A Prayer in Gratitude for Our Mothers

Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the women of theory who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all

mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.

Give them the strength to live and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly. Give them the faithful support of husband, family and friends as they care for the physical and

spiritual growth of their children. Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood.

Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most.

- Author Unknown

Dear Parents, Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms in our community! Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the patron saint of our district, is the greatest example of motherhood ever known. She loved, protected, nourished, supported, encouraged, and taught Jesus. We hope all of our Mothers have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Michael Kovacs Kathleen Korner Mark Huculak

Principal Assistant Principal Assistant Principal

Administration Changes at St. John XXIII for 2021-2022

There will be two changes in the administration team at St. John XXIII for the 2021-2022 school year. Kathleen Korner has been appointed Principal of St. Justin for next year. Kathleen is excited to start her first Principalship, a placement she is truly deserving of. Kathleen helped open St. John XXIII and has been instrumental in helping to make St. John XXIII such a great school. She will be greatly missed. We are pleased to announce that Rachelle Irvine will be joining us as our Elementary Assistant Principal next year. Many of the staff at our school already know Rachelle well, especially in French Immersion as she is currently the consultant for Elementary French Immersion in ECSD. Before becoming a consultant, Rachelle taught at St. Stanislaus and Monsignor William Irwin schools. Rachelle will bring a wealth of knowledge to our school and she is excited to be joining our us. Welcome to St. John XXIII Rachelle!

Mark Huculak will be leaving our school to become Assistant Principal at J H Picard next year. Mark has been at St. John XXIII for the past two years as the Junior High Assistant Principal. We are going to miss his leadership and expertise and we wish him well in his new position. We would like to welcome Julie-Ann Dron to St. John XXIII who will be our Junior High Assistant Principal next year. Julie-Ann comes to us from St. Alphonsus where she is currently the Assistant Principal. She has also served as an A. P. at Cardinal Leger and Ben Calf Robe-St Clare. Julie-Ann has a passion for Inclusive Education and working with special needs children. Combined with her experience, she will be a great fit for our school. Welcome to St. John XXIII Julie-Ann!

Good luck Mark and Kathleen and a big welcome to Julie-Ann and Rachelle!

On-line Learning and COVID

As you know the Government of Alberta approved the Division’s request to move to online learning for all Edmonton Catholic School students in Grade 7 to 12.

From Thursday, April 22nd to May 5th, we moved to online learning. In-person classes were set to resume on Thursday, May 6th. However, the on-line learning has now been extended until at least May 14th with a tentative return to in-person learning on Monday May 17th. There is no change for students in grade K-6. We understand this presents challenges for families. Thank you to all the students and families who have been so supportive during this time by ensuring the students attend classes and complete their assignments. It is not the best situation, but students at St. John XXIII are doing their best to keep up with their studies. Thank you to all the students and parents who have been doing such a great job of keeping up with their studies with on-line learning. You hard work is appreciated during these trying times.

St. John XXIII SAC News

Hello Parents of St. John XXIII!

The next SAC meeting will be held on May 12th at 7:00 p.m. Information on how to join the on-line meeting will be sent to families a few days before the event.

The Perogies and sausage fundraiser was a big success. The school sold close to $ 22 000 worth of food and the profits from this event were $ 4 912.00. Thank you to Daynelis Britto from the School Council for organizing this event.

Thank you to everyone who purchased items in our last fundraiser, and we hope you will continue to support these school sponsored events.

AHS Rapid COVID Testing at St. John XXIII

Thank you to all the parent who consented to having their children tested for COVID at the school rapid testing project on Friday April 30th. Over 330 students and staff receive a rapid test for COVID. St. John XXII school presented a special gift to all the workers and nurses who came to the school to conduct the rapid testing as a thank you to all the frontline workers who have been working so hard to keep us all safe in these difficult times. The school made custom water bottles with the word “Front Line Hero” engraved on them and presented them to the testing staff at the end of the day.

