Principal Connections

After March 13th, when we are all ordered into quarantine as a result of this pandemic, I was truly worried for my kids. When colleagues have asked how my kids are doing, I'm honest in saying that they are doing the best they can and my staff are working harder than ever to engage them. We're not just able to work our magic like we used to... For many, coming to school is a refuge from the realities of home life and consistent, regular access to mental health support services. It entailed being met by the morning welcome wagon, and hearing messages that people were glad to see them and hoped that they had a great day. Sometimes, it means sneaking into the kitchen with a teacher or support staff for an bowl of cereal or bite of fruit because there was nothing on the dinner table the night before. It's entering the building and without saying a word, someone has figured out that something horrible has happened and the fact that no school work was getting done that day wasn...

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Catholic Education Week. It is truly a gift to be able to work in a publicly-funded Catholic school, where we can be free to express our faith so freely and unapologetically. It's a bit sad that we are presently in quarantine and cannot gather in community to celebrate this wonderful gift but my staff and I decided to capitalize on the marvel that is social media to stay connected to our students. We wanted to inspire hope and encourage them from our homes, to theirs. I challenged my staff to select a favourite Scripture passage that they felt evokes a great sense of hope and each day on our school's Twitter feed, I feature a staff member with their quote. I also posted these photos into all of the Google Classrooms that the staff were running for  distance learning. In our special community, where relationships are so key to student success, we thought it was important for the kids to see our faces. We called our little project #motivatedbyfaith...