Holy Trinity Academy Updates

November 4, 2024

Dear St. Francis Xavier School Families,

I am reaching out about an important development related to the construction of Holy Trinity Academy, which will have a direct impact on St. Francis Xavier School. Many of you are aware that as part of the project preparations, the current playground at St. Francis Xavier School will be removed to make way for construction.

As this change will have a significant impact on staff and students, I want to personally address the most recent timeline of the removal and construction. The new school project is set to break ground this spring. This means that the current school playground will remain in place until the spring of 2025.

We understand that playgrounds are an essential part of the school experience, especially for our students' physical and social development. Therefore, we want to assure you that the division and school are working closely together to create alternative options for recess and outdoor activities once the playground has been removed. Our priority is to ensure that all students have safe, engaging spaces for play until the new school is complete.

We are committed to keeping St. FX staff and families informed as the project progresses and will continue to provide updates on construction timelines and impacts on school routines as information is made available. I want to thank staff, families, and students for the continued patience and ongoing support as we work towards the building of an incredible new school for our community.

All Holy Trinity Academy updates directly related to your school can now be accessed on the St. Francis Xavier School website www.stfrancisxavierschool.ca/updates.

Warm regards,

Dr. Dwayne Zarichny
Superintendent of Schools
Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education

Click here to view the letter - PDF

March 11, 2024

The Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education is thrilled to announce that our school division has been officially granted full construction funding for a K-9 school in the Government of Alberta’s New schools in Alberta’s growing communities announcement yesterday afternoon.

The funding approval marks a significant milestone in our journey towards our goal of building a new, state of the art Catholic school, that will be known as Holy Trinity Academy. Holy Trinity Academy will combine three of our current schools; St. Francis Xavier, St. Michael’s and St. Mary’s into one school community, located on the current St. Francis Xavier school site (318 - 8th Street NE) adjacent to Monsignor McCoy High School.

The highly anticipated K-9 school will support students from Early Learning to grade 9, with a well established fine arts program, as well as wellness/multisport academy. The school will be equipped with a 400 seat theatre, accessible to all division schools and community organizations as well as two full sized gymnasiums, a beautiful sacred space, a physical literacy space, CTS suite, sensory and wellness rooms as well as many other classrooms and learning spaces.

The Board of Trustees is eager to move forward with this project now that funding has been approved and is committed to regular communication with staff, students and community stakeholders regarding the new school project.

In November, a school naming committee was formed to discuss potential name options for the new school. The goal of the committee was to bring all feedback to the group and to select one option to propose to the Board for approval at the next public board meeting. 

On Tuesday, December 13, 2023, the Board of Trustees approved the proposed name for the new school project. The new school,l located on the current St. Francis Xavier school site (318 - 8th Street N.E.), will be named Holy Trinity Academy.

The name was chosen for a variety of reasons, the primary reason being the symbolism of three schools (St. Mary’s, St. Michael’s and St. Francis Xavier) joining together as one; as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. The word “Academy” was chosen to represent the academy programming: St. FX Sports Academy, St. Michael’s Fine Arts focus and St. Mary’s Fine Arts Academy that will be transitioning to the new school building upon completion. 

The Board of Trustees, Senior Administration and School Administrators are pleased with the thoughtful naming decision, and look forward to watching three schools come together as one!

Holy Trinity Academy updates can be found on our division website. As the project progresses more information will be shared!

School Naming Process:

When new schools are being built families and community members wonder what the name of the new school in their community will be and how that name is chosen. At the MHCBE, the naming of a new school or a change in the name of an existing school is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees.

To select a school name, the Board of Trustees will organize a school naming committee. The committee will then recommend a name for the school to the Board of Trustees for approval.