the area are not able to attend because they must stay at home to help earn money. At ABCs and Rice, students get paid in rice at the end of each month for their attendance.
Students and staff were moved by the presentation and chose to do a fundraiser to help the students at ABCs and Rice out. Students and staff had a hat day, and brought in donations of a toonie to wear a hat in class. The staff decided to set a goal of $600, and if the school met that goal, Ms. Neuts, an EA would get a pie thrown in her face. Then Ms. Swain joined in and raised the goal to $1000 and she would get pied as well. Next, Mr. Peplinski agreed for $1100 and finally, Mr. Belanger for $1200. Vice Principal Laura Stirrett said she was very proud of how staff and students joined together to support ABCs and Rice, and a big part of that success was due to the enthusiasm of staff in helping us reach those goals along with the generosity of the families at St. Charles Elementary. In all, showing true RAM spirit, staff and students raised over $1400 for ABCs and RIce!!
Mrs. Pomroy was excited to get the news, stating that “With a donation of $1400, St. Charles Elementary has sponsored every child in the school to have rice for the next 2 months!”
Way to go RAMS!
For more information about ABCs and Rice, please go to: www.abcrice.org
This year’s students and staff at St. Charles Catholic Elementary School may not have had the opportunity to meet Johnathan Hetu, a student who passed away in 2004 after a two year battle with leukemia, however his memory continues to live on each year as the school holds its annual Johnathan Hetu walk. Teacher David Nicholls felt compelled to do something to honour Johnathan’s memory and so he started the Johathan Hetu walk 11 years ago, and has continued it every year. Funds are collected and donated to the Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer. Principal David Soehner was overwhelmed with the support that his school brings forward. “Johnathan’s spirit is our inspiration each and every year,” explained Soehner. “We are so proud of our students and staff for their outstanding efforts once again in fundraising for such an important group, as well as honouring Johnathan and his family. We are overwhelmed with gratitude as our school community has once again showed its tremendous Ram spirit, and allowed us to give back to an outstanding organization that is the N.O.F.C.C. as well as remember and celebrate Johnathan.” This year’s the school collected over $6200 bringing the grand total to over $65,000 in eleven years.
To prepare for this year’s Catholic Education Week theme, “Exploring Paths of Joy”, St. Charles Catholic Elementary School students created their own unique footprint to symbolize their personal journey within our school community. The footprints were put together by Mme Bouzane’s class to make a giant quilt!
Students in all grades enjoy walking past the mural to admire the many patterns and designs and to find their own!
The St. Charles Catholic Elementary school community came together to pray the Living Rosary to kick off Catholic Education Week 2015. Students in grades 6, 7 and 8 made up the individual beads of the rosary, surrounding the remaining students with the peaceful prayer.
The word rosary means “crown of roses”. Our Lady has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary they are giving Her a beautiful rose and that each complete rosary makes Her a crown of roses. The Holy Rosary is considered a perfect prayer because within it lies the awesome story of our salvation. With the rosary, in fact we meditate the mysteries of joy, of sorrow and the glory of Jesus and Mary. It’s a simple prayer, humble so much like Mary. The heavenly Mother has invited us to say the Rosary as a powerful weapon againstt evil, to bring us to true peace.
