We Welcome Our Children to the 2023 -2024 Gracanica Church School Year
The education committee and church school staff have been hard at work preparing for the upcoming school year. We listened your feedback! We have a lot planned for the gems of our community, our Children. We are pulling our talents together and putting in the hard work to give you a school year full of learning, excitement, activities, and growth. We are expanding our programing and opening our school to children ages 3 to 17. Classes will be held every Monday starting at 6pm in our Serbian Centre classrooms AND once a month on Sunday in our Gracanica Church.
Education Committee
Fr. Vladimir Vranic, Director
Milena Stevanov, Principal
Mary-Ann Marietti, Treasurer
Jelena Riberdy, Events Coordinator
Natasa Chuk, Communications
Rada Velickovic, Resources Coordinator
Nada Tremblay, Financial Secretary
Teaching Staff
Sofia Antzaras
Niko Antzaras
Marko Djuric
Mirjana Ferraro
Ana Joksic
Mara Jelich
Brian Payne
Jelena Riberdy
Snezana Ritorto
Milena Stevanov
Nada Tremblay
George Velickovic
Susan Velickovic
Rada Velickovic
Milica Vizirakis
… and growing
Teaching Assistants
Katarina Vranic
Lidija Dragicevic
Ana Jelich
Mila Jelich
Adam Lamarre
Georgia Ventrella
… and growing
Our Church School Program
Monday Programing
Our school starts on Monday September 11th. The first day of school is an orientation for students and parents. There will be lots of important information shared and fun activities. Monday evening classes will start at 6pm for children ages 3 to 17 (PreK to Grade 12). For our grade 1 to 8 children, the offered classes are Orthodox Religion, Serbian Language, and Music & Folklore. Our Kindergarten children have special programming with story time, art and craft time, play time, and dance. Highschool children rotate between their own classes one week, and assisting our teachers in the classrooms the next week. The high school class includes religion and Serbian history.
Our children in addition to regular lessons will also prepare presentations for Bozic, St. Sava, Uskrs, folklore festivals, and carrousel festival.
Sunday Programing: School Communion Days
Once a month on Sunday, we will have a Divine Liturgy geared towards our church school children.
Children, Parents, Family, Teachers, Staff, and friends are encouraged to attend church and partake in Holy Communion. Worksheets will be handed out to students that morning so they can follow along with the readings for the day and write or draw what they are hearing to promote understanding of the teaching. We will have students serve in the altar, sing responses to Lord Have Mercy, Grant this Prayer O Lord, and Amin, and recite the Apostol.
A sermon will be given by Fr. Vladimir tailored to the students about the gospel reading the day.
Coffee hour following liturgy will be hosted by the school that week in the basement. Families are encouraged to bring sweets and snacks.
Parents Coffee Hour with Father
Parents, we have thought of you too! Father Vladimir will be available one Monday evening a month, during out regular classes for an open discussion and Q&A session. These pre-scheduled dates are posted in our school calendar. Bring your questions, dilemmas, and concerns and lets have an open or private discussion.
Learn Serbian at Home with DinoLingo
This year, we are able to offer to our children a reduced rate for use of the DinoLingo Serbian online program for learning Serbian. Children learn Serbian through online games, videos, songs, books, posters, flashcards and worksheets. Children love learning Serbian with our award winning language learning app & website. With their online self learning method, children can learn Serbian at their own pace, anytime, anywhere. This is an optional odd-on parents can select at registration. It is not required, and will not be used in class, but is an at home tool you can use with your child. It is recommended to spend 10-15 minutes each day consistently. The add-on program costs $25 per child for the year.
Learn more here https://dinolingo.com/learn-serbian-for-kids
St. Sava
The yearly Sv. Sava Church School Slava celebration program is filled with poems, song, dance, and plays put on by our students. The honour of kumovi for our slava is bestowed on two senior students to representing the entire school as kumovi for our school slava. The two students are selected by our Education committee with the assistance of our teaching staff. Students are selected to be kumovi based on years in the church school, attendance in church school, attitude in class, attendance in church, and participation in extra curriculars in our church.
Registration
Registration starts on Sunday August 27th 2023.
Who can register:
Age 3 (turn 3 by December 31, 2023) through Age 17 (Grade 12)
(Children age 3 must have a parent attend the class with them)
Baptized in the Orthodox Faith (Speak to Father Vladimir for exceptions)
Registration is completed online at https://go.teamsnap.com/forms/379093
Fees for the 2023-2024 School Year
| Member* | Non-Member** | |
| First Child | 200 | 250 |
| Second Child | 175 | 225 |
| Third Child | 150 | 200 |
| Additional Children | 125 | 175 |
* One parent of a child is a gracanica church member
**Submit your Gracanica Church Member Application by registration and we will honour member pricing!
Membership application can be found here: https://gracanica.ca/membership/
DinoLingo Serbian: $25 per child for the year *optional
Payment of fees can be paid by credit card online during registration, by cash, cheque or e-transfer.
e-transfers can be sent to: gracanicaschooltreasurer@gmail.com
Cheques can be made to: Gracanica Sunday School
Financial Aid
All children are welcome. Parents, please reach out to us if financial assistance is needed. Please have a private confidential discussion with the director of the school, our Parish Priest Fr. Vladimir Vranic if you find yourself in this situation, we will warmly open our doors to all families and children in any financial circumstance.
Donations
Our school is entirely volunteer run and operates with funds from registration and generous donations from our community. All the funds available to us goes directly to our children to provide them with quality learning materials, field trips, actives, nosnje, costumes, and a fun learning environment.
We welcome any donation; books, equipment, electronics (TVs), materials, instruments, nosnje, your time and talent, and monetary.
We earnestly appreciate your ongoing support and it is because of you that we can continue with our mission as the Church School. We also want to let you know we are here for you. If there is ever anything we can do for you and your family, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Donations can be made by cash, by cheque to: Gracanica Church School, or by e-transfer to gracanicaschooltreasurer@gmail.com
I Can Help!
Community members! Our Gracanica Church school is a volunteer run mission. We need you to make all of our ideas and wishes for the school and our Children come to fruition. There are many opportunities to help outside of being a teacher. Please fill out this form, and identify any areas where you can help and we will be in contact with you! https://forms.office.com/r/HapEthBVCB
When we serve the Lord with the gifts He’s given us, our church and school can accomplish all that God has called us to.
Contact
To contact the school, email School@gracanicawindsor.com
You can also speak to our Director, Fr. Vladimir Vranic, our principal Milena Stevanov, or anyone on our education committee.