Thank you, “Front Line Heroes”, for all you do!

2021-2022 Kindergarten Registration

Kindergarten registration forms for the 2021-2022 school year are now online. If your child is new to ECSD please go online and fill out the registration form. If your child attends one of the 100V programs and you would like to register them, please call the school office. Please note, we offer a HALF DAY Kindergarten Program at St. John XXIII. If you have any other questions, please call the office at 780-469-2451. Your child must be 5 years of age on or before December 31st, 2021 to register. All registration forms can be found on the school website. This year the school has also developed a Registration Handbook with general information about the school as well as a Parent Handbook that will answer many questions you may have.

Due to our limited space, we will only be accepting Catholic, in Catchment area students for Kindergarten for the 2021-2022 school year.

Everything you need to know about registration and the school can be found on our school website at: https://www.ecsd.net/1969

Class Photos

Class photos will take place on May 19th. If you ordered individual photos earlier in the year you will receive a free class photo. If you did not order individual photos a form will be sent home to give you an opportunity to order one.

Music

Elementary Music: In elementary music, our grade ones are continuing their adventure with Saint-Saëns famous "Carnival of the Animals", exploring movement and musical concepts through various listening activities. Each week they are excited to discover the new animal character. Grade two students spent the month of April exploring the soundscape of a thunderstorm with body percussion and instruments (based on Beethoven's 6th symphony). They enjoyed opportunities to play many of the most unique instruments in the classroom. Our grade three students just finished up an exciting project where they created their owned ostinatos with an instrument of their choice and combined it with other ostinatos in a group performance. The students were thrilled to show off their skills to their classmates. Grade four students are deep into their ukulele unit, and they have enjoyed learning a few chords and songs already. They have many more classes of ukulele to look forward to!

One Voice: One Voice videos from the month of April (Guardians of the Galaxy) April 8th: https://youtu.be/zM0Ew4uqSm8 (support video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndvt89ybSSE) April 15th: https://youtu.be/eS9g9dDCBiw (support video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsHTvUo8k0Q) April 22nd: https://youtu.be/U3qRQQg3-vM (support video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYcRgquBMSI) Next theme: We have just begun our final superhero theme for this year's One Voice program: Star Wars! There are many important lessons that we can learn from the heroes of this famous saga, namely "understanding God's call to us". Stay tuned for an end-year update!

School Supplies

Your teachers at École St. John XXIII are excited to offer you the opportunity to purchase your school supplies through School Start for the 2021/2022 school year. This process will save you both time and money. The school will send out a message in June when the School Start web site is live and is ready for parents to order!

Appropriate Student Dress Reminders

With Spring having finally arrived and Summer weather right around the corner, we take this opportunity to remind students to dress appropriately for the school day.

Students and staff members are expected to maintain a responsible, appropriate, and modest standard of dress throughout the school year. Given the spiritual nature of our school, students are asked to use good judgment regarding printed slogans and style of dress. Student hats are not to be worn in the building. The final determination about modesty and/or appropriateness of student dress lies with the staff members of the school (as opposed to the students themselves or their parents).

All elementary students are required to have two pairs of shoes, one for outside and one for inside; and are expected to change to outdoor footwear at recess. Junior high students must have running shoes for physical education and non-scuff shoes for indoor use. Shoes must be always worn in the school for health reasons and for fire drills which are conducted without warning.

