What's Heating Up at Holy Spirit
October 26-30
Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full - John 16:24-
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
In this Sunday's reading, the Pharisees continue to test Jesus with a question about the greatest commandment. The video above has kids explaining their interruption of this gospel reading.
Important Dates
Monday, October 26
- Regular Day
Tuesday, October 27
- Regular Day
Wednesday, October 28
- School Council Zoom Meeting 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Thursday, October 29
- 3-Way Virtual Conference website closes at 12 noon
- Evidence of Learning Portfolios shared
Friday, October 30
- Kindergarten M/W
- Virtual Halloween Party (see more information below)
Halloween Information
Halloween is quickly approaching. We will be celebrating in our classrooms and via virtual parade Friday afternoon. Following our nutrition guidelines and COVID protocols exchanging of food or other items will not be part of our celebrations.
Please remember not to send in any weapons or any overly scary costumes that may frighten our little ones. Thank you and Happy Halloween.
Virtual 3-Way Conferences
3-Way Conferences with parents/guardians, child, and teacher will be held virtually as a Google Meets on Tuesday, November 3 and Thursday, November 5th from 4 - 7 pm in 10 minute blocks. The interview site is now open on and closes October 29th at noon.
To schedule your interview please click on this link https://www.schoolinterviews.ca/code?code=kzt22
Wellness Corner
As always, I am here to support you, your kiddo, or your family, so please contact me by calling your school's main phone line or by emailing me at danielle.bussiere@eics.ab.ca. Elk Island Catholic Schools also has a page of Alberta Health Services, Government aid, and community resources that may assist your family. https://www.eics.ab.ca/coronavirus-information-in-eics/parent-resources. - Miss. B ♥️
Miss Danielle Bussiere
Family Wellness Worker
Holy Spirit Catholic School 780-416-9526
Email: danielle.bussiere@eics.ab.ca
School fees
School fees are now active in PowerSchool. We will not be accepting checks or cash this year. Please log into your PowerSchool account to pay for your child's fees by October 30, 2020.
Please note that fees are added throughout the year as field trips are able to occur. Teachers will send home notes when new fees are added to your account.
Some grades have fees if you wish not to pay for these fees, please contact the office at brigittep@eics.ab.ca to have the fee removed.
Yearbooks may also be purchased at this time. They are $25.00 soft cover books. Please add them to your cart. They will have to be paid for in order for the order to be processed and placed. Yearbooks are handed out in the fall of the next school year.
If you require financial assistance in paying fees please fill out the form that is available at on our EICS website-click here to access form: Fee waiver form
Please email our secretary Mrs. Posavec with any questions brigittep@eics.ab.ca
Our week in pictures
A note from Father Jim to Elk Island Catholic Schools, Teachers, Staff, Admin, Trustees, Parents, and Students…
I wish to offer a very profound and heartfelt thank you! Very specifically, I want to thank our students, staff, parents, Admin, Trustees and teachers who are part of our Elk Island area schools in all their different formats. We are closing in on two months accomplished in the school year, and whether you are involved with kindergarten or University-age education, it has been challenging and it has been tough. Whether you are the student or the educator, I am sure this is unlike anything you ever dreamed that school might be like. My key message and goal today is to thank you for your stellar commitment to a very different and very challenging form of education. Whether you are a student or a teacher in the classroom, online, or at home, you have responded very beautifully to this new school year.
Not without some anxiousness and uncertainty for sure. When we move forward into the unknown, our faith is pivotally important to how we progress into that which we are not so sure of. I can say that I have been in numerous schools this fall, and I am truly gratified by the unique and outside-the-box ways our educators and students have been facilitating some of the regular everyday school activities. I am always amazed at how resourceful you educational folks are when it comes to getting things done. If anything, challenging as things have been for you, covid has provided you with an opportunity to really let your gifts shine, in ways that one may not have previously even considered.
My purpose in putting this note together this day is to offer you a profound and heartfelt thankyou for your selfless and tireless efforts to normalize as much as possible our children’s education. You, as trustees, administration and teaching staff have listened and heard many parental concerns of anxiousness, often when you yourselves were feeling anxious and unsure. You have moved forward courageously with initiatives, even when you were unsure what results to expect. You did the due diligence, you prepared as well as you were able, and then you went for it. “You walked by faith, and not by sight.”
In the early days of covid one of my mantras was, and still is, “God’s got this. He has our backs. This is God’s Church, we are His people, and He will prevail.” My views and beliefs have not changed and you as Elk Island Catholic staff and students have shown in a very real way what it is, “to walk the talk.” You have made me very proud to be part of your process, part of your schools, part of your families. I know I can speak for my brother priests throughout the district in prayerful thanks for your commitment to Catholic Education in surely difficult and trying times. Elk Island Catholic staff, students, and trustees, thank you for showing me what it is to walk by faith and not by sight; to choose joy, when it would be easy to make other choices. We are close to celebrating Catholic Education Sunday in early November. Perhaps this year, we need to celebrate our milestones and accomplishments and our faith more than ever.
In speaking with a teacher recently and asking her how things were going, she perhaps summed up how many of us are feeling. She said, “you know, this month is better than last month.” A simple but true statement that speaks of the resiliency, the robustness, and the faith of our educators in Elk Island Catholic. We are gifted, we do choose joy and we do walk by faith. To all of you who have a role in teaching Catholic Education, to all of you students who have a role participating in the learning of Catholic Education, in whatever mode you have chosen; God bless you and thank you. You are all wonderful beacons of light, during a time of year and history where light is much needed and much appreciated.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus provides us with two simple essential rules of the Christian life: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind….You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Two dictates that sum up our Christian journey. My friends, you who are caring for our students in whatever way you are called, you parents who have trusted in the Lord and in the system are beautiful examples of living, in a very tangible way, the call to love God, and to love one another. I pray for all of you daily, at every Mass that I celebrate, in thanksgiving for your faithful witness and example of choosing joy.
“May the Lord bless you and keep you. Amen.
May He let His face shine upon you and show you His mercy. Amen.
May He turn His countenance upon you and give you His peace. Amen
And may the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, come down on you and remain with you forever. Amen.”
Elk Island Catholic Educators, staff, administration, trustees, students, and parents… thank you and God bless you.
Father Jim
Holy Spirit Catholic School
Upcoming Events
- Tuesday, November 3 - Virtual 3-Way Conferences 4-7 pm
- Wednesday, November 4 - Early Out-Dismissal at 2:10 pm
- Thursday, November 5 - Virtual 3-Way Conferences 4-7 pm
- Friday, November 6 - Kindergarten T/T
- Fall Break - November 9-13 - No School
- Tuesday, November 17 - Picture retake day whole school
- Wednesday, November 18 - Picture Retake day M/W Kindergarten
- Friday, November 20 - Kindergarten M/W
- Friday, November 27 - Kindergarten T/T
Email: hs@eics.ab.ca
Website: https://hs.eics.ab.ca/
Location: 151 Crimson Drive, Sherwood Park, AB, Canada
Phone: 7804169526
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holyspiritcathschool
Twitter: @HolySpiritCS