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About Us
St. Bonaventure Catholic School is a community of faith and learning, where we pride ourselves on nurturing the spiritual, intellectual, physical and social growth of each member. Our faith is interwoven into all aspects of the day, through celebration of the Virtues of the Month, prayer tables, monthly Masses and visits from the Apostolate of the Rosary.
Our school is committed to ensuring that each child feels that they are an important and valued member of the school community. The numerous social justice activities provide opportunities for students to reach out to others and become familiar with the larger world. In addition, the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations are embedded into our curriculum and school philosophy.
St. Bonaventure offers regular classes from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8, as well as the opportunity to take Extended French from Grades 5 to 8 for half of the day. We also have a Congregated Gifted Program from Grades 6 to 8 for half of the day. Art, Physical Education, Health, Drama, Music, Social Studies and French Language are taught on the Extended French half of the day. Math, English, Science, Religion and Music are taught on the English half of the day.
Through a collaborative environment, teachers meet on a regular basis to identify the needs and strengths of each student in order to better frame the learning environment to meet individual needs.
Our Mission
As a community of faith and learning, we pride ourselves on nurturing the spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, and emotional growth of each community member.
Our Vision
As a caring and compassionate team of dedicated professionals, we hold ourselves accountable to being inclusive and in striving to achieve excellence in our learning community.
We hold ourselves accountable to Discipleship, Collaborative teaching and learning, and Assessment for learning.
Discipleship
Through the teachings of the Bible, we become a community that cherishes and cares for all of God’s creation. We will:
Continue to ensure that religious content is made relevant to our school community.
Develop a curriculum that focuses on active discipleship, leadership and citizenship in each division.
Explore and implement knowledge about Racism, Indigenous issues and multicultural issues (including expanding appropriate resources in our library and classrooms).
Continue to nurture a safe, inclusive, welcoming, healthy, active and caring school community.
Collaborative teaching and learning
By fostering collaborative teaching and learning across the curriculum and across divisions, we will:
Establish our professional learning community based on the following triad of meetings: Divisional Teams (JK to Grade 4 and Grade 5 to 8) and Shared Learning Meetings.
Complete the development of common long-range plans at grade level that are based on common assessment (and essential outcomes).
Share planning time with the same grade teachers to discuss curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment.
Focus our dialogue on student needs driven by data analysis - formative, summative, Canadian Achievement Tests (CAT)-4 and Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO).
Assessment for learning
Assessment for learning will inform teaching and planning, and allow us to adapt teaching to the specific needs of each child. We will continue to:
Develop and utilize common grade level rubrics for assessment that will evaluate achievement of essential outcomes in each subject area.
Adapt assessment in language and math so that there is consistency across grades and a continuum across the school.
Use assessment data to identify students at risk and address their needs accordingly (i.e., through differentiated instruction).
Identify students that are overachieving and tailor the curriculum to suit their needs (i.e., through differentiated instruction).
Modify assessments for Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and English as a Second Language (ESL) students.
Our School History and Tradition
St. Bonaventure Catholic School is named after one of the first great scholastic thinkers of Christianity. Bonaventure was born in Italy and lived from 1217 to 1274. He entered the Franciscan order as a simple Friar around 1234 and began his studies at the University of Paris. Over the years, Bonaventure became an outstanding lecturer, philosopher, theologian and doctor of the church. In 1273, Pope Gregory named Bonaventure as a Cardinal. Bonaventure died suddenly in 1274 while preparing material for the second council of Lyons. His feast is celebrated on July 14.
St. Bonaventure Catholic School opened on January 3, 1957, as an eight-classroom school. The first class graduated from Grade 8 in 1957. As the community developed and the school population increased, the need for more space became apparent, and in 1962, an additional seven classrooms and a library were built. A second addition, containing a gymnasium, change rooms, and a stage, was built in 1969. During the 2006-2007 school year, we celebrated our 50th Anniversary.
The school has, over the years, established strong ties with the St. Bonaventure parish and with the community at large. Students presently enrolled in our school have parents who are former school graduates. There are families who have grandchildren attending St. Bonaventure Catholic School. We are happy to be a part of the tradition and family ties that are important aspects of life to our school community. Our school prides itself on helping others and raising awareness of social justice issues and acting on them. We achieve this through many actions and social justice projects, and by providing many leadership opportunities for our students through our curriculum delivery. We strive to be disciples who change our world today!