Nominations are open for the annual WCDSB “Distinguished Graduate Award”, “Community Partner Award” and “Chair’s Award”. Information about the awards (including the Distinguished Graduate Award nomination form) is available HERE. There are no nomination forms for the Community Partner and Chair’s Awards.
If you wish to make a nomination in any of the categories, please submit your rationale in writing along with any supporting documentation you feel appropriate, to Alice Figueiredo by Friday, March 31, 2023. Hard copy or emailed nominations are equally acceptable. Alice can be reached via email at alice.figueiredo@wcdsb.ca.
The Chair’s Award is presented to a person (or group of people) in the school system who has contributed significantly to Catholic Education. It is given annually in recognition of outstanding contributions made in serving the students, staff and greater community of Waterloo Region and/or to the betterment of Catholic Education in Ontario in general.
If you submitted a nominee in prior years and wish to have the individual nominated again, please resubmit your application.
Recipients
The Community Partner Award is presented annually in recognition of outstanding contributions made to Waterloo Region’s Catholic Schools by a community partner or agency serving the students, staff and greater community of Waterloo Region.
If you submitted a nominee in prior years and wish to have the individual nominated again, please resubmit your application.
Recipients
The Distinguished Graduate Award was established in 2005 under the Board’s “Celebration of Excellence” policy. It is presented annually to a graduate of 10 or more years from Waterloo Region’s Catholic Schools who has provided an outstanding example of the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations in action. The award is presented at the graduation exercises of the recipient’s Secondary School or another appropriate public venue.
If you submitted a nominee in prior years and wish to have the individual nominated again, please resubmit your application. Nominations will be retained for 3 years. This does not preclude anyone from being re-nominated in any given year.
Recipients
You’d be hard pressed to find anywhere in Waterloo Region a school more brimming with school spirit than Our Lady of Grace CES (OLOG) in Kitchener.
And it’s not by accident. Thanks to Principal Jeff Dinner, the OLOG staff, and the school’s very active School Council there’s a very visible “whole school approach” to building community and creating a positive school climate.
For starters, the school is firmly committed to The Umbrella Project – a program specifically aimed at equipping students, parents, and educators with positive social and emotional coping skills to help them live confident, healthy, and meaningful lives in the face of life’s uncertainties and struggles.
The program is designed to work with the existing school curriculum as well as any well-being efforts that are already in place. The lessons can be used during Religion, Language, Math, Social Studies, History, the Arts, Health and Physed, and more.
As the program is implemented, students learn the skills of emotional wellbeing such as empathy, kindness, growth mindset, autonomy, self-compassion, grit and gratitude. This helps fulfil the WCDSB’s anti-bullying initiative, aiming everyone in the right direction — making bullying an unwelcome behaviour across the school community and bringing a very clear focus to building community through acts of kindness.
And that’s where the “bucket-filling” comes in.
At OLOG, all classrooms are provided a copy of the book “Have You Filled Your Bucket Today”? (Written by Carol McCloud & illustrated by David Messing)
The lesson is simple: everyone carries with them an invisible bucket. Its purpose is to hold good thoughts and good feelings about yourself. You need other people to help you fill our bucket and other people need you to help fill theirs.
Each class has been provided a bucket and a supply of mini-pom-poms.
When a student demonstrates a simple act of kindness or an umbrella project skill for that month (e.g., Empathy, Grit, etc.) and a staff member “catches” them, they are invited to throw a pom-pom in the classroom bucket.
Each Friday, the school plays a fun song (e.g., Farrell Williams, Happy) over the PA system for the whole school, and all classrooms send down their classroom buckets to fill the “OLOG Community Spirit-meter”.
There are marked levels around the spirit-meter and when the school hits a new level the students (thanks to the School Council) receive a whole community reward … because the whole community benefits from acts of kindness!
Of course, there are many things that can fill someone’s bucket.
Mrs. Ortiz – originally from Guatemala – is a Lunch Hour Supervisor at OLOG who LOVES knitting.
As a way to help fill the buckets of some students, she established a lunch hour Knitting Club that draws around 50 participants each week.
And Mr. Dinner and other staff help fill Mrs. Ortiz’s bucket by covering her supervision duties on Knitting Club day!
All of which goes to show, learning at Our Lady of Grace CES is buckets of fun!
Sandra Quehl enjoyed a 30 plus year career in IT Leadership in K-12 school boards in Ontario.
Following a successful start to her career as a developer of HR / Payroll software with Molnar Software, Sandra’s first school board position was with the York Catholic DSB.
She finished her career at the Waterloo Catholic DSB, where she served as CIO for 25 years.
