Over the course of the year, we will deepen our understanding of the message of Laudato Si’ by incorporating it into our religion classes and STEM assemblies. We will select a theme song for the school year that reflects the message of Laudato Si’ to be used in every liturgy. We will plant a tree with a plaque to symbolize our care for creation. We will invite Father Jossy to bless our indoor and outdoor symbols of our faith. We will leverage our student broadcast and create opportunities for students to reflect on their faith and share their own prayers. 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. Staff and students will contribute to our Prayer Board to provide a regular opportunity for personal prayer and reflection. The St. Edmund Parish Family community of schools (St. Edmund, Katherine Therrien, St. Timothy, and St. Angela) will work together to provide common faith opportunities for our students to engage in, while creating relationships between the parish, our schools, the students, their parents, and staff.

Our school community is very excited to be moving into year two of our implementation of the Green STEM focus program. As we continue our journey, a student STEM reflection and interest/strength-based inventory will be conducted in September to set direction for STEM projects and activities as well as clubs and extracurricular activities. The introduction of greater access to extracurricular activities will be important as we move forward. Classrooms and common spaces will reflect our Green STEM focus program philosophy. We will continue to develop our new common learning spaces specific to our Green Stem focus program such as a robotics lab, STEM lab and especially our outdoor learning space. We will continue our monthly school-wide STEM assembly/activity days with a greater intentionality on First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives interwoven with the Green STEM focus. The administration team and STEM lead teacher will provide opportunities for student voice and choice within the assembly activities. Growing new school-wide events such as the Science Expo and in-class activities supported by the STEM lead teacher will allow all students to develop their potential through multiple pathways.

Staff will engage in ongoing professional learning and reflection as new curriculum is implemented. 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 to grow throughout the year for teachers and administrators with our partners at St. Richard, St. Vincent, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel schools. We will engage in collaborative whole school and cross-school PD, cross-school grade level communities of practice, and teacher leadership teams including Green Lead, Coding and Robotics, Engineering and Design, and Numeracy. In addition, our school will take part in piloting the new K-6 Science curriculum which will allow us to leverage our existing strengths in this area and position us for leadership opportunities within the division during the mandatory implementation process. We will present, reference, and carry out the ECSD Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism Strategic Plan in all aspects of school culture.

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 are on track to meet our Assurance Goals! In our Growing in Faith goal, we have leveraged our student broadcast to create opportunities for students to share their own prayers. We have engaged in several Social Justice projects this fall including Terry Fox Run, Edmonton Food Bank, Halloween Howl for the Alberta Diabetes Foundation and Warm Hands, Warm Hearts. We began the school year by having our staff contribute to our Prayer Board. Next, our division two classes wrote personal intentions for peace in conjunction with Remembrance Day reflections which they have added to the board. The St. Edmund Parish Family of schools worked together to provide our first common faith opportunity for our students to engage in, which was a Grade 4 Bible Celebration which was held at St. Timothy School. In the area of Student Success, a student interest/strength-based inventory was conducted to set direction for STEM projects and activities as well as clubs and extracurricular activities. We continue to develop our new common learning spaces specific to our Green Stem focus program including our new outdoor classroom which was officially opened and blessed in October. Our monthly school-wide STEM assembly/activity days have been planned and led by our STEM lead teacher and Admin Team. To address an Excellent Place to Work and Learn, our teaching staff has engaged in ongoing professional learning and reflection related to the implementation of new curriculum. We have implemented new literacy and numeracy assessment practices and worked one on one with our curriculum and assessment consultants to analyze our student data. We are piloting the new K-6 Science curriculum which has included large group, grade level and one on one professional learning opportunities. For Building Our Future Together, we have begun to partner with STEM focused organizations. We were successful in securing a BP A+ for Energy grant which is funding a new high and low sensory room with a focus on bringing the outdoors inside the school. The Alberta Diabetes Foundation spoke to our students about medical research and the skills they are developing as STEM students at our October assembly. We invited the Alberta Snow and Ice Sculpture Society to take part in our November STEM assembly. We worked with our STEM Schools and Education Planning to develop a Christmas Family STEM Night at the Edmonton Valley Zoo.

We have continued to make great strides and are on target to meet our Assurance Goals! In our Growing in Faith goal, we explored the message of Laudato Si’ through hands-on sessions at our St. Angela student faith day. This day provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to work together in multi-age groups and feel connected as a school family in their matching T-shirts and bracelets. Our student broadcast shares personal prayers and promotes our social justice activities. In the area of Student Success, the contributions of our Green STEM Lead Teacher ensure that all students receive high-quality STEM programming in our STEM spaces, including Newton’s Workshop, the STEM Lab, our Learning Commons, and Outdoor Classroom. Currently under development are our Makerspace and Renew and Refocus Energy Room. Our school-wide assemblies provide rich learning for all students and typically incorporate a guest speaker as well as a hands-on STEM challenge. Connections are also made to literacy, faith, and Indigenous perspectives. Between November and February, we have focused on Snow and Ice, Laudato Si’, and Materials Engineering. To address an Excellent Place to Work and Learn, our staff have analyzed our student data and used it in programming decisions to enhance student learning, including reading intervention groups. Three teachers attended the Future of Educational Technology Conference in New Orleans and shared their learning with all staff in a PD session. Two teachers are headed to the National Science Teaching Association Conference in Atlanta in March 2023. Our staff is well supported in STEM learning with at the elbow PD with our Green STEM lead teacher. For Building Our Future Together, we have continued to build STEM-focused partnerships. We have been carrying out our plans for our BP A+ Energy Program grant, which includes developing a new high and low sensory room with a focus on bringing the outdoors inside the school. Our STEM partnerships this year include the Alberta Diabetes Foundation, Alberta Snow and Ice Sculpture Society, and the Valley Zoo. In reviewing our Mental Health Survey data, we addressed areas for growth with a Wellness Residency. Our presenter will visit each class four times over four months to develop a common language and understanding about mental health topics.