Thunder News Flash – February 13, 2021

It seems like we just celebrated Christmas a few weeks ago, but we are about to embark on a new season in the liturgical calendar as Lent begins on February 17th with Ash Wednesday.  While this will certainly be a very different day with the current Public Health Orders in effect, it is still the start of a very important season in the Church where we focus on three things:  prayer, fasting and almsgiving as an important part of repentance and renewal.  Our theme this year is Walk With Jesus Our Living Hope, and never before have we needed Hope so much to get us through these unprecedented times.  However, it seems that Lent and Hope are at opposite ends of the faith spectrum.  Lent is not only about fasting, or doing penance, or trying to remove sin from our lives.  Lent is also a time to discover that God’s mercy and grace are always with us; that we can discover the extraordinary in the ordinary if we just look carefully; that our lives can be transformed in many ways.  As we begin Lent, let us think about all we Hope to achieve during this season and all the new ways we can encounter God as we journey towards Easter, even though it might be quite a different journey this year!

St. James & St. Ann’s School continues to have one seat still available on the Regional Education Committee (REC) for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year, and for the 2021-2022 school year.  Thank you to Winsome Rauch for stepping forward from St. James Parish to take on the role of Vice-Chairperson.  We are still looking to fill the Maintenance portfolio, and this position is open to parishioners from St. Joseph’s Parish in Mission and St. Ann’s Parish.  If you feel that you would be a good fit for this position, and are interested in being involved in the governance of our school, please contact your parish priest as soon as possible to put your name forward.  Remember that being a member of the REC fulfills your Parent Participation commitment for the year, and is a wonderful way to be involved in the school.  

Parents are reminded to please enter their Parent Participation hours through the school’s website by clicking here and scrolling down to the portal, OR by scrolling down to the end of the News Flash and clicking on the button found there.  There are a number of families who have either entered very few hours or no hours so far this year.  However, due to COVID-19 and the changes to the program because of health and safety requirements, we will not be cashing anyone’s cheques dated February 1st at this time.  Instead we will give parents until June 15th to complete their 20 hours of Parent Participation.  

Re-Registration Packages for the 2021-2022 school year will be going home with your oldest child in the school on Friday, February 26th.  There are a number of changes to the package which we would typically review at our Annual General Meeting, but since we are unable to have an in-person meeting this year, instead you will find a letter in your package which explains the changes.  We will also be hosting a Question and Answer session via Zoom for parents to answer any additional questions you may have regarding the package on Monday, March 1st from 6:30pm – 7:00pm, or longer if required. A link to the Zoom session will be emailed to all parents. 

This year we will be asking parents to sign up online for an appointment time to return your completed Re-Registration Package on either March 2nd from 3:00pm – 7:00pm or on March 3rd from 8:00am – 3:00pm.  Appointments will be 15 minutes long, and there will be three stations set up in the Gym to accept your package.  All health and safety protocols will be followed, including:

• parents are asked to wait in their cars until just before their appointment time
• parents will be required to wear a mask
• parents must physically distance from other parents coming at the same time
• parents will enter the Gym through the outside doors at the front of the school, and exit though the Gym doors at the back of the school to the Parent Parking Lot
• stations in the Gym will be sanitized in between each appointment

Completed Re-Registration Packages are due back at the school no later than Monday, March 8th in order to secure your child’s spot at the school for the 2021-2022 school year.

This is just a reminder that Tuesday, February 16th, is Shrove Tuesday.  Pancakes will be provided for Hot Lunch for the students who ordered them on the February Hot Lunch form.  Please note that each child will be served two pancakes, about the size of a medium paper plate, with syrup.  Unfortunately we will not be serving sausages this year.  So, if two pancakes are not enough for your child for lunch, please send them to school on February 16th with some additional food to eat for lunch.

Following Shrove Tuesday we will be celebrating Ash Wednesday.  All students will have the opportunity to receive ashes, and those students in Grades 3 and up may also receive communion in the morning,  We will also be having our Poverty Lunch on Wednesday.  The students are asked to bring a simple snack, a smaller lunch, and no treats to school on Wednesday, February 17th.  We will have a short virtual assembly, and then the students will eat their lunches in their classrooms in silence, as we keep our focus on the importance of this very holy day.

The St. James & St. Ann’s School gift card campaign order forms will be sent out on Tuesday, February 16th.  The campaign offers parents the opportunity to purchase gift cards from businesses that have agreed to give a percentage of those sales back to our school.  The program is intended for families to purchase gift cards they will use to pay for their own groceries, take-out and hair care, rather than giving the “gift” cards as gifts.  If 100 families purchase $500 in gift cards, at an average rate of 10%, we will make $5,000 this month for our school fundraising projects!  We are so pleased to feature a number of businesses that are run by current and former St. James & St. Ann’s families and sacrament preparation participants, including Jasmine Garden Restaurant (Cantonese/Szechuan) (15%), StrEATS restaurant (tacos, burritos, poutine) (15%), Vi-La Palace (Vietnamese) (10%), Chef-Boss Culinary (a new restaurant with a Montreal chef making smoked-meat sandwiches) (20%), Howard Wong Farms market (20%) and Au Naturel hair salon (10%).  We are grateful to these businesses for supporting the school in this exciting new project which we hope to run monthly and which will not only support our school but will help strengthen our ties to the local community.  The deadline for submitting order forms to your child’s teacher will be Monday, February 22nd at 9:00am.  All families who order $500 in gift cards will be entered into a draw to win one of three $100 gift cards to the store of their choice (PFA members, staff and teachers are not eligible).  Winners will be contacted on the afternoon of Monday, February 22nd to see what kind of gift card they would like to have added to their order!

If you have a business and you would like to participate in the gift card campaign in the coming months, let us know!  Contact Elizabeth Ocon by clicking here.

Thank you for supporting our first every Berryhill Frozen Blueberry Fundraiser!  We raised another $780 for our school.  Cases of Blueberries will be handed out in the pick-up lanes on Friday, February 19th at 2:30pm.

The Province of BC has created a new Daily Health Check App for parents to use each morning to assess the health of their child before they head off to school.  This is a fun and interactive way to find out if you should stay home until you feel better, or get further health information by calling 811.  To use the Daily Health Check App on your desktop computer, please click here.  To download the app on your mobile device, please click here.

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.