Fort McMurray Catholic Schools families,

We are excited to welcome you all for the 2024/25 school year! We pray you all are having a wonderful summer vacation, and we also know many of you are preparing for the return of routine and the school. 

We are so excited to have our teaching and office administration staff back to work already. Our Educational Assistants and Out of School Care staff join us tomorrow. And a special thank you to our custodial and maintenance staff who worked so hard all summer to make our schools look fantastic! 

We would like to share some important information and reminders as we prepare for the first day of school! 

Important links: 

• 2024/25 FMCSD Back to School Guide: (latest information for school year preparations including high school start up and transportation information. Bus stop location and time emails will be sent as soon as possible, many will arrive over the weekend as we busily prepare schedules.)
• 2024/25 School Supply Lists
• 2024/25 School Calendar: *The first day of school for grades 1-12 is September 3, 2024. For our Early Entry Program (EEP) and Kindergarten programs- Teachers will contact families with exact dates for their first day of school by end of day August 28th, 2024. If your child is in EEP or Kindergarten and you have not heard from your class, please contact your school directly 
• Edsby Student Information System: Want to learn more about how to see grades, report attendance, and communicate with your child(ren)’s teacher? 

We have an updated practice we would like to share with all families and staff this year. Fort McMurray Catholic Schools is introducing the Right to Disconnect. More information can be found on our website, but to summarize- we cannot expect employees to attend to work duties outside of working hours. Therefore we are implementing the Right to Disconnect (weekdays from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am, and during weekends). The same expectation applies across our division and this includes our family communities as well.

You will notice this year access to cell phones may look different than in the past. When we reached out to families this spring approximately 85% of our survey respondents agreed, cell phone use can have a negative impact on both student mental health and academic achievement. For these reasons, along with new provincial initiatives, you will see updated cell phone restrictions for our Division, and at all schools this year. Schools will communicate these policies directly with families early in the school year.

As we finish our preparations for the school year, Welcome back to the loving embrace of the Fort McMurray Catholic School Family.  As we embark on this school year, let faith guide our journey of growth and learning. Here’s to a year filled with academic success, spiritual growth and joyous memories. Blessings to you all.

“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice in it and be glad” - Psalm 118:24

Natasha MacArthur-Poole

Superintendent of Schools

Fort McMurray Catholic School Division