france: Canada Day Celebrations

My sincere and heart-felt thank you to teachers, staff, administrators, parents, caregivers, supporters and students who have helped to make this a successful year in the London District Catholic School Board.

As we reach the end of the school year, we have much for which we can be thankful. We have met challenges as a family of faith and we are stronger for it. We have embraced our theme for this school year, "Being Christ for One Another," and we have supported each other through those challenges.

There were many high points:

· The board has balanced its budget.

· Test scores continue to lead the provincial averages and our students continued to show improvements in almost all areas.

· We have adopted new Strategic Priorities that will guide us into the next decade based on the strong foundation of Catholic Identity.

· We participated in a province-wide discussion on the future of Catholic Education. In doing so, our soul searching confirmed
for us the sacred gift that is Catholic Education. It has made us all stronger.

Catholic Education has survived for more than 160 years as a result of the hard work and commitment of all partners who support it. This unified effort is still very much required. We need to be seen and known to be different. All of us must be able to articulate the distinctiveness of Catholic schools and their contributions to the local, provincial and global community. As partners in this journey, the future of Catholic Education rests with each of us.

As you look back on this year, you should feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment. You have touched the lives of tens of thousands of students in many intangible but also some tangible ways. Not a day has gone by when there was not something significant to celebrate among the remarkable achievements of our staff and students. Together, they received numerous honours and scholarships at the highest levels, in the classroom, in the arts and on the field of sports. Their accolades are too numerous to mention but they remind us that we are on the right track.