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Dear Parents/Guardians:
May is a very special month for the staff and students of Edmonton Catholic Schools; it is a month dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus and our heavenly mother. She is a model for all of us in the perfection with which she devoted herself to her maternal mission. Mary truly is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church. She is our inspiration in viewing each child as a precious gift and a sacred responsibility.
The City of Edmonton is growing and so is our school district with student enrolments now exceeding 32,500. It is our goal to provide educational experiences corresponding to the needs and abilities of all our students and ensuring their success. Included in our increasing district enrolment, two special groups are worthy of note at this time. There are now 2,807 English as a Second Language (ESL) students and 2,555 self-identified First Nations, Metis and Inuit (FNMI) students.
District strategies to support ESL student achievement include providing schools with additional resources enabling them to individualize programs for these youngsters. We also retain the services of several community outreach workers who make direct contact with and provide assistance to the parents of these students.
Efforts to assist FNMI students focus on developing an awareness and appreciation of their culture, history, language and traditions. Schools are provided with additional resources to provide appropriate academic and counseling support for these students. It should be noted that we are also the only school district in Alberta that has established a Cree bilingual program. This very successful language and culture program, offered at St. Francis of Assisi and Our Lady of Peace schools is one of the fastest growing alternative programs in our district.
In other initiatives, Edmonton Catholic Schools has also developed very successful strategies to improve high school completion rates by targeting at-risk students in grade 9 and focusing our efforts at having these students make a successful transition to grade 10. Within our high schools, we have developed extensive career counseling programs, continued to monitor at-risk students and put in place extensive intervention strategies for students at risk of not graduating.
Many blessings on our mothers this month and always.
“To mothers … You have been given the great privilege and responsibility of being a child’s
first teacher and spiritual guide. Grant that all mothers may worthily foster the faith
of their children, following the example of Mary and other holy women who follow Christ.”
Sincerely,
Joan Carr
Superintendent
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