Thunder News Flash – September 28, 2019

St. James & St. Ann’s School gym will be used as a polling station for the federal election for the advance poll dates as well as election day.  The advance polls will be open on October 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th, and the election will take place on October 21st.  If you would like to work at the election as a Poll Clerk, Officer, or Registration or Information Officer, you will be trained and paid for this work, and may request to be posted at our location.  If this is something that you are interested in doing, please click here for more information and to apply by completing an application online.  Once you have applied, you may directly email our Returning Officer to request being posted at St. James & St. Ann’s School by clicking here. 

It is hard to believe that September is almost over, and it has been a very busy month indeed.  There have been many requests made of parents this month, and so while there are some families who are still missing items, this is understandable.  Here is a list of things that we have asked of you:

• Comfort kits – the baggies should have been filled up and returned to the school by Friday, September 13th.  These will be moved out to our emergency shipping container next week so please send them to the school on Monday if you haven’t done so already
• Id. tags – these should have been reviewed and changes made if necessary, or filled out if you are new to the school.  These were also due back at the school on Friday, September 13th, so if you haven’t returned your child’s Id. tag yet, it is long overdue
• Student/Parent Contract:  Student Code of Conduct and Discipline – these were sent home to each family to be reviewed by parents with their children, and signed.  A second copy of this document was sent home to any families who had not returned it on September 17th, and there are still some families who have not returned this copy.  If this document is still outstanding please click here to print another copy, and return it signed to the school by October 4th at the latest
• Student Contract Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) and School-Based Technology – this document was sent home with each child to be signed at the beginning of the school year.  A second copy of this document was also sent home with any students who had not returned it on September 17th, and there are still several students whose contract is outstanding.  If your child has not submitted this document please click here to print another copy, and return it signed to the school by October 4th at the latest

Please see below for important details regarding the Regional Education Committee elections to be held at our school, St. James Parish and St. Ann’s Parish from October 3rd – 6th.

Information on the candidates nominated for the Regional Education Committee can be found posted around each parish as well as in the parish bulletins this weekend.

When and Where:

Advanced Polling

• St. James Elementary, October 3rd and 4th before and after school both days

Regular Polling

• St. Ann’s Church, October 5th and 6th for one hour following each Mass
• St. James Church, October 5th and 6th for one hour following each Mass

Who can vote:

• All registered parishioners of St. James and St. Ann’s Parishes, over the age of twenty-one at the time of voting

Candidates for election:

St. Ann’s Parish:

• Brenden Lochhead
• Tasha Mijinke
• Heather MacDonald

St. James Parish:

• Stephen Scharff
• Jake Turek
• Marcus Van Noort

If you are available to volunteer as a scrutineer (election official) at any of the times listed below, please sign up on the link below.  Parent Participation hours are available for this event.

• St. James Elementary, October 3rd and 4th before and after school both days (approximately 8:00 – 9:00am and 2:00 – 3:00pm)
• St. Ann’s Church, October 5th and 6th for one hour following each Mass
• St. James Church, October 5th and 6th for one hour following each Mass

Please sign up by clicking here or contact Erika by email by clicking here for questions.

The Trivia Night for St. John Brebeuf is in one month, and the organizing committee is trying to locate the trophy.  If you were the winning team last year, or know where the trophy is located, please contact our school office by clicking here and we will pass the information on to SJB.

We are having some difficulties with our Library’s computerized database, and this seems to be a problem with the program itself.  Unfortunately that means students will not be able to take out any new books next week, or sign any of their current Library books back into the Library.  We hope that this problem will be solved by the end of the week. 

Are you missing any plastic food containers that you packed your child’s snack or lunch in recently?  If so, there are a number of plastic containers in the Lost and Found.  Please come and see if any of these are missing from your home.  Any containers left by the end of the week will be disposed of, as some of them still have food in them!

By now you should have received proofs of your child’s school picture.  If you are unhappy with your child’s photograph, if your child was absent on picture day or if you are new to the school since picture day, our retake day will occur on Friday, October 18th.  If you are having a retake, please send your child to school with the proofs to return to the photographer.  It is always a good idea to let the photographer know what you are unhappy about with the proofs that you received, and for younger students sending a note would be ideal.

