Superintendent's Welcome

A Difference That Will Last a Lifetime

Welcome to the community of Island Catholic Schools. Within this community there are seven schools serving approximately 1800 students from Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. Our schools are the heirs of a long and rich history within the Church of providing parents with support for the education of their children. Shortly after Victoria was established as a trading centre, the Sisters of Saint Ann came west to Vancouver Island to begin a tradition of Catholic education which now stretches back more than 150 years. What exists today is the result of the commitment of clergy, religious sisters and parents to ensure that a Christ-centred education is available for our children.

It is our responsibility and privilege to carry on that commitment. Our Catholic schools’ staff strive to help students reach the highest levels of development they can achieve by providing them with exceptional learning opportunities that will stimulate growth in knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviours and personal values in line with our Catholic beliefs.

We live today in a culture that hungers for spiritual values but too frequently devalues religion and a personal relationship with a loving God. Our children will learn, first from their families and then from our schools that God has had a loving knowledge of who they are from before they came into being. They will discover that their responsibility is to live out an intimate relationship of hope and love with God, and by doing so transform the world into a world of justice and peace.

We accept gladly the challenge of helping young people develop their intellectual, spiritual, physical, cultural, emotional and social potential. We will provide a safe, nourishing, and stimulating environment in which children will flourish. We want our children to become deeply caring, committed citizens and leaders within our community and our church. We dedicate our energies to achieve these outcomes for each child.

When you enrol your children in our schools, we realize that they are only “on loan” and that it is by working together we will achieve our shared goals. We want to engage in a partnership of faith and education with you and the parish to which you belong.

I invite you to enrol your children in our schools. Let them experience the success which comes through hard work and membership in a Christ centred, faith-filled community of learners.

Leo Chaland