Upon retirement, Sandra worked for ECNO as the Director of Customer Solutions for a year, then was appointed Executive Director in September 2016, retiring from ECNO in September 2019.
Sandra passed away in August, 2022.
To many of the women leaders in K-12 IT in Ontario, Sandra was a mentor and role model. She lived a life and shared the virtues of equity, diversity and the role of women in leadership.
The ECNO Community named the award after Sandra to recognize outstanding female leadership in K-12 IT in Ontario.
This award is presented when appropriate, at the Annual ECNO Conference.
The Black Heritage Month Fireside Chat is an intimate conversation with elected officials; MPP Laura Mae Lindo, Regional Councillor Colleen James, Kitchener Councillor Ayo Owodunni, and WRDSB Trustee Maedith Radlein.
Hosted by Sophia Stanberry, Director Equity, Anti-Racism and Indigenous Initiatives and Ismail Mohamed, Facilitator – Community Centres – the event recognizes and celebrates the momentous accomplishments of our Black elected officials as part of a historic election year toward a more representative government in the Region. As well, we will look forward to the future as each leader discusses what they hope to achieve in their term, systemic barriers, and how we can aspire towards an inclusive and equitable Kitchener.
Join us on Tuesday, February 28th from 4-6 p.m. in the Kitchener City Hall Rotunda located at 200 King St. West with light refreshments from The Caribbean Kitchen and Muya restaurant. As well, we will have entertainment from Juno Award Winning Recording Artist Carlos Morgan and more! Check-in and networking begin at 3:30 p.m.
The event is free but registration is required. If you have any questions, please send them to Rea Parchment
For more information including speaker bios, how to get here, parking and accommodations, please visit www.kitchener.ca/BlackHeritageMonth and scroll down to event FAQs.
The next meeting of the Board of Trustees (Committee of the Whole Board) is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. — Monday, February 6, 2023 at the Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre.
General Information About WCDSB Board Meetings
Information About the Board of Trustees
(Note: Agenda files can be large. If you are experiencing issues downloading a file, right click on the link and choose “Save Target As…”.)
Monday, January 9, 2023 – Meeting Agenda Package
Monday, January 30, 2022 — Meeting Agenda Package
English-language school boards in Ontario are required to provide students with a minimum of 600 hours of French instructional hours by the end of elementary school. In Secondary, one FSL credit (110 hours) is compulsory for the Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). A second FSL course can be counted towards the compulsory credits required for the OSSD.
The Waterloo Catholic District School Board currently offers three program options for French as a Second Language:
Below are some of the highlights and key accomplishments of the various FSL programs:
French Immersion
This Regional Program is currently offered at the following sites:
Cultural Experiences
More than 1300 students participated in French cultural experiences such as the Au Canada Project, Adventures and Dancing with the Franco Super Stars, Mike Ford’s Troubadour performance, and Voyageur Games with Perspectives Education. This combination of virtual and in-person adventures were subsidized through the Federal Official Language’s in Education Program (OLEP) Agreement with the Province of Ontario.
Professional Development
The report is available beginning on page 10 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package
The 2021-22 school year saw a return to more familiar routines in the Health & Physical Education world. Students were back inside the gymnasium, using equipment and further exploring physical activity patterns that were so desperately needed.
The focus of the 2021-22 year centred on the reestablishment of norms within the gymnasium that were rooted in self-regulation, cooperation, and collaboration. These ideas became a focus point within the following three priorities:
Mental Health & Well-Being
Collaboration with the Mental Health Lead at WCDSB increased during this past school year. The first project was the purchasing of bathroom wall frames for all our Secondary school bathrooms as well as our intermediate bathrooms in our elementary schools. The intention of these wall frames is to provide students with a visual reminder of important things connected to their mental health and well-being. During the year, a series of posters will be rotated through these frames rooted in cannabis and vaping education as well as spaces in which students
can reach out for help regarding their own mental health.
This year also saw the completion of the purchasing of resources used to support teachers with the addition of the Social-Emotional Learning Skills (SELs) in the Health & Physical Education curriculum. The Kindergarten program will be supported with the Lucy Tries Sport Series
Resource Support
The return to more traditional Physical Education classes in 2021-22 was welcomed by so many for so many reasons. This development provided a great opportunity for educators to use physical activity to re-establish norms for large and small group interactions within the gymnasium that would then transfer to our classrooms and school yards. In September of 2021, the Primary Planning Time team was provided with the opportunity to learn from our
Senior Manager of Equity, Lynn Garrioch on how cultural appropriation and micro aggressions need to be considered within the Arts and Health & Physical Education world.
