Dear St. Francis of Assisi students and families,
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen Welcome back! It has been a wonderful few days welcoming our students back into the building, and we have had a smooth start to the school year. Our priorities have been focused on ensuring students feel safe and supported, and building a sense of welcoming community within each class. Throughout this year, we will try to email all our families at the start of each week with events and relevant information. Course Changes and Classes We have been making schedule changes for students to ensure grade requirements and student interests. Most teachers have set up their class in MS Teams and students should be able to access those in the next few days. Parking A reminder to parents and students regarding parking, morning drop offs and afternoon pickups. The drop off loop is on the north side of the building; the first turn off when travelling on Duke Rd from Lewes Blvd. We are asking everyone to use this location to ensure safety (the staff parking lot is not designed for drop offs). We would also like to remind students to park their cars in the student parking lot. Thank you all for your cooperation in this matter. Attendance Procedures Attendance in classes is the biggest contributor to student success and we take attendance tracking seriously. It is the responsibility of all Parent/Guardians to inform the office of all excused absences from school. The office will call home for unexcused students missing first block. Automated phone calls are generated to call home for any unexcused absences after the school day has finished. Please inform the office of any absences by calling 667-5901 and speaking with any office staff, if you call after school hours you can leave a voicemail. Or, if it is more convenient, please feel free to email us at sfacss@yukon.ca. Cafeteria Our cafeteria is closed for this week. If students could bring a lunch from home, that would be great. We will let you know when it is re-opening. Thank you for your patience and understanding. St. Francis Clubs and Athletics There are so many clubs and sports teams that you can join here at St. Francis. As mentioned in the assembly earlier today, volleyball is just around the corner (9/10 girls vball meet August 29 at lunch in room 13 for example), and some clubs are having their first meetings this week. Keep an eye out for posters in the hallways that will tell you what is happening and where. Details will also be posted on Microsoft teams in the St. Francis Hallway. Grad The grad website is www.stfrancisgrad.com. Grads, please visit this website to stay informed. Also grad parents, ensure that the school has a current email address for you on file, as that is how most grad related information will be sent out. Student Tutoring All St. Francis students can receive tutoring from other students for assistance in course work, assignments or organizational skills. The students requesting tutors are self-identified, or identified by their parents or teachers. To receive tutoring the student simply needs to fill in an application in the Skills Room (Room 3). Students in Grade 10, 11, or 12 can apply to be a tutor. Tutors can earn either service learning hours or an hourly wage. Peer tutors are paid on a graduated scale, which increases with grade level and number of hours tutored. Potential tutors need to come in person to the Skills room and fill in an application. Students will be matched one on one by the Learning Assistance Teachers. X-block X-block schedules for the first semester will be shared in the next weekly email home, and on the school website. Tomorrow, August 23, x-block is 1. Outstanding school materials There are many students who have not yet returned textbooks, library resources and English novels which were used last year. These items remain on a student’s record and may prevent them from having access to new resources. We ask for your help in having these items returned ASAP. Catholic Education Association of Yukon CEAY is very pleased to announce that we are sponsoring a public screening at the theatre on Wood Street, in partnership with Yukon Film Society, of the documentary about Mother Teresa. SUNDAY AUGUST 27 @ 1pm Mother Teresa: No Greater Love The film has no rating, but parental guidance for very young children is advised due to images of poverty and illness. Admission is pay-what-you-will. Mother Teresa is a modern day saint who is universally recognized as a model of charity through her lifetime of dedicated service to the poor. As we are all called to be saints, the witness of St. Teresa of Calcutta is a beautiful example for our own lives and encourages all of us to show the face of Christ to everyone we encounter. The trailer is available here: https://www.motherteresamovie.com/ We encourage all families in our school community to take advantage of this opportunity to build relationship and understanding through our shared vision of mission. – Katherine Williams, Executive Director Invitation from Bishop Vila In celebration of the start of this school year, I would like to personally invite you, your staff, parents and students to Holy Mass on Sunday September 10th, 2023, at 10:30am at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Whitehorse. The Mass will be followed by a ‘Beautiful Breakfast’ in the CYO Hall hosted by Sacred Heart Parish. You can find more details about the breakfast closer to the date at sacredheartcathedral.ca. - Yours in Christ, Bishop Hector Vila. Welcome to Our New and Returning Staff
