Thunder News Flash – September 29, 2018

Two important messages were learned by the students at this week’s Hymn Sing.  First, when we ask questions, we need to really listen for an answer.  Sometimes we get the answer we want, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes the answer takes us in a completely different direction than we thought we were going.  This is also true of our conversations with God.  Often we are so busy telling God what we want, that we forget that part of our prayer time should be silence as we listen to what God is trying to tell us.  The other thing the students learned is that God wants different things for all of us and from all of us because we are all unique individuals that he has blessed with different gifts and talents.  So when we ask God the question “what do you want of me, Lord”, my answer will be different from your answer.  Listen… God will guide you in the right direction for you.

Today we will have the first meeting of the First LEGO League club from 9:30am – 1:30pm at the school for all students who turned in their permission slip.  Please bring a lunch and be prepared to have fun while working hard!

Let’s pray the rosary together for our children, our teachers and our St. James and St. Ann’s School community on Thursday, October 4th at 8:45am in the Children’s room in St. James Church.  We will continue to do this on the first Thursday of each month thereafter.  There is a book for intentions on the parents’ table in the school foyer.  If you cannot make it to the prayer group, please write down your prayer requests and the prayer group will offer the rosary for them.  For more information contact Helen Schriefers at 778-344-5228 or email her by clicking here.

When students are absent from school, we must have a note from the parents explaining the absence to meet the requirements of our student audit each year.  If your child was away in September and we did not receive a note from you, a paper note was sent home with your child on September 28th for you to fill out and return to the school.  If your child is absent from school, the easiest way to let the school know is to go to the website, click on the Parents’ tab, and then click on Absentee Note.  When you enter your information and click on “send message”, this will inform the school of the absence and act as a note that will satisfy our auditors.

Please join us for our October school Mass which will take place on Wednesday, October 3rd at St. James Church at 9:00am.  This Mass will be led by our Grade 7 class, and the Grade 2 and 7 students will read the investiture prayer, announcing to the congregation their commitment to preparing to receive their sacraments this year.

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.

The Hot Lunch forms must be handed in by Friday, October 5th at 9:30am due to the Thanksgiving Day long weekend.  Please note that late forms will not be accepted.

We are happy to announce that we will soon begin collecting organic waste in the classrooms.  That means that fruit peelings, pits and cores, crusts from sandwiches, and the last bit of food scraps that your child cannot finish as part of their snack or lunch will no longer be put in the garbage, but will go into the organics bin in each classroom.  If students do not eat their sandwich or most of the food that was packed in their lunch kits, we will continue to send this home so that parents are aware that this is happening.  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.  

We will once again be using the Remind App to share important announcements with school parents, such as school closures due to snow or power outages.  This app was used during the last school year; however, since some families have left the school and many new families have joined, we have started a new group called “St. James and St. Ann’s School Announcements 2018-2019”.  All school families, new or old, who would like to receive these important messages must sign up to be a part of this new group by clicking 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.