Thunder News Flash – September 21, 2019

St. James & St. Ann’s School gym will be used as a polling station for the federal election for the advance poll dates as well as election day.  The advance polls will be open on October 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th, and the election will take place on October 21st.  If you would like to work at the election as a Poll Clerk, Officer, or Registration or Information Officer, you will be trained and paid for this work, and may request to be posted at our location.  If this is something that you are interested in doing, please click here for more information and to apply by completing an application online.  Once you have applied, you may directly email our Returning Officer to request being posted at St. James & St. Ann’s School by clicking here. 

We had our first early dismissal day on September 18th for our staff meeting, and a number of students were not picked up at 12:55pm.  Please note that our next early dismissal day will take place on Wednesday, October 9th.  Students who are not picked up by 1:15pm will be taken to the Thunder Club, and the parents will be invoiced for this service. 

With the September 18th nomination deadline behind us, the new election deadline of September 28th and 29th quickly approaches.

If you are a parishioner of St. James or St. Ann’s Parish, please be aware that REC elections will be held after each Mass on the 28th and 29th for your parish community.  Please look for a table set up at the main entrance of your church for up to one hour after each Mass.

We are currently looking for two members from each parish community to assist as scrutineers; if you are able to help, please email Chris McKinnon by clicking here and you will be put in contact with the Election Official for that parish.

Only parishioners who are registered are eligible to cast a ballot in the election, and only one candidate may be selected.  You will be provided with a ballot once your registration has been confirmed by the Election Official and accompanying scrutineers.

Thank you for your participation in this exciting process as our school community continues to grow into a truly regional school.  Once the elections have been completed, the names of the new REC for the 2019-2020 school year will be posted.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Chris McKinnon by clicking here.

If you created a craft project at Fun Night, your beautiful creation may now be picked up.  There will be a box by the office next week containing these crafts for you to collect them.

St. John Brebeuf will be hosting a fundraiser for their missions trip.  They will be showing the movie Aladdin on Friday, September 27th at SJB.  The doors will open at 6:30pm and the movie will start at 7:00pm.  You can buy tickets at the door or online from the SJB website under the ‘store’ tab.

We have been asked by St. James Parish to remind parents that the church is a sacred place, and children should NOT be going into the church unattended.  Please ensure that youngsters do not run into the church if they are waiting for their older siblings who attend the school.  Thank you for your cooperation and attention to this matter.

As a follow up to our Earth Rangers presentation, St. James & St. Ann’s School is participating in a battery blitz.  We are collecting used common single use batteries and any batteries that are less that 5kg, with the exception of wet-cell batteries or car batteries.  This includes batteries found in power tools, digital and video cameras, cell phones and cordless phones, and watches.  Batteries should be bagged or have terminal ends taped, except for:

• Rechargeable Batteries – Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Nickel Zinc (Ni-Zn)
• Primary Batteries – Alkaline (under 12v), Carbon Zinc

Collection boxes are available to place your batteries in on the table in front of the parent bulletin board, and plastic bags are available there as well.  We are collecting batteries until October 2nd, and the school that collects the most batteries by weight will win a pizza party for the whole school!  So, please do not throw your old batteries into the garbage – it is good for the planet, and could provide a delicious lunch for the whole school!!

On September 30th, St. James & St. Ann’s School will be participating in Orange Shirt Day.  As we continue to build our collective understanding about the history and struggles of Indigenous peoples in Canada, our students are encouraged to replace their uniform shirt with an orange shirt, or to add something orange to their uniform such as a sticker, hair band, ribbon around their wrist, etc.  Orange Shirt Day is a day to recognize the harm caused by the residential school system in Canada, and to acknowledge the fact that every child matters.  Please know that this will be done in age-appropriate ways in the classrooms.  Our Catholic social teachings call us to honour the dignity of all people.  Further, the Canadian Catholic Bishops have urged all Catholics to commit to continuing our walk together with Indigenous peoples and to build a more just society where we recognize and nurture the gifts of all people.  There are also many ways to tie this day to the BC Curriculum, which calls us to recognize the First Peoples Principles of Learning.  We hope that all students will join us in participating in some way in Orange Shirt Day.

Our first Movie Night Fundraiser of the school year is coming up on Friday, October 18, 2019.  If you are interested in Sponsorship or Donation Opportunities, please click here for more information.  

Besides sponsorships, and cash donations, we are also looking for donations of:

• Hotdog and smokie buns
• Hotdog and smokie wieners
• Pizza
• Drinks (pops, juice boxes and water)
• Single Serving Chips, mini Chocolate Bars and bulk Candy