St. Cecilia Community Messenger

Mon, Dec 16, Day 2

Tues, Dec 17, Day 3

Wed, Dec 18, Day 4

Thurs, Dec 19, Day 5

• Art Walk 5:30-7:30 All families welcome

Fri, Dec 20 - PG Day, no classes

Jan 6: Classes Resume, Epiphany

Jan 13: New Year's Liturgy

Jan 16: School Council Meeting 6:30 PM.

Jan 17: Educational Assistant's Day

Jan 23: Progress Reports Issued

Jan 27: Coco Brooks and Spolumbo's fundraiser begins

Jan 30: PT Conferences Evening

Jan 31: PT Conferences - No classes

Feb 13-14: Teacher's Convention

Feb 20: School Council Meeting; 9:30 AM.

Feb 24: Last day for Coco Brooks and Spolumbo's

Feb 26: Pink Shirt Day

Please support the efforts of fundraising for our new school playground, by purchasing a light in our glow up campaign! We have a a tree outside the main front door, and a light can be dedicated to a special loved one. See details below.

Join Us for St. Cecilia's Pub Night and Silent Auction!

Mark your calendars for February 8th, 2025, as we host a fun-filled evening for an incredible cause—supporting our playground project!

Your ticket includes a $7.99 voucher, but this event is more than just a night out. We’re hoping to see attendees who are excited to participate in our silent auction and contribute to raising funds for our playground.

This is a chance to come together as a community, have a great time, and make a meaningful impact for our children. Let’s make it a night to remember—see you there!

Pub Night Ticket Form.pdf

As part of our efforts to spread joy for the coming of Christ during the holiday season, each class has been making handmade Christmas cards and will take a winter walk in the neighborhood next week and during the last week before the holidays. Please watch for information coming from your child's classroom teacher about this activity and if you are available to volunteer to supervise, that would be most appreciated.

Hello Families,

The Christmas holiday season can be a time of joy and excitement, but it can also bring about stress and a range of other emotions for both adults and children. Please click on the link to view a series of articles that can assist us all to find a bit of peace during this period.

Take Care 🙂

Ps Andrea and Denis,

Can we include these numbers somewhere in the newsletter, as part of my message or somewhere that lists help available to families?

Community resources

• 211 – City information for any & all needs (MH support, food, financial support, community programming etc)
• Distress Centre - 403-266-4357 (call & text)
• Eastside Community Mental Health Services – Call: 403-299-9699 Text: 587-315-5000
• Calgary Food Bank - 403-253-2055
• Kids Help Phone – Call: 1-800-668-6868 Text: 686868

https://www.getmanatee.com/holiday-toolkit

As of Monday, Dec 9 we have collected 111.00. Thank you very much for your support for the needy families at St. John Paul II.

Family Support

As part of our service projects for this school year, St. Cecilia has committed to helping to support several families from the Castleridge Community and John Paul II school.

Here are a few details on the families for whom we are collecting donations. As a school community and as a teaching opportunity for our students we are requesting alms (cash donation, we suggest a toonie per child) for these families. Families may submit a small donation to the office and we will keep the donations until Dec 20 when it will be delivered to St. John Paul II.

• Family 1: Philippines-Guatemala. 8 family members.
• Family 2: Israel. 3 family members
• Family 3: Eritrea, 4 family members
• Family 4: Ethiopia, 6 family members

At our Advent liturgy last week, Father Paul spoke to students about the importance of giving to the needy during Advent. Students understand that giving alms to the poor help to strengthen our Faith in Jesus and by folliowing HIS example, we come closer to him. Indeed, this season is about giving, not receiving. We thank you for your donations to our needy families and please note that we are now accepting donations at the office. Thank you!!

Catholics are encouraged to give alms during Advent as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas. This practice is rooted in the tradition of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, which are key components of both Advent and Lent12.

Almsgiving during Advent serves several purposes:

1. Witness to Charity: It is a way to show love and compassion towards those in need, reflecting the fraternal charity that is central to Christian teachings3.
2. Act of Justice: Almsgiving is seen as a work of justice that pleases God, helping to address the inequalities and needs within the community3.
3. Spiritual Preparation: By giving alms, Catholics prepare their hearts and minds for the coming of Christ, both in the celebration of His birth and His eventual second coming2.

This tradition emphasizes the importance of caring for others and living out the values of the Gospel in everyday life.

(Courtesy of MS Co Pilot)

Each year Alberta schools are required to analyze data and make plans for continual school improvement. Our school plan flows from the School District plan and is framed around District Priorities which are; Faith Formation, Student Success, Well Being and Indigenous Education. Our school plan is housed on our school website at this link: Reports & Publications - St. Cecilia School.

Over the coming weeks I will include snippets of data from our AEM report and Student Voice Survey in this newsletter. Ongoing discussion, analysis will occur at the school level as the school year continues to unfold.

Each year, students in grades 4-5-6 are asked to complete the Student Voice Survey. The SVS collects data on the District Board Priorities and students are asked a variety of questions.

