Thunder News Flash – February 27, 2021

Irish music has been flowing from the Gym as Mrs. Ni Lorcain teaches the students Irish dancing.  What a fun and COVID-friendly activity!  To celebrate this learning, and the great saint, St. Patrick, we will be celebrating all things Irish on Friday, March 12th.  This will be a dress down day for all students who can display a “touch of the Irish” – dress in green, or be really creative and come as a leprechaun, or even dress as St. Patrick!  Let’s make this a great day!!

Re-Registration Packages for the 2021-2022 school year went home yesterday with your oldest child in the school.  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 was emailed to all parents on February 25th. 

We are 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.  The link to sign up for your 15 minute appointment was sent to families last week by email and the online sign up will close on Monday, March 1st at 9:00am.  There will be three stations set up in the Gym to accept your package, and 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.

We are very excited to have received our second order of Thunderwear for this school year.  Please note that on the days that your child has Gym class they should be wearing something over top of their Gym shorts when they come to school, ideally their Thunderwear, as we are still in our winter uniform season.  If you were unable to purchase Thunderwear, please note that your child may wear dark coloured (blue or black) sweatpants and sweatshirts over their Gym strip to come to school, or if they are cold for Gym classes.  

Our next Work Bee will take place on Saturday, March 6th from 9:00am – 2:00pm at the school.  If you could bring gloves for inside or outside work, and any cordless gardening tools, that would be appreciated.  As always, we are very grateful for all of your hard work.

If your child was absent in February, and you did not send a note to the office to explain this absence, your child was given a bright pink attendance note on February 26th.  Please complete this note, sign it, and send it to the office with your child as soon as possible.

Parent/Teacher Interviews will take place on Friday, March 5th from 8:00am – 5:00pm via Zoom.  There will be no school for students on this day.  The link to sign up for your interview(s) was sent home via email last week – please sign up early to get the time slot(s) that works best for you.  The online registration for these Parent/Teacher Interviews will close on Wednesday, March 3rd at 9:00am.

Thank you to Mr. Mendonca for his two years of service teaching Grade 5 at St. James & St. Ann’s School.  After completing his Masters Degree, Mr. Mendonca would like to pursue other opportunities and so he will not be returning to the school in September.  Farewell and good luck in the future, Mr. Mendonca.

We would also like to thank Mrs. White for her 12 years of service and dedication to St. James & St. Ann’s School.  During her years at the school, Mrs. White has taught French, P.E., Library, STEAM Lab, been a part of the Learning Resources team, and taught part-time in Grades Kindergarten to Grade 3!  You may also have seen her recently in the BC Catholic, where school staffs were recognized for “Walking with Jesus our Living Hope”.  If not you can see the story by clicking here.  Mrs. White and her family are moving out of the Lower Mainland, and we will actually be saying good-bye to her on April 22nd.  We wish her well in this new chapter of her life.

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.