Thunder News Flash – October 6, 2018

‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in”.  These words from the Gospel of Matthew are particularly powerful and meaningful on this Thanksgiving weekend when we ask the question “what do you want of me, Lord?”  Surely the answer must include being charitable, kind and loving to those who have far less than we do.  One such group is the migrant farm workers in Abbotsford, and so the Grade 7 class will be collecting donations of non-perishable food items in all the classrooms from October 9th – 12th for this group.  The food we collect will make an incredible difference in the lives of these workers, so let’s collect so much food that we create “a mountain of miracles for the migrant farm workers”.  As we gather with family and friends to celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday, let’s be grateful for all that we have, but remember those who are in need.  

The next Work Bee will take place on Saturday, October 13th from 9:00am – 2:00pm.  If you are scheduled to attend this Work Bee, or coming to make up for a Work Bee that you missed, please bring work gloves or gardening gloves with you.  If you could also bring gardening tools such as hand clippers, or even a gas powered hedge trimmer, it would be most appreciated.

We will have our first early dismissal day on Wednesday, October 10th.  Please send your child to school with both a snack and lunch, and remember that the students will be dismissed at 12:55pm.  The Thunder Club will be available for parents who are unable to pick up their children at 12:55pm, and will be open until 5:00pm as usual.  If you are planning to use the Thunder Club on October 10th, please make sure that you complete the registration package ahead of time, and you will be charged the morning drop-in rate.  Those parents who typically have their children in the Thunder Club will not be charged any additional fees for this day.

Just in case you missed this information in last week’s News Flash, we are happy to announce that the uniform policy has been revised with the following changes:

• Girls from Grades 1 – 7 will now be able to wear the kilt, tunic, shorts, pants or skort with their school shirt year round as the seasonal restrictions have been removed.  Girls in Kindergarten may wear the shorts, pants or skort as these are the easiest to wear with their muddy buddies.
• Boys from Kindergarten to Grade 7 will now be able to wear the shorts or pants year round, with no seasonal restrictions.
• Socks may be navy or white year round

We have also made the following changes to the hair policy:

• No extreme hairstyles of any kind – this will be determined by school administration
• No dyed hair – any students who currently have dyed hair will have until the end of October to return their hair to the colour that God gave them

The Parent Handbook will be updated to reflect these changes as soon as possible.

We are happy to announce that our new outdoor collection bins arrived at the school, and we will begin collecting organic waste in the classrooms this week.  The teachers will be reviewing with the students what can and cannot be put in our organics containers in the classrooms, but we would appreciate your help at home – please remind your children that they cannot put any plastic bags, foil or saran wrap into these containers.  We are very hopeful that this will reduce the amount of garbage we are producing at the school and go a long way to helping our environment.  

This is just a reminder that if you are interested in ordering any Thunderwear, the order forms with cash or cheques payable to St. James & St. Ann’s School are due by Friday, October 12th at 3:00pm.  Samples items are available to try on at the school office.  If you are in need of an order form, please click here.

With approval from the Superintendent’s Office and our Education Committee, the staff of St. James & St. Ann’s School will be taking an additional pro-d day on Friday, November 23rd.  This will be a wonderful opportunity for the staff to network with teachers from other CISVA schools as we engage in a workshop to learn more about inquiry-based learning and the redesigned curriculum.  Please note there will be no school on Friday, November 23rd.  This is also a pro-d day at St. John Brebeuf, and in the Abbotsford School District so there may be opportunities for your children to participate in events put on by the city.

Our first Movie Night of the 2018/19 school year is coming up on Friday, October 26th.  Is your business interested in sponsoring our event?  We have different levels of sponsorship available which provide great advertising opportunities to our school community, leading up to and during our event.  We are also looking for donations, which may be eligible for a tax receipt.  Check out our Sponsorship Levels for more information by clicking here.