Intendent to Return and Planning for Next Year

Thank you to all families who completed the Intention Screen in PowerSchool. We are very pleased to report that most of our students will be returning to at-school classes for the Fall – only 2.5 % have chosen online learning, which is below the average for the division. Most students perform better in the at-school environment where they can interact with teachers, classmates, school staff and friends. It is very difficult to completely replicate the at-school experience in an online environment, particularly in kindergarten and the early grades, so some students may be a little behind. We will do our best to make sure that students returning from the online environment are keeping pace with their peers. Students who have chosen online instruction for the 2021-2022 school year will not be included in registration counts for St. John XXIII and teachers from our school will not be offering online instruction. Instead, registrations for online students will be transferred to the Genesis Online Elementary/Junior High School for the fall. Families will have one opportunity to transfer back to at-school instruction at St. John XXIII in February. Unfortunately, families will not have the flexibility with learning stances that they were given this year. The school’s capacity was designed for 900 students. Our predicted enrollment is for approximately 1050 students attending St. John XXIII next year. This will present some significant challenges for the school in terms of class sizes, facility use and movement of students between classes during the day. The school is looking at keeping some of the staggered enter and recess times so that students can safely arrive and leave school as well as make optimal use of the building, playground and fields at recess and lunch time.

Message from St. Thomas More Parish

ST. THOMAS MORE PARISH 210 Haddow Close Edmonton, AB T6R 2P3 Phone: 780 434-6313 Fax: 780 438-2088 Website: https://stm.caedm.ca/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZSAygs1yQAwRwU-wIq9l-w Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stthomasmoreyeg/

During the month of May we honour two people that we call mother - the person we call Mom, our birth mother and Mary, our heavenly mother.

Mother's Day is celebrated this year on May 9. It is a day when we say a special thank you for all that our mothers do for us. We try to be extra good and maybe even do some special things like serving her breakfast in bed. It is important to remember how much our mothers do for us and how many sacrifices they make so that we can be happy and healthy. An important gift to give your mother is to say some extra prayers for her. She will appreciate that more than a flower or a store-bought greeting card. In the Church, May is considered Mary's month. Mary is the mother of Jesus and is considered a mother to us all. Just like our earthly mother, we know we can ask her advice and turn to her when we are in trouble. We do this by prayer, especially prayers like the Hail Mary and the Rosary. Like our earthly mother, Mary wants what is good for us and will do her best to help. She suffered with her son Jesus and helps us in our times of uncertainty and trouble. When she said "yes" to God's request, she set an example for all willing do what God asks of us. Just like wanting to be like our Moms, we also want to be like Mary- devoted, prayerful and obedient.

During May, let us make a special effort to give homage to our earthly Mother and to Mary as our heavenly mother. May God bless all mothers and may Mary, our heavenly mother pray for us. Father Mitch, Pastor

Message from Chief Superintendent Robert Martin

May 2021

“Education is a dynamic reality, it is a movement that brings people to the light. It is a peculiar kind of movement, with characteristics that make it a dynamism of growth, aimed at the full

development of the person…” (Pope Francis, Address to Participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Catholic Education, 02/20/20)

The month of May is one which is very special for Catholic schools in Alberta. This month, beginning May 10, we celebrate Catholic Education Week. The pinnacle of this week is the celebration of World Catholic Education Day on May 13. Our students will have ample opportunity over the course of this week to explore the richness to be found in our Catholic schools. It is a time for families to reflect on the gift of publicly funded Catholic education in Alberta. We encourage everyone to wear blue in support of Catholic education over the course of the week. Please also keep your eyes on our social media accounts for our annual Humans of ECSD campaign; we are so proud to share some exceptional stories of the students of Edmonton Catholic Schools! On March 15 and 16, 2021, the Board of Trustees engaged with the executive members of our School Councils and the administration teams of our schools to gather insights on the four Board Priorities for our various planning endeavors. This rich opportunity for stakeholder engagement was the first of its kind for our Division and provided invaluable feedback on the practices and supports that our families feel are of greatest value in the education of their children. The four priorities are Growing in Faith, Student Success, An Excellent Place to Work and Learn, and Building our Future Together. The report for the Community of School Councils (COSC) was presented at the Public Board Meeting on April 28 and can be found in the Board Agenda Package by clicking here and scrolling to the report. The overarching themes from this engagement were used at the Division level to inform the Division Plan for Continuous Growth and the Division Budget. Individual schools will use their specific results to inform their School Plan for Continuous Growth and their School Budget. The April 28 Public Meeting of the Board also saw our Board of Trustees naming our new schools which were announced by the provincial government last year. In January, we asked our students, staff, and the greater community for help naming them. We received more than 300 submissions. We are delighted to share that these schools will bear the names of two lifelong advocates for Catholic education: Joan Carr Catholic Elementary/Junior High School (Keswick) and Father Michael McCaffery Catholic High School (Heritage Valley). We are looking forward to welcoming our junior and senior high school students back to in-person learning after another hiatus from the classroom. It is never an easy decision to move to

