Although the district spans a large geographic area, and not all of the students come from Catholic homes, there is a common thread in each of its schools. Division Superintendent, Dr. Andrea Holowka, states, “Foundationally, we are authentically Catholic in our faith, and that means that anyone sending their child to a Christ The Redeemer school will have a Catholic environment for their children. The second component that really is central to who we are is our strong academic excellence.” A HIGH PERFORMING DISTRICT While rooted in Catholic values, CTR places a strong emphasis on academics, which is reflected in the impressive results of its students. “Some of the conditions that go into making that possible is our laser focused vision on research informed practice, as well as ensuring that we put all of our resources into the classroom,” details Holowka. “As much as we can, we prioritize smaller class sizes with strong support from teachers who are engaged in pedagogy to help students excel.” CTR has received significant recognition for its dedication to both academic excellence and leadership. One notable achievement is the high percentage of students earning Alexander Rutherford Scholarships, awarded to students with outstanding academic performance. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of our students also being successful with Schulich Scholarships and moving on to post secondary, that is quite brilliant,” touts Holowka. “We’ve had many of our staff receiving leadership awards. We have internal awards that we have every year for our own staff, because we celebrate them, and we certainly have been recognized as leaders amongst the province and have taken up fairly significant leadership roles.” In addition, the annual education results report consistently reflects positive outcomes, with a three-year high school completion rate of 89.1%, well above the provincial average of 80.4%.Another notable metric is the CTR’s focus on maintaining a safe and caring environment, with survey results from students, parents, and staff showing a 92% satisfaction rate, compared to the provincial average of 84%. “This is what we do,” Holowka conveys. “We make sure students are successful, that they’re cared 359 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 10 CHRIST THE REDEEMER CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
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