SBCA: End of the Year News

What a great year it was for the South Boston Catholic Academy community! Here are some of the highlights of the 2016-2017 school season!

The 6th grade students have left us with so much to be proud of.  Their energy and enthusiasm they brought to school each day will certainly be missed.  They are all of to wonderful places including Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, Southfield, BC High, Catholic Memorial, and St. Sebastian’s.  Congrats and best of luck to all!

Faculty Changes:
Janice Shuman is retiring after 26 years of teaching.  She and her husband have moved to Canton to be close to their family.

Mary Kate McCoog will be moving back to the Philadelphia area to be closer to her family after being at SBCA for 7 years.

Bridget Thomas, Doug MacLellan, and Lindsay Tepper are moving on to other professional pursuits.  We wish them the best of luck.

Ms. Michaela, Mrs. Barbuto’s current aide of 2 years, will be the new K1C teacher.  She will begin her Master’s program at Wheelock this Fall.

Ms. Alexa (Ms. Emily’s aide) will be joining the K1 team as a full time aide and Ms. Melissa (EDP Staff and substitute teacher) will be joining the K1 team as an aide as well.

We have started the interview process and have filled some open positions already. We know that while many will be missed, we will have another great team in place for 2017-2018.

Faith:
Our students had many opportunities to grow in their Catholic faith. Students began and ended each day in prayer, and we lived our faith in our care for each other and our community.

This year, our preschoolers learned their first prayers and joined us at school Masses. Our second graders received their First Reconciliation and First Communion. Our school celebrated Holy Days and embraced the seasons of Christmas and Easter.

Academic Excellence:
-Highest acceptance rate to Boston Exam Schools of all SBCA classes

-Our first Science Showcase was hosted in January!

-Several academic trips to local sites including MIT, Fenway, The Freedom Trail, Gillette Stadium, BU, and more! The MFA, History Slam, and two authors visited our students!
-Our students shared their learning through projects and presentations including the Utopian Fair, American Revolution Museum, Wax Museum, Habitat Displays, Pi Day lessons, and more!

-Four students acknowledged for accomplishments in writing: Madison Rull, Keara Wilbanks, Eddie Tirabassi, Alex Corsini

-Twelve students recognized in the Continental Math League: Colleen Lombard, Alexander Taylor, Patrick Harnan, Peter Asiaf, Liana Flood, Keeva Donoghue, Kaleigh Hislop, Ryan Alexander, Kiera Lombard, Sammy Flood, Nora Banks, Riley Nee

Community Service:
Here is a list of organizations and charities served through your hard work and generosity:

-Ellie Fund
-Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
-Missionary Childhood Association
-Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless:Bed for Every Child
-Mayors Relief Fund – Cambridge Fires
-St Francis House – Misfit Sock Drive and Winter Clothing Drive
-Halloween Candy Drive for Troops overseas
-Operation Rice Bowl
-Goodwill (Ms. Molly’s Marathon)
-Organization for Autism Research (Ms. Maky’s Marathon
-Devin Suau Fund (#whynotdevin)

Extended Day Corner:
Extended Day was rethought to be a true extension of our children’s learning day and billing was simplified through Kinderlime and FACTS.

Each day, students completed their homework and participated in clubs including Robotics, Logic, Trivia and Yoga. Students enjoyed playing board games and puzzles with friends, building with Legos, Brain Flakes and Magna Tiles, dancing with ribbon dancers, making crafts and more!

EDP Theme Fridays were a hit included a Petting Zoo, Magician, Puppet Theater, Scientist Visit, TumbleBus, Franklin Park Zoo Visit, Aquarium visit, Christmas Party, Luau and more!

We would love your feedback on the program! Stay tuned for a survey (coming soon).

A few exciting changes for next year:
We are committed to maximizing our outdoor space! For this reason, we are hoping to pave a portion of the rectory for teachers to park in. We hope to make the school yard car free, so that we can use it for our students to play! Additionally, plans for the Outdoor Classroom space are starting to take shape.

We are committed to creating a community of caring and empathetic students! We will be bringing in Responsive Classroom to our teachers over the summer and implementing it in our classrooms and school wide this fall! Our Buddy Circle in the schoolyard shares some of our values that we know are important for all students to share.

We are committed to rigorous, demanding instruction! We know that challenging our students daily is important, which is why we are partnering with The Achievement Network for teacher coaching and curricular alignment. We had great results with the Exam Schools and other middle school acceptances this year and know we can continue to grow!

We are committed to professional development for staff! In order to give our teachers more time for professional growth and work, our half days will end at 11:30, which will allow teachers additional time to learn and challenge themselves! (Not to worry, as Extended Day will still have fun themed half days until 5:30!)

For more information about SBCA, you can visit their website!