In the Alberta Education Business Plan the Minister of Education articulated goals for the province. Our Holy Spirit board then set strategic priorities that aligned with the Business Plan. At FLVT, we chose two priorities to focus on that aligns with the Board’s direction: 1. Catholic Identity and 2. Preparing Students for their Future
Within those priorities, we created goals to move the school forward. This month I would like to highlight what we are doing to enhance our Catholic Identity. Our theme for this year is a Horizon of Hope. We are using Pope Francis’ statement as a guide where he challenged us to be lights in the darkness:
“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
With this in mind we have two main areas of focus under Catholic Identity. We are asking our community to be beacons of hope by focusing on an attitude of Gratitude. The staff was given gratitude journals to start the year and teachers have chosen to incorporate journals, compliments, trees, and chains into their classrooms. When you walk around the school you will see bulletin boards in the halls and classrooms expressing the attitude of gratitude. Every morning we gather as a staff for a meeting and prayer, and this year, our staff prayer is taken from Joyce Meyer’s devotional The Power of Being Thankful. During advent we will be creating an advent calendar for the school that does not contain chocolate, but does contain gratitude activities.
The second area of focus came as a result of analyzing our junior high Bullying and School Safety Tell Them From Me Survey results, and feedback from staff and parents. A safe school environment is critical for students’ learning and well-being. As a result, we will be focusing on implementing the OLWEUS Bullying Prevention Program at the school. The program is backed up with over 35 years of research and is designed to improve peer relations and make school safer, more positive places. Goals of the program are to reduce existing bullying problems, prevent the development of new problems, and create better peer relations at school. On November 12 and 13 the whole staff will be in serviced on the program by Karen Kondor who runs Find Your Voice Consulting. Schools are safer when school staff, students, parents, and communities work together.
We are looking for a parent to be a member of our Coordinating Committee. Information on the duties are included in the newsletter and we would require that you attend the training on the 12 and 13. Please contact me if you are interested in being a part of this exciting program.
Coordinating Committee Responsibilities
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