St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School – Grade Specific Faith Retreats

There will be four grade-specific faith retreats over the next school year. Grade 6 and 8 retreats would be held in the spring at Our Lady of Victory Camp, where students will partake in faith-based games, skits and music, as well as prayer. Grade 7 and 9 retreats will occur in the fall with FacetoFace Ministries, where students will learn about living and proclaiming their faith.  This project was given $5,500.

Testimonial

Through games, songs, activities and testimonials, Pure Witness Ministries challenged our students to become pure witnesses of their faith by setting Christ at the heart of their lives. Students were able to enjoy and express their Catholic faith in a safe, caring, non-judgemental and inclusive environment.

St. Teresa of Avila School – Kind Kids Club

In response to high demand and increased number of students, the Kind Kids Club will continue next year at the school. This group of Grade 4 and 5 students will meet weekly to discuss and create activities to promote faith, kindness, acceptance and positive mental health in the school community. This initiative has been given $650.

 

 

Testimonial

The Kind Kids Club enhances faith for children by offering opportunities to both promote and model kindness in our school and community much like Jesus. Our club also encourages all children to have a sense of ‘belonging’ and ‘purpose’ as they walk their faith journey with supportive adults and new friends. The Education Foundations funding allowed us the opportunity to ‘give back’ within our school and the surrounding community. “Giving Back” allowed our students to demonstrate Humanness by allowing students to better understand compassion, and form it in their lives.

The funds were used for crafts, supplies to support our students’ presentation at the Healthy Active School Symposium (HASS), and Kindness Rocks materials. Funds will also be used to restock some of our board games that are shared with families to help encourage the 40 Developmental Assets. Students continue to come each week to the club and are eager for the start of new projects!

Thank you for providing this opportunity for our students to grow through their faith and kind acts.

Projects:

  • We Scare Hunger Food Drive – the school community collected 1,318 items and donated to the Red
    Deer Food Bank
  • HASS Presentation & Activity – Hide a Kindness Bookmark in your school
  • Rock Painting of Kind Messages that will be spread throughout the community in the spring
  • Happy heart messages for staff
  • Bookmarks & thank you cards for community agencies (CFS, Alberta Mental Health, Sexual
    Assault Centre, Suicide Information & Education Services, Child Advocacy Centre…)
  • Random Act of Kindness Flowers for surrounding neighbourhood delivery
  • Board games to support family programming
  • Kind Kids fill snack baskets for classrooms

Maryview School – Faith Retreat for Grade 1-2 Students

Students will attend a one-day faith retreat to participate in activities including crafts, singing and bible study. This initiative has been allocated $1,010.

Testimonial

Cat Chat visited our school and the students loved it! Their vibrant, musical faith-filled production promoted our Catholic values and teachings. Students were engaged in fun, uplifting family-based activities. In addition to the cost of Cat Chat we purchased a few CD’s to use in the school to continue the spirit of their messages.

Grow Boys 2019

Grow Boys is a full day leadership conference for Grade 5 boys in Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and Red Deer Public Schools. This event includes sessions on physical activity, mental health/wellness, trades and technology. Students benefit from learning new skills and are exposed to positive role models throughout the day. This initiative has been allocated $1,000.

Testimonial:

Grow Boys is an opportunity for pre-teen boys in Red Deer to explore the deeper meanings behind respect, understanding, relationships and responsibility. This year, over 800 Grade 5 boys, 80 high school mentors and nearly 50 presenters came together to support this successful event. It is a combined community effort to support the happy, healthy growth and development of boys. Thank you for your yearly support as we continue to positively impact the lives of our future community.

St. Teresa of Avila School – Breakfast Program

The school will continue to provide a breakfast program for all students. The breakfast follows Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating to ensure students are getting the proper nutrition to start their day. This project was given $3,000.

Testimonial

This inclusive program helped us to provide a healthy breakfast/snack and lunch to children who come to school without these necessities. Monies went towards breakfast, classroom snack baskets and student lunches including providing tickets for our milk program. We all know that healthy meals can increase learning in the classroom. This program is delivered universally, it is available to all students. All students were welcome to use this service making the program non-stigmatizing.

