📅 This Week at SKTA!
🗓️ October 20 – 24, 2025
🏃♀️ Cross Country Board Championships
We’re cheering on our amazing student athletes competing this Tuesday at Bruce’s Mill!
Let’s show our Tiger pride — Go Tigers Go! 🐾💛🖤
📚 PA Day Reminder
Please note that Friday, October 24 is a PA Day — there will be no school for students.
📢 Family Reminder
Families, kindly take a moment to review the important updates and information below.
⚾ Go Jays Go! 💙
📊 2025 School Climate Survey Results
At St. Kateri Tekakwitha CES, we are committed to providing a safe, caring, and inclusive environment where every student can grow in faith, achieve success, and reach their full potential.
Last spring, in support of the Board’s Safe Schools and Equity and Inclusive Education policies — and in keeping with the provincial mandate — parents, guardians, and staff were invited to share their perspectives on how we can continue to nurture a welcoming and faith-filled school community. We unfortunately need further participation from all stakeholders to display accurate percentages, but below were highlights from the surveys completed:
💫 What We’re Doing Well
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💛 Students feel loved, supported, and confident in our caring learning environments.
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📘 High academic standards prepare students for lifelong success.
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💻 Technology is effectively integrated to enhance engagement and achievement.
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🤝 Parents feel welcomed and connected to their children’s school experience.
🌱 Areas for Growth and Focus
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🙏 Helping students live out the Catholic Graduate Expectations through mutual respect and compassion.
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❤ ️ Strengthening caring adult–student relationships so every learner feels known and supported.
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🧠 Encouraging students to become critical thinkers and problem solvers.
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🌟 Inspiring all learners to achieve their God-given potential.
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💬 Expanding mental health resources and supports for students experiencing anxiety, worry, or hopelessness.
✝️ Our Commitment Moving Forward
The insights shared through the School Climate Survey — together with other school data — will help guide our continued efforts to promote peace, justice, and the sacredness of life.
At St. Kateri Tekakwitha CES, we remain dedicated to supporting student learning, achievement, and well-being in a Christ-centered community.
2025 GRADE 8 EXIT SURVEY RESULTS
To support the continued success of students enrolled in the York Catholic District School Board and as part of the Board’s strategy to ensure that the school system is working effectively to meet the needs of all students, the Grade 8 Exit Survey was administered in Spring 2024. The survey, completed anonymously online, identified students’ perceptions about their experiences in elementary school and their plans for high school.
Highlights of the findings from the Grade 8 Exit Survey at St. Kateri Tekakwitha CES are as follows:
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The majority of Grade 8 students indicated that their elementary school helped them:
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Know what skills they need to be successful (83%);
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Understand how their skills and strengths will help them be successful in school and later on in life (79%);
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Apply what they are learning to real problems (82%);
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Develop their interests 69%).
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Most of the Grade 8 students surveyed indicated that they have a plan for achieving their goals (66%) and that they helped develop the plan that will help them be successful in school and later on in life (85%).
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Sixty-three percent of Grade 8 students surveyed said they attended an open house at their nearest York Catholic high school.
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Most students surveyed (66%) indicated they planned to enroll in a York Catholic secondary school.
Students indicated that their top three reasons for enrolling in a York Catholic high school were location, friends attending a YCDSB high school, and a family decision.
Student feedback collected from the exit survey, along with other information gathered about the school, will be used at St. Kateri Tekakwitha CES to support improvements in student achievement, faith development and well-being.
🎃 Our Halloween Dance Fundraising Campaign Is in Full Swing! 🧡
Last week, our school community gathered in the gym to launch our Halloween Dance Fundraising Campaign, and the excitement continues! These funds play a vital role in supporting student learning and enhancing classroom experiences throughout the year.
Students have brought home a letter and donation form with all the details. Our goal is to raise over $7,000 to support a variety of school initiatives and resources.
The campaign is ongoing, and we need your support to help us reach our goal! Thank you for taking a moment to review the letter and for your continued generosity and commitment to our St. Kateri community.
SKTA Halloween Dance 2025 – community letter
Halloween Dance Costume News:
We would like to remind our families that when considering costumes for their child to consider the following points:
Culture is NOT Costume: Please refrain from using costumes that represent a cultural group or ethnicity. (e.g. Indigenous, Chinese, Arabic, etc.)
Masks as Part of a Costume are Discouraged (Excluding PPE): Wearing masks that conceal one’s identity can compromise the safety of the community. We should always be identifiable in our community for the safety and comfort level of others in the community.
Awareness of Costume Appropriateness is Important: Costumes that are not appropriate to the moral tone of our Catholic Schools.
Awareness of Fear and Evil: Be aware that Ghoulish costumes can terrify younger students, students with special needs, or students with phobias.
We Must Be Trauma Sensitive: There may be members of our communities who have traumas that can be triggered by certain costumes.
When in Doubt, Think Saint: Halloween precedes All Souls and All Saints Days. Encourage students to dress as saints and religious figures.
Calendar Dates 
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October 17 Eradication of Poverty Fundraising Jersey/Team Colour Day
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October 31 Halloween Dance Fundraising event -details to follow soon…
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November 1 Confirmation Meeting @ SBA for families of Blessed Frederic Ozanam Church
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November 10 CSC Meeting at 7pm – School Library
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November 11 Wear RED – Remembrance Day Liturgy at 10:40am
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November 18 St. Brother Andre (SBA) Open House for Gr. 8 Families/ Progress Reports Home to families
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November 20/21 Progress Report Card Interviews – School-day
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December 3 YCDSB High School Registration Deadline
Yours in Catholic Education,
Marc Caruso
Principal