At St. Jude Catholic School, it is our mission to be an inclusive Catholic learning community that inspires every student to achieve their full potential through faith and education. We recognize our call to love and serve from our Master teacher Jesus Christ, and we are committed to creating a Catholic learning community under the protection of Mother Mary.
The Catholic Graduate Expectations are our foundation as we strive for academic excellence and the acknowledgement of those who achieve it. We recognize God as the source of all life and actively work to focus on social issues within our local and global communities.
We celebrate the diversity within our community with a collaborative approach to learning, in cooperation with parents, the Catholic faith community, and other organizations that recognize the value of our mission. Within the context of Catholic teaching and Sacramental living, our school community strives to demonstrate respect and reverence for all life, thus nurturing a safe, Christian environment for the entire school community.
| School Year Calendar |
| Our board's School Year calendar is now available. We encourage parents and guardians to stay informed of upcoming school events, we ask that you please subscribe to our school calendar web page to receive the latest updates and emails on activities happening at school. |
| Child Care Services |
| We are pleased to partner with P.R.Y.D.E. Learning Centre to provide before and after school care, as well as a child care centre at St. Jude Catholic School. Call our child care partner at 905-428-9732 to learn more about our services. |
| School Hours |
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Our school hours are as follows: 9:00 a.m. - Entrance Bell School office hours: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily |
| School Prayer |
| Let us pray for the gift of God's spirit As our community grows stronger. We all belong to the family of St. Jude Catholic School. We ask God's continued blessings To help us grow in love for ourselves, for our friends, for our family, and for our staff. Amen. St. Jude, pray for us! |
| History |
| St. Jude Catholic School first opened its doors on September 5, 1989, with 13 classrooms in the main building, five portables, a staff of 25 and student enrolment of 557. St. Jude was the first school in the Board to be mandated by the Ministry of Education and Training to have a childcare centre attached. St. Jude Catholic School was built at a time in Ajax when the community was growing exponentially! Ajax, then dubbed "a bedroom community in the Greater Toronto Area," was growing so fast, several schools were built in a very short time period. One family remembers that while they were living in the same house in Westney Heights, her son attended three different schools from JK to Grade 3 (St. Francis de Sales Catholic School, St. Jude Catholic School and St. Patrick Catholic School). Leadership at St. Jude Catholic School Many teachers and parents from the school community have gone on to leadership roles in the Durham Catholic District School Board (Linda Frost, principal; Hyacinth White, vice-principal; Julia Pellerin, principal; Karen Taggart, principal; Jim Wilson, principal; Anne O'Brien, principal and superintendent; Jane Kiyonaga, vice-principal and teacher at UOIT; Sonia Wylie, vice-principal; and Sharon Bird (parent from the opening of the school, principal). What Makes Us Proud and What Makes Us Sad, but Thankful for Our Faith As in any Catholic community, there are many stories that make us very proud, inspired and thankful. But there are also stories that test our faith. Stories that have shown the incredible amount of support available from teachers, students and parents of our Catholic School community. Stories of teachers who returned to God much before their time, as well as parents of children in our school. It is perhaps through the eyes and hearts of the children that we learn the most about our faith. We learn that God lives through each and every one of us, and from each passing we learn, value, prioritize and are thankful for God's many gifts. Eco Team at St. Jude Catholic School We are very proud of the staff, students and parents who for several years have demonstrated true stewardship and care for our world through many initiatives. Tanya (Petitti) Fetter, Graduate of St. Jude Catholic School, 1990 Tanya (Petitti) Fetter was a member of St. Jude Catholic School's first graduating class in 1990. From there, she took on a leadership role as the supervisor of a swim school in Pickering. In 2005, she began working as the manager of a swim school in Whitby. In this role, she learned the important aspects of running a business. She took over the ownership of the swim school at Extreme Fitness in Whitby in September 2009 and renamed it SwimZone. Tanya runs an extremely busy and successful swim school with over 400 students attending. The school is known for its personable and well-trained staff who help children and adults gain confidence in the water in a fun and safe atmosphere. The staff, students and parent community at St. Jude Catholic School congratulate Tanya for all her efforts and achievement in contributing to physical fitness and safety for our youth! Angels Take Flight Since it opened in 1989, St. Jude has endeavoured to be the heart of our community. Working in partnership with our families along with the wider community, we have come up with a number of pioneering ideas. After