About Us
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 in January 1957 as an eight-classroom school. The first class graduated from Grade 8 in 1957. Among the graduates that first year were David Collins (who would later become pastor at St Bonaventure Church. The school has, over the years, established strong ties with the church of the same name and with the community at large. Students presently enrolled in our school, have parents who are former school graduates. There are families that have grandchildren attending St. Bonaventure Catholic School, tradition and family ties are important aspects of life.
Our Mission
As a community of faith and learning, we pride ourselves on nurturing the spiritual, intellectual, physical and social growth of each community member.
Our Vision
As a caring and compassionate team of dedicated professionals we hold ourselves accountable in striving to achieve excellence in our learning community. We hold ourselves accountable to:
Discipleship
So that 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 religion content is made relevant to our school community
• Develop a curriculum that focuses on active discipleship, leadership and citizenship in each division
• Explore and utilize multicultural issues (including expanding appropriate resources in our library and classrooms)
• Continue to nurture a safe, welcoming, healthy, active and caring school community.
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 – 4 and 5 – 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, CAT-4 and EQAO)
Assessment for learning
That will inform teaching and planning, and 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 IEP and ESL students