Please do not hesitate to call the school at 667-5901 if you have any questions or concerns. Join us on Instagram @stfrancisyukon. Blessings, The St. Francis of Assisi Admin Team, Alethea Wallace, Principal and Mia Ouellette, Vice-Principal Dear Students and Parents/Guardians of Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Secondary,
We are looking forward to greeting our students for the 2023-2024 school year. We hope that you all had a restful summer and were able to spend some time with your families. Our staff are ready to receive our students and we wanted to share information regarding the first day of school at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Secondary. The first day of school is on Tuesday August 22nd where students will first meet for an assembly in the gymnasium. Students will receive their schedules upon leaving the gymnasium and they will go to each of their assigned classes throughout the day to meet their teachers. Students must go to their assigned classes and if they require any schedule changes, they can sign-up for a schedule change in the office. Students who require schedule changes will be called to the office based on the sign-up sheet. Grade 8 parents/guardians/students: A reminder that grade 8 student orientation is on Friday August 18th from 10:00-11:30. School Supplies: You can find the list for each grade on our school website under “school information” followed by “school documents”. Bless all our students, teachers, and staff as they make their way back to their classrooms for another year. We hope that they feel excitement and joy in the promise of a new start. The St. Francis of Assisi Admin Team, Alethea Wallace, Principal; Mia Ouellette, Vice-Principal Happy June!
As part of an action plan after the Yukon Catholic Schools PD Day on May 1st, the 3 Catholic schools are flying the Progressive Pride flag for the month of June. At our PD Day, we had a keynote address from Fr. James Martin, an internationally renowned Catholic priest doing focused work in the space of 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion. Through gospel stories and his personal experience working in this field, he helped us understand the profound need for visible inclusion for this community in Catholic churches and schools. He reiterated research regarding young people who identify in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and who feel their school or church community don’t accept or include them— this community is at significantly higher risk for serious mental health struggles, including depression and suicide ideation, connected directly to not seeing themselves reflected in their world. Our Church’s world leader, Pope Francis, has publicly thanked and applauded Father James Martin for this important work, along with the organization that Fr. Martin has helped to create, https://outreach.faith/. The front-page article today is called “Can Catholics celebrate Pride Month? Yes, and here’s why.” Additionally, educators spent part of the Catholic PD Day looking at policies and actions of other jurisdictions that have publicly funded Catholic schools (namely, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto). These districts are responding to the ever-growing research around outcomes for youth in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and these distracts have decided that an impactful and excellent first step is flying the Pride flag during pride month. It is well documented that this visual act of solidarity is significant for this marginalized and at-risk community. The designer of this revamped Pride flag (Daniel Quasar) intended the colors to represent the following: the colored stripes represented the gay and lesbian community, the light blue, pink and white stripes represent trans and non-binary individuals and the brown and black ones represent marginalized People of Colour (POC) communities. When organizations fly this flag it is a statement of inclusion—“you are welcome in our space”. Note that the garden-style flagpole at the front door will be used to show our solidarity with other important causes throughout the school year. For example, we will fly The Survivors’ flag in September for Truth and Reconciliation month, a flag for veterans in November, the Black History flag in February for Black History month and a Franco-Yukonnais flag in May for Yukon Francophonie Day. St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Secondary School is committed to creating a community that supports equity, diversity and inclusion. Please do not hesitate to call the school at 667-5901 if you have any questions or concerns. Blessings, The St. Francis of Assisi Admin Team, Alethea Wallace, A/Principal; Mia Ouellette, A/Vice-Principal; Janet Clarke, A/Vice Principal St. Francis Update
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