As a follow up to our Earth Rangers presentation, St. James & St. Ann’s School is participating in a battery blitz.  We are collecting used common single use batteries and any batteries that are less that 5kg, with the exception of wet-cell batteries or car batteries.  This includes batteries found in power tools, digital and video cameras, cell phones and cordless phones, and watches.  Batteries should be bagged or have terminal ends taped, except for:

• Rechargeable Batteries – Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH), Nickel Zinc (Ni-Zn)
• Primary Batteries – Alkaline (under 12v), Carbon Zinc

Collection boxes are available to place your batteries in on the table in front of the parent bulletin board, and plastic bags are available there as well.  We are collecting batteries until October 2nd, so we only have a few days left!  The school that collects the most batteries by weight will win a pizza party for the whole school!  So, please do not throw your old batteries into the garbage – it is good for the planet, and could provide a delicious lunch for the whole school!!

On Thursday, October 24th, St. James & St. Ann’s School, St. John Brebeuf High School and St. Ann’s Family Group will be jointly hosting a very special screening of the movie Screenagers.  The parents whose children are in the intermediate grades at our school received a letter last week regarding this movie, as their attendance at this screening is mandatory to fulfill their obligation to attend a Parent Support Meeting.  However, since this is such a well done movie and it is important for all of us to see, we are opening up this screening to all school parents, grandparents and teenagers as well.  Screenagers is an award-winning film that probes into the vulnerable corners of family life and depicts messy struggles over social media, video games and academics.  Screenagers reveals how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.  

The movie will be shown in the gymnasium at St. John Brebeuf High School starting at 7:00pm and a facilitated discussion will follow the movie.  Light refreshments will be served and babysitting is available for children ages 5 and up.  If you require babysitting, please email St. Ann’s Family group by clicking here so that arrangements can be made.  If you plan to attend this screening, please RSVP to help us plan for this event by clicking here.  If you do not RSVP you may still attend the event.  Please note that while it is free to attend the screening of the movie Screenagers, your donations at the door will be greatly appreciated to help us cover the costs of this presentation.

On September 30th, St. James & St. Ann’s School will be participating in Orange Shirt Day.  As we continue to build our collective understanding about the history and struggles of Indigenous peoples in Canada, our students are encouraged to replace their uniform shirt with an orange shirt, or to add something orange to their uniform such as a sticker, hair band, ribbon around their wrist, etc.  Orange Shirt Day is a day to recognize the harm caused by the residential school system in Canada, and to acknowledge the fact that every child matters.  Please know that this will be done in age-appropriate ways in the classrooms.  Our Catholic social teachings call us to honour the dignity of all people.  Further, the Canadian Catholic Bishops have urged all Catholics to commit to continuing our walk together with Indigenous peoples and to build a more just society where we recognize and nurture the gifts of all people.  There are also many ways to tie this day to the BC Curriculum, which calls us to recognize the First Peoples Principles of Learning.  We hope that all students will join us in participating in some way in Orange Shirt Day.

The school will be hosting our first Community Coffee for this school year on Friday, October 4th at 8:30am in the school Library.  This is a wonderful opportunity for community members from both the school and the parish to join together for some coffee, treats and great conversation.  Bring your toddlers as well as there will be toys and colouring pages set out for those children who are not yet in school.  We hope to see you there!

The Hot Lunch order forms for October were sent home last week and are due by 2:30pm on Friday, October 4th.  Please note that no late orders will be accepted.

Thunderwear order forms will be coming home soon.  We are just awaiting confirmation of pricing.  

Thank you again to everyone who came out to, helped at, sponsored and donated to Fun Night.  We are happy to announce that we raised over $8500!  What a way to start our year.  We couldn’t have done it without all of you!

Our first Movie Night Fundraiser of the school year is coming up on Friday, October 18, 2019.  If you are interested in Sponsorship or Donation Opportunities, please click here for more information.  

Besides sponsorships, and cash donations, we are also looking for donations of:

• Hotdog and smokie buns
• Hotdog and smokie wieners
• Pizza
• Drinks (pops, juice boxes and water)
• Single Serving Chips, mini Chocolate Bars and bulk Candy