September 21, 2017

Quote of the Day: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” JFK

News from the Office

  • Welcome back! The 2017-2018 school year has begun. It is great to welcome all our students and parents to our amazing new school. We are excited to begin building a community of faith, respect and learning with our families and staff. I would like to encourage all families to get involved with the school in whatever way works best for them: stopping to say “hi” or volunteering for ourvery active St. Kateri Tekakwitha School Community Council (CSCC) or our St. Kateri Playground Committee. Your involvement is important in your child’s educational experience. We are your partners in the education of your children. The mission of Catholic Education is to provide the students with a learning environment that will allow them to deepen their faith, strengthen their relationship with Jesus Christ, and allow them to be a witness and to have the opportunity to model the gospel values as taught by our Lord Jesus. As a Christian Catholic Community, we must strive to be of service to one another so that we may allow God’s kingdom to grow. The staff gladly accepts this privilege and is committed to assisting parents and guardians in providing quality Catholic education to all students. Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions, concerns, or comments. Your thoughts are important to us.
  • The St. Kateri Tekakwitha School Grand Opening was last week and it was a great success. Our students’ behavior and respect for the event was amazing and many people commented on this. Thanks, students-you have represented St. Kateri Tekakwitha so well! Thank you to the dignitaries and parents who came out as well. Yet another step toward our school becoming a community of faith and learning.
  • Next Thursday, September 28 is our CSCC AGM and Meet the Staff evening. The evening will be casual, with a short AGM/CSCC Elections, followed by a quick presentation and then a “meet and greet” with our staff. Parents are encouraged to come out and get to know our incredible staff.

Terry Fox Walk

Our school will be taking part in a Terry Fox Walk on Wednesday, September 27 at 2:10pm (weather permitting). Terry'sgoal was to raise a $1 for every Canadian, so our goal is toraise $1 for every staff/student at St. Kateri Tekakwitha School. Families are welcome to join us. The Grade 4 class is looking forward to leading our school as we walk to raise money to cure cancer.

Orange Day in Commemoration of Residential School Survivors

Calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Committee have included commemoration of the Residential Schools era and to find ways to honor the survivors of that tragic part of Canadian history. This year one way we will memorialize is by participating in a nation-wide event called “Orange Day”. It commemorates the experience of one survivor who had her shiny orange shirt taken away from her upon her first day at residential school. On Friday September 29 we are asking staff and students (even parents) to wear an orange shirt (or ribbon if you do not have an orange shirt) to show respect and solidarity for those who suffered in this era.

Before/After School

We want to take this opportunity early in the year to outline school routines for the beginning and the end of the day. Our school day officially begins at 8:40 (classes beginning at that time). We encourage students to come to school ten minutes before that time. The school day ends at 3:10. At this time, the bus picks up some of our students, while others walk and are picked up. Due to meetings, professional development and other obligations, our staff is not able to supervise students beyond 10-15 minutes before and after school. Students who are coming or staying beyond these times need to have proper supervision. We offer a before and after school care program for a nominal fee-registration information is available at the office. If your child is coming early or staying later, they must be in this program. Thank you for your anticipated support.

St. Kateri Playground Information

As you may have noticed, our playground has been very close to completion for some time now and some of you might be wondering (we know your children have) where we are at. Construction slowed down somewhat due to issues related to the site that were best accommodated with adjustment to components of the playground. Timeline for completion is the end of this week or early next week. We appreciate everyone’s patience and flexibility.

Alexander MacGillvray Young Park in Stonebridge (A note from the City of Saskatoon)

The final phase of construction is about to begin in Alexander MacGillvray Young Park in the area adjacent to the two new schools. The work will include grading, irrigation, planting, and seeding and pathway construction. As this area will be an active construction zone, it will be fenced in its entirety for approximately six weeks. Once the construction work is complete, the fencing will be reconfigured to allow pedestrian traffic to move between the school sites and the park along one of the new pathway connections. The second pathway connection will be opened during the winter months to allow more access between the schools and the park, but will be closed again in the spring to allow for landscape establishment maintenance. The fencing will be removed once the turf is established enough to support pedestrian traffic. We appreciate the residents’ cooperation and patience during this process. Comments, questions or concerns may be directed to Bruce Laing, Landscape Development Coordinator for the City of Saskatoon, at 306-975-3300.

A supervision plan to address this issue has been put into place, specifically having someone direct student traffic around the fenced area, making sure the students stay on the sidewalk.

Library News!

We have a beautiful library with many wonderful brand NEW books! I am excited to get them into the hands of eager readers! Generally the lower library will be used by students in K-Grade 3, while the upper library will be used mostly by the Grade 4-8 students. Book exchange classes will begin soon &as circulation begins, many classes would appreciate having a library volunteer to help out. If you are interested in helping with checking in/out books during your child’s library time please let their classroom teacher know & they will put me in contact with you. I am happy to provide a little training session to introduce you to the computer Destiny system. Thank you! Carrie Lorenz, Teacher-Librarian

CSCC/Friends of St. Kateri Tekakwitha News

Greetings from your Parent Council, Friends of St. Kateri Community Association! We are a parent-based group that will be fundraising for the benefit of our school community. Our first fundraising event will be a bottle drop off in the school parking lot on Saturday, September 23rd from 10:00 am to noon. If you have a lot of bottles from the summer, please consider donating them to us. We will need a few helpers, so please email us at if you can help out. Thanks!