St. Francis of Assisi Middle School – FacetoFace Ministries

FacetoFace Ministries will lead a multi-day retreat split into two parts (Grade 6-7 and Grade 8-9) at the school to bring students closer to God. This initiative has been allocated $1,500.

Testimonial

Thank you so much to the Education Foundation for once again supporting our student Faith retreats. FacetoFace ministries provides a strong faith experience for our students, allowing
them to join together in prayer, song and worship. FacetoFace ministries is one way we have been able to bring Joy and a Love for God into our student’s lives. Having the students and staff fully engage in faith activities for the day creates an environment where our faith is openly shared and witnessed through our actions and words. A very powerful experience for our kids.

Go Girls 2019

Go Girls is a one day event that promotes health and wellness to all Grade 5 girls in Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and Red Deer Public Schools. This event focuses on physical activity, healthy eating and mental wellness. Students benefit by gaining new skills and knowledge while building new friendships. This initiative has been given $1,000.

 

 

Testimonial

The funding for Go Girl was used to buy t-shirts for all of the Red Deer Catholic students and teachers that participated in Go Girl 2019. This funding helps to contribute to an amazing opportunity for Grade 5 girls to connect with many other students in Red Deer and to hopefully make new friends as they switch into Middle school in the fall. This activity also helps girls with new ways to promote active living and mental health.

St. Elizabeth Seton School – A Rosary for Every Student

The school will purchase a set of rosaries to be used during the month of May. Students will get the opportunity to hold a rosary and pray each morning. This initiative has been allocated $365.

 

Testimonial

With this money, we were able to purchase 400 Rosaries. This allows each student in our school to physically hold a Rosary in his/her hand while we pray the Rosary. Throughout the month of May, St. Elizabeth Seton School prays a decade of the Rosary every morning. This usually occurs in the classroom with a student or teacher leading the class through a slide presentation. Once a week we gather in the hallway as a school community and the Faith Coach leads the Rosary over the intercom. The students were positively impacted by this grant money because, as you can see in the pictures and videos, they are very proud to be able to hold a Rosary and learn how to touch each of the beads when reciting the prayers. It has helped them to be focused and reverent during prayer time. This project aligns with our school priority of bringing students and staff to a deeper relationship to God through an understanding and participation in prayer. In the spirit of Sacramentality, the reciting of the Rosary together reveals visible signs of God’s invisible grace. The students of St. Elizabeth Seton School are grateful for their Rosaries!

 

St. Francis of Assisi Middle School – Health and Wellness Project

St. Francis of Assisi Middle School plans on continuing with their GRR (Growing in Respect and Responsibility) program to engage students throughout the year to make good choices, such as healthy eating, active living, showing leadership, having school pride and being kind to others. This program has been allocated $2,500.

Testimonial 

Thank you for supporting our health champions as they provide morning snacks, bring in fitness experts and grow in their knowledge of health and wellness.

Through this support, we have been able to bring positive and healthy living into our school community! This money is also used to support our GRR (Growing in Respect and Responsibility) program which recognizes students for all their positive actions.

RDCRS READS 2018 Summer Reading Program

The RDCRS READS Summer Reading Program is an exciting way to encourage our students to read throughout the summer months. The goal is to foster a love of reading through continued access to books. Seventeen of our schools have chosen to participate in this program with approximately 4,000 students involved. $5,000 has been allotted towards this program.

Testimonial

In order for our students to have a chance for higher academic achievement, we need to continue to support them by building strong literacy environments to develop a culture of
readers in our students. The funds were used for book bags for students participating in RDCRS READS. Students who took books from the school library received a bag and brought them back in September. Over 5400 students and over 16,000 books were given out.

The data is telling us that we are doing well. Students and parent want the program!
(Highlight Data: 311 parents responded, 434 elementary students responded, 105 middle school students responded.)

  • 46% of elementary students said they read more because of this Reading Program
  • 72% of elementary students said they would like books again next summer
  • 87% said they would like the Learning Commons open next summer
  • 77% of parents said they would like books from the school next summer
  • 40% of parents said their child’s reading improved because of the Reading Program
  • 4 Schools had libraries open