The Patriot Report – April 21, 2023

“The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.” -Lao Tzu

We sometimes get overwhelmed by large problems that seem insurmountable. What I love about the quote above is that it sharpens our focus to something we can control. An individual setting out on an epic pilgrimage of a 1000 miles may be overwhelmed by the length of such a journey. This may cause a person to abandon hope or to say the journey is impossible. However, by taking a single step towards the destination, the journey starts. A single step is something we can do. 

This ties into the changes we can make in our own lives. Today, our Nature Club students challenged us to be better caretakers of the environment. Changing the environment seems to be a pretty big challenge. However, if we can muster the strength to change small things first, we can take our first step towards being a more environmentally responsible school. 

I encourage each family at our school to take one small step towards reducing your carbon footprint. Perhaps it is shopping local. You might want to put reminders by light switches to turn them off. You could plant a garden. You could encourage playing outside instead of watching TV. Talk to your child about what steps they can take because this will teach them responsibility. 

If we can focus on taking one step at a time, we will see that over time we will have travelled a great distance towards our destination. 

Our Walkathon Campaign has officially started!

Students are reminded to bring in their pledge sheets every Friday so that we can get a sense of how close we are to meeting our goal of $30,000. 

To donate online click here: Charitable Impact

All online donations will receive a Charitable Tax Receipt from Charitable Impact. If you are making a cash donation greater than $25 please make sure that your name and address is clearly written on the walkathon sheet. If you are making a donation by cheque, please make cheques payable to St. Jude Parish with School Walkathon written on the Memo Line. 

Thank you for supporting our fundraising efforts!

Each class is fundraising to hit certain targets. 

Each class that raises an average of $100 per student will receive extra recess and a movie afternoon. 

Each class that raises an average of $150 per student will receive extra recess, a movie afternoon, and a non-uniform day. 

Each class that raises an average of $200 or more per student will receive extra recess, a movie afternoon, a non-uniform day, and a class party with pizza, drinks, and ice cream treats. 

Our students in the Nature Club have proposed that students bring their own forks for hot lunch. As a school, we are going to support this change as it will cut down on waste. 

Starting next week, students will be required to bring a reusable fork to school with them for hot lunch. This fork can be brought back home with them at the end of the day. We also encourage parents to pack their child a tightly sealed container or ziploc bag for their child’s hot lunch to bring home any leftover food. 

We hope you support our Nature Club’s initiative in wanting to reduce our waste. 

Cambridge Uniforms is recommending that parents place uniform orders for September 2023 before the summer months as supply issues can cause delays. Please read the letter from Cambridge Uniforms by clicking the link: Letter to Families

Students competed well despite cold wind and rain throughout most of the day. Thank you to the parents that joined us for the day and to all the students who cheered each other on. 

It’s Yearbook ordering time again! Like last year, our yearbook ordering will be completely online through our school portrait company, Lifetouch.  
The order deadline is May 15, 2022 so order today!
 
Step 1: open  ybpay.lifetouch.ca   in your browser.
Step 2: type in the Yearbook ID code 14136523
Step 3: type in your child’s name and grade. You may order multiple copies under one name or add an additional order under a different name (additional orders can be added on the next screen).
Step 4: Online payments methods accepted are American Express, Mastercard, Discover, or Visa.
 
Please note the order deadline of May 15, 2023. Late orders will not be able to be fulfilled.

Follow this link to complete your hot lunch orders in support of Gr. 7 fundraising. 

http://bit.ly/3YGZhFu

Our Gr. 7 Student Ambassadors will be available to provide tours of our school to prospective families. If you know of someone who might be interested in attending St. Jude School, I encourage you to tell them to sign up for a tour. Any interested family can email registrar@stjude.ca to schedule a tour. 

This past year we handed out $1200 in rewards to parents that referred students to our school. Every student that is referred and enrolls in our school for the year results in a reward of $200 for the the referring family. 

To learn more about the referral program, please click here.