St. Kateri Playground Association Update:

Greetings from our committee! We are so excited to see our work come to life!Webegan working together lastNovember, and wehave had a busy few months.Thanks tothe City of Saskatoon andgrants from the federalgovernment as well as the Community InitiativesFundwe were able to get over half of our playgrounds ordered before June.We are experiencing a few glitches with installation and are patiently waiting for our installation to be completed.We will be sure to keep you as updated as we can with the progress. Thank you, for your continued interest and patience while we await the completion together. In the meantime, we continue fundraising toward completion of the second site!(The saucer swings and spin tower are therealready!)We are still fundraising for our second structure and rubberized surfaces for bothplaygroundsas theyare designed to be fully accessible to all!

How can you help?

  • We have a couple ofvacancies on our committeetobe filled….we can use your enthusiasm and assistance…contact Rickif you are interested in joining us.
  • Join us for PAINT NIGHT…October 20, 7:00 PM at St. Kateri School. The cost is $45.00 (which includes a glass of wine and pastries. We will also have 50/50 and raffles). What a great way to meet some fellow St. Kateri parents! Tickets are now on sale at the office fromMrs. Walter. As well, one of our committee members, Andrea, will be selling tickets before and afterschool on September 29th and October 13th (near the front office). Come by and say hello! Alternatively, to purchase tickets outside of these times, please contact Tannis at 306-230-7252.
  • Help sell tickets for our planned events… we would love if every family could sell 4-10 tickets for each event such as our upcoming Paint Night.
  • Donate prizes for our fundraisers for silent auction or raffle prizes(we have a steak night in the works) orvolunteeryour time to help at one of our events. Please feel freetocontact one of our committee members or just drop prizes off with Mrs. Walter,our Office Coordinator,at the school.
  • Personal donationsare welcomed (donations over $20 receive tax receipts…cheques can be made out to Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools Foundation…and in the memo line just add“St. Kateri PlaygroundAssociation”. Cheques can dropped off at the school officeor mailed directly to the Foundation at420 - 22nd St. E., Saskatoon, SK S7K 1X3.
  • Corporate/business donationsare also welcomed…every donation over $2500.00 will have thebusiness’name on our playground’s permanent signage.
  • All studentswill be bringing home aPizza Hut couponthis month…just ordering the pizza deal results in $5.00 going towardsour fundraising.
  • Purchase a coupon bookin October…they were a big hit the first time around(our family loved the Sobeys 10% off coupons)…more details to follow…cost is $25.00 and we get to keep half of that total!
  • Follow us on Facebookto see if you can support our monthly small business sales(please let us know if your small business would like to help us)…for the month of October we are working with Allison Treble withPeek-a-boo Beans.

Phew! We have lots on the go…thanks for your anticipated support! With all of the great research out there on the benefits of play linked tothe academic success of our children, this truly is a great cause!

Our committee members are:

Kent Gauthier, Rick Day,KimDay, Andrea Dodge, Tannis Stang, ShannonHarnett, AmandaKolody, Lyndsay Boutin,JenGruending-Pizurny

Rick, our chaircan be contacted at:.

Catholic Family Services

Taming the Worry Dragons is offered at CFS Saskatoon on Wednesdays from October 11 - November 29, 2017 (6:00 pm - 7:00 pm for ages 7-10; 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm for ages 11-13).Registration can be done over thephone at 306-244-7773 or online at If you have any more questions about the group, please contact Miss Kluk at .

Healthy Hunger Hot Lunch Program

The St. Kateri Tekakwitha CSCC will be running a hot lunch program through Healthy Hunger this year. This program makes ordering and receiving hot lunches quick and easy. Our first Hot Lunch will be coming up in the next couple of weeks and you will receive the information via email, so stay tuned.

News from Holy Spirit Parish

SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION

SCHEDULE OF PREP SESSIONS

All prep sessions are from 6:00 – 7:00 pm on the following dates:

  • Reconciliation Preparation -October 19, November 2 and November 16
  • Confirmation Preparation -January 18, February 1 and February 15
  • First Communion Preparation -March 1, March 15, March 22

PARENT’S MEETING - Thursday, September 21 at 6:30 pm

SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION REGISTRATION WEEKEND

September 30 and October 1

Before and after all masses that weekend we will take registrations for sacramental prep. Please bring a copy of your child’s baptism certificate and the fee of $40.00 if your child will be receiving all sacraments. If your child will only receive one sacrament, the fee is $20.00.

For more information, please contact Sharon 306-374-1425 or

“Baptism for Older Children”

We are working to educate and nurture your children in their spiritual journey.

We have heard from a number of parents whose child, over the age of seven and not baptized, is showing an interest in receiving the sacrament of baptism. With this in mind, we will offer a program at Holy Spirit Parish this fall for children who are ages 8 and up who have never been baptized.

Baptism prep will be three sessions of 1.5 hours each held once a week after school. The day of the week will depend on which day works best for the most families.

If your child would like to go on to receive the other sacraments of First Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Communion we (child, parents and myself) will consult about what works best for each family. We may continue to meet as we do for baptism preparation or perhaps your child will join the other children going through sacramental prep.

Please contact me if you would like more information or would like to register. Sharon Powell 306-374-1425 or .

Catholic Family Services

Taming the Worry Dragons is offered at CFS Saskatoon on Wednesdays from October 11 - November 29, 2017 (6:00 pm - 7:00 pm for ages 7-10; 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm for ages 11-13).Registration can be done over thephone at 306-244-7773 or online at If you have any more questions about the group, please contact Miss Kluk at .