1. Help-Seeking Behavior:

- 87.25% of students positively engage in help-seeking (29.41% strongly agree + 57.84% agree)

- Only 12.74% don't seek help when needed (5.88% disagree + 6.86% strongly disagree)

- This suggests a healthy learning environment where students feel comfortable asking for assistance

2. Class Participation:

- 74.51% participate in class discussions (27.45% strongly agree + 47.06% agree)

- About a quarter (25.49%) report not participating actively

- While generally positive, there's room for improvement in engaging the less participative students

3. Project Interest:

- 81.37% find class projects interesting (29.41% strongly agree + 51.96% agree)

- 18.63% don't find projects engaging (12.75% disagree + 5.88% strongly disagree)

- This indicates generally successful project design, though some students remain disengaged

4. Task Persistence:

- 84.31% show strong work ethic (27.45% strongly agree + 56.86% agree)

- Only 15.68% report lower persistence (10.78% disagree + 4.9% strongly disagree)

- Students demonstrate good commitment to quality work

Key Insights:

1. Overall positive engagement across all metrics (74-87% positive responses)

2. Help-seeking behavior is the strongest metric, suggesting a supportive learning environment

3. Class participation has the lowest positive response rate, indicating an area for potential improvement

4. The consistent ~27-29% "strongly agree" responses across metrics suggests a core group of highly engaged students

Recommendations:

1. Investigate barriers to class participation for the ~25% less engaged students

2. Consider ways to make projects more engaging for the ~19% who find them uninteresting

3. Build on the strong help-seeking culture to improve other engagement areas

4. Develop strategies to convert "agree" responses to "strongly agree" to boost overall engagement

The Education Act requires the Calgary Catholic School District to prioritize resources and facilities for resident (Catholic) students. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the advancement of a non-resident (non-Catholic) student from one grade to the next in the same school or from elementary to junior and senior high school.

We do not reassess the enrollment priority of a non-resident student during a school year, but we may do this for a future school year. This may result in us informing you to seek enrollment at a different school in the Calgary Catholic School District or another school division for a future school year.

Please contact me at denis.fortier@cssd.ab.ca or by phone at 403 500 2063, if you have any questions about your child’s enrollment priority.

December 4, 2024

Just a reminder that the schedule of the Board Meeting dates is posted on the district website and can be accessed through this link: https://www.cssd.ab.ca/meeting-schedule

To access the Calgary Catholic Minutes for the Regular Board Meeting November 27, 2024, well as previous minutes, please access this link: https://www.cssd.ab.ca/highlights-minutes.

Formed, AKA Netflix for Catholics

All About Shrove Tuesday

My Child's Learning: A Parent Resource

Canadian Parents for French - CPF is an advocacy group whose aim is to promote French bilingual education.

St. Cecilia Student Handbook

K to 12 Education in Alberta: This link gives a broad overview of Alberta's K to 12 education system.

New LearnAlberta Parent Support Website: Contains an overview of grade level topics and is a good place to start for parents who are looking for ways to engage with their child's education.

Programs of Study: Links to K-12 programs of study as well as Tools for Parents.

Please click the links below to view the volunteer orientation and please make sure to complete the acknowledgement forms. These steps are very important in keeping you up to date as a school volunteer.

Volunteer Orientation: https://youtu.be/QaOxx2x3-eM

Acknowledgement Form: https://forms.gle/sDCD7aYau9PTGgSPA

Indigenous Education Links

21 Things You May Not Have Known About the Indian Act

Indigenous Veteran's Day - Nov 8.

The Seven Sacred Laws Animated Web Series

RupertsLand Institute

Indigenous Elder Definition

Action for Happiness Action for Happiness is a great resource to bring more positivity in our lives.

The Summit - The Summit program is an Alberta Health Services program that supports children and families experiencing mental health concerns that need to be addressed. They provide long term counselling as well as walk in’s.

CanLearn Society - A great resource for parents on how to manage mental health issues or concerns in the home.

Healthy childhood development through outdoor risky play: Navigating the balance with injury prevention.

Brief review about outdoor play

The importance of regaining outdoor PA

HealthyHunger.ca Healthy Hunger.

Bullying Prevention Resources for Alberta Government

Links for Playground Donations

For St. Cecilia School students/parents, please click below link to login school fee payment account to make the donation:

https://www.studentquickpay.com/CSSD/Default.aspx

For guest donors, please click below link to login and make the donation:

https://www.studentquickpay.com/CSSD/MyAccount/Main.aspx?webitemid=8670

Aug 26-Sept 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/8n1cr

Sept 9-13, 2024 : https://secure.smore.com/n/at85k

Sept 16-20, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/uaxp4

Sept 23-27, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/kb635

Sept 30-Oct 4, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/kuvsr

Oct 7-11, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/kaxy90

Oct 14-18, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/t5dgy

Oct 21-25, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/knphv

Oct 28-Nov 1, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/d01564

Nov 4 - 8, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/9ntu5p

Nov 11 - 15, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/9qev8

Nov 18 - 22, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/dh3q1

Nov 25 - 29, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/8fae1

Dec 2 - 6, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/7zygut

Dec 9-13, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/emyb5

Dec 16 - 20, 2024: https://secure.smore.com/n/n4u801