Materials were also purchased to provide schools with a chance to engage students with an ExBeats Kit. What is ExBeats? Think DrumFIT… students will use drumsticks and yoga balls to elevate their heart rate in physical activity while integrating the music and dance curriculum. These materials were purchase in the Spring of 2022 and are now active in our system. This is another great way to provide physical activity
opportunities in non-traditional ways.
Finally, the 2nd annual School Step Challenge took place from February 9th to March 9th, 2022.
Outdoor Education
The Waterloo Catholic District School Board has enjoyed a positive and healthy relationship with Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) for many years. Our students attend outdoor education programming that aligns with our curriculum in a variety of different grades and GRCA is one of our most prized community partnerships.
As classes did not start going to Laurel Creek and Shade’s Mills for our Outdoor Education programming until January 2022, our contract was prorated with the GRCA. As such, there were funds available for use for additional outdoor purposes this past year. Ten of our educators chose to attend professional development opportunity on a Saturday in May with the Canadian Intramural and Recreation Association (CIRA), an additional four took an Additional Qualification (AQ) in Health & Physical Education and 18 teachers and administrators registered for an online professional development course titled “Green Exercise: The Gateway to Social Emotional Learning”.
Additionally, the Outdoor Education teachers in our Secondary system, recertified themselves with Wilderness First Aid Association (WFAA) so they can continue taking our students on excursions as part of our Outdoor Education program. This process is required to happen every three years. Fifteen teachers took part.
The report is available beginning on page 14 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package
The Ontario Leadership Strategy was developed in 2008-2009 to foster leadership of the highest possible quality in schools and school boards. The WCDSB maintains that our goals mirror the goals of the OLS – that is, to:
Although the Ministry funds have been discontinued, WCDSB has prioritized leadership development to ensure that we are supporting and developing aspiring leaders in our organization. The Board Leadership Development Strategy Goals for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board are the following:
Overall Goal
Develop leadership capacity to support the achievement of goals outlined in the Multi-Year Strategic Plan and the Board Improvement and Equity Plan (BIEP).
Goal One
Create and promote leadership opportunities that engage all school and system leaders in order to strengthen staff capacity for instructional and spiritual leadership, to enhance organizational effectiveness, and to support succession planning as defined by research, Strong Districts and their Leadership and the Catholic Leadership Framework.
Goal Two
School and system leaders in the WCDSB will develop the capacity to appropriately respond to the needs of learners by fostering a holistic view of student learning that encourages shepherd, servant and steward leadership.
Goal Three
Create and provide opportunities for enhancing leadership capacity for the entire system by engaging in active professional lifelong learning, equity training, faith formation, mentorship, and coaching.
In Fall 2022, senior staff and administrators participated in a 12-hour online workshop on Decoding Race. This workshop helps leaders create cultures of belonging to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion skills, knowledge, and capacities. The focus of this workshop is Whiteness, privilege, and positionality.
Senior leadership and school administrators will continue to build capacity by exploring inequitable situations through case studies and inquiry. As we begin to recognize inequities in our workplace and our schools, we will explore ways to minimize those inequities.
The report is available beginning on page 18 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package
Annually a report is provided to the Board of Trustees summarizing various property transactions that have occurred in the past year and that are anticipated to occur in the near future. The report also includes a summary of major construction projects, and is divided into the following categories:
The former St. Boniface CES site in Maryhill was declared surplus to the needs of the Board in 2021. The property consists of a school building on 9.29 acres of land plus a 0.35 acre vacant residential lot. Both parcels will be sold through a competitive bidding process in 2023.
The Property Acquisition portion of the report provides details on the following projects:
The Major Construction Update portion of the report provides details on the 8-classroom & gym expansion at St. Agnes CES in Waterloo and construction of the new Huron Brigadoon elementary school in Southwest Kitchener.
The report is available beginning on page 29 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package
In the spring of 2022, the Ministry of Education released: Effective Early Reading Instruction: A Guide for Teachers outlining updates to our Language Curriculum in the area of building
foundational early reading skills.
Our early literacy work aligns with evidence-based practices as outlined in this guide to support the development of early word foundational skills as one part of a literacy rich, culturally responsive, student-centered literacy program.
