#BuildSFA Update September 2021

We hope you all had an enjoyable summer with some quality family time. September is a wonderful month in the school calendar as the weather is fair – and staff, parents, and students are fresh and excited to be back.

We have very good news to share. We are pleased to announce that the subjects were removed on the sale of the convent site in early July and the initial deposit has been paid to the parish – so that site is officially sold. And with this sale, we now have an initial capital investment of $4.7 Million for our school building project.

Also, over the summer we secured our loan agreement with the Archdiocese and have now received in writing final approval to proceed with the school redevelopment from Archbishop Miller. Our “Approval in Principle” is for a 14-year loan of $1.5 Million dollars with the requirement that the school community also raises at least a further $1.5 Million via school fundraising activities and a capital campaign. As most of you know, many years of parent fundraising have already occurred, so we already have a starting project balance of $300,000. To be financially prudent, we must, however, raise the remaining $1.2 Million, or have donors committed, before we break ground.

And the final piece of the financial structure will include funds from the subdivision and eventual sale of the under-utilized garden space at the back of the church and rectory. We will be proceeding with the sale of this land over the next year committing most of the proceeds to the school with a small amount held in reserve to address some critical repairs that are required in the church and rectory.

Financial Summary

With these important milestones achieved, we have directed our team to commence work on the Development Permit (DP) submission and will start planning for the forthcoming Capital Campaign. We will share more on this in the coming months, but in the meantime, if you want to be part of the team that helps to rebuild our school, please contact any member of our teaching staff, the parish office, Barbara Broughton, or reach out to us at buildsfaschool@sfa.ca.

If you are new to the school and want to familiarise yourself with SFA’s redevelopment plans, please go to the school website for further background.

With blessings,

Father Eugenio Aloisio
Pastor

Mrs. Anne Yam
Principal