a virtual learning environment. Like our students, we all long for normalcy, certainty, and routines to return to our educational system and look forward to being together again. May is a time to celebrate and give thanks for the mothers and maternal figures in our lives, and it also a time where we turn our eyes to our Holy Mother. Mary, Mother of God is the benefactor of Edmonton Catholic Schools. “(She) reminds us to be constantly attentive to the Christ-centeredness of Catholic education. She also reminds us to give ultimate respect to all persons in recognition of their dignity as daughters and sons of God, made in the image and likeness of the Creator and Giver of all good gifts.” (Edmonton Catholic Schools, Holy is Thy Name, 2017) Have a glorious May! Sincerely, Robert Martin Chief Superintendent

Message from Father Bilyj

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK – THOSE WHO HOPE IN THE LORD

SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH

Friends of Jesus, Every year, on the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord (40 days after Easter), Catholics across the globe give thanks for the gift of Catholic Education through the celebration of the World Catholic Education Day. This year, the theme of Catholic Education Week in the province of Alberta is Those Who Hope in the Lord Shall Renew Their Strength. The theme for this year’s Catholic Education Week is taken from the book of Isaiah 40:31. It offers us the prophet’s words of hope and prophetic fulfillment in the face of challenges that we have experienced throughout this school year. “Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope!” – Pope Francis’ Homily for Inaugural Mass of Petrine Ministry, March 19, 2013.

How wonderful it is to celebrate Catholic Education Week in the month of May that in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar is dedicated, in a special way, to Mary! Mary, the Mother of God, is also the patron saint of our Edmonton Catholic Schools. Today, I invite you to reflect and learn more about Mary, who was the first evangelizer and the first disciple of her own Son, Saviour, and Lord, Jesus Christ. Mary gave the first Gospel testimony to her cousin, Elizabeth, without words. She understood the work of the Holy Spirit unlike anyone else in the history, other than her beloved Son, Jesus Christ. There are very few records of Mary’s obvious words in the texts of the New Testament. However, there is no lack of her presence at the most important events in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of her Son. Mary always encountered God in profound ways from the beginning to the end of her earthy life. In every encounter, she surrendered to love and was changed. From antiquity, Mary has been called the Mother of God – Theotokos – the Greek word that means God-Bearer. The word Theotokos is used throughout the Eastern Catholic Church’s Liturgy. It is also at the heart of the Latin Rite’s deep Marian piety and devotion. An insistence of the Early Church Council on the use of the title, Theotokos – the Mother of God, reflected an effort to preserve the teaching of the Church that Jesus Christ is both divine and human and that these two natures are always united in His One Person (The Third Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D.). On May 13, in honour of World Catholic Education Day, we are encouraged to wear blue, and that way be united in faith and prayer for Catholic Education. As Mary, the Mother of God, is traditionally portrayed in blue in many of the paintings and icons, we stand united in prayer with her and grateful for the Catholic Schools as we offer our prayer to God. As we celebrate Catholic Education Week, from May 10th to 14th this year, I invite you to join all the faithful in praying for Catholic Education, the students whom we serve, their parents and families, and our trustees, administrators, teachers, and staff who make it all possible.

Fr. Julian Bilyj ECSD Chaplain