The report presented on January 30, 2023 provided a variety of details in the following key areas:
The professional development was focused on:
The report is available beginning on page 33 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package
Each month, the Chair of the Board reports on the activities of the Board of Trustees. Chair Tracey Weiler’s report for January 2023 is available on page 44 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package
Student Trustees Chloe Armstrong and Anika Fejerpataky presented their monthly update – covering activities in WCDSB’s secondary schools. It is available beginning on page 41 via this link: Meeting Agenda Package
Monday, February 6, 2023
Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre
Monday, February 27, 2023
Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre
The Waterloo Catholic District School Board, representing more than 96,000 Catholic school supporters, operates 48 schools and four adult education facilities, serving more than 40,000 elementary, secondary, and continuing education students in Waterloo Region – continuing a 186-year tradition of quality, inclusive, faith-based education. Follow us on Twitter: @WCDSBNewswire – #WCDSBAwesome.
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The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. — Monday, January 30, 2023 at the Waterloo Region Catholic Education Centre.
General Information About WCDSB Board Meetings
Information About the Board of Trustees
(Note: Agenda files can be large. If you are experiencing issues downloading a file, right click on the link and choose “Save Target As…”.)
The first thing a visitor to any WCDSB school notices when they walk through the door is the vast mosaic of races, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and languages represented by our students.
Indeed, our schools are home to students from almost 110 different countries, who speak more than 100 different languages.
So, it really is more than just a “saying” when we proudly state our schools truly do welcome the world!
In 2021-22, our Newcomer Reception Centre (NRC) welcomed 492 newcomer students to the WCDSB.
And between August and November 2022 alone we welcomed 294 newcomer students to our schools – including 24 students from Ukraine (who joined the 21 Ukrainian students who had already joined us between January and August, 2022).
Meanwhile, our St. Louis Adult Learning & Continuing Education campuses continue serving hundreds of students from dozens of families annually.
In 2021-22, St. Louis programs served the following:
As the WCDSB moves toward more inclusive language, the school board is moving away from use of the terms English Literacy Development (ELD) learners and English as a Second Language (ESL) learners and is instead moving toward speaking in terms of Multilingual Learners (MLs) or Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs), which respects the linguistic backgrounds of our students without centering English as the only language in which one can learn.
We want to celebrate multilingualism as a gift — and celebrate as our students learn more than one and, often, multiple languages.
As we move toward the third decade of the 21st century, multilingualism becomes an ever more valuable asset for our students.
While celebrating multilingualism is a daily occurrence in our schools, there is a particular, community needs-based emphasis in certain individual schools – among them, St. John CES and Resurrection CSS in Kitchener.
In the 1930s and 1940s St. John’s was home to students from numerous newcomer families. Those families – mainly from Eastern Europe – were attracted to the neighbourhood by the giant Dominion Tire plant (it eventually became Uniroyal) a short distance from the school.
The plant closed in 1993, and in the three decades since then the neighbourhood has transitioned to become home to families from many different countries.
The school is now home to students from more than two dozen different countries who speak more than two dozen languages other than English.
As significant number of newcomer families from Eritrea live within the St. John’s boundary which has made Tigrinya the most predominant language other than English spoken in the school.
St. John is part of the Resurrection CSS family of schools, which is a tremendous support for the MLs and MLLs attending St. John, since Resurrection CSS (along with St. Mary’s High School) both include fully-resourced ML/MLL Departments.
The department at Resurrection includes a department head and 11 teachers – along with a further 14 teachers who teach the school’s subject-adapted courses. They serve approximately 300 students, whose skills range from early English proficiency to those who are more proficient in English and simply require additional support and coaching to maintain their academic progress.
A small number of new students arrive to Canada lacking literacy skill in their own home language, with makes intensive support imperative.
In addition to the ML/MLL supports provided by the WCDSB, Resurrection also has an on-site Settlement Worker from the YMCA to assist newcomer families in navigating Canada’s complex immigration, health care and education sectors.
Like St. John’s, the most prominent language other than English spoken at Resurrection is Tigrinya. There are also a significant number of Spanish-speaking students. Other languages commonly heard in the hallways include Korean, Arabic, Chinese and Blin (a language spoken in Eritrea).
The ML/MLL program at Resurrection has been so successful that several students have volunteered to be language mentors for younger elementary school students. Part of this includes recording tutorial videos to assist students in leaning common English words.
In this video clip, students Azamit, Iledona and Selam translate the names of the days of the week from English to Tigrinya.
Waterloo Region’s Catholic schools are a true reflection of 21st century Waterloo Region – which for a number of years has been among the top destinations for newcomers to Canada.
As our community has grown and become ever more diverse, so have we.
After 185 years of providing Quality, Inclusive, Faith-Based education, we remain as proud as ever to remain Heart of the Community: offering Success for Each and A Place for all.
Kindergarten registration is open NOW.
Click here to register today!!!
January 26, 2023
All Student transportation cancelled, all schools are open
