Thunder News Flash – March 9, 2019

Fr. Eduardo was our celebrant for our school Mass on Ash Wednesday, and he spoke to all of us about what we are called to do during the season of Lent – fast, give alms and pray.  He reminded us that when we think about fasting, we shouldn’t simply think about giving up a food treat we enjoy or eating smaller meals.  Perhaps we should consider fasting from:

• judging others
• criticism
• gossip
• sarcasm, or
• complaining

What a wonderful place our world would be if we all fasted from these bad habits every day of the year!

*Please note additional day added

St. James and St. Ann’s School, along with SJB, will be hosting a “Garage Clean Up” Work Bee over FOUR days in March.  This is a great opportunity for families who have been unable to meet the required number of Parent Participation hours in their task group.  Please join us on Friday – Monday, March 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th as we remove unwanted items from the garage storage that is behind our school.  We will be renting a dumpster to aid in our clean up so there will be plenty of work for everyone.

If you have students in both schools, you may divide your hours to claim Parent Participation hours at each school, but please no double dipping.

Also note that both schools will be using the same sign up sheet that you will find by clicking here.

Questions?  Contact Erika by clicking here.

You are invited to attend the St. Ann’s Parish Mission on Monday, March 25th – Wednesday, March 27th.  There will be morning Mass at 8:00am and evening Mass at 7:00pm followed by a Lenten reflection led by Fr. Patrick Murphy, CS, a Scalabrinian Priest from Casa del Migrante in Tijuana.  Fr. Patrick will celebrate the Holy Eucharist, preach the Lenten Mission, hear confessions and draw our attention toward being good disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ through a sincere change of heart.  Mark your calendars and make this Lenten Mission a priority!

Come and join the Parent Prayer Group in praying the rosary for our school community at 8:30am every Thursday morning.  Please note that we meet each week in the school Library.  Small children and babies are welcome.

While this Thursday, March 14th, isn’t technically the last Thursday of the month, it is the last Thursday that school is in session for the month of March.  So, Thursday, March 14th will be a Thunderwear Thursday!  Students may replace pieces of their uniform with Thunderwear items that they have.  For example, if they have a Thunderwear t-shirt they may wear that instead of their school shirt OR if they have Thunderwear sweatpants they may wear these instead of their uniform pants.  The more Thunderwear you have, the more uniform pieces you may replace!  Please note these days are not full dress down days, so students may not wear jeans or clothing items that are neither Thunderwear or uniform pieces. 

The next Work Bee will take place today, Saturday, March 9th from 9:00am – 2:00pm.  While it should be sunny,  please dress for any weather conditions as there may be work both inside and outside of the school.

It is time to re-register your children for St. James & St. Ann’s School for the 2019-2020 school year!  Re-Registration Packages were sent home through the oldest child in each family yesterday, Friday, March 8th.  Please check your child’s backpack for this very important package.  The Re-Registration Package is very comprehensive and we hope that you will read through all the information included in the package.  Then, you are asked to bring your completed Re-Registration Package, all required cheques and any supporting documents that you need, to our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, March 13th in the school gym.  Please note that we will not accept any Re-Registration Packages before this meeting, and you must attend this meeting to be eligible for the $50 registration fee.  Packages returned after this date will be subject to a $100 registration fee, and they must be returned by the end of the day on March 15th in order to hold your child’s seat for the 2019-2020 school year.

Here is some important information that you need to know about the AGM:

• dinner will be served from 6:00pm – 6:30pm
• the meeting will begin promptly at 6:30pm – here we will go through changes for next year, explain tuition increases, etc.
• no later than 7:15pm we will begin to accept the Re-Registration Packages at tables throughout the gym that are divided alphabetically

Some important information that you need to know about the Re-Registration Package:

• all white papers are to be filled out and returned on March 13th, or by March 15th at the latest
• all blue papers are information pages for you to keep
• there are two copies of the Family Statement of Commitment, which must be signed by both parents – the white copy is for you to return with your package and the blue copy is for you to sign and keep at home for reference
• remember to bring proof of residency with you – we must collect this each year
• remember to bring cheques with you for Parent Participation (3 cheques required), Registration Fee (1 cheque or cash), Student Fees (1 cheque)
• you only need to attach a new cheque or bank form to the Tuition Payment Form if your banking information has changed

We hope to see you all at this very important meeting.

The second term Progress Reports will be sent home on Wednesday, March 13th, and these will be followed by our Student-led Conferences on Friday, March 15th from 8:30am – 4:00pm.  The purpose of Student-led Conferences is to have the students share their learning with you, tell you about things that they have really enjoyed learning about or things that they need some extra assistance with, tell you what they are proud of, take you on a tour of their classroom, etc.  Please note that siblings should either wait in the hallway outside the classroom, or we will also be providing babysitting in the Library.  The students come only during their conference time, dressed in their school uniform, and they leave once their conference is finished.  There is no regular school on March 15th.

An email was sent home on March 5th with the information about how to book your child’s Student-led Conference using an online service.  Just in case you didn’t receive this email, or it went into your junk or spam folder, please go to the link by clicking here.  If you have more than one child in the school you need to book a separate conference time for each of your children, and you will want to make sure you book them back to back.  When you are booking your child’s Student-led Conference you will be asked for your email address.  This is so that you can receive a confirmation of your conference time(s), and this will be the only confirmation that you receive as the school will not be sending home any additional reminders.  We look forward to seeing you at your child’s Student-led Conference.