Professional Activity (PA) Days are days set aside each school year when students do not attend school. PA Days are designated for activities that include professional development for educators and staff, evaluation of student progress, consultation with parents/guardians, curriculum and program evaluation and development.
under the Education Act states that school boards must designate three (3) PA days each school year that focus on provincial education priorities. School boards may also designate up to four additional PA days per school year.
Here is a list of the PA Days scheduled during the 2024-2025 school year:
- Tuesday, September 3, 2024 (All schools)
- Friday, October 11, 2024 (All schools)
- Friday, November 29, 2024 (All schools)
- Monday, January 27, 2025 (Elementary schools only)
- Friday, January 31, 2025 (Secondary schools only)
- Friday, February, 14, 2025 (All schools)
- Friday, April 4, 2025 (All schools)
- Friday, June 6, 2025 (Elementary schools only)
- Friday, June 27, 2025 (Secondary schools only)
See below for a detailed summary of the P.A. Day activities.
2024-2025 P.A. Day Summary of Activities
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
In our Catholic schools, we will continue into Year 3 of our Theological Theme: 鈥淲hat Does the Lord Ask of You? Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly with Your God鈥� (Micah 6:8).
This year, we will focus on 鈥淟ove Kindness鈥� alongside fostering a deeper understanding of our sacraments, the Church, and its role in the world. Educators will review classroom curricular programs and strengthen connections within their school communities by focusing on the Sacraments of Service. Through this, students will be encouraged to use the gifts they have received to serve others, prioritize others鈥� needs, and generously offer their time and talents.
Elementary
AM: Topic Mental Health
Entity Hosting: School
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrators and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: All educators will receive professional learning: on supporting children and students with prevalent medical conditions in school, student safety and violent incident prevention, supporting positive school climate, bullying prevention/progressive discipline, violent incident reporting and policy requirements for safe schools.
AM: Topic: Cell phones and vaping
Student Engagement & Well-Being:
Entity Hosting: School
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrators and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: Providing educators the skills needed to support all students, with emphasis on classroom management to remove distractions, increase student well-being and to ensure learning leads to higher graduation rates, higher learning and improved employment rates. Specific topics focus: cell phone, vaping and school safety.
PM: Topic: Literacy
Entity Hosting: School
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrators and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: Professional learning focused on implementation of the revised 2023 language curriculum and on principals and requirements related to early reading screening as described in PPM 168.
PM: Topic: Mathematics
Entity Hosting: School
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrator and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: Professional learning for Grades 3 through 6 educators focused on supporting student achievement in elementary mathematics with a focus on ensuring fidelity of curriculum implementation, strengthening mathematics content knowledge for teaching, knowing the mathematics learner and identifying and collecting key performance indicators.
Secondary
AM: Topic: Mental Health
Entity Hosting: Schools
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrators and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: All educators will receive professional learning: on supporting children and students with prevalent medical conditions in school, student safety and violent incident prevention, supporting positive school climate, bullying prevention/progressive discipline, violent incident reporting and policy requirements for safe schools.
AM: Topic: Cell Phones and vaping
Entity Hosting: Schools
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrators and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: Providing educators the skills needed to support all students, with emphasis on classroom management to remove distractions, increase student well-being and to ensure learning leads to higher graduation rates, higher learning and improved employment rates. Specific topics focus: cell phone, vaping and school safety.
PM: Topic: Curriculum and Student Achievement
Entity Hosting: Schools
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrators and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: Professional learning focused on the 2023 de-streamed Gr. 9 English/French courses, the new de-streamed Gr. 9 geography course, Gr. 9 & 10 Business Studies and Technological Education curriculum, mental health literacy updates to the Gr. 10 career studies, ongoing implementation of recently revised curriculum, supporting ongoing implementation of de-streamed Gr. 9 courses and making connections to skilled trades, transferable skills and apprenticeship.
PM: Topic: Mathematics
Entity Hosting: Schools
Presenter(s)/Facilitator(s): School Administrators and Educator Staff
Format: In Person
Description: Professional learning focused on supporting student achievement in secondary mathematics with a focus on ensuring fidelity of curriculum implementation, strengthening mathematics content knowledge for teaching. Also focusing on intentional use of high impact instructional practices to support students in the de-streamed Gr. 9 math course.
