We had the pleasure of having Tyrone Dowling, school board director, visit our school on World Kindness Day and he was put as the “i” in Kind!
World Kindness Day is an international observance on 13 November. It was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement, a coalition of nations’ kindness NGOs. It is observed in many countries, including Canada.
Congratulations to the Grade 4’s at St. Mark for receiving their Bibles!
Check out our new playground! A big thank you goes out to the Polar Bear school community, Love My Hood, the Knights of Colombus, and CSAC (parent council) for all their hard work and support in our fundraising efforts!
About Strong Start to reading™:
Strong Start® Charitable Organization offers a literacy program called Letters, Sounds and Words™, which has been specifically designed to help young children who need extra practice when learning essential early reading skills. To learn more about Strong Start, please visit their website.
The Letters, Sounds and Words program at our school:
Strong Start’s Letters, Sounds and Words program is a fun and engaging way for community members to help young children acquire the essential literacy skills they need to be confident and successful learners. This 10-week program targets children in Year 2 Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 who are lagging behind in their early reading skills. Children are matched with trained community volunteers who come into our school to work one-on-one with them, playing carefully designed games and activities. The program is designed in 4 strands to help children learn the names of letters, a sound each letter represents, how to recognize focus words and how to read a word using the sounds of its letters. Classroom teachers select which children would most benefit from this program, as well as the strands in which they should be enrolled.
How you can get involved at Strong Start at our school:
You can make a difference! Volunteer at our school and help a young child learn to read. Contact our school’s Strong Start Site Co-ordinator to get involved.
As a Strong Start volunteer, you will:
• Attend two, 2-hour training sessions
• Work one-on-one with a child in Year 2 Kindergarten, Grade 1 or 2 in our school
• Play games and activities designed to help develop the child’s literacy skills (All materials are provided)
• Make a minimum time commitment of 30 minutes/week for 10 weeks
“It’s so exciting to see a child start on that path of identifying letters and sounds…it’s amazing to watch. I would highly recommend this program for anyone who wants to volunteer.” – Bethany Jakob, Volunteer Coach.
Please contact: michelle.scott@wcdsb.ca if you re interested in becoming a Strong Start Coach at St. Elizabeth Catholic School.
On September 19, 2024, the St. Peter Catholic Elementary School community and their neighbours gathered to celebrate the completion of a safer access route to the school, made possible through the generous support of a grant from the City of Cambridge.
The “Neighbours Helping Neighbours” initiative brought together students, parents, local residents, WCDSB staff, and municipal experts to collaborate on transforming Brooklyne Road, which leads to the back parking lot of the school. The result is a newly designed, pedestrian-friendly environment that prioritizes safety and encourages walking to school. The project includes traffic-calming measures, a dedicated pedestrian path for students, and the introduction of student safety foot patrollers, ensuring that families feel more confident in choosing active transportation options.
A big thank you to our friends at Sharp Edge Line Painting for doing such a great job with all our new line painting! Our playground has many more areas to play now, and with the new warning lines of when we are entering a ball zone. Additionally there are some bright red curbs where our busses load and unload all our students.
A huge shout out to our friend Q-Mack! He came to speak to all of us – and entertain us like no other – about being an ALL-STAR and using Attitude, Leadership, Love, Self-Control, Teamwork, Accountability, and Respect! Thank you Q-Mack for showing us some cool tricks, magic, awesome tunes, and delivering a great message for us all!
We are please to announce that we surpassed our $1000 fundraising goal by $300, thus raising a total of $1300 for our Terry Fox Run this year.
Students worked very hard and had a wonderful afternoon running laps, earning tokens for the number of laps they completed.
Thank you to our community for your generous support!
Thank you to everyone who came out for Meet the Staff Night. It was great to see so many students, parents and staff. It is going to be a great year at St. Mark!
WCDSB is thrilled to announce that all of our Extended Day Programs are now licensed by the Child Care Quality Assurance and Licensing, Early Years Division of the Ministry of Education. With this licensing comes the Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) funding that allows us to offer reduced rates to children in JK/SK/under the age of 6. Being able to offer reduced rates to our families with the CWELCC funding supports our vision, “Our Catholic Schools: the heart of the community— success for each, a place for all.”
Click here to view the Extended Day 2024-2025 fee chart
Information about CWELCC in Waterloo Region and how it applies to you as a parent
