Thunder News Flash – February 6-10

We will be hosting a New Parents’ Information Session on Wednesday, February 8th from 6:45pm – 7:30pm in the Library at St. James & St. Ann’s School. This will be an opportunity for new families who are interested in enrolling their children at St. James & St. Ann’s School for the 2017-2018 school year to come and learn all about the school, the application process and have a guided tour of the school. If you are aware of any families who are interested in having their children attend our school for 2017-2018, please encourage them to attend this meeting.

St. John Brebeuf High School’s Open House is Thursday, February 16th from 6-8pm (2747 Townline Road, Abbotsford).  This is a chance for prospective families to tour the school and see what St. John Brebeuf has to offer its students.  Spend your evening exploring the campus, talking with students and staff, and see what quality education within a Catholic setting looks like at the high school level.  For more information visit http://www.stjohnbrebeuf.ca or call 604-855-0571.

As we explained to you in an earlier News Flash, Neat Uniforms is now our uniform supplier, and they supply uniforms to many schools in western Canada.  Neat Uniforms’ retail store continues to be open from 10:00am – 6:00pm, Tuesday to Saturday at 1050 Boundary Rd., Burnaby, and their phone number is 604-205-7560.  Their new website is still under construction, so for now the best way to get new uniform pieces is to either order by phone or visit their store.  We will soon be booking our uniform fitting date for next school year.  As soon as we book this date it will be put on the school’s calendar on the website.

There will be no school on the following days:

• February 9th and 10th – Catholic Educators’ Conference in Vancouver
• February 13th – Family Day

Please note that the school will be closed, and there will be no staff at the school to answer the phone, respond to emails, or look after your children if you forget and drop them off at school!

February is a very busy month with many activities planned:

• Candygrams will continue to be on sale until February 8th. They will be sold at lunchtime by the Leadership Team for 50 cents each.  In the spirit of our “Give Without Getting” philosophy, students will only be able to purchase candygrams for others and not themselves, and they will be delivered on February 14th to help us celebrate Valentine’s Day.  Let’s see how much money we can raise for Chalice by giving our friends a nice Valentine’s Day message and a sweet treat!
• Jeans Day – there will be a Jeans Day on Wednesday, February 8th to support the charities that the John Paul II Centre funds.  This will be a jeans dress down day, and as always students must ensure that their clothes are appropriate – no torn jeans or short shorts, no spaghetti straps, and t-shirts must be appropriate (if there is a logo, picture or saying on the t-shirt it must be acceptable, with no bathroom humour, etc.)  As always the appropriateness of any child’s clothing will be determined at the discretion of the teachers and administration.  To participate in this dress down day, students must bring a minimum donation of $2, although larger donations will gladly be accepted.
• On February 14th there will be a colour day to celebrate Valentine’s Day.  Students are encouraged to dress in red, pink or white to show their school spirit.  Candygrams will be delivered on February 14th, and sock hops will happen at recess for the primary students and at lunch for the intermediate students.  We hope everyone enjoys a wonderful day.
• February 22nd is a day set aside across the country to focus on anti-bullying awareness.  Students are encouraged to exchange their uniform shirt for a pink shirt to support this very important day.  Many stores sell pink t-shirts for a reasonable price, but if you don’t want to buy one why not borrow one from a family member, friend or neighbour.  If you still can’t find a pink shirt to wear, wear a pink sticker or pink ribbon on your uniform shirt to show your support!  

The new Hot Lunch forms went home last week.  Please note that due to the short week next week, Hot Lunch forms will be due with payment on Wednesday, February 8th by 2:35pm at the latest.  Unfortunately no late order forms can be accepted.

With the weather forecast calling for snow starting later in the day on Friday, we were certainly shocked by the amount of snow that began falling by about 8:00am, and the amount that quickly began to accumulate.  As you are probably aware, a decision to close the school during the school day is not one that is made lightly, and much thought goes into making such a decision, with safety being the number one priority.  Closures during the school day can occur for events such as what happened on Friday with the snow, but they could also occur because of power outages, water problems, etc.  

For circumstances such as these, each class has one or two parents assigned as the “emergency call out parent”.  Their job is to call each parent on either a home phone, cell phone or work phone so that contact can be made with each parent to let them know about the school closure.  If we are unable to get in touch with a child’s parents, then the school will resort to calling other emergency numbers.  When we make the decision to close the school at a certain time, the safety of each child and the school staff are our primary concerns, but please know that your child’s safety will never be jeopardized.

This year the re-registration process will be a little bit different – this year we will be sending home the Re-Registration packages with the oldest child in each family on Friday, March 3rd.  The Re-Registration package will contain a letter that explains the major changes and how to complete the package.  Then, parents will bring the completed Re-Registration packages to the school on Wednesday, March 8th for the Re-Registration Meeting/AGM.  The meeting will begin at 6:30pm, and only those families that attend this meeting will receive the discounted registration fee.  More detailed information about this evening and the incentives for attending the meeting will be coming soon.  For now, please “save the date” and mark on your calendars Wednesday, March 8th starting at 6:30pm for the Re-Registration Meeting/AGM.  Please note that completed Re-Registration Packages must be returned by Friday, March 10th at the latest to hold your child’s space for the 2017-2018 school year.