Thunder News Flash – December 14, 2019

This is the last week to take tags from our Christmas Giving Tree following this routine:

1. Students are not allowed to take a tag from the tree unless they have permission from their parents.  If you would like to give your child permission to take a tag from the tree, please email the school by clicking here and let Mrs. Dlugan know that this is all right.  Please provide a price range for the gift that you would like to bring in, and Mrs. Dlugan will help your child pick an appropriate gift tag.
2. Parents are welcome to stop by before or after school, at your convenience, and take a tag from the tree.  We will happily “buzz” you in the front door.
3. Tags vary in price range and in the items that have been requested – families may take more than one tag if they wish.
4. A tag may say “canned corn”.  We do not specify how many cans you need to provide – whether it is one can or a case, we will gratefully accept your donation.
5. All items provided must be new – we cannot accept any used items.
6. All items must be brought, unwrapped, to the office with the gift tag so that an ornament can then be placed on the tree.

Donated items will go to support the following charities:  St. Vincent de Paul and NightShift.

We thank you for any and all donations which we will gratefully accept until December 20th.

Please join us for our Christmas musical, The Boy Child, a creative retelling of Jesus’ birth, which will be presented as follows:

• Wednesday, December 18th at 1:00pm for the seniors and grandparents – students come to school dressed in their musical costume
• Thursday, December 19th our matinee show will be at 1:00pm – students come to school dressed in their musical costume
• Thursday, December 19th at 7:00pm.  Please note that students need to be in their classroom, dressed in their musical costume, at 6:30pm, and the doors to the gym will open at 6:30pm as well  

We hope that all of our school families will have the opportunity to attend at least one of our performances!

We have noticed a number of concerns regarding the school uniform lately, including:

• a variety of brightly coloured socks – socks should be navy or black
• students who are not wearing indoor shoes, and say that they don’t have any – indoor shoes are mandatory to protect the floors, and should be solid black
• girls wearing nail polish – students may not wear nail polish to school
• hoodies or sweatshirts worn because students are cold – students in grades K – 6 should have a school sweater to put on if they are cold, and the school sweater is mandatory to wear to Mass

For further clarification about what students may wear to school, please click here to see the Uniform Policy.

We will once again be hosting a special luncheon for the seniors of the various parishes that support St. James & St. Ann’s School, as well as the grandparents of school students.  This will take place on Wednesday, December 18th – doors will open at 12:00pm, lunch will be served at 12:15pm and they will be treated to a special 1:00pm performance of our Christmas Musical.  Please invite your child’s grandparents and the seniors of the parishes to attend this lunch and show, but please have them call the school at 604-852-1788 to R.S.V.P. by Monday, December 16th so that we know how many people to set up for.  Admission is by donation.

We look forward to seeing many people attend and serving the senior members of our community.  The Grade 6 class will be taking care of serving the seniors, and the Baking/Cooking Group will be providing the desserts, along with some donations from the Grade 6 class.

This is the last week to pick up the Application Package for siblings of students currently registered in the school.  If you have children in the school, and have a younger child who will be entering Kindergarten in September 2020, please come to the school office to pick up an Application Package.  If you have children in the school, and have other children who will be entering Grades 1 – 7 in September 2020, and you are hoping that they can attend the school, please come to the school office to pick up an Application Package.  These applications must be filled out and returned to the school with all supporting documents no later than December 19th as we will begin to take applications for new families to the school on January 27th.  We need to know how many spaces we have available, especially in Kindergarten, as the spaces fill up each year very quickly.  

The Grade 1 and 6 classes have put together a beautiful Christmas book and this will be added to a basket of treats which will be raffled at the Christmas Musical on December 19th at the 7:00pm show.  Tickets are now on sale at lunchtime, and will be sold for 25 cents each.  The money will go to help cover the cost of the Christmas Musical, and a donation will be made to Chalice.  We appreciate your support.

The next Work Bee will take place at the school today, Saturday, December 14th from 9:00am – 2:00pm.  We would appreciate it if you could bring rakes and cordless blowers as there are still many leaves to clean up.  We appreciate all of your hard work!

Throughout the school day, but especially in the morning and after school, there are often a number of students in front of the school.  This could be because they are being picked up or dropped off, coming in and out of the portable, or their class could be outside doing a special activity.  For these reasons we would ask that parents do not drive to the front of the school using the school’s fire lane.  Instead, please park your vehicle in the parent parking lot and walk to the front doors of the school, even if you are picking up or dropping off your children at Thunder Club.  If you are making a large delivery to the school of hot lunch items, paper for the school, etc., please call the school and make arrangements for this so that we can ensure that there are no students in front of the school.  Let’s all work together to ensure the safety of all students!

The monthly Hospital Mass will take place on Sunday, December 22nd at 4:00pm at the Sacred Space in the Abbotsford Hospital.  Any students wishing to read, please meet Mrs. Wakely at 3:45 at the Sacred Space.  This is a wonderful outreach opportunity for our students and their families.

Friday, December 20th is our last day of school before we break for the Christmas holidays, and we would like you to be aware of the schedule for the day:

• students should come to school with a recess snack and a lunch
• this will be a dress down day, and the theme decided on by the Leadership Team will be “Crazy Christmas”.  This could mean Christmas colours, Christmas-themed clothes or pyjamas, Christmas hair decorations, etc.  As always, the students must be dressed appropriately with no ripped jeans, short shorts, spaghetti straps, or inappropriate sayings on their clothes.  Be creative, and let’s have a great day!
• there will be time for the students to be in their classrooms participating in a variety of activities related to Advent, and also to anticipate Christmas
• we will be watching the movie, Arthur Christmas, from 9:30 – 10:30, and then finishing the movie from 11:00 – 12:15, with some time to sing Christmas carols as well.  This movie is G rated in Canada.  According to Common Sense Media, Arthur Christmas is a “fine pick for the entire family… that provides a good reminder of the holiday spirit, family unity and being generous.”
• students will be dismissed at 12:55pm