Friday, October 11, 2024
| Date | Friday, October 11, 2024 |
| Length | Full Day |
| Entity Hosting | Catholic Education Centre (CEC) |
| Presenter(s)/ Facilitator(s) | System Chaplain, Gillian Federico |
| Format | In-person |
Description
We continue to explore our Theological Theme 鈥�What does the Lord Require of You? Do Justice, Love Kindness, and to Walk Humbly with Your God.鈥� (Micah 6:8) During Year Three of this theme, we are focusing on God鈥檚 call to us to 鈥�Love Kindness鈥�. Each school and staff group will organize their day independently around prayers, liturgies, games, activities and reflections that relate to this theme in the way they consider to best suit their staff, with packages prepared by Chaplaincy Leaders.
Resources
HCDSB Theological Theme 2022-2026 鈥淲hat Does the Lord Ask of You?鈥�鈥�&苍产蝉辫;
Friday, November 29, 2024
Elementary
Parent/Teacher Interviews (Elementary)
| Date | Friday, November 29, 2024 |
| Length | Full Day |
| Entity Hosting | School |
| Presenter(s)/ Facilitator(s) | Teachers/School Administrators |
| Format | In-person |
Description
Parents and Teachers will meet to discuss the progress of each student in their classroom. Each parent will have received their child’s up to date Progress Report for reference.
Secondary
| Date: | November 29th, 2024 |
| Length: | Full Day |
| Topic AM: | Artificial Intelligence in the Classrooms |
| Entity Hosting: | All staff report to their home school for the day except for Online Learning teachers who will report to the Catholic Education Centre. |
| Presenter(s)/ Facilitator(s): | School Administrators and school-based teams |
| Format: | In person |
Description
Staff will continue their learning on Artificial Intelligence and the impact on the classroom. School Administrators and a team of educators will provide professional development on what AI is, draft HCDSB AI Guidelines, how AI can be used safely and effectively by staff and students, and how assessments should be designed to ensure students are best demonstrating their own knowledge and skills.
Sessions will be led by Principal (or designate) and a team of educators for the first part of the morning, then work in their department groups.
Staff will participate in sessions to learn more about AI tools and how they impact the classroom, including:
- How Microsoft Co-Pilot is integrated into Office 365
- How to create effective AI prompts
- Catholic perspective on AI
- How AI impacts classroom assessments
- Individual departments (e.g. English, Science, Religion) will meet to further discuss the implementation of these high impact strategies
Online Learning Teachers for Semester One and Two
Teachers will learn best practices in using the Brightspace Virtual Learning Environment and creating online content.
| Date: | November 29th, 2024 |
| Length: | Full Day |
| Topic PM: | Student Achievement Planning |
| Entity Hosting: | All staff report to their home school for the day except for Online Learning teachers who will report to the Catholic Education Centre. |
| Presenter(s)/ Facilitator(s): | School Administrators and school-based teams |
| Format: | In person |
Description
School teams will continue to work on their Student Achievement Plan (SAP). School administrators alongside their school teams will introduce the updated SAP template to the staff and plan learning activities that explore student data and school climate data to improve student achievement and well-being. Equity and Inclusion will continue to be a foundation for the SAP, along with connections to other 91pro视频 Plans (e.g., MYSP, Anti-Bullying Plan, Anti-Black Racism Strategy). All staff have a collective responsibility to identify disparities in outcomes and eliminate systemic barriers ensuring that all students are successful. There is an expectation that all schools will review and include pertinent, disaggregated data (e.g., School Climate Survey, Student Census) when creating their Student Action Plan.
School-based teams will explore data sets to identify students鈥� urgent learning need(s). Once school-based teams complete the introduction to the new SAP template, department time is given to unpack data relevant to each department. Departments will address the students鈥� urgent learning needs, strategies and systems in place or need to be created to respond to learning needs and the staff鈥檚 urgent learning need(s) to address the students鈥� urgent learning need(s). Each department will create goal(s) to address their needs, work on SAP plan, set implementation dates, and monitoring dates.
Online Learning Teachers for Semester One and Two
Teachers for both semesters one and two will focus on student achievement planning. Staff will receive training on increasing student engagement and best practices on online assessment and evaluation.
January 27, 2025
| Date | Monday, January 27, 2025 |
| Length | Full Day |
| Entity Hosting | Elementary Schools |
| Presenter(s)/听Facilitator(s) | Teachers/School Administrators |
| Format | In person听 |
Description
Teachers will be completing Term 1 Report Cards as per OECTA Collective Agreement.听听听