"Growing Together in Faith" is our new charism here at St. Angela School. To continue the exploration of our charism we will work with our staff, students, and district graphic artists to create a charism poster which we will share and display in each classroom and common learning space. We will also include our revised charism in all school newsletters and on our school website. Our new Green STEM Focus Program is rooted in our new charism. This will be introduced to our school community in our Opening Celebration. To deepen our commitment to living out the message of Laudato Si' we will plant a tree with a plaque to symbolize our new charism and hang a charism plaque in our front entrance. We will invite Father Mark to bless our indoor and outdoor symbols of our charism. As we engage in STEM inquiry projects, we will ensure a permeation of a Catholic worldview in relation to current events and global topics. Prayer and reflections will be incorporated in the planning of our schoolwide and classroom activities. To further participation in faith, we will incorporate care for each other and care for those in need through social justice projects. We will introduce a prayer board for staff and students to provide opportunity for personal prayer and reflection. Our morning announcements will include sharing of ideas of how to care for one another and students sharing their examples of how they are living out God's message. We will introduce a school theme song for the school year that will be used in every liturgy. We will introduce a student broadcast team to share school announcements, prayer, and religious projects to our school community.

Our school community is very excited to be implementing a Green STEM focus program this year. To help us begin this journey, a student strength-based inventory will be conducted in September to set direction for STEM projects and activities as well as clubs and extracurricular activities. Classrooms and common spaces will reflect our Green STEM focus program philosophy and may include a STEM table, interactive word wall, project boards, artifacts, hands-on stations, and a variety of collaborative and independent learning spaces. We will begin to create new common learning spaces specific to our Green Stem focus program such as a robotics lab, STEM lab and an outdoor learning space. We will implement monthly school-wide STEM assembly/activity days where First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives, literacy, numeracy and faith are interwoven with the Green STEM focus. Each class will work together with the Admin Team to lead the development and implementation of their day.

We will begin the school year by engaging in professional learning which includes reflecting on the TQS/LQS, self-assessment practices and development of goals and strategies related to the development of teacher Professional Growth Plans. Staff will engage in ongoing professional dialogue and reflection on research relative to First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives and cultural teachings which are applicable to building foundational knowledge which will further support the Green STEM focus program. We will implement new literacy instructional and assessment practices and engage in division-wide professional learning. Our ECSD Green STEM Community of Practice activities will continue throughout the year for teachers and administrators with our partners at St. Richard and St. Vincent schools.

We will seek out opportunities to partner with STEM focused organizations to develop relationships that will support student learning through presentations, collaborations and experiences. In addition, through grants and proposals we will seek out and engage in collaborations to build relationships and community partnerships. For example, the ECS Foundation, BP A+ Energy Program, APEGA, etc. We will host a community partnership evening to build a network between the school community and other organizations. Professional learning and dialogue will be centered on review of data sets as made available from the Division as well as generated at the school level.

At St. Angela School, we have hit the ground running and have taken a number of our planned actions. In our Growing in Faith goal, our new charism was introduced to our school community in our Opening Celebration and a charism poster has been created and is displayed in each classroom and common learning space. A charism plaque has been hung in our front entrance, and the new charism is included in all school newsletters and on our school website. We have introduced a school theme song for the school year that is used in every liturgy, as well as a student broadcast team to share school announcements, prayer, and religious projects to our school community. In the area of Student Success, a student strength-based inventory was conducted in September to set direction for STEM projects and activities as well as clubs and extracurricular activities. We have created new common learning spaces specific to our Green Stem focus program including a robotics lab (Newton's Workshop) and a STEM lab. We have also implemented monthly school-wide STEM assembly/activity days. To address an Excellent Place to Work and Learn, we began the school year by engaging in professional learning which included reflecting on the TQS/LQS, self-assessment practices and development of goals and strategies related to the development of teacher Professional Growth Plans. Teachers have implemented new literacy assessment practices and our ECSD Green STEM Community of Practice activities have begun and will continue with our partners at St. Richard and St. Vincent schools. For Building Our Future Together, we have begun to partner with STEM focused organizations like APEGA and Scientists in School and have been successful in securing grants through the ECS Foundation, Government of Alberta - Ministry of Culture and BP A+ Energy Program. In response to our survey data, we are taking part in the Mental Health Champions Community of Practice to allow greater opportunity for students to take on leadership roles and share their ideas and opinions about the school with staff.

We have continued to make great strides and are on target to meet our Assurance Goals! In our Growing in Faith goal, our new charism provides us with visual reminders of our call to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Our St. Angela student faith day was held on January 27, the feast day of our patron saint! Students were deeply engaged in the activities and had an opportunity to reflect on our school charism and how we truly are growing together in our faith. Our student broadcast shares prayers and social justice activities with our students. In the area of Student Success, two of our new STEM spaces are up and running and fully operational. Robotics instruction has occurred for students in grades 4-6 since November in Newton’s Workshop. Teachers are accessing the STEM lab for hands-on learning activities and new clubs have been introduced including Coding and Feed the Birds. STEM assemblies have continued on a monthly basis and are highlighted in our school newsletter and on social media. Between November and February, we have focused on conservation and eco-systems, steam engine trains, seasonal change, and the engineering design process. Students and staff wear the color green on assembly days! To address an Excellent Place to Work and Learn, our staff have been engaged in ongoing professional learning with our division Literacy and Numeracy consultants to analyze our student data and making programming decisions to enhance student learning. Staff have also engaged in a hands-on coding PD session with our STEM community of practice schools. We have added a Green STEM Lead Teacher to our staff who supports our staff and students with planning and implementing STEM activities and projects within the classroom. For Building Our Future Together, we have continued to build STEM focused partnerships. Most recently, we partnered with Sir John Thompson School to support their grant application for a community garden space which we could use collaboratively to conduct investigations and collect data. We have been carrying out our plans for our BP A+ Energy Program grant which includes educating our students about energy through our student led broadcast. Our Mental Health Champions in grades 5 and 6 have been active in our school by planning school spirit days, implementing the Moving in the Halls initiative and leading a Kindness Challenge for all grades!