Thunder News Flash – November 28, 2020

It is hard to believe that this Sunday marks the beginning of the Advent season in the Church.  The season of Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year, and it has two main purposes.  It prepares us for Jesus’ birth on Christmas day and it reminds us that we are waiting for the second coming of Christ.  Each week as we light an Advent candle we focus on a particular virtue, the first being “hope”.  We know that 2020 has been a particularly difficult year, and there is no immediate end to the challenges we are facing.  This Sunday, and throughout the week, as we read, pray and reflect on the virtue of hope, let us be reminded of the hope that God offers us.  Do not let the fear we feel right now and the darkness of this pandemic fill our hearts.  Instead, make room in your heart for your faith in God and the hope that only He can provide.

The Application Package for siblings of students currently attending the school will be available beginning on Tuesday, December 1st.  If you require a Sibling Application, please send an email to the office by clicking here.  Please indicate in your email which of your children currently in the school you would like us to give the Sibling Application to, and we will send it home to you through that child.  These applications are for siblings who may be entering Kindergarten – Grade 7 next school year.  These applications must be filled out and returned to the school with all supporting documents no later than Thursday, December 17th as we will begin to take applications for new families to the school at the end of January.  We need to know how many spaces we have available, especially in Kindergarten, as the spaces fill up each year very quickly.

Please note that this year there is an addition to the Sibling Application requirements, which is a short Zoom meeting with the Principal.  This meeting will include the Principal, one parent and the child, and is an opportunity for us to get to know your child a little bit better.  Please note that these meetings will take place in January, and more information will come home through the News Flash in January.

We are happy to announce that once again our Grade 1 class and their Grade 4 buddies have created a beautiful Christmas book, and put together a special treat basket to raffle off to our school community.  Tickets will be sold each day in the classrooms and are 2 tickets for $1.  Students can simply bring their loonie, or several loonies, to school in a plastic bag or their agenda so that they don’t misplace the money, and can let their Classroom Teacher know that they want to purchase some tickets.  We will begin selling tickets on December 1st and the draw will take place on December 18th with the lucky recipient able to take the Christmas book and basket home with them for the Christmas break.  All money collected will go to Chalice, and our goal is to be able to purchase a goat through their gift catalogue for a family in need.  To learn more about how to support Chalice, please visit their online gift catalogue by clicking here.  Please help us meet our goal!

A big THANK YOU to all the parents who are using their signals in the Drop Off/Pick Up lanes at the school.  It makes directing traffic so much easier if the supervisors know when you are waiting for your child with your signal light directed towards the curb, or when you are ready to leave one of the lanes with your signal light directed out into the driving lane.  

For those families who use the A-L Drop Off/Pick Up lane by St. James Church, when you are entering this lane off of Townline Rd., please keep your vehicle to the right side of the driveway.  This allows for cars that are trying to leave the Parish or Staff parking lots to be able to get out onto Townline Rd.  Your help with this would be appreciated.

Finally, for those families who use the M-Z Drop Off/Pick Up lane through the Parent Parking Lot, please remember that we are sharing Gardner Ave. with our neighbours who live on that street.  There have been some concerns that we are blocking driveways with our long line of cars, so we are changing our procedure.  Beginning on Monday, November 30th, IN THE AFTERNOON ONLY, we ask you to continue heading west on Gardner past our driveway to the dead end, turn around in the cul-de-sac, and line up to come into our lot along the park.  That moves our line to the west of our parking lot entrance, and on the south side of Gardner Ave.  Hopefully that will ease some of the congestion and frustration that our pick up procedure is causing along Gardner Ave.

As you know, we try and have the students outside for recess and lunch as much as possible, and this year we are taking the students outside even more.  Children should come to school ready for the cold weather with a good jacket with a hood, boots, gloves, scarves, etc.

Please also remember that our Uniform Policy states that the students may not wear skorts or shorts from December through to the end of February.

Each child in Grades 1 – 7 was provided with two washable, reusable masks for them to use at school, and the children in Kindergarten were provided with five washable, reusable masks.  These masks are being sent home by the Classroom Teachers to be washed, and it is very important that they are sent back to school as soon as possible.  Ideally this would be the next day so that your child has a clean mask available for use for things like buddy activities, partner/group activities, etc.  While we have a small number of disposable masks that we are able to give to students who do not have their masks at school, we do not want to be dependent on using these as in a few years our landfills will be full of used paper masks.

The Grade 7 class is in need of some wool that will be used to knit hats and scarves.  Thick wool is the best, as it makes these items much warmer.  If you have balls of thick wool around your home that you are no longer using, please consider donating them to the Grade 7 class.  Or, if you are out shopping this weekend, please consider picking up a ball or two of thick wool to donate.  The Grade 7 class knits hats and scarves, and donates them to the migrant farm workers through St. Ann’s Parish.  Your help would be most appreciated!

Just a reminder that our next early dismissal day for our monthly staff meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 2nd.  Please send your child to school with a snack and lunch, and they will be dismissed at 12:55pm.  If you are unable to pick up your children at that time, the Thunder Club is a very affordable option.

Thank you everyone for such huge support of our Shopfunds Gift Cards Fundraiser!  The PFA will be handing out your orders on Tuesday, December 1 at 2:30pm in the pick-up lanes or by alternate means if requested on the form.

Just a reminder that parents are asked to complete a Daily Health Check of their children each morning before they come to school.  Please assess your child for the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Chills
• Cough or worsening of chronic cough
• Shortness of breath
• Loss of sense of smell or taste
• Diarrhea
• Nausea and vomiting

If your child has one of those symptoms, excluding fever, they should stay home for 24 hours from when the symptom started.  If the symptom improves, they may return to school when they feel well enough.  If the symptom persists or worsens, seek a health assessment.  If your child has two or more of the symptoms, or they have a fever, you should seek a health assessment for them.