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DECEMBER 14, 2016

2016 St. Bernadette School Christmas Lunch

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at St. Bernadette School. Our school council organized a traditional turkey lunch for all staff, students and special guests. All tables were prepared with place settings and individually- wrapped personalized gifts. Each student and member of staff received a delicious meal and the gift of a hand-knitted hat adorning our school colours, blue and yellow.

The planning of this event started long ago with the knitting of the hats. Our school council called upon the talents of our local senior center to help with the knitting. The ladies joined us for lunch and we had an opportunity to thank them personally. Other special guests included, Trustee Cheryl Low, Area Director Deneen Nolan, Rob Gabbin, Jack Chant and Tamas Lovasz. Father Wayne brought along some of the staff from our local parish and our Renfrew team also joined in the fun. School Council Chair, Tracey McNair wanted to spread the Christmas light to all families at St. Bernadette School and that is exactly what she did. The light of Advent was spread across our community and continues to shine as we prepare for Christmas.

Calgary Catholic Graduate Named a Rhodes Scholar Calgary Catholic would like to congratulate Bishop Carroll alumnus class of 2013 Claire Gummo on being named a Rhodes Scholar for 2017. Claire is currently completing a degree in political and gender studies at Queen’s University. A member of the Loran community Claire was the recipient of the 2013 Applebanks Loran Scholar award. She is the 19th Loran scholar to win the distinguished Rhodes Scholarship. As a Rhodes Scholar, Clare plans to pursue an MPhil in Comparative Social Policy at the University of Oxford. Congratulations once again to Claire Gummo on such an honor.

Partners for Life Campaign Update The results are in! To date, Calgary Catholic has already exceeded our goal for the year of 350 blood, plasma or platelet donations from our employees. We are currently at 371 donations, which is 106 per cent of our goal and there are still a couple weeks left to donate in 2016. Thank you to all those who helped us achieve and surpass this goal – we could not have done it without the generosity of each and every donor.

Chief SuperintendentReport

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DECEMBER 14, 2016

Hour of Code at Bishop Carroll This week at Bishop Carroll over 180 students participated in the worldwide challenge known as the Hour of Code. With technology so prevalent in our lives and growing in the future computer science, including coding and programming, will become as necessary as reading, writing and mathematics. Computer and software engineers from Accenture Corporation joined us to support students as they participated for an hour in doing simple to advanced coding tasks. Bishop Carroll students were enthusiastic participants and were able to demonstrate their critical and local thinking skills, showcase their creativity and have fun inputting code for simple tasks such as building snowflakes to creating a webpage in an hour.

For FAQ’s go to: https://hourofcode.com/ca#join

Monsignor Smith School Celebrates Reading - Give it A Shot On Thursday, December 1, three members of the Calgary Flames visited Monsignor Smith School. The visit was made possible through The Educational Partnership Foundation and the Flames Foundation in recognition of the number of students from Mon. Smith School involved in the Reading – Give It a Shot program. Students and staff were very excited to hear Beesley, the voice of the Flames, and meet Dougie Hamilton, Freddie Hamilton, Deryk Engelland and Harvey the Hound. Players answered questions about their love of reading and even shared some of their favorite books! The event concluded with all students and staff getting the opportunity to have one item autographed by a player.

Chief SuperintendentReport

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DECEMBER 14, 2016

Legacy High School HPOF Meeting A Help Plan Our Future meeting was hosted on November 23rd with parents to start the process of determining boundaries for our new high school set to open in the fall of 2018. Parents were also able to contribute to the principal profile that will be used to assist in the appointment of the new principal for the School. Pictured below are three Trustees who attended the meeting and contributed to table discussions and activities (Board Chair Cheryl Low, Trustee Martin and Trustee Williams).

Calgary Catholic Students Attend Theatre Calgary Performance Students from six Calgary Catholic schools attend the gala performance of A Christmas Carol, the play that is hosted annually by Theatre Calgary. Each year, for 15 years, Gordon and Eva Hoffman have generously provided free tickets, buses and special treats for over 400 of our students and their families. This year, participating schools were St. Martha, St. Rupert, St. Bernadette, Holy Trinity, Holy Family and Father Scollen. Area C Superintendent Judy Mackay and Area A Superintendent Mike Ross attended the Gala, indicating it was one of the best performances ever! The students were overjoyed by the play and especially liked the Christmas treats at the end of the performance.

Chief SuperintendentReport

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DECEMBER 14, 2016

St. Maria Goretti Principal and Vice-Principal for a Day On Tuesday, November 22nd St. Maria Goretti School celebrated Principal and Vice-Principal for a day. Grade 3 student Christopher (Principal) and Grade 5 student Neela (Vice-Principal) had their names drawn from the Free Throw Challenge School Fundraiser held in October. They were both excellent administrators and made decisions that brought a lot of joy to the students They extended recess by five minutes and there was a Terrific Tuesday Fun Song to kick off the day where children got to dance in the hallways. They also answered various e-mails from staff, met with the WE Day student leaders, had lunch with the staff and completed other duties during the day. We were fortunate to have such caring leaders as Principal and Vice-Principal for the Day.