participating in Operation Christmas Child, which sends shoeboxes of small gifts to children across the world, we decided to begin our own Christmas tradition of helping families within our school through our Angel Tree. Before we realized what was truly happening, it had taken flight. The school community embraced the idea wholeheartedly, and as a result we have been able to expand the program and include families within our parish as well. With the Board's introduction of EcoSchools came another first - our "Angel Sale," which was the brainchild of one of our former principals, Karen Mullen-Taggart. Each year, our students have the opportunity to do their own Christmas shopping firsthand. Our Angel Sale garners contributions through donations of new, regifted or even slightly used items that might otherwise end up in a landfill site. With the money raised, we are able to supplement our Christmas food baskets in a number of ways. Everyone wins and we are able to bring a smile to many faces at this special and holy time of year. In this history, we would like to honour and remember two St. Jude teachers. Yvonne Bunkiewicz taught her entire career here at St. Jude. She specialized in the primary grades and influenced the lives of many of our students. Yvonne passed away suddenly in 2009. She was a dedicated and loving mother of two of St. Jude's former students, Rachel and Grace. Yvonne was an avid traveller and very spiritual. We will always remember her contribution to Catholic education. Bernadette MacDonald, Grade 2 teacher and a long-time employee of DCDSB, passed away on April 2, 2012. She touched so many lives - her students, colleagues and friends at DCDSB, as well as countless teachers and school administrators whom she guided in her role as literacy coach. She also greatly influenced the lives of teacher candidates at York University Faculty of Education, where she spoke with passion and dedication, and the teacher candidates she mentored in her classroom. At the school we are planning a butterfly garden in our outdoor classroom in the primary yard to remember her love of butterflies. St. Jude Catholic Schoo is a faith community, living the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Our mission is to provide personal excellence in education (spiritually, academically, physically and emotionally), in a supportive environment that empowers the individual and encourages life long learning. |
| Facts |
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| School's Colours |
| Our school colours are green and yellow. |
| Patron Saint |
| Our patron saint is St. Jude, also known as St. Jude Thaddaeus, who was one of the 12 Apostles. The legend states that St. Jude was born into a Jewish family in a town in Galilee and that his father was murdered because of his outspoken devotion to Christ. He had three brothers: St. James the Less, Saint Simeon of Jerusalem, and Joses. His mother was a cousin of the Virgin Mary and his father a cousin of St. Joseph. Ancient writers tell us that after Jesus' ascension into heaven, St. Jude preached the gospel in many countries. He taught people to be humble and meek and love God. A 14th-century writer said that St. Jude was the bridegroom at the wedding at Cana. St. Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why he would not manifest himself to the world after his resurrection. Very little else is known of his life. St. Jude is often shown with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand or close to his chest. Occasionally, he is represented holding an axe or club, as he was brought to death by one of these weapons. In some instances, he may be shown with a scroll or a book (the Epistle of St. Jude) or holding a carpenter's rule. St. Jude suffered martyrdom around 65 AD in Galilee with the apostle Simon, with whom he is usually connected. Sometime after his death, Saint Jude's body was brought to Rome and placed in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica. St. Jude Thaddeus is invoked in desperate situations because his letter found in the New Testament stresses that the faithful should persevere in difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them. For this reason, he is the patron saint of the sick and of desperate and lost causes. The shared feast day of saints Jude and Simon is October 28. |
| Principals (Past and present) |
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Past and present principals include:
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| Philosophy |
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As Catholic educators, we live according to our Father's code and to lead our students, by example, to live the basic truths of the gospel message. This is an awesome, yet inspiring challenge which we share with the parents of our young men and women. Children learn what they live. Each day we have the opportunity to teach our students:
However, a person cannot give what he or she does not have. Unless we are living the Gospel message, we cannot lead our students to do so. There are many hallmarks of a Catholic educator, including:
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| Links |
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Below are links to resources to help you achieve success while at St. Jude Catholic School. |
| Contact Us |
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We welcome your questions, comments and concerns. Principal: Joni MacLean Twitter: @DCDSBStJudeCS |
