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Dear Vanier Students and Families: The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8 Dear Lord, I don’t know what I would do without you. Knowing you are always with me gives me so much hope, especially when I’m going through rough times. Thank you for your love. Amen One of the unique features of Yukon’s public schools is our system of governance that includes school councils. These councils have a number of important roles and authorities in ensuring the voices of students, parents/guardians, and the wider community are represented in the operation of the schools. Vanier has always been fortunate to have supportive councils engaged in this work and we’re pleased that this is continuing with the election by acclamation of our new council. On Friday, our council released a survey to collect input from students, parents/guardians, staff, or anyone who is interested in providing their opinion on the school’s name. This survey is open until October 9 and we thank everyone for taking the time to provide their thoughts and opinions. Please see below to find out more and to for a link to access the survey. Finally, this Wednesday marks Orange Shirt Day across Canada. Orange shirt day is a day in the year where we use our clothing to express our desire to reconcile with Canada’s Indigenous peoples with regard to the destructive legacy of the Indian Residential Schools. However, our school’s commitment to the challenging work of reconciliation goes beyond wearing orange on one single day. We address this topic in a number of instances at various grade levels. In addition, we are constantly looking for ways to honour and incorporate Yukon First Peoples ways of knowing and doing, culture, and language wherever we can. The modern day treaty process that has resulted in Yukon’s land claims and self-government agreements requires all our students – Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike – to have a robust and authentic understanding of the historical and present-day realities of Indigenous peoples so we can work together in furthering and enhancing our democracy. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, Ryan Sikkes, principal and Alethea Wallace, vice-principal Week-at-a-glance Monday, September 28th
School portraits Students who did not have their school portraits taken when the photographer was at Vanier will have the opportunity to have theirs done tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29 at 3:15 at Christ the King Elementary School. Students need to come to Vanier’s office during the day to collect their bar-coded ticket to take to CKES with them after school. There may be other opportunities to have portraits taken at the photographer’s studio – details will be shared when available. Orange Shirt Day Wednesday, September 30 is Orange Shirt Day, a day that has evolved in Canada to help citizens learn about and begin or continue the process of reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous peoples with respect to Indian Residential Schools. More information about the day can be found here: https://www.orangeshirtday.org/ Vanier Catholic Secondary is committed to reconciliation and fully acknowledges the terrible aspects of Canada’s Indian Residential School system. We address this topic fully in a number of our courses at various grade levels. We encourage all our students and staff to wear orange on Wednesday. School Council News – elections update School council nominations closed on Thursday, September 24 and we’re pleased to report that five candidates put forth their names and were elected by acclamation. That means we have no vacant seats on our council. Thank you to the following people for demonstrating your support for our school community by returning to or joining our school council:
Our School Council Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be on Tuesday, October 20 – guests are welcome to attend either in person or through a Zoom meeting. Details of the meeting are available here: https://www.vcss.ca/meetings.html School Council News – survey As was shared by email to all members of our school community on Friday, September 25, there is an online survey regarding the Vanier name. For more details and to complete the survey, visit https://www.vcss.ca/vanier-name-survey.html Missing Books – please return! In the spring, we distributed a selection of novels and books to students, many of which have still not been returned. Please check your bedrooms and bookshelves for the following titles, each of which will have a “Yukon Education Resource Services” stamp inside the front cover if it belongs to us!
In addition, students who attended other schools last year are encouraged to check their homes for books that ought to be returned to those schools. Mail out– return updated verification form and all colour-coded forms to win $250 - Our start-of-the-year mailout packages should have arrived to all households by now – please contact the school if you have not received one. It contains important information about contact information for students/families, school policies, and school and religious education fees. As usual, all families who submit the forms and fees on or before our deadline on October 5 will be entered into a draw for a prize of a $250 pre-paid Visa gift card! Comments are closed.
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