Our School

At St. Kateri Tekakwitha 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 YMCA to provide before and after school care at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic School. Call our child care partner at 905-728-5198 to learn more about our services.

School Hours

Our school hours are as follows:

8:15 a.m. - School Begins
9:40 a.m. - Morning recess
11:00 a.m. - 12 noon - Lunch
1:25 p.m. - Afternoon recess
2:45 p.m. - Dismissal

Patron Saint

St Kateri Tekakwitha was born in what is now Upstate New York in 1656 in a Mohawk and Algonquin settlement. She was baptized Catholic and renamed after St. Catherine of Siena. During a smallpox epidemic in the village her parents both died and her face was scarred. She was then raised by her uncle in a community of non-Christians. To remain true to her Catholic Faith St. Kateri left the village and travelled to what is now Northern Ontario. Here she lived and celebrated her beliefs in the community and was known as Lily of the Mohawks. When she died, on April 17,1680 at the age of 24, she declared her love of Jesus and her scars were said to disappear. St. Kateri was beatified in 1980 and canonized in 2012. She is the first female Aboriginal saint in North America.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the patron saint of ecology and her feast day is celebrated in Canada on April 17th .

History of Indigenous Culture in North Oshawa

In the 1400s there was a small settlement of Iroquois near the Harmony Creek.
In 1450 the settlers moved to Grandview and Taunton Area, then to the Rossland and Thornton area about
20 years later.
In the 1600s Iroquoian and Algonquian speaking peoples lived in the Oshawa area.
In the 1700s an Ojibwa group, known as the Mississaugas drove the Iroquois to the area south of Lake
Ontario.
In the 1720s there was a fur trading post established at the mouth of the Oshawa Creek for the French and
the Mississaugas
This trading post expanded and in the 1800s it helped establish "Oshawa", the literal translation of which is
"that point at the crossing of the stream where the canoe was exchanged for the trail".

School's Colours

Our school colours are light blue and black.

Philosophy

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:

to love by the way we love;
to be generous by our generosity;
to be passionate by our compassion; and
to be forgiving by the way we forgive.

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:

Prayer - The challenges of our vocation, and indeed life in general, are great. To meet them we need to follow Christ's advice that we "ask the father in My name". Each Catholic educator has a duty to expose students to his or her particular style of prayer in order to assist students to recognize the value of prayer in daily life.
Eucharist - Parish, school, and staff liturgies provide opportunities to celebrate our faith. Our example can testify to the Eucharist as a joyful source of strength and community building.
Social Justice - This is the heart of the Christian message, that we "love one another as I have loved you". As our brother's and sister's keepers, we must be concerned about the aged, the poor, the oppressed, and any other marginalized group - both at home and abroad.

Links

Below are links to resources to help you achieve success while at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic School.

We welcome your questions, comments and concerns.

Principal: Valerie Cappuccitti
Vice Principal: Mona Belzile-Daley

1425 Coldstream Dr.,
Oshawa, ON L1K 0B5
Tel: 905-571-1969
Fax: 905-571-6434

Twitter: @StKateriOshawa